Mehak Oberoi is a very talented and accomplished hair and makeup artist in Indian cinema. The young and elegant makeup artist has worked her magic on creating iconic looks for many top bollywood celebrities which include Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Sonam Kapoor, Tara Sutaria, Kiara Advani, Mallaika Arora Khan, Sonakshi Sinha and many more.
Passionate and headstrong Mehak, very late in life discovered that she was a dyslexic child, but she had already found herself following her true love, makeup. Being present in the industry for many years, here’s what her journey looks like - the challenges she faced, the lessons she learned and the fun moments she enjoyed along the way.
Mehak was born & brought up in an orthodox business class family of Delhi, where there was no such concept of women working full time. Only her mom had a vision and hence helped her out in pursuing makeup.
Initially, Mehak wanted to become a hairstylist because she thought it had a cool vibe. Unfortunately, she couldn’t bring herself to learn how to cut & colour, so her mom suggested learning makeup and hence she ended up enrolling herself in Pearl Academy of Fashion in Delhi.
“I had no clue about makeup, but decided to do it because I had been a very creative child with a keen interest in fashion. Once I started with the course, there was no looking back.”
Her course at Pearl Academy covered fashion, media, and makeup. In college, she used to get involved in edgy and experimental fashion shoots. And she fell in love with the craft of hair and makeup.
She used to spend a lot of time looking at techniques online, trying new things, following fashion weeks, experimenting with looks on her friends and cousins. That is when she realized this was something she loved and was really good at. However, after completion of her course, the real struggle for work began.
After college, she was looking for a regular stream of income. So she joined Inglot Cosmetics, working in-store. Although she was good at it, but couldn’t relate to it completely and thus started to work under in a news channel for Renuka Pillai in her team.
Unlike todays age of social media, where it has become easier for artists to showcase their work, it was all about cracking opportunities back then. So Mehak also started working with Kapil Bhalla’s team for fashion weeks and shows. Most of her experience in hairstyling comes from him as he used to make her switch from makeup to hair. That’s why she is adept at both.
Furthermore, this exposure piloted her way into working with various Bollywood celebrities.
Alongside, she also used to do a lot of editorials in Delhi and suddenly she got an offer to work with Chitrangada Singh for a one-day shoot. Mehak says “The next thing I knew, I was booked for 16 days straight. I started doing more work for her and my career kicked off.”
“There is a thin line between professionalism and friendship and one should understand how to maintain that.”
Mehak adds, “I faced a lot of rejection, as back in the day agencies would prefer foreign talent over Indian artists. Today though, I am grateful that I am working with an agency that is not biased, but rather very supportive.”
The young achiever quickly moved up the ladder with her constant persistence and hard work. Mehak prefers the all natural glam and works towards enhancing the raw features of her clients with her skill set.
‘Less is more’ has been her go-to formula and her favourite beauty mantra for the elite clientele she works with. In a short span of time, Mehak has showcased her quality work in some amazing fashion campaigns, some eye catching editorials and magazine covers. The makeup genius has also decoded some quintessential red carpet looks for a number of Bollywood actresses in the recent past.
Mehak advises all budding artists to be passionate and persistent about their work; suggesting them to understand the dynamics of makeup and never give up learning