Christy Anyanwu
She is very passionate about making one look good and real. During her career as a banker, her interest had always tilted towards having a beauty line. During the recent Mother’s Day celebration, she transformed some roadside sellers to being a bunch of beauties after a make-over session. In an interview with Saturday Sun, she talked about the beauty of make-up and why she picked roadside sellers for beauty transformation to mark Mother’s Day.
Can you tell us more about you?
Chinenye Nlemadim is my name. A graduate of Abia State University where I bagged a bachelor degree in Banking and Finance and I had a second degree from School of Media and Communication, Pan African University now Pan Atlantic University. I have Master’s in Marketing Communication. I worked in some financial institutions as a marketing executive before I decided to run my own business. I have been a make-up entrepreneur for the past six years.
Why did you resign from the financial institution?
I just wanted to discover myself. I have always had this passion in entrepreneurship. I always wanted to do my own thing. My husband also works in a financial institution and we have little kids. We leave home from 6 am to 9 pm every day. It wasn’t healthy; one of us has to run a business or at least make out time for the kids. Since I always have that flair to run my own business, I decided to take that bold step in 2012.
Tell us about your journey into Paula Beauty?
When I stopped work was when I went for my masters. After my masters, I took in for my second baby. That was when I picked up interest in being a makeup artist and since I have always had a flair for beauty, I decided to train for it.
Were you a banker and makeup artist at the same time?
No. I had resigned from the bank. It was when I resigned that I didn’t know what to do at first but I just knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, what exactly I wasn’t sure. Three months after I had my daughter, I went for a makeup class. after the training, I was just practising on myself , going to Youtube to upgrade myself and at the same time, I wasn’t really sure I want to go into it fully until I went for a makeup conference. There was this lady that came from abroad. She gave a talk on why makeup is very lucrative. If you do it make sure you sell it. That hit me so good. Immediately, I started with Milani cosmetics. I registered as a distributor. I started selling. Then, I noticed that people actually bought more from me because they saw me as someone who could do makeup and would know more about powder. I was selling and having more fun selling it because a lot of people when they want to buy powder foundation, they keep asking me the ones to buy. I find it very interesting. Lately, I decided to venture into my own makeup line.
So what is the name of your makeup line?
Paula Beauty. For now, we started with waterproof gel liners. It’s pencil gel eyeliner. You can sharpen it. At the same time, it’s waterproof. Even under sweat, it doesn’t clean up. It can last you as long as you want. We also have auto brow gel eyeliner. When you use it, you don’t have to worry about your brow cleaning up after you sweat. With the eyeliner you are good to go for the whole day.
Why do you think a woman should use makeup?
Makeup is just to enhance our natural beauty. It doesn’t make you more beautiful, it just enhances it. Put a glow on your face, makes you smile a little. It’s natural. It’s been there since ages. There’s always been a form of makeup for women. This makes every woman happy. It’s something I know that puts a smile on every woman; it makes you have this self-confidence that you are ok.
Some makeup makes women look too artificial, what is your take on that?
I think people should actually know when to draw the line. Makeup should look as natural as possible, just to enhance your beauty and not to change your look. So, if you have anyone doing your makeup in such a way you don’t like, it’s right for you to call the person to order. Tell the person to use the colour of foundation that matches your skin colour. You want your lipstick nude or a little bit flashy. Make sure you tone it down and it also rhymes with what you are wearing in your eyes.
We should go for good products. There are quality brands, and there are fake ones. Some want to use fake products, some people just go for the cheapest products. This is not right, especially when it has to do with the eyes. That is one of the reasons I came out with water proof eyeliner. I have issues with eyeliner a lot. Once I use eyeliner and it’s not good enough, I feel this pepperish thing all day in my eyes. That was the reason I start off my brand with eyeliner. I want to get it right. I wanted something that is healthy and safe, and thank God I did. Always insist on quality products.
What is a must-have makeup for every woman?
For me, my eyeliner, my lip gloss, the brow define your face as well. Every woman should have the brow pencil, eyeliner and the lip gloss.
Where does one get your products from?
We have a physical office at Adelabu in Surulere. In Abuja, we have two major distributors. We also have a major distributor in Port Harcourt.
You held a programme to celebrate Mother’s Day, can you talk about it?
Our programme for Mothering Sunday was all about showcasing how beautiful every woman is. I’m someone that always believes that every woman is beautiful. At times, circumstances might just make it look like you are not beautiful enough, maybe because of what you are going through. So, the idea is actually to bring out the beauty in every woman. To look at the groundnut seller on the road, the roasted yam/plaintain seller under the hot sun roasting yam and people in that category. We just want to bring out that beauty in her, show the world how beautiful she is, using our products. The idea is appreciating mothers and her beauty. Mothers go through a lot. We go through a lot rearing children, and even forget to take care of ourselves. Even appreciating yourself is the least you want to do. You are bothering about your kids, how to hustle to make them fine. We just did that make-over for these underprivileged women to appreciate women generally.