You lusted after rainbow hair, you called in all the favours you could with your NRI cousins to get first dibs on the Kylie Lip Kits, and you dutifully ditched contouring and began sandbagging because Kim Kardashian said so.
If you’ve been blindly following Western make-up trends and expecting them to work for you in the Indian climate, you’ve already reserved a well-earned spot in make-up maestro Mickey Contractor’s bad books. Over high tea at the M.A.C Spring/Summer 2017 collection preview (out in April), he discussed all the mistakes that Indian women are making with their make-up preferences.
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Remember those beauty vlogs that swore that the secret to sculpted cheekbones lay in generous doses of brown contouring? Not so much for the Indian skin. In principle, the technique may be correct, but the amount of product to be applied differs in various countries depending on the climate and humidity.
Layering up
Tempting as it may be to paint layer after layer of foundation until those blemishes are history, but you won’t catch us placing any bets on its longevity. It may look fine in the mirror when you’re leaving the house, but heavy layering creates a cake-like mask on your face that falls apart and cracks in about half an hour.
Colour, colour, all day, every day
When it comes to experimenting with colours, there isn’t much room for rules or diktats. Mickey is big on experimenting, but he advises a word of caution when playing around with various colour palettes. Yes, aqua blue looks insanely fun and peppy on a pale-skinned model on the runway, but a darker shade of blue may be necessary to make it stand out against the Indian skin tone. Control the colour temperatures of your overall look in your head, he advises.
Gloss is a tricky double-edged sword to play with, when you factor in the oily skin that generally plagues Indian women. (Thanks humidity; we owe you a bunch) But Mickey recommends letting go of your safe matte anchor and dipping a toe in the pond of glossy make-up. Dewy skin is the order of the day, and do not get us started on the difference it can make in your post-workout selfies. The trick lies not in going glossy all over, but applying a slash of dewiness at key areas of your face that’ll catch the light.
Using the wrong foundation
Stepping out like you’ve been baking with flour is not a good look on anybody. And yes, we are all repeat offenders. Stop opting for products that’ll make you look fairer, and instead meticulously match your foundation with your skin tone. No excuses.
Using shortcuts to cheat a glow
In a bid to cop the lightbulb-like glow sported by celebrities, women tend to apply cream blusher all over the cheeks. So what’s going to wrong with that? A lot, as it turns out. The product isn’t meant to be coming so close to your nose, for starters. As your body heat gets to your cream-based blushers, the components begin to bleed. Hello, Oily Town.
