It’s a-pout time!

Breaking style rules and going experimental seems to be the buzz this season, and Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s unexpected purple lip colour at the Cannes red carpet has becoming a huge talking point in fashion circles. While the Twitterati have been trolling her left, right and centre, makeup experts believe her bold choice has the potential to become a style statement.

For celebrity makeup artist Rishab Khanna, opting for purple lips at a big event like Cannes is a fantastic idea. He explains, “We have seen a lot of ox-blood, hot red and hot oranges in the past but purple is really new and hot. I am glad that somebody like Aishwarya is experimenting with it. Like red works for almost all skin tones, purple goes well with a variety of skin tones too. It complements Indian skin tones amazingly well.”

Jatin Kapoor, makeup expert with Lakmé Studio, agrees that ombre lips are quite a rage this season and adds, “She nailed it perfectly and I am sure more youngsters will be seen sporting the look in the coming months. She made a bold style statement with the lips, the ponytail and minimal eye makeup. I liked her for going minimalistic even in terms of styling by skipping jewellery and letting her lips do the talking.”

Suggesting some unconventional colours that one can experiment with at red carpet events, Rishab adds, “Black is something that is not commonly worn by people. Vidya Balan wore black lipstick in The Dirty Picture and that’s something that we haven’t seen much in India. It is an evergreen colour coming from the 20s. Smoked purple is another unconventional colour one can opt for.”

Makeup artist Ojas Ranjani argues that Aishwarya being as beautiful as she is, can carry off anything. He says, “She can get away with murder with her light eyes, light skin tone, height and confidence. Whatever she wears with that combination becomes a style statement. And she has the international look to pull it off too — someone with a darker skin tone would look like a freak in that colour.”

Stepping outside the style space, Elton J. Fernandez, official makeup artist, Maybelline New York points out that lipstick is, at the end of the day, a matter of personal choice. “Honestly, kudos to Ash for wearing whatever she feels comfortable in. If she wants to have blue or yellow lips, it’s her mouth and her business. She’s reinventing herself and we should celebrate that process instead of scrutinising it. There’s too much pressure on women to follow beauty standards, and I don’t think that’s smart or called for. It’s about feeling something and making it happen, regardless of what people think,” he concludes.