Deck up for Raksha Bandhan with right cosmetics (Special to IANS)

Raksha Bandhan is one of the important Indian festivals where brothers and sisters celebrate the loving bond between them and like all such occasions, girls love to dress up and look their best. Make-up is a key component and it's all about choosing the right shades of colour cosmetics.

Selecting them according to your 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, select a powder that's shade lighter, but in the same colour tone.

* 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. Uze bronze or brown eye shadow.

Also, add a touch of gold under the brow. For blusher, try bronze. For the lips, go for warm and 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.

* Fair Skin: While choosing the foundation for 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.

* Dusky: 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 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.

(Shahnaz Husain is a noted beauty expert who promotes herbal remedies. The views expressed are personal. www.shahnaz.in)

--IANS

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