A leading name in Faisalabad’s beauty industry, Eram has earned a reputation for her refined artistry, timeless bridal transformations, and unwavering commitment to excellence. As the founder and creative force behind Signature by Eram, she has built a brand synonymous with luxury, trust, and exceptional craftsmanship.
Eram reflects on her journey, the evolution of bridal beauty, and the vision that continues to inspire every signature look.
What inspired you to start this journey, and what was your original vision?
Honestly, when I started there wasn’t really a beauty industry here in Faisalabad. Not a serious one, not anything organised. But I kept meeting these women who just wanted to be looked after properly. Not rushed through, not sold things they didn’t need, just actually cared for. So what I wanted was pretty simple really. A place where the same hands work on you year after year, where you walk in and everyone knows you, and where if you don’t need something we’ll tell you. That’s it. That was the whole idea. And it’s funny, twenty four years on, it’s still the same idea. The salons, the clinic, everything, it all came out of that.
How do you stay ahead of trends while maintaining your own identity?
My team trains all the time, we’re always looking at new techniques, new products. But before any of it reaches a client I ask one thing. Is this actually good for her, or does it just look good right now? And if it’s just the second one, it doesn’t make it in. I think that’s the thing that’s kept us feeling like us all these years.
Your philosophy on timeless vs trend-driven bridal looks?
A bride should be able to look at her wedding photos ten years later and still love them. She shouldn’t look back and just see whatever was trendy that year, she should see herself. Every bride is beautiful in her own way, honestly, and I feel very lucky that I’m the one who gets to help her see that. So I never cover a girl up. I start with her actual face, her own features, and I build everything around that. Not around Instagram.
What defines luxury in the beauty industry today?
People think luxury is the price, or the fancy interior, but I don’t think it ever really was that. For me it’s being understood. It’s coming in and someone already knowing how you like your hair, the kind of looks you go for, what makes you feel comfortable sitting in that chair. I want a client to feel like the whole thing was done for her, not just booked and done. And sometimes, honestly, the luxury is us telling you the truth. Even when the truth is you don’t need this. You can’t fake that or rush it. It takes years, and that’s exactly what we’ve put in.
How has digital media changed your business?
It’s changed how people find us, definitely. But what keeps them, that hasn’t changed at all, that’s still just trust. The difference now is that people usually see us on their phone first, way before they ever come in. Which is nice in a way, because it finally lets us show off my team’s work. People can actually see what we can do and get a bit inspired by it. We never had that before.
Most challenging phase, and the lesson it taught you?
Covid. Easily. We had to shut all the salons to keep everyone safe, and for a business like ours, where everything depends on people actually coming in, that was frightening. But our team means everything to me, they always have, and there was no way I was cutting anyone’s pay. So we figured something else out. We started making up at home kits and sending them right to the clients’ doors. It kept things ticking over, and more importantly it meant nobody on staff was left struggling during a really hard time. That whole thing taught me something I already sort of knew but really felt then. The business is only ever as strong as the people in it.
How do you build a culture of creativity, consistency, and excellence in your team?
The best thing we have isn’t a service, it’s that our people don’t leave. So many of our senior artists and stylists have been here for years, some more than ten, and let me tell you, that just doesn’t happen in this industry. We got there by treating training like something worth spending on, not a cost to cut, and by actually giving people ownership of their work instead of treating them like they’re easily replaced. And there’s always more to learn anyway, this industry never sits still. We do these panel discussions at all our branches where we just sit and listen, take in new ideas, hear straight from customers what they think. I mean it when I say I learn something new pretty much every day.
Rapid Fire
Bridal glam or soft natural beauty?
Neither honestly, timeless, whatever suits the bride.
One makeup product you can’t live without?
Huda Beauty Easy Bake, and a Dior highlighter.
Biggest beauty trend you wish would disappear?
Overly done faces.
Celebrity whose makeup style you admire most?
Anne Hathaway.
Three words that define Signature by Eram?
Trusted, Timeless, Personal.
How do you encourage clients to embrace individuality while enhancing natural features?
We’ve never had one set look that everyone walks out with. That’s just not us. The first thing we do is listen. We ask what she wants to feel, not only what she wants to look like, and then we work with her features instead of against them. And the compliment I’m really after for her isn’t I love your makeup, or I love your hair. It’s just someone saying, you look beautiful.
What’s on the horizon, new services, collaborations, expansion?
We’re carrying on with the clinic side of things, bringing in more of the newer tech and products so we stay ahead instead of always catching up. And on a personal note, my daughter Minahil has really been stepping up lately. She trained as a makeup artist herself, and now she’s the one shaping where the brand goes next. That’s honestly been one of the nicest parts of this whole chapter for me.
Advice for aspiring makeup artists and salon owners?
Don’t rush to grow before people actually trust you. I get it, it’s tempting, you want to open more places, drop your prices, jump on whatever’s hot. But the salons that stick around aren’t the loud ones. They’re the ones people trust enough to keep coming back to for years. And don’t ever stop learning. You’re going to mess up, that’s just part of it. Just make sure you learn from it and don’t do the same thing twice.
What legacy do you hope Signature by Eram leaves in Pakistan’s beauty industry?
I hope people remember Signature as a place that lifted women up. The women who came to us, and just as much the women on my team who built their whole careers with us. I hope they remember us for always having the newest technology and really good, high end products, and for doing it properly. But more than anything, I just hope we’re remembered as a name Faisalabad could always trust.
