Movie stars and mod Mumbaikars, alike wear a lot of M.A.C. makeup these days – and it’s all thanks to Mickey. That’s Mickey Contractor, the brand’s Director of Makeup Artistry in India for the past six years and the man behind its recent makeup collection launch, aimed at women with brown skin tones.
While the West likes to deem anything Indian, instantly Bollywood – Contractor is the reel deal. He’s been a face painter to Mumbai movie-screen sirens for the past 20 years, and at his launch party the other night, you could see the love they have for the man who helps them to put their best face forward.
As a woman of Indian descent, I identified with M.A.C. early on. They had a studio on Queen Street East in Toronto, in my teen-dom and the Franks, its foundation fathers, had a cult following for the grown-in-Canada company, now owned by Estée Lauder (who owns just about every other beauty brand in the known universe). Queen East, near Jarvis, was the indie underground back then, if only for a block or two or a minute or two.
I identified with makeup for the first time, with M.A.C.. There were colours beyond ‘petal’ and ‘coral crush’. There was Veruschka and Rage and Diva and Fetish. There were deep, rich, luscious colours – colours that worked for my skin tone. At last. And first, really.
In Contractor’s collection, the colours aren’t what you’d expect. He is known for his no-nonsense nude lippy shades (still sacrilege for me personally, but hey, to each, her own lips!). With names like Rani (queen), Mehr (Mrs. Rampal, I presume) and Gulabi (rose), they are the lower-key versions of the jewelled box that is the Indian palette, but certainly not bland.
While I may never give up the call of the Siren lipstick, I will definitely add a few of the eye shadows and liners to my repertoire.
The line isn’t widely available in Toronto stores – only the Eaton Centre, Yorkdale and Square One M.A.C. stores have it – and I’m told that much of it is already on a face other than yours – they are pretty much sold out in the stores. The Canadian eComm site seemed to have stock just before the publication of this post.
Contractor will be making in-store appearances in Delhi and Bangalore on Monday and Tuesday and will be online for a chat via the M.A.C. India website later this week (log-in required).
Party images courtesy of Saradaga.com. Makeup images courtesy of M.A.C.
