A change for the better

       Leaving his hometown of Marseille, Jean Christophe "JC" Blachere has lived in the Middle East, Hong Kong and is now happily based in Jakarta. The agile JC,who speaks fluent English, says that Mediterranean people share certain values with Asians and being married to an Indonesian enables him to empathise with Asians.
       Together, they distribute Make Up For Ever in Indonesia, while JC also oversees the cosmetics brand business in the Middle East and the AsiaPacific. For 15 years, he has been driving Make Up For Ever's international development ever since he first met its founder, Dany Sanz, when she wanted to enter the Middle Eastern market.
       From her, he discovered his passion for makeup,leading him to close down his export consultancy firm in order to completely take on the challenges of the highly competitive cosmetics industry.
       JC was recently in Bangkok in his capacity of regional director for a big celebration - Make Up For Ever's 25th anniversary party held by Oranuj Wongprecha, managing director of Pre &Prom, the exclusive distributor in Thailand. The event took place at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club on Henri Dunant Road, and opening the party, he presented the history of the brand,which actually began from showbiz makeup.
       A painter and a sculptor, Dany Sanz was doing sets for a theatrical production when the producer asked her to reproduce what she was painting on the bodies of the chorus line. She couldn't do it with acrylic paint, and had to find safer products,resulting in the creation of her own makeup line.
       "Her works included doing makeup for theatre,cabaret, TV and cinema, catwalks, photo shoots,body painting and aquatic ballet. Dany brought a world of knowledge into the brand. For example,as a sculptor she applied shading and highlighting to sculpting the face, which is something specific to Make Up For Ever.And through her makeup, we're applying it to help make women bring out the best of their lovely features,"said the business executive, who was an ardent student of the prominent makeup artist.
       Did you have other aspirations?
       I remember telling my mum that I wanted to go to hotel school in order to become a chef. She was a secondary school teacher and her response of course was,'Forget it, you're going to do science'. And when my mother said 'No' there was no point in discussing it.
       So I went on to study mechanical engineering, followed by doing an MBA a few years afterwards. And to be frank,I have to thank her otherwise I would have ended up as a chef, instead of being on this adventure with Make Up For Ever.
       Tell us about your Middle Eastern adventure.
       For instance, I decided to go and work in Egypt, even though people told me that it wasn't an easy place to live. Living there for two years turned out to be an enriching experience, and I found the Egyptians warm and caring. Even though an unequal society didn't give them an easy life, they were relaxed and happy all the time.
       It taught me not to have preconceived ideas and to discover people and places by myself.That's why I love travelling.
       How did an export consultant ended up being Dany's student?
       I had my own consultancy firm, helping French companies export their products to the Middle East, and worked with Dany Sanz in expanding her family-run business.
       One day, during a marketing seminar I made a special request to Dany. I knew about products and ingredients but I also needed to know how to use them. So I asked her to teach me and she gave me one-to-one lessons.
       I discovered makeup this way, and by learning it from someone like Dany, you become passionate about makeup.
       What did you like about doing makeup?
       I always wanted to do something with my hands. Using my fingers or a brush to blend concealer, eyeshadow, doing makeup is a manual creation.
       During the 15 years at Make Up For Ever, I have unfortunately done less and less makeup because I'mmore involved in the marketing and business side of the company. But I still love to work on doing makeup, whenever I have the chance.
       What's an important quality of a good makeup artist?
       You need to communicate well with women,whether models or customers at department stores. You need to understand first what the lady is looking for, which is often not obvious.
       In contrast, most women have a hang-up,something physically that they don't like but nobody else sees. For example, I met a teenager who hated her ears when there was really nothing wrong with them. It's a feeling of insecurity.