Beauty & make-up tips for Raksha Bandhan

Shahnaz Husain *

Finally, the festive season arrives with Rakshabandhan blowing the clarion. Are you also looking forward to celebrating it in style with your family members? Raksha Bandhan, usually an intimate family celebration, celebrates the special bond between a brother and sister.

Like all festive occasions, girls love to dress up and look their best. As this is a joyous festival for all sisters, looking good and dressing differently is the main concern when talking about this sacred festival.

However, looking glamorous and beautiful on this special occasion is all about choosing the right shades of colour cosmetics. Selecting them according to skin colour and tone is as essential as learning the techniques of application.

Your natural skin tone is most important while selecting foundations. Try to buy one that is closest to your skin colour as possible. Face powder may be of the same shade as the foundation. If you wish to tone down a tan, select a powder that is one shade lighter, but in the same colour tone.

Flaunt a celebration-perfect look this Rakhi 2024 with herbal beauty tips to ensure you have a fun-filled, sorted and shining day of brother-sister affection. In the hot and humid season, the skin needs toning and refreshing. Here are some home remedies:

Watermelon juice is a good skin toner and relieves dryness too. It cools, refreshes and softens the skin. Apply on the face and wash off with plain water after 20 minutes.

Fruit Mask for all Skin Types: Fruits like banana, apple, papaya, orange can be mixed together and applied on the face. Keep it on for 20 to 30 minutes. Then wash off with water. It cools the skin, cleanses dead cells and removes tan.

Cooling Mask: Mix cucumber juice with two teaspoons powdered milk and one egg white into a smooth paste. Apply on face and neck and rinse off with water after half an hour.

Mask for Oily Skin: Mix one tablespoon Multani Mitti with rose water into a paste and apply on the face. Wash off when dry.

After applying face mask, take two of the cotton wool pads soaked in rose water and use them as eye pads. Squeeze out the rose water and then apply on closed lids. Lie down and relax, while you have the mask and eye pads on. Used tea bags can also do the trick. Soak them in a little warm water, squeeze out the water and apply on the eyes like eye pads.

To soften rough, bushy or frizzy hair, mix some water with creamy hair conditioner and put it in a spray bottle. Spray the mixture on the hair. Then comb the hair, so that it spreads through the hair.

Raksha Bandhan is usually celebrated during the day. Daytime make-up has to be light and carefully done. If you have a clear skin, leave out foundation. After cleansing, apply a sunscreen with a built-in moisturizer. Then apply powder. Translucent powder, like a baby powder, is good. For oily skin, apply astringent lotion, instead of moisturizer. Then, apply compact powder.

Pay attention to the oily areas of the face, like nose, forehead and chin. Press the powder all over the face and neck, with a slightly damp sponge. This helps it to set and last longer. If you wish to apply blusher, use less and blend well. Blush-on should be like a gradual flush on the face.

For eye make-up stick to eye pencils during the day. Or line your eyelids with brown or gray eye shadow. This gives a softer effect. Then, apply only one coat of mascara, which helps to make the eyes look darker and brighter, but prevents the “heavily made-up” look.

For lipstick, avoid very dark colours, like dark maroon. Go for light pastel colours, pink, mauve, light browns, copper or bronze. The colours should not be too intense. Or, use only lip gloss. First outline the lips with a lip pencil, same shade as your lipstick. Fill in colour with a lipstick brush. Obviously outlined lips are out of fashion.

For a special occasion like Raksha Bandhan, you can try out a new hairstyle, like putting up your hair with fancy hair clips or ribbons. Wearing flowers in the hair can be quite alluring.

Long hair is very much the trend, with cascading waves or curly and bouncy hair. Go for the softer look, with curls or natural waves, in the lower half of the hair. The classic ponytail is also dictating trends. It suits most face shapes because one can wear a pony tail high or low, with a fringe or without, or with wisps or curls falling down, with that carefully-careless look.

A ponytail is actually an easy hair do. With ribbons, or other hair accessories, it can even provide a touch of glamour. One can have a ponytail for a formal or an informal look. For a long face, wear a low pony tail and have a light long fringe falling straight down. For an oval face, wear it with a side-swept fringe.

For a square jawed face, have wisps of long curls falling down on either side of the face, just beyond jaw level. It will suit a round face too. Or you can put the hair up with the help of hair clips.

Fair Skin : While choosing Foundation for a very fair skin, go for beige with a rosy (pinkish) tint. For fair skins, use beige, pink or orange undertones. If the complexion is fair, but sallow (i.e. yellowish), avoid pink tones and go for beige or biscuit shades.

For eye colours, a brown eyebrow pencil may be more suitable than black. Apply dark brown or dark grey eyeshadow over black eyeliner. It will tone down the stark black look. For fair skin, try pinks and reds for blushers and avoid dark colours in lipstick.

Wheatish Complexion: Most Indian complexions are wheatish. Go for water based foundations. Choose a colour as close to skin colour as possible. Avoid choosing lighter colour foundation. It will not provide a smooth finish, but give a mask-like effect. Use bronze or brown eye shadow. Add a touch of gold under the brow. For blusher, try bronze.

For the lips, go for warm earthy colours, like coral, wine, plum, red and shades of red. A dark pink or rose-red would look good too. Avoid maroon, bright orange or very pale pink. The lip liner colour and lipstick colour should be the same.

Dusky / Olive: (Slightly dark) Dusky, or olive complexions, look better with brownish beige shades for Foundation. It should be a colour that will add some glow to the skin. For blushers, avoid mauves and light pink. Go with darker pink, or even some brown shades. A highlighting powder will help to add glow. Try it on your cheeks, along with your nose and forehead.

For eye make-up, go for darker brown shadow, or try bronze or silver. For dusky complexions, dark eyes look captivating. So, go for black eyeliner and mascara. Apply eyeliner and smudge with a cotton bud, or apply eye shadow over it. It will give the smokey eyed look. Go for gloss for the lips and nude shades in lipstick would be good to bring out the glow in the complexion.

Dark Skin : If you have a dark skin, choose liquid foundations, instead of a creamy one. The foundation should not be lighter than your skin tone. Try to get one which is as close to your normal skin colour as possible. Try out foundation colours in natural brown tones. When you apply foundation and powder, your aim should be for a lighter coverage. Special attention should be paid to blending.

Avoid white and light coloured shadows. Soft brown combined with darker brown would be good. Use a kaajal pencil to outline the eyes. This can have a stunning effect on dark skins. For blusher, try a dark rose pink colour for the day and shades of bronze, plum, wine, for the night. For special occasions at night, use a touch of gold. It can really look glamorous on dark skins.

Apply it at the temples and under the outer corner of the eyebrows. For lips, a dark complexion looks good in vibrant colours. Avoid very pale colours. Go for warmer tones, like coral, bronze, red, wine. Try mixing two colours to get the shades that suit your skin. Bright red lipstick can be toned down with tinted lip gloss. Avoid very dark colours like maroon or dark brown.

Last but not the least , Have superb confidence in you and spread the waves of the warmth of love and affection with all family members .