Transforming necessity into an adornment

Garima Batra

Whether the lockdown is lifted on May 3 or not, face masks are here to stay. At least, for a year. The world over. For this is the minimum time for researchers to come up with a vaccine against Covid-19 as also the clean the deadly virus from the community.

So, for all of us, wearing masks will be a daily ritual while stepping out of home. For men, it might not be much of an issue but for the fairer sex, wearing masks will rob them off from the joy of flaunting their vibrant lipsticks and popping lip colours. But as lip make-up takes a backseat, eye make-up will come out full throttle — coloured kohl, eye liner, mascara and eye shadow. These all will show a tremendous growth. Products like eye creams, eye primers, eye shadows, eyeliners, kohls, false eyelashes, eye brushes, eyebrow pencils along with hand and face creams and long-lasting nail paints are likely to be in massive demand.

The femmes will now desire to have a collection and variety in coloured eye lines, kohls and mascaras, eye shadow palettes, faux lashes, eye primers (to help eye make-up stay for long hours). Since eyes will be the only visible part on the face, the focus will be on making them attractive and enhancing their beauty.

Wearing make-up is not just a beauty tool, rather is therapeutic for women. Eye make-up has a positive side-effects too – with the eye make-up on, they won’t touch their faces in the fear of smudging it (since touching one’s face poses one at a risk). So, in a way, it will aid women in following hygiene tips while looking beautiful and having a bit of fun.

The internet is flooded with Vlogs and tutorials on how to do the eye make-up with the mask on. They are showcasing how to mix safety with beauty, ie combining hygienic with glamour. There are shimmery, subtle, smokey, neon styles just to name a few. Even the eyebrows are being matched with the eye shadows to highlight and pop up the optic area. There are techniques of how to perfect that winged eyeliner, the right way to apply the products, how to make the eyes bold and beautiful and to make them appear big. They are also emphasising on taking care of your skin while being at home, learning the techniques to master the eye make-up and prepping up before stepping out post-lockdown. Their videos convey as “to when life throws lemons at you, make a lemonade”. You can look beautiful and attractive with your eye game on point despite your half of the face being covered by masks.

The mask make-up look is slowly but surely becoming the new in–thing. The influencers and fashion enthusiasts have transformed the necessity (mask) into an adornment (accessory), since it has become an essential part of our lives now.

Recently, UAE-based social media influencer Fatima Aldewan posted a Coronavirus make-up tutorial which, in a way, showed that she foresees the trend of eye make-up gaining ground. It is a different matter that she got trolled due to it. The Chinese have also adopted this trend. They are inclined towards eye makeup which can enhance their beauty with the masks on.

Huda Beauty, a cosmetics line launched by Iraqi-American make-up artist Huda Kattan, recently introduced her namesake brand on Tmall, a Chinese language-based website for B2C online retail. The brand launched a few products including eye shadow palettes and false eyelashes. In no time, everything was out of stock.

So ladies, make the most of this lockdown and social media, of course. Check out the tutorials and prepare for the 2.0 version taking inspiration from Taylor Swift’s famous song – Your beautiful eyes, stare right into my eyes.