Papiillon The Beauty Lounge

“I wanted to work in the film industry as a hair stylist and makeup artist,” she says before adding that she had to let go of her dreams as her parents didn’t want their daughter to be out of sight as she was too young. After finishing her schooling and learning the basics at her mom’s parlour, she decided it was time to extend her training and learn new trends and techniques. Off she went to Mumbai to learn from ‘Nalini and Yasmin’ and ‘Beyond the fringe’ the art of makeup and hair styling. “I made sure I spent time and worked in Mumbai before coming back as I wanted to learn and there’s no better place for hair and beauty than Mumbai,” says Smay who worked in Kapil. It was this learning experience that prepared her for what was ahead in life. Not only did she have to rough it out in the city all by herself, but she also had to deal with clients who of course had quite a bit of knowledge of makeup and styling. “They want everything to be perfect. She then came back to join her mother and was amongst the five selected from India to attend an advanced course in hair styling by international chain Vidal Sassoon. She went to Hong Kong to learn the various aspects of nail art. “I like upgrading myself all the time. Clients in Goa now want something they see on TV or at fashion shows. Trends also keep changing and that’s why if you want to stay in the business and do well your skills and knowledge has to be above everything else,” says Smay. Ask her to choose between hair and makeup and there’s confusion as I expected. Smay cannot choose and enjoys both aspects equally. “I can experiment and try out new things in hair styling and makeup also.”

She is not at all perturbed about shelving her Bollywood dream. She has styled actress Meena Chopra; former Miss India, Supriya Aiman; former Miss World, Natasha Suri and other models at various fashion shows held in God like Kingfisher Ultra Goa Fashion Week, Miss Summer Tulip India and the most recent one at Cannes Film and Fashion where she got the opportunity to style French actress Fiona Gelin. Here she was the official hair stylist and makeup artist for designers from Milan, Paris and India including Verma D’Mello. Talking about her experience she says: “Since it was my first big stint I was really scared. But it all disappeared after meeting the models who were wonderful human beings.” Having learnt new trends she said since the theme was more inclined towards retro- the hairstyles were somewhat old fashioned, and mostly put up and not left lose. Talking about the use of makeup she says it should be used to enhance features, but people love using it to hide flaws. She believes that face shapes play a very important role while applying makeup for which contouring and highlighting are the essentials which isn’t easy to master. “While the young, hip, Goan girl wants to experiment with hair and makeup, they still lag behind other cities when it comes to experiments with short hair and different types of makeup,” says Smay. Besides saying that people in Goa like to seek approval and hence generally families do not approve of radical hairstyles/cuts. “It’s a huge risk for a girl to simply trust a hairstylist for she doesn’t know what the result will be.” she says that the young college crowd doesn’t mind experimenting to an extent, but rules in colleges are also quite strict these days. Her mother at Papiillon was the first to introduce Moroccan bath with imported products from Morocco. Smay’s dream is to expand the family business and take it forward but she says: “I want to maintain the standard of the services we offer and are known for.”

Smay Fernandes is all but twenty-three years-old.Having been distracted by dolls and fashion from a very young age, she knew academics was not going to take her anywhere in life or help make her dream come true. Smay decided to get trained by specialists before adding value to the already existing business in Goa and expanding
it further. Though her initial dream of working as a stylist in Bollywood has been scrapped, she’s happy dolling up models and celebrities for fashion shows, etc.