When I embarked on writing Desi girl’s beauty blog, I had the intention of sharing some makeup mistakes I’ve made in the past, along with some advice on what I’ve learnt. I never intended to use this blog to preach abut how to look good, because god knows, there are enough writers telling you that. Instead, I wanted to write honest beauty reviews of the good products out there, and also ‘out’ what’s not so good.
Anyway, it’s nearly been a year since I put finger to keyboard and came up with Desi girl’s beauty blog. And unfortunately, one year on, I still leave the house with mismatched foundation, too much blusher or not enough blusher. But hey, I’m working on it.
Anyway, to say goodbye to 2011, I thought I’d compile my top beauty lessons from the year, learnt from my many mistakes.
1) Homemade face masks rule. Find one that works for you. Every girl deserves to be pampered once in a while. And nothing screams ‘me time’ more than a homemade face mask. The beauty of this is that you can nourish your skin without breaking the bank, because most of the ingredients are in your kitchen cupboard. Plus, making a mask from scratch means you know exactly what goes in it, so you can avoid nasties that can harm your skin. A couple of face masks I swear by are the gram flour face mask, and my beloved ‘atta face’.
2) Use a corrector to even out foundation. No matter how fair or dark your skin tone is, we Asian girls really suffer with greying around the chin area when we wear foundation. For years I’ve been told by makeup artists that this is due to the wrong colour foundation, and that the solution was to wear a darker shade. However, I’ve recently found that rather than transforming your face to a deeper shade of brown, using a corrector can, well, correct the problem. Using an orange-tone corrector around your chin area gives your foundation an even base, and avoids that dreaded ashy finish. Best of all, you can stick two fingers up to the makeup artists at the beauty counter who has mismatched you many a time.
3) Over-cleansing isn’t the way to combat spots. It’s easily done. You get a breakout, and the temptation is to cleanse, tone and moisturise your face until it’s squeaking. However, this doesn’t solve the issue, and can only aggravate your skin. Next time you have a breakout. Just use a cleanser at night time, and simply wash with water in the morning. Do this for a few days and you’ll notice that your skin will sort itself out.
4) A cheek stain lasts longer than a powder blusher. As a stain seeps into your skin, is stays put and blends in more naturally. However it is also very difficult to control. So my lesson is, apply gradually and build up the colour.
5) Always keep your eyebrows tidy. One thing I’ve noticed is that a clean brow makes your entire face look better and less, well, hairy. With clean eyebrows, you’d be surprised what other facial sins you can get away with. So go on, get threading.
6) Dark lipstick can be ageing – yes, autumnal colours and vampy reds are very on trend, in fact I reviewed some deep shades myself with ‘Autumn beauty looks for desi girls’. However, going too deep can make you look hard-faced. Dark shades also make thin lips look thinner. So look at the shade you want, then try the next shade lighter and see how that works. If you must have a dark shade of lipstick, soften the look with a rosy blush and lighter eye makeup. 7) Do use coconut oil in your hair. Especially during winter, when the skin on your scalp gets dry along with the rest of your body. It’s easy enough to apply, but I’ve also included a step-by-step guide here. If you don’t have coconut oil, olive oil or castor oil are worthy substitutes.
8) Use an eye cream. This is one of the big thing’s I’ve learned this year. Your under-eyes need their own nourishment to avoid dark circles, lines or general dehydration. I’ve reviewed RoC’s Sublime Eye, Yon-ka Nutri Contour, Beauty Parlour Dark Circle and Puffy Eye and Madara eye creams respectively.
9) Don’t just follow a beauty trend for the sake of it. The scouse brow, comedy contact lenses and bejewelled lashes all have one thing in common - they make the wearer look absolutely ridiculous. Girls, don’t do it, it isn’t big or clever. And you are not Lady Gaga.
And finally…
10) More makeup won’t necessarily make you prettier. I’m a real sod for doing this. I have an important or special occasion. I pile on the slap, it melts down my face, and I’m a big shiny ball of grease by the end of the evening. There’s photographic evidence and it’s not funny. More to the point, even for those who don’t suffer makeup meltdowns, most women look better with less makeup anyway. Just look at Kim Kardashian. When she first became famous (we won’t say why), she was gorgeous. Now she’s all heavy tan makeup, scary eyes, plumped pout and jutting cheekbones. She looks like Pete Burns.
On that scary note, I shall wish you a fantastic 2012! May it be brighter and even more beautiful than 2011.
xx
