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If there’s one thing that remains unbeatable about Indian festivals, it’s that they let us dress up to the hilt. From hair to clothes to accessories, and of course makeup, it’s when we can pull out all stops.
When it comes to makeup, while there's nothing wrong with injecting sparkle, sometimes the best route is to go the simple yet effective look. Celebrity makeup artist, Arti Nayar, demonstrates how you can be versatile with makeup so that it goes with almost any occasion.
When it comes to festive makeup, Nayar suggests wearing bright lips as well as dewy, glowing skin. Follow along with her festive beauty tutorial that works with any outfit and any event:
1. Cover it up
Nayar begins her festive makeup with a liquid concealer under the eyes, around the nose, mouth, a little bit on the cheeks and the forehead for a flawless base. She skips the process of applying foundation yet keeps her complexion even and looking fresh. This step's optional, but you can use a colour-correcting concealer if you want to neutralise redness or dark spots.
Our recommendations: Type Beauty Inc Hybrid Concealer; Anastasia Beverly Hills Magic Touch Concealer; Pixi Beauty Pat Away Concealing Base
2. Seal the deal
“Since we are using just a concealer, of course, you need to put a powder to map this down,” advises Nayar. She recommends finishing with a setting powder to prevent caking and creasing. This ensures that your makeup remains for a more extended staying power.
Our recommendations: M.A.C Cosmetics Studio FX Perfecting Powder; Shiseido Synchro Skin Invisible Silk Loose Powder
3. Play your brow game
Next, she advises brushing the eyebrows into shape and filling them in, drawing short hair-like strokes in the sparse areas. You can also use a stiff angled brush or an eyebrow brush here to soften the lines as needed. And then, use a brow gel to set the stubborn hairs in place.
Our recommendations: Forest Essentials Nayantara Clear Lash & Brow Serum; amág Beauty 'blip' Brow-Vo! Eyebrow Pomade
4. Make your eyes pop
Once you've done that, it's time for eye shadow. Nayar uses a brown eye shadow all over the lid, in order to keep it neutral and subtle. She uses a little darker brown near the lash line to assert a bit of depth to the eye and then goes on to add a copper shine eye shadow for a bit of pop on the eyelids.
Our recommendations: Huda Beauty Empowered eyeshadow palette; Simply Nam The 90s - Rose Gold Illuminating Cream & Powder Eyeshadow; Typsy Beauty Sip Sip Hooray Wine Eyeshadow Palette
5. Shape it right
Next is applying some subtle contour to define your features. She advised contouring the higher cheekbones around the forehead and most importantly, the jawline to get a structured and chiselled look.
Our recommendations: Bobbi Brown Skin Corrector Stick; SUGAR Cosmetics Contour Stick; Clinique Chubby Stick Sculpting Contour
6. Liven up your cheeks
To complete the rest of your makeup, add some colour to your face by applying a touch of blush to the apples of your cheeks.
Our recommendations: Kiko Milano 3D Blush; Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy Sculpting Blush; PAT McGRATH Divine Blush
7. Lash long
Nothing beats an effortless festive makeup look than fluttery lashes. Give more depth to the eyes with an eyelash curler to curl the lashes and then some coats of mascara to finish off your eye makeup.
Our recommendations: Too Faced Cosmetics Better Than Sex mascara; Juice Beauty Ultra-Natural mascara; Proarte eyelash curler
8. Perfect pout
To finish off this easy and quick festive makeup look, Nayar goes for a bold burgundy lip colour that balances out soft makeup. Unapologetic lip colours bring warmth to the face but let you switch up your look from the traditional and expected.
Our recommendations: Manish Malhotra Beauty Powder Matte lipstick; Smashbox Always On liquid lipstick; LoveChild by Masaba Mad Matte liquid lipstick
Photo: Instagram/Aditi Rao Hydari; Alia Bhatt; Featured brands