Look your best, beautiful

This Valentine’s Day, look your best with these easy make-up looks

The day of love is almost upon us and it’s time to look your best for your special someone. Here are some make-up ideas for you to try:

For the day look

What you need: Tinted moisturiser or foundation or compact powder, eye pencil or kajal or eyeliner, mascara, lipstick/lip gloss. Products with matte (non-shiny) finish are better for the day.

Get it right: Line your eyelids with brown or grey eyeshadow. This gives a softer effect for the day. Then, apply mascara, which helps to make the eyes look darker and brighter. For your lips, use light pastel colours like mauve, brown or pink, provided it complements your skin colour. If you have a sallow complexion, avoid shades of orange and go for pinks. If you like, you can wear only lip gloss. To add glamour and shimmer to day make-up, apply a light shadow like mauve or light brown over the entire area. Then use dull gold or silver shadow on the upper lid, closer to the lashes, and also to highlight under the brows.

For the evening look

What you need: Foundation, tinted powder matching the foundation or compact powder, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner/kajal/eye pencil, mascara, lipstick.

Get it right: If you have a dark complexion, go for plum, wine or burgundy as lipstick colours. If you have a fair complexion, use beige, pink or orange undertones. Dark brown or dark grey eyeshadow can be applied over black eyeliner for a muted effect. To add glamour, use mauve or pink eyeshadow, instead of brown or grey, with silver or gold highlights. Go for the smoky eyes look. After applying eyeshadow, apply the eyeliner close to the lashes on the upper eyelid. Then smudge it with a cotton bud. Then apply a dark shadow over it and blend it outwards and slightly upwards. Apply liner just below lower lashes, smudge it and then apply eyeshadow. Use gold or silver highlight under the brow bone.

For the night look

What you need: Moisturiser, foundation, powder, blush, eyeshadow, mascara, eyeliner/eye pencil/kajal, lipstick, glitter in gold or silver. Gold or silver eyeshadow can be used to highlight.

Get it right: While choosing a foundation for very fair to ivory skin, go for beige with a rosy tint. If your complexion is fair but sallow (yellowish), avoid pink tones and go for beige or biscuit. For reddish complexion, a softer beige will help. Olive complexions look better with brownish beige, while for brown and dark skins, try out foundation colours in natural brown tones.

Where lips are concerned, vibrant colours suit dark complexions. Avoid very pale colours. If you have a fair complexion, avoid very dark colours. For normal Indian complexion, go for warm earthy colours like coral, wine, plum, strawberry, orange, tangerine, red and shades of red. A dark pink or rose-red would look good, too. Blusher colours need not match lip colours exactly, but it should be in the same colour tone. For example, if you have worn an orange-toned lipstick, avoid pink blush. For fair skin, try pinks and reds. If you have a sallow complexion, avoid orange.

For olive complexions, colours like rose, coral, russet, amber, copper are flattering, while plum, wine, bronze and burgundy may suit darker complexions. Brown shadow may be applied on the lids and a darker brown in the crease of the eyes. Use gold highlights.To add glamour, use gold foundation to add a golden glow to the skin. Then apply a golden tinted powder. For glamorous eye make-up, use brown, bronze and gold eyeshadow. Apply dark brown eyeshadow in the crease of the lids to add depth.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

(The author is a beauty expert)