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Know Your Undertone While Selecting Lipstick Shade, says Namrata Soni

simplynam.beauty/instagram

ByN. Lothungbeni Humtsoe

October 22, 2021 (IANSlife) A good lipstick should last you through the day and women of all ages adore lipstick and have experimented with a variety of colours and formulas. When it comes to lipstick, it's all about the results. Namrata Soni who founded the beauty and cosmetics company Simply Nam talks to IANSlife on her recently launched Simply Nam Ultra-Soft Comfort Wear Matte Lipsticks, which were designed and manufactured entirely by her. 

 Simply Nam_Ultra-Soft Comfort Wear Matte Lipsticks.

What led you to venture into colour cosmetics, from a makeup removal towel to sheet masks?

Soni: To be honest it was always going to be colour cosmetics but I wanted to start with make-up accessories and products that make your makeup last and look much better. Hence at Simply Nam, we started with the makeup removing and cleansing towel, because in my previous experience I never enjoyed wearing makeup due to the removal process being such a hassle and this was also a general observation I made, hence I wanted to change that for all. Thus they start with the perfect makeup remover and cleansing towel and then finish that off with the ultimate product for prepping up the skin. Once you start using the Simply Nam sheet mask, you would not want to use anything else to prep your skin, it is the most amazing product in the market right now. Colour cosmetics are a natural next step for me and is something that we at Simply Nam are very excited about. Having been in the beauty industry for 21 years, I cannot wait to bring out an amazing line of colour cosmetics for Indian women, keeping in mind what they need and what will work for them.

 

The lip tints were produced exclusively for Indian women, according to the specifics. Could you comment on the research you conducted and how you came up with the idea of adapting the colours accordingly?

Soni: Each lipstick shade has been developed especially for the Indian woman and the quest started off with me wanting to make the perfect red for the Indian market. I have witnessed my family and friends always looking out for one and me as well in my entire career looking out for those perfect reds and I realized that there is no one perfect red. You have to have two reds, one for a warm undertone and one for a cool undertone. At Simply Nam we started with finding the perfect red and it diversified into these beautiful shades I wanted to create. Starting with the perfect caramel brown because we’ve observed that Indian women love Brown Shades and I wanted to do a soft variation of the same almost like caramel or honey brown that works brilliantly for us. Then comes the perfect peachy nude, which was developed keeping in mind the undertones that we have. So the reason why the shade Priyanka has a peachy pink in it is so that if you have a cool or warm undertone, you can wear it for either, the shade actually blends in with your skin and reflects the undertone you have. And then we have the shade Anuradha (natural nude) which was created keeping in mind the times you want to tone down your lipstick colours and you never have that perfect shade to do so. Therefore all the colours in the collection are created keeping in mind every single aspect of undertones, skin colour, the weather, and the climate that we live in here (hot and humid). And also taking into consideration a comfortable velvet, finish lipstick, which can actually just be topped off with a lip gloss or a lip balm throughout the day without needing touch-ups.

 

Can you tell us how to choose the correct red or nude lipstick tint for ourselves?

Soni: There is a perfect red out there for everyone, however you need to understand what your undertone is when you select the shade. If you are a warm undertone, you need to pick that shade of red which has a lot of tomato orange and also has to have some orange and a little bit of yellow in it. And if you're a cool undertone, you would need that shade of red which has a lot of purplish-blue in it, something like a wine-coloured red.  Therefore most importantly you need to understand what your undertone is and how do you do that? If you are a warm undertone it means that you have a lot of olive green, yellow or orange under your skin. The best way to understand your undertone is to wrap up all your hair in a white towel and to stand in front of natural light or in front of your bathroom mirror, hold gold and silver jewellery up and gauge what is more flattering for your skin. If gold jewellery complements your skin more it means that you have a warm undertone and if silver jewellery suits your skin better it means that you have a cool undertone. Another really easy and convenient way of doing this is to check the veins on your skin, under your wrist if you have greenish veins you have a warm undertone, if you have purplish-blue veins then you have a cool undertone and if you have a combination of both you are neutral, which means you are the lucky one who can wear any of the two perfect red’s that Simply Nam has created. All the other shades have been created by keeping in mind a neutral undertone. So if you are a cool undertone and you want to wear the shade Priyanka which is a peachy pink, you can do so because it would gel well with your undertone and make that colour look perfect for your skin tone.

 

What was your idea for each shade's distinct and specific name?

Soni: Each shade has been named after the most important woman in my life and family. The red in the collection is inspired by my mother, who loved finding that perfect red for herself, in fact, she also focused on finding the perfect lipsticks which suited her and that was what my main agenda was when bringing together this collection. Every shade has been named after the women in my life who have left a mark and what they are looking for when I'm travelling with them or if I am shopping for them. The collection has been developed keeping in mind their preferences and requirements etc.

 

Were there any obstacles you had to overcome in creating these hues?

Soni: We faced quite a few challenges while creating these shades, right from finding the perfect reds, nudes, caramel browns and rani pink because of the fact that multiple variations already exist in the market. We at Simply Nam wanted to be different and unique and also wanted to make sure that the lipsticks launched to cater to every single woman out there. The collection covers every undertone, warm, cool or neutral, so there is a perfect red, pink and nude for everyone.

 

Which of the lipsticks is your personal favourite and go-to?

Soni: It is difficult for me to choose because initially, the development of the collection started because I wanted to create the perfect red for the Indian market. And today when I look at the six beautiful shades that we at Simply Nam have created, I love every single one of them. But personally I always lean towards reds and I finally have found the two - a warm and a cool red - Mamta and Poonam.

 

 Simply Nam_Ultra-Soft Comfort Wear Matte Lipsticks.

 

 

 

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N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe can be contacted at lothungbeni.h@ians.in

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