Hairstyle & Makeup Archives - Joan Dee

Contestant of the Miss Universe Malaysia 2014, Shangkharee Casiraghi is no alien to beauty pageants. Not only does she have 6 years of experience walking on stage in beautiful clothes, she is also in her 4^th year of medical studies. We conducted an interview with her recently, to explore her world of actions and beautiful people.

What motivated you to participate in this pageant?

I have been following this pageant very closely after the revamp by Andrea Fonseka. As the winner flourished and took the international stage by storm, I had a little voice in me saying that ‘hey that could be you.’ This is a very big challenge because every year there is only one Miss Universe Malaysia and one Miss Universe. With my competitive nature, it only made sense that I strived to join this pageant. I was my own motivator and then came the support from my mother and best friends.

What are you doing right now? I understand that you are a medical student. Tell us more.

I am in my 4^th year of medical studies in AUCMS and currently I’m doing my practical in Hospital Kulim. Medicine has always been my first love. I love being with people and trying to make their day a little better.

Are your parents supportive with the idea of you being a contestant in a beauty pageant?

I have been blessed with parents who think that their children should decide on what they would like to do. My parents have been very supportive in anything I do. This is my 4^th beauty pageant and they have showed their undying love for all 4 pageants.

Have you had any similar experience prior to Miss Universe Malaysia pageant?

I started off in 2008 with two local beauty pageants. They were both held in September and I won both the titles. One of my judges saw potential in me and urged me to apply for Dewi Remaja. I came in as 2^nd runner up for Dewi Remaja 2010 with Neelofa being the winner and Izara Aisyah as the 1^st runner up. After almost 3 years of break, I’m finally ready to set foot into the pageantry world. I hope to do my best in Miss Universe Malaysia 2014.

What is your idea of beauty?

As cliché as it may sound, I do believe in being beautiful on the inside. Although there are many measures you can take to improve your physical appearance, no amount of make up can cover up a negative personality. When you are a positive person who embraces life and only wants to project love to everyone around, you are BEAUTIFUL. The skin may not grace time as well, but a beautiful person will only grow more radiant with time. There is beauty in everyone, you just need beautiful eyes to see it.

I was told that you’ve lost 12kg within a short time. What would be your daily source of motivation?

Modern day beauty pageants, especially Miss Universe, pay a lot of emphasis on fit girls. Gone are the days when they fancied skinny girls who starved themselves just so they can look ‘beautiful’. A few years ago, I was under the impression that I too should starve. That didn’t take me anywhere and instead led me to a 18kg weight gain. Being a close follower of Miss Universe for the past few years, I awed when the girls paraded their 6 packs and ripped muscles instead of skin and bones down the runway. Our very own, Miss Universe Malaysia 2012, Kimberley Leggett was my inspiration as I saw her transforming right before my eyes, to become a more fit person.

The only thing that keeps me going on a low carbohydrate day or the gruelling workout sessions at the gym, is my burning desire to become Miss Universe Malaysia 2014. Let’s bring the crown home.

Who is your favorite celebrity and why?

I LOVE BEYONCE. I started off liking her ever since the existence of destiny’s child. Over the years she has grown personally and professionally. She is very approachable person. Although she is at the heights of her career and life, she has managed to stay grounded and rooted to her beliefs and principles. I like her because I think I resemble her a lot. She has thought me to always stay focused and aim for the best and nothing less. At the same time, always be a real person, and be down to earth.

Any beauty tips and suggestions for all the soon-to-be brides out there?

I hope that you ladies don’t get too stressed up over the wedding preparation. After all, nothing is as important as the love you will be sharing with you better half and the matrimony that will seal your love till eternity. I hope that the ladies will try to take some time to workout so that you can shed off some stress and look smashing in your wedding gowns. Eat clean (lean meat, vegetables and fruits) and avoid sugary and oily food for overall wellbeing and radiant skin. Make sure you have done a trial of your hair and make-up and see if it suits you (because we don’t want to have last minute bridezilla attack.. roarrrr!!)

Good luck ladies.

It is an unsaid obligation that you will be your sister’s wedding planner or her little wedding helper. Well, the differences between a wedding planner and yourself are:

You are not getting paid. Yup, she won’t be paying you.
You won’t be getting as much respect as the wedding planner (she’s your SISTER!)
You will be working from morning to past midnight because both of you are living under one roof
You will be under a lot of stress and chances are both of you would fight and call the wedding off (just verbally but never actually doing it).

I conducted an interview with Lynda, the younger sister to Kaycee (the bride) who is based in Australia. So, Lynette (the other sister) and Lynda were the two superheroes in making this wedding work. If you are your sister’s wedding planner, read below to find out more on their experience.

What is the ultimate challenge in the whole wedding planning process?

To kick start this interview, I need to point out the fact that I was based in Kuala Lumpur while my family and my sister are located in Penang and Australia. I had to remotely plan her dream wedding. I believe the sourcing of the wedding venue was the biggest challenge of all time and getting the right caterer. My sister is the first person and the first granddaughter in the family to hold a wedding dinner. Everyone wanted a say in how the wedding should be done, but we all agreed on the same theme “When Western Meets Oriental”.

With the theme decided, shouldn’t it be easier to kick start the venue sourcing?

My sister wanted a small and intimate wedding with approximately 15 tables (150pax) and that was the first problem. For hotel wedding dinner, you are required to have a minimum of 30 tables. We went to Rasa Sayang Hotel, G Hotel, Traders Hotel, Evergreen Hotel and many more, but none of them would accommodate us. So we started looking at mansions and ended up at this place called the Peranakan Museum. My grandmother who passed away many years ago was a nyonya. Technically, it is a museum and we spoke to the management and see if they would lease the place out to us for a small wedding. With loads of discussion and luck as well, they agreed. Now, the next problem we noticed was the museum had no tables, chair and limited air conditioning. So, we went around sourcing of marquees, tables, chairs and air cooler, table cloth and decorations. That doubled up the standard workload of a wedding planner! Another thing was that we had to purchase an insurance package to insure the precious goods in the museum. Plus, the museum was operating as usual during the day which meant we were only allowed to set up after operating hours.

That is a unique place and theme to work with. What about the wedding gown to match the theme and venue?

You see, the bride always has an idea of their dream wedding, but putting it into words and paper can prove to be quite a challenge. My sister kept rejecting our ideas, proposals and samples. For example, we had decided to tailor the cheongsam for the dinner and because the bride was in Australia, the fittings could only be conducted a week before the wedding. During fitting, she hated the cheongsam and we went hunting desperately for another tailor to sew another cheongsam with only a week left! My mum and my aunties wore kebayas to the wedding and stood out among the rest of us in cheongsam.

Was there ever a point of time, where you wanted to call off the wedding or quit being the planner?

Well, we fought numerous times throughout the planning process. It was barely six months to plan and prepare the wedding. I enjoyed the whole process, but there were times when I was annoyed and frustrated with amount of work and there was so little time to finish it. But, no, there wasn’t anything serious enough for us to give it up.

After those 5 gruelling months of planning and planning, would you ever be the wedding planner for your family again?

Yes, definitely. I love the experience. Even all those said above, it was a rewarding experience seeing a loved family member going through the process of getting hitched. It was a special moment when it hit me there that my sister would now be officially a member of another family.