Manifest Spotlight: Bridal Make Up Artist Pooja Lalwani

If you’re looking for a make-up artist who can create a perfect skin-like base or a muted pastel look, then bridal make-up artist Pooja Lalwani should be on your list. Lalwani caters to every kinda bride. With a decade of experience wielding brushes on many faces, she has poured all her learnings into launching two brands; The Lipstick Diary and Fit Face! Read on as we dive into her journey as a bridal makeup artist, and why you should hire her if you are a 2025 bride. 

Join Us As Manifest Speaks To Pooja Lalwani… 

Manifest India: What inspired you to choose make-up artistry as a career? 

Pooja Lalwani: Back in the day, most Indian families would recommend that you choose commerce, CA, or engineering as your career. Likewise, my family was urging me to study finance and I did get into finance, but ended up feeling demotivated. I was always interested in beauty. I used to love grooming myself and dressing up. As a child, I used to apply kajal and mascara for my eye make-up. So, I ultimately decided to do a professional make-up course, where my journey began. It’s been a decade since I’ve been in the field, and it has been great! I started at MAC not knowing where it was going, but I don’t think I would have ever felt happy without make-up. 

M: As a creative person, how do you continue to stay inspired?

PL: I attend a lot of beauty expos and masterclasses. I am always keeping an eye on trends. Whenever Cannes or the MET Gala takes place, I try to follow what’s happening. I’m constantly reading beauty magazines, always trying to find a way to bring new beauty-related products and services to our market, in fact, that’s also how I found my Face Workout brand called ‘Fit Face’. 

M: Tell us about your creative philosophy. 

PL: Makeup artistry is a creative subject and every time a client asks me “What is it that you will do?” I never have a final answer, rather I tell them, “I’ll do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, ,” but the result ends up being something else altogether. So basically, I approach my work as an empty canvas. For me, my clients are my canvas, that is where my creativity is naturally expressed. 

M: What are some common misconceptions that you’ve encountered related to bridal make-up? 

PL: I think every person is beautiful and a lot of people think they require make-up, and that’s not the correct way to go about it. Make-up should be used as a medium to enhance rather than change a person’s features. Every person is beautiful and it’s all about how you want to use it.

M: We’ve heard that skin prep is incredibly important for good make-up application. How would you advise people to prepare their skin for a flawless make-up look? 

PL: Yes, skin prep is 100% an important step before doing one’s make-up. Skin prep is really important and it also helps in making the make-up stay on better and last longer on the face. Here are some things that are important in skin prep – Hydration and lymphatic drainage so that you don’t have under-eye bags or any puffiness on your face (which generally happens to a lot of brides because of stress, lack of sleep, etc).  

M: If you had to choose a single product to do someone’s make-up with, which product would it be? 

PL: If I had to choose a single product to do someone’s make-up, I would use a tint or a cream blush because I can use it on the cheeks, as a lip tint, and even as an eyeshadow.

M: Are there any make-up trends you foresee coming our way in 2025?

PL: I feel like the ‘No make-up, make-up’ look is making a big comeback in a lot of ways. Instead of layering makeup, layering skin care is the new trend that I see a lot of people following and I am all for it. Another thing that I love is the plumped lips effect. So lip oils, lip balms, and lip tints which help bring out the natural colour of the lips or the skin are really exciting for me for 2025. 

Manifest Cheat Sheet: 

M: Who do you think should come to you to get their make-up done? 

PL: Honestly, I’m more than happy to have anyone and everyone on my chair. I know it’s a diplomatic answer but I love all my clients. But if you ask celebrity-wise, I love Kareena and Alia and I would love to do make-up for them one day. 

M: How would you define your style of work? 

PL: I concentrate on enhancing a person’s features instead of changing them. I like to keep my make-up more subtle and more skin-like instead of layering it. I get booked by those kinds of clients and I’m extremely happy to be in that segment. 

M: How far in advance should clients reach out to you? 

PL: That’s very subjective because nowadays, a lot of weddings get planned last-minute so all I would want to say to all the brides is that as soon as you’ve decided the date and the venue, pick up the phone and book your make-up artist as soon as possible.

M: How much do you charge for your wedding packages? 

PL: I love customizing packages for my brides. It all depends on the number of events that you give us. The more the events, the better the deal. Having said that, we, as a company, are flexible and also like to work around people’s budgets. I just want to be available for anyone and everyone because it’s not about money all the time, it’s all about relationships.

M: Do you offer trial runs for brides before the wedding? 

PL: Yes. This is something that I’ve only recently started pushing towards. It wasn’t something I used to be open to back in the day, but I realised that when you do a trial run, the bride feels more confident and comfortable.