EVERYDAY MAKEUP GUIDE

Are you the type of person whose daily grooming involves taking a shower, running a comb through your hair and then dash for office/college/school.. or do you like to spend hours before the mirror worrying about whether your coral lipstick goes with your turquoise blue eyeliner. If you are more like the former then this post will help you look better groomed and more radiant without burning a hole in your pocket or spending hours before the mirror. And if you more like the latter then.. well... you can.. read on and gasp and be astonished about how some women can survive a day without primers and eye shadows and contouring. I am writing this post because my sister (who did not inherit the makeup craze gene) wanted a quick and easy makeup routine. Having to manage studies + baby + her house she has little time for makeup.

Before doing makeup you should consider you age, skin type, your occupation and level of activity in daily life.

Age and skin type: Depending on your age and skin type you should choose the products that you will be using. For eg: a teenager with oily skin might need to use foaming face washes which washes away the exta oils and a woman in her thirties or fouties might need to use an anti aging moisturiser before starting makeup. Also the products that work for oily skin might not work on dry or sensitive skin. Choose your face products carefully and always buy a new product after reading reviews about it. A product that works for your best friend might not work for you. I will be naming a few products in this post but make sure that these products suit you before trying them out.

Occupation and level of activity: Are you a software engineer or a sports coach? Do you stay very near to your office or do you have to travel long distances in two wheeler/auto/bus to reach your workplace? Are you a student who is very active in sports? If your work involves a lot of physical activity where you sweat a lot you should either skip makeup completly or use a very minimal amount of it. Beacuse chances are your skin might get clogged from all the sweat and makeup and cause more harm than good. in the same way if you have to travel a lot in your daily life then you should think about protecting your skin from outside elements like sun, pollution etc rather than enhancing your skin with makeup.

The tips that i am giving below are for people who lead more sedentary office/college/school life. Also there are some things that are common for all. Three things that everybody should make sure to do is: MOISTURIZE your skin, wear a SUNSCREEN, use a LIP BALM. There.. these are the A,B,C's of skincare according to me. There are a variety of products to choose from in the market from Lakme to La Roche Posay. A product does not have to be costly to be effective. Choose products wisely and you will see the effect very soon.

Working women:

1. You need to cleanse your face, moisturize and apply a sunscreen. You can either use separate products for each purpose (moisturizer ans sunscreen) or if that seems likea lot of products for you to put in your face then you can use a tinted moisturizer with SPF. So it moisturizes your skin, protects it from sunlight. Because it is tinted it evens out your skin tone and makes it look bright without looking too made up.

Recommendations:

 Lotus 3 in 1 matte look daily sunblock for normal to oily skin.

Ponds Tinted Moisturizer for normal to dry skin.

2. Now you need to use a powder to set the base. this is optional. people with dry skin might feel that powder makes their skin look cakey and dry. It is a must for oily and combination skin. Do not use talcum powder in the face. Use compact powders meant specifically for the facial skin. Use can apply it using a powder puff or a powder brush. The trick is to use a very little amount. And use powder only on the areas where you want to control the shine like your forehead, nose and chin. The shade of the powder should be neither too dark nor too light but the same as your skin color. Selecting a lighter powder will not make you look fairer.. just madeup. Remember you want to look natural.

Recommendations: 

Lakme rose powder

Maybelline UV white stay compact

Lakme perfect radiance compact

3. Now that your skin makeup is done we can move on to the eyes. The beauty of the eyes depends a lot on the eyebrows. Neat, well groomed eye brows frame the face and make your eyes look more striking. It is better to get your eyebrows professionally done. If you have sparse brows fill them up with a brow pencil. Even if you have thick eyebrows you might need to fill up some gaps using a brow pencil. Most women avoid doing it beacause if not done correctly you look like Kroorsingh. The trick is to use a very light hand while applying the pencil and use light feathery stokes to fill in gaps. Trust me it makes a huuuge difference to your face. After you have done your brows brush them with an eyebrow brush or the a close toothed comb.

Recommendations: 

Lakme eyebrow pencil

I am not including eye shadows in this post. Although you can include them if you want to. After you have done your brows you need to line your eyes with an eyeliner or an eyepencil.

Here again you have different options. You can choose from a khol, liquid, pencil or gel liner. You can either line your upper or your lower eyelid or you can line both. You can make it thin or thick. You can choose from a variety of different colors available in the market. Phew.. lets deal with these choices one by one.

Type of eyeliner: The choice depends on which one you find easiest to apply. Khol is very easy if you are only lining your lower eyelid. you can be literally done in 5 seconds. All the others need a little practice to work with. If you ask my opinion i will say go for a gel liner beacause they give more intense color and they stay longer without smudging. But if you are too impatient to use a brush to pick up the liner and then apply it then you can choose a liquid or pencil liner. Once you start applying eyeliners regularly you will realize which one you are more comfortable with.

Recommendations: 

Khol: Shahnaz Husain shaeyes herbal khol

Liquid liner: Lakme liquid eyeliner

Pencil liner: Maybelline colossal kajal

Gel liner: Maybelline gel eyeliner

Most Indian women suffer from under eye circles. Especially people who work for long hours in front of the computer or those who have erratic work timings. Dark circles can ruin the beauty of your eyes completely. You need to use a good concealer to hide those dark circles or else your face is going to look dull no matter what you do. You need to apply the concealer after you apply the tinted moisturiser. You should apply the concealer only where needed and not on the whole face. Using your ring finger take a very small quantity of concealer and gently tap it around the eyes. Again the key is to use a very little amount. Most women tend to spend money on buying foundations and ignore the concealer because they think it is useless. Well that is not true. A good concealer can really brighten your face.

Recommendations: 

Lakme absolute white intense concealer stick.

MAC concealers (they have a very good shade selection if you dont mind spending more)

There are many methods to line your eyes. If you have dark circles it is better not to line your eyes too thickly as it will make your eyes even more sunken looking. Lining only your upper lids will make your yes look bigger. People who have thick upper eye lashes can line only their lower lids, it will make your eyes look more brighter. Lining both upper and lower lids will make your eyes more striking. Also black or brown is the best choice for working women. If you are a college student you can experiment with different colored eyeliners.

Recommendations:

Chambor eye pencils

After you have lined your eyes the next step is to apply mascara. Mascara helps to make your eyes look more thicker, longer and darker. If you have naturally long and thick lashes you can skip this step. You can apply a black, brown or clear mascara. Clear mascara will give a more natural look but not the dark color which the other mascaras give. It is always better to use a waterproof mascara.

Recommendations: 

Maybelline colossal volume mascara.

4. The last step is lipstick. Again there are many types of lip colors to choose from. Lipsticks, lipglosses, lipbalms, lipstains..the list is too long. Anyways for daytime it is better to choose a matte or cream lipstick. The color should be based on your skin color. For office hours it is better to choose colors that are closer to your own lipcolor. You can apply a moisturizing lipbalm either over or under your lipstick to keep your lips smooth and soft for longer time.

Recommendations: 

Maybelline color sensation lipsticks

Now you are done. Be sure to carry the following things with you so that you can retouch your makeup during the day.

1. Your compact/pressed powder

2. Your lipstick/lip balm

3. Oil blotting sheets like clean and clear blotting sheets. 

These are amazing products. You just need to press them lightly on your oily areas and it soaks up all the extra oil immediatly. Especially usefull for oily/combination skin. It helps you to keep looking fresh even hours after work or travel.
Thats it. Even though it might seem like a lot of products these stuff really do make a difference in your appearence. And with paractice you can finish doing your face makeup in 10 mnts. The products that i have mentioned in this post are tried and tested and have good reviews also. They are also quite economical and would last you for quite a bit of time if used wisely. Thanks for reading. :)