KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

Kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

Red lips, black eye­lin­er, and mas­cara.

That’s the per­son­al go-to look for in­ter­na­tion­al­ly cer­ti­fied make-up artist Amiela “Pinky” Thomas. Pro­fes­sion­al­ly, her work has earned her the name “Colour-block­ing Queen”.

“My ex­per­tise lies in mas­ter­ing colour har­mo­ny, blend­ing shades to evoke class, even when em­ploy­ing a full spec­trum or rain­bow,” she says.

“My aim is for make-up to el­e­vate my clients’ con­fi­dence and en­hance their beau­ty.”

Pinky her­self con­tin­ues to ex­ude con­fi­dence, de­spite the neg­a­tive com­ments from some that her choice of pro­fes­sion is haram (for­bid­den by Is­lam­ic law).

“With every­thing, there will al­ways be some­one who will push a neg­a­tive nar­ra­tive,” Pinky ex­plains.

“I choose to dis­re­gard and not dwell on the neg­a­tive com­ments or at­ti­tudes di­rect­ed to­wards me. In­stead, I fo­cus on main­tain­ing a pos­i­tive mind­set and not al­low­ing the opin­ions or ac­tions of oth­ers to af­fect my sense of self-worth or con­fi­dence.”

That pos­i­tive mind­set is en­hanced dur­ing the month of Ra­madan, a time when she prac­tices spir­i­tu­al dis­ci­pline to be­come a bet­ter per­son.

“I am find­ing fast­ing to be pro­gress­ing quite well; praise be to God, Al­ham­dulil­lah,” she says

“My eyes are wa­ter­ing as I think about the fact that it will soon come to an end. It’s a bit­ter­sweet mo­ment for me.”

Thomas, who al­ways loved make-up, ini­tial­ly did not con­sid­er it a ca­reer.

“I dis­cov­ered my pas­sion for make-up when I wit­nessed its trans­for­ma­tive pow­er; it ig­nit­ed a deep love for en­hanc­ing women’s con­fi­dence and beau­ty in­side of me,” she ex­plains.

“I am large­ly self-taught in most of my en­deav­ours; how­ev­er, I ini­tial­ly start­ed my ca­reer in make-up un­der the guid­ance of pro­fes­sion­al make-up artist Ar­lene Vil­larule and renowned make-up artist Bun­tri­cia Bas­t­ian.”

In 2013, Pinky won an in­ter­na­tion­al make-up com­pe­ti­tion host­ed by Mo­tives Cos­met­ics. Bas­t­ian, of Bun­tri­cia Bas­t­ian In­ter­na­tion­al Hands, who had seen Pinky’s work, called her di­rect­ly.

“She flew me to Ja­maica, where she was host­ing a con­fer­ence,” Pinky says.

“First­ly, I was greet­ed at the air­port as if I were a celebri­ty; there were peo­ple hold­ing up flash cards to wel­come me to Ja­maica. Which was un­ex­pect­ed,” she said, laugh­ing out loud.

“The class was an amaz­ing op­por­tu­ni­ty for me be­cause it was the first time I vis­it­ed a Caribbean is­land oth­er than my own.

“On the last night of the class, we had a huge din­ner, and it was that night that I felt my pores raise, and the feel­ing of joy, ex­cite­ment, and ap­pre­ci­a­tion over­whelmed me.

“Miss Bas­t­ian asked me to join her in­ter­na­tion­al make-up team. Her speech about me was phe­nom­e­nal; she de­scribed me in a way I’ve nev­er heard be­fore.”

As the say­ing goes, the rest is his­to­ry. For the past ten years, Pinky has been do­ing make-up pro­fes­sion­al­ly.

In 2014, she launched her own line, Think Pinké Cos­met­ics, which of­fers silky smooth face primers, vi­brant liq­uid lip­sticks, face pow­ders, brush sets, eye­lash­es, and more.

“At Think Pinké Cos­met­ics, we be­lieve that make-up is more than just a way to en­hance your fea­tures,” Pinky says.

“It’s a trans­for­ma­tive ex­pe­ri­ence that em­pow­ers you to ex­press your unique style and con­fi­dence. Our lux­u­ri­ous make-up line is care­ful­ly craft­ed to in­spire and el­e­vate your beau­ty rou­tine to new heights.

“Each prod­uct in our col­lec­tion is de­signed to make you feel like the best ver­sion of your­self. Whether you’re get­ting ready for a spe­cial oc­ca­sion or sim­ply pam­per­ing your­self on a reg­u­lar day, Think Pinké Cos­met­ics is here to help you shine bright and ex­ude glam­our with every ap­pli­ca­tion. Every brush stroke ig­nites your cre­ativ­i­ty.”

Her tagline is “El­e­vate your beau­ty game, un­leash your in­ner glow, and let your unique bril­liance shine through with Think Pinké Cos­met­ics be­cause you de­serve to look and feel fab­u­lous every day.”

Just re­cent­ly, Pinky was able to ac­com­plish an­oth­er goal.

“A sa­lon has al­ways been my dream,” she says.

“Achiev­ing this new lo­ca­tion was in­spired by my ex­pe­ri­ence teach­ing in Guyana, where I was deeply moved by a for­mer stu­dent’s jour­ney. Their suc­cess fu­elled my de­ter­mi­na­tion to turn my dream in­to re­al­i­ty.”

Her sa­lon is lo­cat­ed at 3 Bam­boo Set­tle­ment, Val­sayn.

Pinky con­tin­ues to teach make-up class­es lo­cal­ly and re­gion­al­ly.

She is cur­rent­ly plan­ning for a cou­ple of up­com­ing events–a ba­sic group make-up class on April 7 and a sip and make-up event on April 28.

Al­so, the Moth­er-Daugh­ter Make-up Work­shop: Beau­ty Bond­ing Time is on May 5.

To reg­is­ter, you can call 785-6132.