Miss Seychelles contestants start making up |30 March 2015

The 14 contestants of the Miss Seychelles … Another World 2015 beauty pageant to be held on May 30 have already started making up, or should we say ‘blacking up’ up for the event.

Or rather, in spite of their natural beauty they have started preparations to look as gorgeous as possible on the day they are all looking forward to.

Sonia Richard, regional manager of the ‘Black Up’ makeup brand and herself a professional makeup artist, is currently in Seychelles to help the young girls through their beautifying process which will go on until the crowning of the beauty queen who is to replace the reigning Camilla Estico.

The girls’ immaculate faces were treated to a first touch of ‘Black Up’ contouring at the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) conference room in the Espace building on Saturday.

Beautician Richard has described contouring as “the art of creating an illusion of a perfect face shape by adding highlighting and shading area”.

“The technique allows you to sculpt a face, give you a forehead, make the nose look smaller, double the chin, square the jaws. It can also bring out the cheek bones, make the eyes look bigger, the nose longer and so on,” explains Ms Richard.

This really sounds like a plastic surgery operation. As the French saying goes, “il faut souffrir pour être belle” (a woman has to suffer to be beautiful)! This seemed however far from being the case for our 14 Creole beauties as they visibly enjoyed a whole day going through the 14 steps of face transformation and 10 others of a perfect contouring. Apart from the applications themselves, these include identifying your skin type, selecting the right colour base and foundation to be used, picking the right contouring stick or brush etc.

The beauty of it all is that at the end of the day, they all came out looking more feminine while keeping their natural look!
Those are the impressions collected from two of them.

Mariam Bertin said: “I do not makeup generally but it has been an awesome experience as we have learned the different phases of making up. In the end I feel different but the inside and the feeling remain the same. I do not think I have become more beautiful but sure, the makeup has enhanced my natural beauty.”

As for Alanah Barallon, she noted that “after the training I feel that I will have no need of a makeup artist. I will be able to makeup myself for dinners, cocktails and other outings. In spite of the facelift I think I will remain the same person, but I will be more prepared to attend official events. The experience can also help me develop an interest in makeup in general. I will also be in a position to help other girls in their making up.”

Sonia Richard, who as ‘Black Up’ manager for the Indian Ocean region comes here one or two times per year, was equally satisfied with the day’s work.

“I have put up a specialised training for the girls, for them to be able to makeup themselves in order to go out and for photo shoots. I will be also preparing them for the Miss Seychelles beauty pageant. A one-day session is too short but we have tried to achieve a maximum in terms of practical makeup techniques. At the same time, the time spent with the contestants has permitted me to create a direct link with them and to share my experience. Altogether they have had a great time. During my stay here I will be also be training beauticians to help me continue with the work,” she said.

If you have now become interested in the ‘Black Up’ brand and wish to pimp your personal ride, you may be thinking of flying all the way to Paris to get hold of it. A long trip to the fashion capital is however unnecessary. This is simply because    the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) is the importer and distributer of ‘Black Up’ products. They are available at the company’s Gift Shop in the New Port area and at its Airport Duty Free Shop.

No wonder then that the STC sponsored Saturday’s activity. Its public relations manager Stephanie Felix has in the meantime revealed that the STC will be also sponsoring the first three prizes for the May 30 pageant, as well as gifts for VIP guests.

Through its manager for events and conferences Beryl Matatiken, the STB has thanked the STC for its support.

“On behalf of the STB I wish to say a big thank you to the STC. It is not easy to pull together necessary resources in order to organise such a big event.

STC has offered us a nice package that will upbeat our game. This will surely permit us to upgrade the quality of Miss Seychelles which I am sure will be of a higher standard this year,” she has said.

Ms Matatiken has called on other companies to join in and help sponsor the event.