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Vancouver Make Up Artist UK Tour

INTERNATIONALLY-acclaimed makeup artist Shaifa is already Vancouver's Top Make-Up Artist. Tinseltown is vowing to have her to do some famous Hollywood  stars, and some stars have even flown Shaifa in to Los Angeles for the day just to have Shaifa do their make up before attending any major event.

Shaifa is best known for her Bollywood Make Up style which has landed her several contracts and featured famous local and international actresses, and she is known as one of Vancouver's leading Ethnic makeup artist due to her understanding of Ethnic skin tones.

Her skill comes naturally, as an aspiring young artist who many say has a magic touch. Shaifa has worked on numerous shows and sitcoms as a freelance artist, and is currently working with Hollywood producers at Vancouver north Hollywood studios.

Said Shaifa: "I've worked with Holt's for a long time, and have no plans to move to Bollywood or Hollywood. With offers pouring in to work movie sets, and local venues she is content.

Shaifa has worked as a Vancouver Make Up Artist for 12 years, and would like to try and do something different, it'll be interesting to see how Hollywood actresses look in Bollywood style makeup and vice versa, says Shaifa, now that Aishwarya Rai is the new face of L'Oreal.

She has worked with some of the world's leading  fashion designers and modeling agencies including Gucci, Prada, Burberry Dolce and Gabbana, Elite Models, Armani, MIA, Morgan Millennium Jeans, Fendi to name a few. She currently works at Holt Renfrew, Vancouver's prestigious high end clothing retailer. She recently attended the International Fashion Exhibition in London for a three day event where a team of makeup artists and stylists created the hair and makeup for the exhibition's much hyped catwalk show. She also held demonstrations on makeup application and showed how to get the latest Bollywood look along with the seasons bridal looks.

Shaifa grew up in Vancouver, Canada. After completing a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of British Columbia, she worked eight years with a major financial institution as an auditor. Shaifa became interested in the fashion and business world while jet-setting on business trips with Moe Somani, Multi-Millionaire Asian Business Tycoon . Interest piqued, as she traveled to exotic destinations, and decided to return to school and professionally  trained at the London School of Fashion and Design in 1997, and went to work with some of Europe's prestigious cosmetic houses including Jo Malone.

Soon after she joined With Somani's global connections, and Shaifa's Fashion and Design skills she helped launch Millennium Jeans International in 1997, an overnight success story, with 78 flagship stores and 32 specialty retail stores in 32 countries, and with locations in the UK, USA, Canada, Europe, South America, Africa and Asia.

With Millennium Jeans International at its peak in the new millennium, Somani sold the entire clothing chain to a brand name competitor for an undisclosed amount of cold cash. A source close to the buyer was quoted as saying:  “Purchase of Somani’s Millennium Jeans International Clothing chain saved our company from bankruptcy. We’re delighted to have purchased Millennium Jeans International. We never imagined anyone would have such an effect on our brand.” (For the record, a source close to Somani, says he may indeed have wielded more power than many politicians in Asia.)

After the sale of Millennium Jeans International, and with Shaifa as the leading make up artist for Millennium Jeans International, news of her cutting edge makeup skills and techniques spread rapidly throughout Europe and Asia. She became a respected name in the beauty industry in the late 90s, and secured contracts with some of the biggest names in the Make Up industry.

Women like to be noticed," says Shaifa, who represents Nars Makeup line, the leading choice of today's ethnic women. "What I do is offer versatile colors that can transform a look from ordinary to extraordinary. "When I first started in this industry there wasn't a market for Ethnic skin. Many makeup artists didn't know the first thing about how to apply makeup on Ethnic women and they didn't have a clue about the right colours to use.

"As an Indian myself I always had trouble buying makeup to suit my skin tone and I realized that other people had the same problem. So I started working with various mixtures and colours and soon changed the way ethnic women wore makeup, for example I got away from bright pinks, blues and purples that many ethnic women were wearing.

"It didn't look good on them at all. So I started using more autumn colours - different shades of brown and maroons which looked good on their skin tones and a lot more modern."