The 2020 bride

Neha Kakkar

Be it the Korean glass skin trend or Instagram-friendly natural make-up looks with glossy lids-lips and flushed cheeks, bare beauty has been trending in the make up world for a while now. With the lockdown, this received a boost as there was an increase in interest in skincare and wellness. With many taking better care of their skin at home, this look was also visible at the recently concluded international fashion week, where several designers chose to have their models flaunt natural-looking skin, complete with freckles.

Back home, as weddings get more intimate now, two celebrity marriages, of singer Neha Kakkar, and actor Kajal Aggarwal, had both brides opt for this look for most functions. Subtle eyes, barely-there contouring and natural lips was a detour from the harsh highlighting, dark smoky eyes and bright lips that Indian brides tend to opt for. Their make-up artists shared tips and tricks for these looks, in time for the wedding season.

Vibha Gusain for Neha Kakkar

Vibha Gusain. pics courtesy/ instagram.com/deepikasdeepclicks

"Kakkar has always liked less make-up as she believes that the lesser you put on, the younger you look. And since most of her events were daytime dos, natural looks made sense," says Vibha Gusain, celebrity make-up artist.

For subtle contouring, Gusain recommends that you pick a foundation two to three shades darker than your usual tone to define the areas you wish to sharpen. "When done, I like to bronze the full face - forehead, jaw, and cheeks too with room for blush. Thus, the harsh contour lines are not seen," says Gusain. She prefers a natural matte finish foundation because it lasts longer. But to make the skin look plump and glossy, a signature of this look, she first moisturises the skin, then uses a face oil (skip if you have oily skin), and follows it up with a primer spray that hydrates the skin. "For oily skin, use a gel-based moisturiser first, followed by a sheer layer of a dewy foundation and then a matte foundation. For normal skin, use the foundation only where needed. So, if your under-eye needs more coverage, opt for two layers just there than the whole face," she says.

Tutorial

• Skin should be well-prepped and hydrated before you begin. Your foundation should be well blended and appear as a second skin.
• Apply a sheer layer of foundation and add extra coverage only to areas where needed. After the first step, blend everything including concealer, blush and contour seamlessly into the skin, with no harsh lines.
• Use blush on the apples of the cheeks and highlighter on the highest point of the cheeks.
• For the eyes, use different shades of browns or even shimmer.
• Apply the liner according to eye shape, pulling the flick upwards.
• For lashes, Gusain prefers individual lashes as they can be easily merged with real lashes. Curl your lashes and apply a volumising mascara.

Vishal Charan for Kajal Aggarwal

Kajal Aggarwal

"Kajal's friends and sisters were using this hashtag called #yehshaadihaishootnahi. And that's what we had in mind for all her looks, natural glow-ey, dewy, fresh and young skin with the girl-next-door-vibe," says celebrity hair and make-up artist Vishal Charan. Charan too went easy on the contouring and stuck to a neutral, natural pink tone for her lips for all the functions.

Aggarwal with Vishal Charan. Top pIc courtesy/ instagram.com/storiesbyjosephradhik

Tutorial

• Begin by moisturising the skin as the skin needs to be hydrated for this look. Also, use a hydrating under-eye cream and a lip balm before you start.
• I like to start with the eyes, as glittery shadows always fall under the eye. Start with a neutral beige glitter eyeshadow all over the lids. Next, use a bronze eyeshadow to enhance.
• Apply black kajal on the waterline and upper line to brighten it. Smudge it a bit. Next, use single lashes to make your lashes look fuller naturally. Use the kajal again for an intense and traditional look.
• I applied a fine line of eyeliner to keep the look subtle.
• For the face, I mixed three shades of a water-based, luminous liquid foundation to get a tone as close to her skin as possible. Add a little highlighter to a liquid foundation which will give you a glow-ey base. Next, mix a crème blush with foundation and apply it to the cheeks. This will make it look almost like a natural blush.
• Use a contouring powder to lightly shape the areas you wish. Set with translucent powder. Go with one more round of kajal.
• Blend as much as possible and use less product for this look.
• For the lips, choose a nude pink shade and dab just a little gloss on top.

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