One of the India’s leading women entrepreneurs, Shahnaz, was recently honored with the “Outstanding Ayurvedic Innovation Award” by the Indo-British Business Forum in London for promoting India’s ancient system of Ayurveda in a jar around the world.

The Indo-British Business Forum which encourages and recognizes the active role played by the corporate sector and business leaders toward the betterment of society awarded Shahnaz for opening the windows of the world to the healing powers of nature and promoting environmental awareness.

To commemorate the event, the Shahnaz Husain Group presented each guest with a special gift, comprising of a premium Shahnaz formulation, as well as her biography “Flame: The Story of My Mother Shahnaz Husain” written by her daughter, Nelofar Currimbhoy.

About the award, Shahnaz, said, “Receiving the prestigious Indo-British Business Form Award is recognition of my crusader’s zeal and my relentless efforts to take Ayurveda to every corner of the globe. For me, it will be a dream come true to see Brand India and Ayurveda lead the international cosmetic industry in the 21st century.”

The brand’s creative make up director Tom Pecheux led a team of 15 makeup artists to create the stunning look on 30 models along with famed manicurist Jin Soon Choi and her team polishing nails with the new Estée Lauder pure Color Nail Lacquer..

Back stage at the Derek Lam spring 2013 we caught up with the legendary make up artist who’s been in the industry for almost 2 decades and decodes for us some fashion & make-up queries.

QA with Tom Pecheux

How would you describe the make-up look for this show?
Very feminine, very elegant, but very discreet. It’s very pastel, I will call it, “aqua color”. You discover the subtle color, the subtle shimmer, little by little. It’s a make-up for a woman who is very self confident, who likes to be made up, who likes to be sophisticated, who is playful, but also who likes to be discreet.

How did the clothing influence the look?
When you are a makeup artist and you work for a fashion show, of course you work with a designer, the most important things are the clothes, but at the end it’s women who are wearing the clothes, so the overall look is important. Clothes, hair, make-up, accessories and since for this season the collection is very luxurious and colorful, it was important to keep the makeup in the same mood but in a very subtle and gentle way. I didn’t want the woman to become too colorful, too playful, too much. We like elegance, we don’t like to "show off."

Would you say it’s an understated look?
The look is pretty minimal. What you see looks minimal, but the work is not and that’s because we work on every part of the face. The only thing we didn’t use, which most women do, is mascara. Everything else is there. Skin care, foundation, concealer, lipstick, shimmer, contour, eyebrow, eye-shadow – so the result looks minimal, but the work is not.

How long have you been working with Derek?
For about 10 years.

What is it like to work with him?
It is getting better and better because we have become good friends outside of work. We know each other and we understand each other, and he makes it very easy. You know when you are close to people, you can speak truly: "I like, I don’t like, I think it’s not quite there yet". When you like people, you want to please the people you work with and we are both very happy to work together. And of course, if I can help Derek in any way to make his woman more beautiful and to complete his collection I am thrilled to be there.

How does it work with Derek? How much direction does he tend to give you?
Derek always appears very serene. He is very quiet. So he delivers alot without talking a lot. The words he chooses are always very sharp and very neat. Also his collection is very sharp and very neat. When clothes say a lot, the designer does not have to say a lot. He generally doesn’t tell me anything specific, more like a mood, the type of woman he would like to see on the runway. We communicate very well because we know each other very well. That is the beauty of working with somebody that you trust and that you know, but who still every time surprises you. Every collection with Derek is a surprise – the fabrics he uses, the way he shapes them and the woman he creates. He reinvents himself every season, but at the end it’s a Derek Lam woman. Even if the collections are different each season.

Can you talk about the different products you were using?
I’m using a few products that I really like. I am using three products on the eyes, and I am using those two products on the lips. They are new products called shadow paints. They are creamy, and they dry on your eyelid, so they are very stable afterwards. And why do I use eyeshadow on the lips? Because basically it’s a creamy eyeshadow, and lipstick is a creamy product, so, the texture is very similar. Except that lipstick doesn’t dry. This dries on the lips so it is very stable. And I used to cook, and I love to cook, so I like to cook make-up. I know people who like to make some rules. I don’t know if I necessarily like to break the rules, but I like to play with the rules;*