Let your eyes sparkle this festive season

Diwali, Christmas, New Year... the festive season has only yet begun and we can already feel the excitement. Diwali is the time to wear your best clothes, decorate your homes and gorge on some yummy festive delicacies. It’s the season to go bright, bling and glamorous. Whether it’s your best friend’s sangeet, your neighbour’s wedding or the season’s hottest Diwali party, you have to put your best festive face on.

I love sonam kapoor's festive look with a statement necking and big mang tika. Oh, how I love mang tikas !

While we all spend most of our time on dedcing the right outfit, we all forget the essential part of our festive look "The Makeup". Your eyes are most noticeable feature of your face and over all look. Eyes are the tell-tale sign of your personality, so I thought to put together a festive smokey eye tutorial which can be done in 10 minutes flat. Shimmery golden tones are beautiful options for the festive season, plus they compliment all eye and skin tones, so if you're stuck on ideas and want to give yourself a glamorous party makeup look, just follow these easy steps. 

1. Prepare the lid: The key to keeping eyeshadow from melting into your eyelid crease as the day goes on is to kept eyelids oil-free. To do this start with an eye primer. Simply swipe the primer across the eye and let it dry before you continue to the next step.
2. Conceal the area: Blend an even layer of a concealer onto the entire surface of your eyelid. This gives the eye products we’re about to use something to latch onto and intensifies the color of the eyeshadows.
3. Apply the shimmer gold base: The key to a smokey eye is pairing a lighter base with the darker hue. Using a firm brush, dampen with a droplet of water-based mixing medium, sweep the shimmery gold shadow over inner three-fourth of your lids. Make sure you don’t sweep the eyeshadow all over the lid.
4. Blend in the darker color: Now that you have the gold eye shadow, it's time to get the smokey effect. You need a darker eyeshadow shade. You can use any darker shade here like brown, black, carbon to create the effect. Apply the shadow to the outer portion of your lid almost making a ‘> ” shape with the carbon shadow. Stop deep color at crease.
5. Blend your eyeshadow: The key here is to blend, blend, and blend. Using a big fluffy brush, blend your colors together in a back and forth motion.If you are confused about which shape to blend out the outer corner in, a good practice is to imagine that your lower lash line is extending outwards towards your eyebrow, don’t go beyond that imaginary line. I start with the lighter color eyeshadow and blend it into the darker one and then go back into lighter. This way, I feel like it prevents my shadow from looking muddy.
6. Apply the highlighter: Using a stiff brush, apply your highlight from the brow bone to the inner corner. Wipe off your big fluffy and blend your highlight out.  
7. Add the eyeliner: Apply gel liner to your upper lash line. Apply kohl to the lower lash line. You can add the gel eyeliner to your waterline. Use the leftover “Carbon” on your brush and apply it to the outer half of your lower lash line. Pick up some Gold  on your brush and apply it over the carbon. Keep it to the outer half of the eye.  
8. Finish with several coats of mascara. You'll want to apply a few coats of mascara so lashes are thick and dark. If you don't have naturally long, curled lashes, curl them with a lash curler first. 

Because the eyes are the dramatic factor for this look, Keep the lips soft. Nudes are a hot favorite for this look. Considering that winter hasn’t set in and you will probably have to run around from one party to another this festive season, opt for powder blush that is sweat and pollution-resistant. Pick a blush that makes your cheeks seem like they are glowing from within. Stick to a color that is very natural.

This tutorial is not restricted to just the golden-carbon smokey eye look. If you get the technique right, you can experiment with others color too. Try jewel-toned eye shadows as we are moving towards the festive season. You can try sapphire blue, emerald green, ruby red, bronze and pewter. To get the Goddess-like look, you can extend the eyeliner beyond the corners of your eyes.

So, what are you waiting for girls, get your makeup kits out and try the look to make a statement this festive season.

BEAT IT IN STYLE!

Go Corporate in style

In India, I have observed that while we dress impeccably for every occasion, we completely ignore fashion when it comes to work attire. More than ignorance, I feel its sheer laziness when it comes to dressing up for work. I was reading somewhere about "Enclothed Cognition": How clothes affect your performance and could totally relate to it. Studies show that when you dressed in attire you feel good about,that you value, you actually improve your ability to perform.

We all have certain pieces in our wardrobes that make us feel ready to take on the world - and equally, that can help us dress for success. So I thought let me put together professional looks which not only make you look fashionable at work but also might affect your abilities at work. Here comes my look book for Power Dressing !

Look 1: Perfectly tailored trousers with shirt

You can opt for basic colors like white, blue,black and standard designs such a checked or striped if you work environment doesn't allow any bit of experiment.
A little tip here : If you are on the heavier side, wear vertical stripes. Vertical will make you look taller and slimmer.

But my advice will be to have fun at work. Opt for shirts with a contrasting collar, front button placket or cuff, colorful piping details, subtle prints or a dynamic color.

Whatever shirt you choose, remember that tucking the shirt in gives you more definition. A  cute little belt is a great accessory for this look.

Look 2: The Power Suit

There are thousands of ways to wear you business suit without being stiff, boring or corporate.
With below celebrity-inspired tips and tricks, you can express your personality and make your basics pop while still looking professional on the job.

Go monochrome 
Wear a blue on blue, red on red perfectly tailored suit to make a powerful statement. 

Add a bit of the zing to the monochrome look with velvet and shimmer lapels.

Go Modern

Explore a new cut. Wearing a cropped pant on this classic look will totally catch the eye.

Go white 
Break away from the monotonous black and blues and opt for a all-powerful white suit.You can even choose tones of pastels such as pink and mint for the feminine touch.

Look 3 : The feminine skirt look

There are varied types of skirts you can wear to office.You can choose  from pencil skirts, A-line skirts and straight skirts. For a strict office environment  conservative colors such as pastels, navy, beige, brown, black and white are preferred. Team office wear skirts with fitted shirts for a serious, 'dont-mess-with-me' look or, for a more relaxed look,team it with loose fitting, self textured blouses or blouses with small prints. The length most suitable for formal skirt is knee and below. For summers you can wear a knee length skirt while for winters you can opt for a full length skirt. 

My preferred look will be blouses rather than shirts. Far more than a traditional shirt; this season’s pick are super-feminine and luxurious blouses with exciting detailing. That means print, embellishment, beautiful collars and cuffs, exciting textures, touches of lace, the puff of a sleeve, a pussy-bow or perhaps a sumptuous color – there’s plenty to choose from. 

If your office allows little bit of experiment and fun, then you can choose vibrant colors such as blue, coral or orange.

LOOK 4 : Add a blazer 

Given the weather of our country, you might not want to wear a blazer most time of the year.But blazers are great when you want to look a bit more professional on certain occasions in the office.

You can team up a blazer with any of the above look from skirts to pants. Blazers serve as great outfit fixers  - so if you find your outfit to be "too much" or "out there", a plain blazer jacket will tone it down and you find your outfit to be "too plain" or "too boring", a detailed blazer jacket will jazz it up. Wearing a jacket is also a great way to hide midriff and tummy bulges. 
Secure them in neutral solids such as black, dark brown, dark navy blue and beige/camel - which work well with absolutely everything you have in your wardrobe.

After securing the basics it's time to go over to trendier styles - with details, and in fun colors.Let your personal taste reflect your choice of blazer and set yourself a part from the rest!

Dare to be unconventional at work and want out-of-the-box tips for fun work attire. Stay tuned for the next part of this post !

                                                      BEAT IT IN STYLE!