The Glam Commandments To Follow For Lustrous Hair And Skin

Elton Fernandes, hair and make-up artist
• Always use sunscreen with your make-up, and if you live in a humid climate like we do in Mumbai, Kolkata or Chennai, then I recommend mixing primer with your foundation to thin it out. If you mix them together, it becomes like a BB/CC cream.

• Use a lip and cheek stain instead of a lipstick and blusher. Apply a little on your eye lids as well, before you apply mascara.

• Get your brows shaped right — but not too close together. While I’m all for lush, bushy, natural looking brows, there is geometry at play on every face. So, I think understanding this geometry and retaining the gap in between the brows opens up options for bindis and for playing around with your hair.

• When you’re trying to do a ponytail, to avoid the slippage of the rubber band and achieve a put-together look, just put hair spray on when your hair is blow-dried or smooth, and then spray a little bit on your hands to quickly work the ponytail. Spray some on your rubber band as well — that will give it a grip.

• Extend this trick to your wardrobe and your shoes. If you’re wearing a pair of brand new shoes which are slippery and you know you’re going to be walking on a smooth surface, use hair spray on the soles of your shoes as well. That’s the trick dancers and performers use on stage.

Sandhya Shekar, hair and make-up artist
• Eat right. We know that flawless beauty is a lot about what we put inside our bodies. Avoid caffeine and fried stuff and obviously items like red wine, which dehydrate your body. More importantly, introduce plant-based stuff — your vitamins and medicines can be plant based as opposed to regular allopathic medicines. Introduce ABC juice — apple, beetroot, carrot juice — into your everyday diet on an empty stomach. It really does wonders to your skin. Also, wheatgrass juice shots are amazing for your skin.

• If you haven’t started using sunscreen yet, then it definitely must go into your beauty resolutions for the year. Irrespective of whether you are indoors or outdoors, I’d still recommend you apply sunscreen during the day time. This saves your skin from a lot of damage.

• Squeeze out fresh aloe vera gel; put it in a glass jar and refrigerate it. All of us know the benefits of aloe vera; it really soothes your skin, especially if you’re living in a highly polluted city where the air dulls your skin out. Cold gel also minimises your pores and tightens your skin, so it’s rejuvenating in the long run. You can do this every day.

• For beautiful hair, use a paddle brush or a wide-bristled brush on a daily basis — I’d say once in the morning and once in the evening for five minutes. It increases the blood circulation to your scalp, reducing hair loss and improving its growth.

• If you have patchy or irregular skin, which a lot of us do because of the pollution and tanning, the best thing to do is take a swab of cotton and dip it into a teaspoon of raw milk; apply it all over your face at night — preferably leave it on, and wash it off in the morning. It evens out your skin tone, especially if you’ve got a lot of tanning, and improves the quality and suppleness of the skin as it adds natural moisture. If leaving it on for the night is uncomfortable, just wait for it to dry before you take it off.

Kritika Gill, make-up artist
• Cleanse your face thoroughly every night — no matter how tired you are — to get rid of all the make-up, pollution and grime of the day. And always wear sunscreen.

• Always clean your make-up brushes and sponges after every use.

• Understand your skin and its needs and accept the imperfections, be they unibrows, freckles, fine lines or that odd zit!

• Make it a point to exfoliate once or twice a week.

Mitesh Rajani, make-up and hair artist
• Serums are not for dry, damaged hair; they barely help. Use moisture sprays on damp hair.

• Dark eyebrows are overdone. Try a shade lighter than your hair colour to fill in the gaps.

• The perfect lip line is too distracting, and dry matte lips are a big no-no! Try a smudged line and new textures that are soft matte but moisture rich.

• Drink lots of water to keep your skin hydrated.

• Skip the foundation — we have moved to HD cameras but we have not gotten over this layer that we add to our skin. Let your skin breathe, use tinted moisturisers and tints for lip and cheek colour as well.

Rasika Navare, model
• A few months ago, I decided to go minimal with my skin care and beauty routine. I cleared out my shelves and started to concentrate more on fueling my body and mind right.

• It’s absolutely important to eat right, stay fit and work on your overall health. Our skin is a mirror of our inner health. I want to continue doing the same in 2018 and the years to come.

• I am currently obsessed with Cryo Facials and am definitely going to follow the routine in the New Year
as well.

Diva Dhavan, model
• Since I travel so much, I want to start making time to steam my face a few days in a month to really clean my pores, so that the products I use are better absorbed in my skin.

• I’ll be using a day/night under-eye cream every day. I usually apply it only at night, but I’ve realised it makes a huge difference when you use it during the day, before you apply make-up. My favourite one is by Chanel.

• I will stop applying oil serums to my face at night. I realised they clog my pores and I tend to break out more because of them. Skin needs to breathe at night, so it’s best to stick with something oil-free and lightweight as your night cream.

• I’ll continue to use my favourite face wash. The only one I can’t live without is the Rose Jasmine face cleanser by Kama Ayurveda.