Time to get ready
It’s party time, from now till New Year.
SHEILA KUMAR presents the ultimate checklist
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A woman can drown in all the information on grooming,
beauty aids, on looking good. Here’s to looking great in the
festive season and what’s more, looking good for a long,
long time after that, too.
A good skin care routine. Invest in expensive creams,
moisturisers. Check out your skin type and customise your
skin care accordingly. Even if you use inexpensive,
department
store cleansers and cosmetics (all of quality, though,
we earnestly hope), do not skimp on the stuff you put on
your face. It shows, you see.
Eye cream. Too many of us skip the under-eye cream.
Or use a dab of moisturiser in the area and hope it works.
This is not done. You need to stock up on eye cream/gel
and what’s more, you need to use it every night. Just a
small drop will do but it has to be rubbed in very gently...
the middle finger works well…and spread over the inner
eye area, too.
Neck moisturising. Another area a lot of us neglect, the
neck. There’s a whole page devoted to necks in Nora
Ephron’s hilarious bestseller ‘I feel bad about my neck’…
turkey necks, wrinkled necks, goose necks, saggy necks …
you get the idea. And to think, most of our neck problems
can be avoided by applying moisturiser — generously, and
every day of your adult life — on the neck, and the nape
of the neck, too.
Moisturise. Go scan the supermarket shelves. Read up
on moisturisers. Experiment with quality stuff till you find
your own special elixir. And then, use it morning and
night. Yes, all your life.
Use sunscreen
For a country obsessed with the colour of our dermis, there are
more people who do not apply sun protection fluid than do. Apart
from the very real threat of skin cancer, you need to protect your
skin from the harsh rays of our tropical sun. Apply SPF strength
30 at the least, apply it every two hours, and apply it at least
half an hour before venturing out into the sun.
Do your brows. Too thick brows translate as unkempt. Too
thin is a temperamental (and er, ageing) diva. Don’t pluck
your brows at home, it can be fraught with disaster. Go to a
salon, get the stray hairs plucked and keep the natural shape
of the brow line. Just a wrong slant and you can end up looking
either Satanical or depressed.
Blend till it hurts. As in make-up. Because we see people
walking abroad with harsh spots of blush, lip liners shrieking,
concealers under the eye gleaming scarily white. It’s clear
they’ve forgotten the blend, blend again, and then, blend
some more rule. When you apply your make-up, sit in front
of a good mirror, in the right kind of light, and blend that
make-up in with your fingers or a damp sponge. Nothing must
show, remember, just your face looking somehow
mysteriously enhanced.
Less is always more. Forget the foundation, the heavy eyeliner,
the iridescent eye shadow, the mauve lip liner. Do your face up
concealing flaws with the artful use of some browner, playing up
assets with some highlighter. Add kohl, mascara and just the
right shade of lipstick for day or night. Spray on some fragrance
and you really are done.
Keep skin clean. As in, wash your face well, with the right
kind of face wash or facial soap, twice a day. Give yourself
a face mask every weekend. Don’t overload with goop. Let
your skin breathe. Eat a lot of fruits, drink a lot of water.
Unclogged skin is glowing skin.
Condition hair. When good old oil went out of the window,
frizz came straight in. So okay, you don’t want to douse your
tresses with sheets of coconut oil (yes you do, if you are a
Mallu!) but then, you need to have conditioner handy. Either
the rinse-out kind or the leave-in kind but something that will
tame that hair and keep it glowing.
Keep heels soft and clean. You know that adage about a
woman’s heels revealing her character? Well, we don’t know
how true that is but we recommend you keep your heels soft,
clean, free from those dreaded cracks you forever see on
TV. Schedule a home pedicure at least once every few
months, it’s well worth the effort.
Sleep on your back. This is to allow proper blood
circulation and see that your spine is properly aligned,
too. When you are on your back, you breathe deep and
well, and your abdominal organs aren’t cramped. Train
yourself to sleep this way.
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/11/01/stories/2007110150710200.htm |
