Get your festival makeup right

During festivals, there are bright lights so for your night makeup, you will need bright colours else your face will look pale.

First, cleanse the skin and apply a liquid moisturiser. If you have an oily skin, apply an astringent lotion with cotton wool. Wait for a few minutes. Then cover blemishes with a concealer before applying foundation.

Or use a lighter colour foundation on dark blemishes and then apply normal foundation on the entire face. Lightly apply powder to set the foundation.

Highlight the cheeks with a blusher. Apply on the cheekbones, going slightly upwards and outwards. Then apply light coloured highlighter on the cheekbones. Blend well.

Blusher colours for the night need not match lip colour exactly but it should be in the same colour tone.

For eyes, apply lighter brown shadow on the upper eye lid and dark brown eye shadow in the crease to add depth. Outline the eyes with dark eye pencil or eyeliner. For a smudged effect, a dark eye shadow also works well on the upper lid, close to the lashes. Extend it a little beyond the outer corner of the eyes, slightly upwards.

Smudging can be done with a sponge tipped applicator. Eye liner or dark eye shadow may be applied on the lower lid and then smudged. Highlight under the brows with gold, ivory or a light coloured eye shadow.

Then apply mascara. Roll-on mascara is easy to apply. While applying mascara on the upper lashes, look downwards.

Apply it both above and below the upper lashes for a thicker look. Apply on lower lashes too. Wait for a while and apply a second coat. Then brush out the lashes with a small eyelash brush. To make lashes appear thicker, apply powder between two coats of mascara.

Gloss is popular for the lips. Use a lip-liner of the same colour as your lipstick. After applying lipstick, apply lip gloss in the centre.

For normal Indian complexion, go for warm earthy colours like coral, wine, plum, strawberry, red and shades of red in lipstick. A dark pink or rose-red would look good too. One can also mix two colours to create the desirable effect.

A bindi is an integral part of makeup for festivals. Look for a decorative bindi to match the colour of your dress.

A bindi studded with small sparkling stones, combined with a bright colour would be most attractive.

Beauty has different aspects but it is the final presentation that counts. One has to take care of each aspect like the skin, the hair, the clothes, the makeup, the accessories and so on.

But it is important to know how to put everything together into one attractive whole. This is where presentation counts. This is the art of good grooming and it helps to blend all the facets together.