Let’s face it – it is romantic only when it drizzles and not when it pours. Apart from causing insane traffic jams and keeping you holed up at home, rains also wrecks havoc on your skin. From causing bacterial infection in your toes to dissolving your makeup, rains have a way of removing the romance in the air. Here’s our comprehensive guide to braving the rains with the right makeup and skin care.
Say no to heavy foundation and moisturizers and yes to a tinted moisturizer. It is lightweight and will give you a seamless coverage along with keeping your skin moisturized.
Waterproof everything! From eyeliner to kajal to mascara to blushes, if you can find something in the waterproof range, then apply it.
For your lips try using just the lip pencil. Because it is waxy, it stays put during rains along with giving your lips some colour.
Wash your face at least twice daily. Use a soap-free cleanser and scrub to weed out the pollutants stuck to your skin and to remove dead skin cells.
Use lukewarm water to wash your face, hands and legs.
Drink as much water as you can. It flushes out toxins and keeps your skin healthy.
Use an overnight moisturizing mask to keep your skin hydrated and look beautiful all the time.
Also, get your facials done on time to rejuvenate your skin cells and to keep it supple.
Do not walk barefoot in the rains. It might lead to bacterial infections. Germs, dirt, fungus and bacteria from outside accumulate on your feet and can lead to infections. Another simple way to keep the feet clean is to dip the feet in water to which Dettol or any other antiseptic is added.
As you reach home, wash your feet in warm water and scrub your feet. Post this, apply a foot moisturizer.
Keep your nails short this season. There is a chance of fungal infections attacking the skin underneath your nails due to all the dust and dirt.
Use mild shampoos and conditioners for your hair during the rains.
Apply warm oil to your hair and leave it on overnight to infuse your mane with moisture.
Limit the usage of hairdryer as it strips your hair of essential oils. Instead, opt for a dry towel to remove excess moisture.
Don’t comb or tie your hair when it is wet.
Meet Vejetha Anand, a professional bridal makeup artist with a decade’s worth of experience in bridal, photoshoot and runway scene. She is a Bangalore based salon owner and a beautician who has been weaving magic through her makeup brushes. One look at her bridal makeovers and you know what we are saying. As she continues to transform her brides into their best ever avatar, we asked her to impart her knowledge on bridal beauty! Read on to know more.
Bridal makeovers by Vejetha Anand.
1. How important is it for brides to have a skin care regimen?
2. When should a bride start taking extra care of her skin?
The days prior to wedding are the most exhausting and stressful period. The no-flaw-look cannot be obtained magically. The brides need to stay calm, take enough rest and include these beauty rituals as early as possible in their daily routine.
EXERCISE: Physical activity helps in improving blood circulation, which benefits the skin and hair. The brides need to include some physical activity like yoga or running in their schedule.
HYDRATE: Drinking a few liters of water or fresh fruit juices (without sugar) everyday will cleanse and detox the system. This eventually helps the brides to attain that natural glow.
EAT HEALTHY: The brides need to include fruits and salads in their diet. If required, they should take multivitamins and iron supplements.
SUN SCREEN: It is crutial to protect the skin from the harmful effects of the sun. The skin damaged by sun looks aged and will have spots.
STAY HAPPY: Your happiness shows on your skin! So, don’t forget to stay happy and smile a lot.
Your wedding is a ‘once in a lifetime’ special occasion. It’s time to look your gorgeous best.
3. Are there any specific facials that you suggest for brides who have dry, oily or combination skin?
No amount of make up can match a healthy glowing skin. Take special care of your skin to get that flawless look. To those who are troubled with acne, oily or dry skin, visiting a dermatologist six months before the wedding would help. Remember, medicines or treatments take time to show results.
Regular visits to a parlour or spa to get rid of dead cells, blackheads and tan are a must to get a perfect groomed look.
There are specific and non-metallic facials for each skin type that we recommend at Swank after personal consultation. Do call us to get a personalized skin care regimen.
4. How can a bride fight against acne, pimples and blemishes?
– After consulting a good dermatologist, start using a mild dermabrasive night cream to get rid of blemishes.
5. Do you recommend any special regimen for hands, legs and nails?
While the face and hair get a lot of attention, many brides ignore their hands and feet. Last minute manicure and pedicure can only offer temporary benefits. But to attain that well groomed look, one needs to start grooming themselves beforehand with manicures, pedicures and indulging in some spa treatments such as massages, body exfoliation and extra nourishment for dry cuticles and brittle nails.
On a day-to-day basis we do so much harm to our facial skin that it will take months to repair it. However, by avoiding some of these common beauty mistakes, you will lead your skin on a road to recovery.
Frequent washing: Too much of anything is good for nothing and this holds good for your face too. Frequently washing your face will strip it off its natural oils and will age your skin. Limit it to twice a day and an extra wash pre or post workout.
Exfoliation: It is the key part of taking care of your skin. It helps in removing dead cells on your face and opens up the pores. However, ignoring or overdoing this step results in irritating your skin and messing up its Ph balance. Exfoliate at least once a week at night for best results.
Harsh cleanser: Swap your soap with a non-soap cleanser or face wash. The soap strips your skin of natural oils while the non-soap cleanser will be gentle on your skin. If you have oily, acne-prone skin then use a face wash with salicylic acid.
Sleeping with your makeup on: Beauty rule 101 – ALWAYS remove makeup before you sleep. Makeup clogs your pores and prevents sebum, the lubricant in our skin that moisturizes skin and removes dead skin cells, from doing its job. Leaving eye makeup on causes infection and irritation.
Hot water: Always use either lukewarm or cold water to wash your face, as they are more gentler. Hot water excessively dries out your skin and strips it off its natural oil.
Overusing facial wipes: Facial wipes are convenient for removing makeup or for a quick cleanse after gym. But don’t swap your cleanser with facial wipes, as they cannot thoroughly clean your pores.
Here’s your guide to applying the perfect eye makeup for your eye shape. Learn to highlight, shade and line your eyes the pro way.
Start by applying eyeliner from the inner corners of your eyes all the way to the outside ending in a straight line or small cat eye. Then highlight below the brow bone and the inner corners of your eye with a light eye shadow. To show contrast between the highlighted parts of the eye, take a medium eye shadow color and lightly apply it above your lid. Finally, thickly apply a darker color shadow along the crease of your eye, without going too overboard. Blend the shadow from the outside going towards the middle of the eye in order to give more shape to your lid. Voila! Behold the perfectly shadowed, doe-eye look.
Almond eyes are the most symmetrical—just the effect you’re trying to create with your makeup. If you have almond eyes, you should use the round eye application technique, just mimic the shape of your own eye.
This kind of eyes needs a little lift, hence your eyeliner plays an important role. Apply eye shadow just like the round eye application technique, but the eyeliner has to be thicker. The eyeliner trick is to give it a curve up at the end like a smiley face or a cat eye if you want something a bit more dramatic.
Use the same application techniques as you would for a round eye, but swap the dark shadow for a lighter one. You want to accentuate the highlighted parts of the eye to give the illusion of roundness, but not overpower it with dark shadow.
To make close-set eyes appear wider apart, start by highlighting below your brow bone and inner lid the same as you would for round eyes—what’s different here is the base shadow. Use a medium color and shade a little farther out than the width of the eye in a wide round shape. Then, take the darker color and shade from the outside on top of the crease to give it more contrast. Start your eyeliner at the middle of the lid and extend it out further than your eye in a straight line.
Hooded eyes have an extra layer of skin below the brow that covers the crease and makes the lid seem smaller. They don’t need much highlighting, so start with your light shadow only on the inner corners of your eyes. Then apply a good amount of the medium color to the hooded lid. Go heavy with the dark shade around the crease to give the illusion of a rounder eye and extend your eyeliner further out in order to balance the look. The effect: an envy-inducing gaze.
A monolid eye goes straight from the brow to the eye with no crease. Similar to a hooded eye, you want to apply shadow to make the eye appear bigger and more open. First, exaggerate the highlighting in the inner corners of your eye, going up and out to the center of the eye. Then take your medium color and go above the crease from the outside of the eye creating a round shape. The dark shade should be used in the same motion very lightly to define the shape, but don’t go further in than the center of the eye. When applying liner, keep a steady hand and do a very thin line that gets a bit thicker on the outside.
Photo credits: Pinterest and Google. The images are used only for representational purposes only.