Shoppers milled around Senses boutique, Trincity Mall, asking about perfumes and skin care products as Samurai Cajar, Estee Lauder’s regional make-up artist deftly stroked women’s faces with make-up. Last Friday and Saturday, Cajar took appointments all day at the high-end boutique’s West Mall and Trincity Mall branches respectively, introducing Senses’ regular clients to the Estee Lauder Gold Opulence eye shadow kit. “A lot of people believe that this brand is only for Caucasian people,” explained Dania Eligon, manager at Senses Trincity Mall. “But this is about introducing people of colour to it.”

She added that the Gold Opulence kit could give wearers a range of four different looks—dramatic, romantic, natural and classic. Many of Cajar’s clients opted for the smokey eyed look. After clients prepped with moisturiser, they sat in Cajar’s chair where he made them laugh as he gave them tips on trying the same look at home. One customer, who didn’t reveal her name had fair skin, gorgeous eyes and striking eyebrows, but some blemishes and dark circles around the eyes. After applying a light layer of bronze foundation, Cajar lightly brushed Double Wear concealer under her eyes, and mixed black eyeliner pencil with more concealer as a type of eye shadow primer.

“It’s sweat proof, waterproof, bullet proof,” he quipped as he feathered the dark grey with an angle brush. He then brushed a pewter eye shadow over the primer, blended in purple at the eyelid crease and gold eye shadow under the brow line before applying black eyeliner to both upper and lower lids and to fill in her eyebrows. For that extra glamour, TurboLash mascara with gold effects gave a glittery finish to the client’s eyes.

“It doesn’t really matter what colours you’re working with. The most important thing is to blend,” he said. “You want to make sure that each colour blends seamlessly into the other.” Cajar advised that if you do vivid eye make-up like the smokey eye look, ensure that your lips or blush do not compete with the focus on your eyes. For the woman in the make-up chair, a light dusting of rosette powder blush, lip liner and nude lip gloss was enough to finish her stunning night-time look. Cajar will return to Senses in March to promote Estee Lauder’s skin care line ReNutrive and again in May for Mother’s Day.

By Desiree McEachrane