Aishwarya Rai out does herself with makeup and style at each Cannes appearance and we have the scoop on what to expect from the former Miss World (1994) at the 64th Cannes Film Festival.
The festival is scheduled from May 11 to May 22 and Aishwarya will walk the red carpet on the opening day. This year marks Aishwarya's decade long association with Cannes, and her eighth year as L'Oral ambassador, the official makeup artistes at the Cannes Film Festival since 1998.
Aishwarya's first Cannes appearance in 2002 was for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. In 2003 she returned as a member of the Jury. During subsequent years she has represented L'Oreal at the festival along side Hollywood celebrities Eva Longoria and Penelope Cruz.
In order to sleuth details of possible style statement at the event, Sawfnews.com spoke to Collier Strong, celebrity makeup artist and spokesperson for L'Oreal Paris USA, based in California. Collier has styled the 37-year-old Bollywood star for many of her international public appearances, most recently for her Oscars 2011 red carpet appearance. "I've worked with Aishwarya many times and have used a wide range of colors on her," Collier tells Sawfnews.com exclusively.
"For the Oscars (2011) since her dress was bronze I chose the same palette to highlight her features and not to distract from them. With Olive skin when you use earth tones, browns greens, and other neutral tones, the features pop instead of you noticing color on the skin."
"I was in Mumbai recently doing a shoot with her and I used a palette of silver and Grey and pinks all cool tones.""Earth tones look more natural, but I always take inspiration from what she's wearing."Collier went on to reveal what Aishwarya likes most about her makeup.
"She and I love eye liner! With any eye color, liner makes the eyes pop. The lighter the eyes, as with hers, the more impact the effect. I'm very careful to smudge the liner with eye shadow to make it softer."
"She has beautiful natural lashes, but at times we play them up with false lashes or individual ones. Again as with liner it's all about the effect. L'Oreal's Voluminous Mascara and their Million Lashes are my favorites."
"How does Aishwarya get that flawless finish of a luminous skin," we ask. "I use a couple of different foundations on her. For a flawless natural look I use L'Oreal's Magic Smooth Soufflé #522 (Natural Beige) and if we're shooting a commercial, I'll use Armani Luminous Silk #7." "My only tip I give to all my clients is "not too much of anything!" "
Collier lets her almost surreal beauty remain the center of focus. "Aishwarya is a natural beauty so she can get away with a wide range of looks and colors. And as you can see from my work on her, I like to keep her on the softer side and let that beauty take center stage not her makeup."