Primer, foundation, fixer, powder and shimmer are a few secret ingredients that makeup artists use to cake my face. An average session of caking easily takes up to an hour. Turning my face into a fifty shades of orange barbie doll or a Sonam Kapoor lookalike for Instagram.
Being the face of an international platform comes with outer beauty expectations. I represent a community, a lifestyle and I promote Arts&Culture for a living. Therefore branding myself is an important part of my business, since DesiYUP is an extension of who I am…
My bare face and PJ’s are only reserved for my inner circle; People who truly appreciate me for my inner beauty, accomplishments and most importantly goofiness. They don’t care about dark circles. Only my makeup artist does.
Showing off a flawless face topped with x amount of filters is not the best part of my job description as an organizer.
Ayurveda
I’m not a disbeliever if it comes to the power of beauty, grace and elegance, my gigantic wardrobe proofs this. But I believe that Ayurveda, the ‘science of longevity’ has a far more holistic approach if it comes to intertwining our inner and outer beauty. The purpose of Ayurveda is to offer physical, emotional and spiritual growth. I will share more about my Ayurveda experience in another blog.
Coming back to my confession….
Content Matters
I wish that only my content would matter and receive showers of likes, hearts and shares. Since the message is far more important than the messenger right? The thought behind a post, the action behind a face, an inspirational experience without ownership.
Another reason why I dislike this trend of filling my time-line with self-obsessed pictures has to do with the ‘hi’ creeps.
‘Hi’ Creeps
When I post pictures of myself on social media it gives ‘creeps’ carte blanche to pollute my inbox with ‘hi’s’. I’ve seen a zillion varieties of ‘hi’s while scrolling down my inbox and I’m not sure what to think of it. Do these guys really think that I will respond to a ‘hi’? If they would check out my content they would perhaps understand my hunger for reading, music and art.
My mantra is ‘meaningful conversations’. How is it even possible to miss this note? ‘Hi’ is not a great opening line to start a meaningful conversation with me. And …strangers who give me compliments about my looks freak me out as well. I have not mastered the art of how to respond to it! Kash, content par dyaan hota, to kya baat hota. By the way, this Hindi line could work for a new Ghazal song….
Clickbait Picture
During the pandemic I realized that time is of great value. Do we really want to spend it all by seeking appreciation on social media that slowly eats up our precious minutes, hours, days and months, that we will never get back? Having preached this, I can’t practice it. I will push this post on social media with a clickbait picture which will give me zero satisfaction…but will generate likes for sure.
Yes, I do realize that I’m a player in this superficial social media game as well, but without the facade of makeup and glamorous looks content hardly sells, regardless the effort. That is pretty frustrating.
Posting a picture isn’t a guarantee for more business, readership or subscribers, but it surely helps to get “attention” in the form of likes. I hope that one day one or two like- givers will check out my content as well that I’ve created with so much love and dedication.
In my ideal world it’s meaningful content that matters and not glamorous selfies taken in bathrooms, cars or gyms.
Is it even possible to have it both? Being authentic by embracing beauty-flaws without filtering them and creating meaningful content that converts into more business?
If you have an answer to this million dollar question you can email me (info@desiyup.com) and I will sign you up for Kaun Banega Crorepati.
With Love,
Mahesvari
