What's your evening do?

Every month, Living carries a column on beauty tips by our aromatherapist, Blossom Kochhar. Send in your queries to dhliving @gmail.com.

Today’s woman is a busy person, with little time to groom herself and look sizzling. In the evenings, a working woman needs to have a quick and hassle-free make-up routine.

But before every quick and hassle-free make-up schedule, there is no skipping the part where your face must be  washed with a cleanser that suits your skin type. Apply a moisturiser if your skin is dry or a toner if your skin is oily. Use rose water if your skin is normal.

Apply a concealer, that is one shade lighter, around the eyes, the corner of the mouth and on areas that are blemished. Blend the remaining concealer with a little shimmer foundation.

If you are fair-skinned, use a pearly-pink tinted foundation and a gold /bronze line. If you have a wheatish complexion, dust a little foundation/compact, specially on the T-zone.

Dust a bronzer on the cheek bones using a brush in the shape of a teardrop. This gives the bronzer a uniformed application.

Apply a mixture of cream and powdered eye shadow (pinks and peaches) on the centre of the eyelid and blend it upward.  Take some of the same blusher and smudge it around the corner of the eyelids.

If you want, you can blend in another colour to give it shading. Now highlight  brow bones under the eyebrows, comb the eyebrows and curl your lashes.

Brush some eyelash primer and on top of that apply mascara to give extra length and volume. Apply kaajal to define your eyes and smudge it with dark grey or dark purple to get a smoky effect.

Define your lips with a lip pencil. Fill your lips with fuschia pink or a peachy pink and top it up with shine gloss. Massage a glimmer body gloss gel even on your shoulder and arms to give a healthy glow.

Some tips

Your evening make-up must be subtle and natural. Eye make-up should be waterproof. The make-up should blend very well with your dress and personality.
To ensure your eye make-up does not smudge, dust a bit of talcum powder once you are done applying kaajal.

For Indian brides

The Indian wedding is a grand and momentous affair. It is every girl’s dream to look the most beautiful that evening and she needs to start preparing for D-day much in advance.

She must take care of her diet and nutrition so that her skin looks absolutely flawless. Bridal make-up should be according to the season and time of the year.

There are certain things to be kept in mind when working on the right look for the big day. Make-up should be long-lasting and water proof. It should seem as natural as possible and at the same time not too light. It should go very well with the attire and the bride’s personality.

Begin by cleaning the skin with a cleanser that is chosen according to your skin type. Apply a moisturiser to smoothen your skin. Apply concealer on the areas wherever required like under the eyes or on acne marks.

There are some scars and dark circles and blemishes, which need to be hidden. On top of this, use a foundation which is a shade lighter than your skin colour. Spread it evenly, taking care that you cover the neck areas also.

It is very important to blend this foundation evenly near the corner of your lips, around the nose, near the eyes and the hairline.

Dust loose powder on top of this and brush it off after a while with a powder brush. Apply an eye shadow base on the eyelids. You can go with a grand colour such as gold or silver dust, which blends well with your bridal trousseau.

Apply a dark colour around the eyes, one that matches your dress colour. Make  a crease line and blend towards the outer corners of the eyes. If you want, you can blend in another colour to give shading. All these colours could be glittery to give that bridal effect.

Highlight under the brow line and on the tip of the eyeballs. Now apply an eyeliner and mascara (which should be water proof) to the lashes. You could dust some powder on the lashes to give that thicker look before applying mascara.

Now apply blush on with the help of a blusher brush. You can now do the bridal bindi, depending on the colour of the dress. This should be the last step and the bindi should depend on the structure of your face.