Her Campus spoke to Trishna Daswaney, Management Studies student and Co-owner of KohlKreatives, a charitable hair and makeup company. We were lucky enough to have Trishna help us at our recent Fashion Party in aid of Coppafeel, and were intrigued to hear that she regularly gives a huge chunk of her profits to charity, as well as personally helping people with illnesses who want to feel a bit more comfortable in their own skin. Trishna told us about the charity side of her work and also let us delve in to her own makeup bag!
Tell us about KohlKreatives and what makes you guys different.
We’re a company, started in 2012, that specialises in creative makeup. We don’t do so much of the natural looking makeup, but more of the weird and wacky! We’re different because we work to help people with various disabilities and diseases, from cancer to alopecia. Our biggest market is women with cancer; we basically recreate the features that they lose through their disease and treatment, and make them feel a bit more comfortable in themselves again.
I work with my great friend Ruqaiyyah, who specifically works on hair; KohlKreatives would be nothing without her. I stress a lot when we are doing big events, but she remains much calmer than me and is also much more assertive.
What spurred you on to do this in aid of charity?
It started when I watched My Sisters Keeper. The scene where Kate leaves for the ball with her hair and makeup done really hit hard. It was clear that she felt so much better about herself because she didn’t look like her illness, and I wanted to be able to give that feeling to other people.
So is the charity aspect mainly focused around making-up people with these illnesses?
That is part of it – although it is very much about teaching them how to do their makeup for themselves. It’s the same principle as the saying: ‘you can give a fish to a village and feed them once, or teach them how to fish and feed them for a lifetime’. This way they leave with the skills and confidence to do their own makeup every day if they want to! I normally make over half the face while talking them through it, and then guide them through as they do the other half.
It’s a great service, not least because the customer gets to keep any product that I use on them! Because cross-contamination and infection is a big worry for people who are seriously ill, we can’t use a product on more than one person, even if we change brushes.
The other aspect of charity is the fundraising events (like the Fashion Party that Her Campus did for Coppafeel) and editorial photoshoots. With these shoots I split my profit in half, and give 50% to charity.
You must come into contact with a lot of interesting people?
Loads! One person who sticks in my memory is a man who had received some awful injuries when he worked in the army. About half of his face was disfigured in an explosion, and he was due to get married soon. I worked with him to teach him how he could rebuild some of his features, because he really wanted to look like his old self for his wedding day.
Which miracle products are in your own make-up bag?
I love Naked 2 by Urban Decay – their neutrals are great but I also love the matte black shade. Urban Decay eyeshadows are great because they are pigmented whereas a lot of brands aren’t. This means their colour is a lot richer!
NARS tinted moisturiser is brilliant if you want a more natural, dewy look – which I personally much prefer. Tinted moisturiser avoids the cakey look that foundation sometimes has.
For lips I really like MAC – they have great matte lipsticks in so many different shades!
You’ve woken up late – which one product will you not leave the house without?
A hair bobble! Considering I do hair and makeup for a living, I’m surprisingly relaxed with making myself up – I look homeless most of the time!
Where do you see KohlKreatives going in the future?
I love what we’re doing at the moment – fundraising and helping people really is the best bit of my job, and if anything I want to make lots more bookings so that we can reach more people!
I’d also love to launch my own products line, but this is quite a long-term ambition. I launched a brush line a while ago but global patents make it difficult – this isn’t too big a problem for me to overcome though!
Edited by Luisa Parnell