Focus on the most important elements of your look, such as a beautifully natural-looking skin, softly trimmed brows and feathery lashes. If you get these basics right, the rest of your make-up will fall into place.
Every bride desires to look pretty on her wedding day. Make-up is one of the most essential parts for the bride on her big day, as it enhances her beauty. There are different shades of skin tone, such as light skinned and dark brown. Complexion varies from person to person. For the perfect look on their D-day, brides go for a professional makeup, but after spending so much, she might not be satisfied with the look.
Brides tend to follow the customs of their community; for instance, a Bengali bou (bride) wants the perfect Bengali look for her wedding. But when beauty experts in Delhi dress regional brides, it’s often a complaint that they are given a very typical North Indian bride look.
To explore this problem, we spoke to a few regional brides and Delhi-based makeup artists to know their take on this.
Let’s begin with Bong brides who are famous for their simple yet animated eyes. Their big fish-like eyes and natural brown skin are simply beguiling. The makeup brings the best out of a Bong bride’s sharp features and makes her enthralling. The kohl-rimmed eyes and intricately done forehead makeup with sandalwood paste is the most important aspect of a Bong bride’s makeup. As far as the trousseau goes, most of the things are similar to other Indian brides, but the most important thing to consider here is the cultural ethos.
“I wanted a very traditional Bengali bridal look. Since a lot of my friends got married right before/ around the same time as me, I did get to see a lot of bridal make up. I did want a transformation, but I did not want to end up looking like a cake with heaps of extra icing and glitter. I wanted chandan instead of the bindis, I did not want red/ gold glitter, I definitely did not want to be white washed with foundation. More than anything else, I did not want to share space with lot of other brides, feel bad about not looking as good as them and kill myself in my head overthinking about it,“ said Pratyusha, who got married in Delhi.
“Sujit Paul is the guy who did my make up. He has previously worked with a lot of my Bengali friends at their wedding. Not only did he do full justice to the traditional look, his charges (including his flight and stay in Delhi) came almost to what I would have had to pay a Delhi make up artist for a look that might not have made me very happy,” she adds.
Next in my case study is the look of a South Indian bride. Their wedding outfits are very modest. They thrive on simplicity and keep their style minimalistic. The antique style temple gold jewelry pieces are the high-points of their wedding. The muted gold finish is another distinctive aspect of the South Indian wedding that complements the overall bridal look.
“I did not want to look too gaudy like a Delhi bride. I didn’t want to have layers of makeup on my D-day. South Indian bride looks simple yet beautiful, bridal trousseau has not much difference from North Indians who have a long list of myriad apparels. We use gold jewelry generously; accordingly the makeup should be demure to balance it out. Apart from wedding dress and jewelry, next major concern is hairstyle. I want my hairstyle in a proper South Indian look, for that we use Jasmine flowers and JadaBillalu, a metal piece intricate with designs that is used in styling a bride’s hair. It is mostly put on a bun, or on plaits. So for my desired look, I asked my friend who is a makeup artist to help me with the makeup according to my requirement,” said Dipti, a South Indian bride.
Bharti Taneja, veteran beauty expert, aesthetician and cosmetologist and Founder-Director of ALPS, said, “I don’t think this is the case with all the beauty experts, as I’ve myself seen a lot of diversity in the makeup of regional brides. In fact all the artists try to keep them as dissimilar as they can be. However, I believe that difference can only be created through limited options like; eye-makeup, bindis or hairstyle and accessories,” when asked on diversity in makeup of regional brides.
“This is because; bases can change, as they have to be in accordance with and matching tothe skin tone of the particular bride. Similar is the case for contouring, blushing and highlight – for which the rules of makeup tend to be the same. As far as lip-colour is concerned, it has to match the attire’s color. So, on the whole I feel, artists are left with a limited number of options to play within their makeup and bring a noticeable difference in a bride’s look,” Taneja adds.
She goes on to say, “It is bridal attire, bridal jewelry and a carefully done makeup by a good makeup artist that can bring upon a great variation in her look and make her appear regionally/culturally adorned. After all, the sole purpose of makeup is to highlight the beautiful features of face while camouflaging the not so appealing ones. And, as far this criterion is being fulfilled – the makeup is perfect.”
“The only reason why I suppose, artists apply loud makeup is that they are amateur. Otherwise, for a makeup artist who is well versed with the technique – for him/her, to do it can be only because of his/her client’s demand,” Taneja further informs us.
“Yes, sometimes it is the client’s wish to look a little noticeable on such a special day, which makes them go for an overtly done makeup on their wedding. On the other hand, there are brides who think the make-up on them is not enough to enhance their facial features. In such a case, the artist overdoes, which is why the make-up often turns out to loud and bold,” she adds.