While doing makeup, creating edgy haute couture with special effects as her signature, Cindy Suryadji likes to keep things simple.

Courtesy of Cindy Suryadji

Cindy believes that less makeup doesn’t mean less beautiful. For her, beauty is unique and there are different ways to show it. After reaching a certain age, she said, women have to put on makeup. While putting on makeup to reveal their beauty, she said, every woman could still keep her own identity.

“Women don’t have to go out with full makeup. Beauty is simplicity,” she told the Sunday Post recently.

“Just because there is a commonly known standard that beauty includes full makeup, lipstick and fake eye lashes, doesn’t mean that everyone will look good with them on.”

Cindy said that she loved to make neutral bases with smoky eyes.

“I love creating a natural look with foundation, which actually is a lot of work,” she said.

Cindy herself only needs 10-15 minutes to make herself up every day. She tries to apply make up that can last for the whole day, especially since she never brings makeup in her purse.

Spending almost half her life abroad, particularly in the United States and France, Cindy knows how practicality and simplicity can help her through the day. Her parents sent Cindy to Boston, the US, when she was 14 years old.

Growing up as a tomboy, Cindy said that her passion for make up slowly grew when she had acne during her high school years. She began searching for cosmetics that could cover up the acne without worsening it.

“I started buying cosmetics and learned about the cosmetology and the texture of the make up. I also had interests in beauty magazines, the first one was Allure,” she said.

Since her curly hair also required special treatment, she also learned to do hair clamping and trimming through YouTube videos.

“I could not go to hairdresser in the US everyday as it was too expensive. I wanted to study it seriously,” she said.

She later studied industrial design, and got the chance to take psychology. She returned to Indonesia between 2003 and 2005 and got a job at Christie’s. Her boss recommended her to get an education at Christie’s in Paris, France. So in 2005, she left for the City Of Lights, where she learned art and painting while doing internships at art galleries.

However, after a while, she realized painting was not her passion. She talked to a friend and was encouraged to take short courses on makeup. After reading the brochures, she ended up taking the two-year  course. She enrolled at the Institut Technique du Maquillaqe, Forum MakeUp and Ecole Internationale de Coiffure.

“The schools allow the students to do internships. Usually we were sent to do make up for TV shows, for children’s face painting event or even fashion shows. When I graduated, I had a great CV,” she said.

On her second year in school, there was an open audition for a Calvin Klein Make Up event. Of hundreds of applicants, Cindy was one of those selected. It was, as Cindy put it, one of her happiest moments.

“When I chose to enroll in the makeup school, my parents opposed the decision. They wanted me to have a more commonly known profession, such as lawyer. They didn’t support me financially. I told them that I would still do it anyway. So I took my savings, sold several things and even worked as a waitress to make ends meet,” she said.

After Cindy got the Calvin Klein job, her parents saw that she was doing well and appreciated her hardship. Now that her parents have given their support and consent, Cindy sees that the upcoming challenge is that the industry has yet to be ready for her style of makeup.

“However, in my opinion, it is the right time to enter Indonesia because the film industry and the fashion industry are blooming. Perhaps the industry will need my skills. I hope that I can improve my skills too,” she said.

She recently held an exhibition titled “Saigner a Blanc”, a French term for bleeding, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta where she showcased photos and a short film on her works.

“I wanted to make an exhibition to show my signature style, which is haute couture that is edgy with special effects. I want to give new perspectives to Jakarta’s make up industry,” she said.

As the title implies, the works presented in the exhibition have one thing in common: blood. For the photo section, Cindy displayed six photos, with two photos under one category. The first category is theatrical make up, which featured actress Marsha Timothy and singer Camelia Malik.

Cindy applied full color block face painting on one side of Marsha’s face, while the other side had a natural look with one bloody tear trickling down her cheek. For Camelia, Cindy used the geisha look with blood-colored lips.

“People usually associate face painting with childlike activities, for example, Halloween. I want to show that face painting can be beautiful with an edgy touch,” Cindy said.

The second category is special effect film featuring twin sisters Amanda and Janna Soekasah, who were made as if they had just had a fierce sibling rivalry, with blood over their faces.

Cindy’s parents were featured in the third category, dubbed as human transformation, in which the make up artist created a scenario where her parents look 20 years older with silicon chins, fake noses, hair dyed white and fake age lines. In the photos, her mother has a bloody wound on her temple, while her father had a bleeding, broken nose.

“We usually associate blood with horror movies. But for me, blood creates a beautiful look. That’s the edge I want to present here,” she said.

For the film, Cindy shows a boxer at the crossroads, either he continues fighting or died.     

Having wrapped up the exhibition and film, Cindy said she actually learned a lot from her Indonesian colleagues. For example, she said, when she applied artificial blood, her colleagues told her that they usually used soy ketchup mixed with several other ingredients.

“Indonesians are creative and resourceful. They can create the best out of the simplest equipment. If I were working in Paris, the director would buy a more sophisticated camera to make slow motion scenes instead of getting the model to move slower. I would be very thrilled if the industry here made good use of my skills,” she said.

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