JOIN USNeon moves from billboards to cheeks
After accepting their natural skin tone, Indian women are happily experimenting with the newest fads that have come up in terms of not just clothing but also make-up!
Apparel designers have already predicted ‘neon’ as the hot colour for monsoon but it is the craze set by Bollywood divas like Kareena Kapoor Khan and Hollywood crooners like Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez that makes their female fan following experiment with neon make-up.
The question, however, is which neon colour will suit what skin tone and if it suits the Asian skin at all? “Not beyond rampwalks and magazine shoots,” says Puja Taluja, make-up expert who has artistically painted faces of Kareena Kapoor, Riya Sen and Madhuri Dixit. Having worked with fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani, the expert says, “I would not recommend neon make-up for daily wear or even for parties. Its quite dramatic and should not be applied on more than one feature of the face. Though it blends very well with the Asian skin tone, those who are dark complexioned should avoid it,” she advices.
The young crowd, however, is far from heeding any such advice and has already started sporting neon nail paints - to begin with. One can easily spot girls in Delhi University wearing neon orange, green, blue, pink and yellows! “Neon yellow is the latest fad,” informs Nidhi Khurana from Brush Strokes By Nidhi. “Personally I feel that neon nail paints and lip colours can be carried during the day time. There are no rules in makeup but its all about how you do it. For instance, when going out for lunch, a green nail paint and orange liper will look trendy.”
As a simple guide for those who want to try neon make-up, Nidhi says, “Neon yellow and green go well with orange and a neon blue on nails will look good with a pink liper.”
But when it comes to the eye make-up, experts say that Indian girls are afraid to try neon more because they want to restrict themselves to the shimmers for parties. In reality, though, “green and blue neon colours will look good on eyes. Even if you don’t want to try a neon eye shadow, you can just go with an orange or green eye liner on nude eyes,” adds Nidhi. For those with a little fairer skin tone, she suggests orange and pink eyes but for extremely dark skin tone, she discourages use of neon!
The trend is an inspiration from the western countries but “one must try it after slight modification. The key part is to use it right,” says Aakriti Kochar, beauty and make-up expert at Oriflame. “If you overdo neon make-up, you will spoil it,” so one has to keep it in the right proportions. “For a wheatish skin tone, a soft neon purple or a soft wash of neon pink will suit the best for eyes. One can also try a aqua blue eyeliner close to the lashes but the face has to be very clean,” she instructs warning that when applying bright colours on lips, eyes must be minimal. “Also, lips in neon should be defined with a nice lip liner. And a neon pink blush used sparingly on the cheekbones will add a perfect touch,” she suggests dissuading those with darker skin tones to use neon yellow.