This year the Golden Globes red carpet was an assortment of dazzling dresses, pretty colors, and terrific designers. From the gorgeous blue Marchesa on Amy Adams, the fuchsia Lanvin on Julianne Moore, a variety of blush pinks, the exquisite emerald greens on Mila Kunis and Elisabeth Moss, the glittery extravaganza on Olivia Wilde – it was a feast of epic proportions for fashion lovers world wide.

Unfortunately the same novelty or diversity was absent in the makeup department. Star after star walked the red carpet wearing the oft repeated red lipstick or a nude one almost always accompanied by an overdose of mascara or a smokey eye. They all looked very pretty but I, for one was disappointed about the lack of fun and color on their gorgeous faces. May be its time stars realize there is more to makeup than a gilded or smokey eye and a red or nude lip ! May be next time around they will take a more risqué route ? Je wonder...

That being said, here is a medley of the reds vs. the nudes. Do you have a clear favorite?



Love,
Indian Girl

Ever gone over board with the bronzer ? These small tips might help ya out with it, this winter! Also check out the article on Vogue India.

Bronzer might be the single most widely bought / used makeup product in the summers but its real magic is brought to light only in winters. Imagine pale dead skin transforming into a healthy complexion, tinged to spring-y perfection – the mighty bronzer can do all that.

And this.


Overdoing the bronzer can be disastrous – red carpet or not. Key is to dust the bronzer along the contours of your face instead of applying it all over.

Start off with a light dusting along your hairline. Follow with drawing the infallible 3 on the side of your face – Start above your temple, pull into the hollow of your cheek and out onto your jaw line. Remember the 3 - this will be your secret weapon for everything from killer cheek bones, effortless contouring to the faux glow. Follow the three with a light dusting of the bronzer on the bridge of your nose. Now without dipping your brush into your bronzer, run it along your neck – you don’t want a pale neck on your gorgeous sun kissed face!

Love,
Indian Girl

Rachel wouldn't figure in my top five list of people to sport yellow eyeliner. I do have the said list and I'll tell you this - it features Gwen Stefani, Blake Lively may be but not Rachel McAdams.

In real life however,Rachel went with the yellow liner at the premiere of her movie - Morning Glory and looked fabulous while at it !

Is this something you're thrilled about ? Are you itching to sport a similar look ? If you are then the M.A.C Pro Acrylic Paint in Primary Yellow is what you should get. Its this exact shade of bright sunny yellow - oh it making me feel warm already !




Love,
Indian Girl

Katy Pery's luscious curls were styled by Danilo, Pantene Celebrity Stylist. I love the curls - wish my hair would do that ! Looks so bouncy and fun ! Congrats to Katy for winning Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Online Sensation last night!


"Danilo created a beautiful classic body set on Katy, a style that “she always loves so much.” They decided on full waves to complement her strapless Betsey Johnson dress for a “sophisticated, cutie-pie” style for the evening.

Katy arrived on the scene with freshly washed, towel-dried hair so Danilo had a clean base for styling. He first lightly misted her hair with the Pantene Pro-V Fine Hair Heat Protection & Shine Spray to wet and condition, then focused on prepping her roots for the voluminous style by spraying them with the Pantene Pro-V Fine Hair Root Lifter Spray Gel.


Danilo then blew her hair out and, once dried, rubbed a small dollop of the Pantene Pro-V Restore Beautiful Lengths Smoothing Balm section-by-section before he applied heat from the curling iron. He used a medium-sized curling iron to set each section and sprayed the Pantene Pro-V Fine Hair Professional Level Style Shaping Hairspray over the set before letting it cool for five minutes. He then released her hair, brushed it gently, and “let her hair fall very full and wavy.” He parted her hair to the side with lift in the front, and left her remaining curls big and loose for the final finish."

Love,
Indian Girl

Nicki Minaj's Rainbow Tips - I don’t think I see myself ever dipping my raven hair in yellow or pink. But then I’ll never know – they say quarter life crisis does different things to different people. So I’ll hold off commenting on that.

On Nicki it’s a whole another game – she can get away with it, no crisis needed.

Mel B’s Partly Shaved Partly Cut Do - Not going anywhere near this. Probably just not the best look for a single, 26 year old girl like me. Mel B clearly looks happy with her choice!

Hair Extensions - I used to be able to like them and thought they had a good purpose but then Taylor Momsen happened. And then I cut my hair short.

Also catch the article on Vogue India .

On a side note - amazing how everything I write reflects what's happening in maa life yo ! Birthday in five days - Twenty seven ! Say what ?

Love,
Indian Girl

Clichés exist for a reason and that is why no matter how many times you’ve done reds at Christmas you must continue doing it! There just isn’t a better color for Christmas, yo!

This year I am taking inspiration from Hayden Panettiere. I have always admired her makeup which on a regular basis is very soft and mostly nude save for a few smoky eye days. However this golden / red appearance of hers had me dying a whole another death over its gorgeousness. Though the red lips might look like the obvious star of the show – its not. The real star here is the adequately warm, clean skin. Get it right and the rest will be a breeze

Face:

This is how I plan on recreating the look. Start off with a clean moisturized face. Its winter and I need something a little heavier than my trustee Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel. So I’ve been reaching for Olay Total Effects Cream.

Follow it up with a liquid foundation – Smashbox High Definition Healthy FX Foundation with a wee bit of highlighter mixed into it – Smashbox Artificial Light Luminizing Lotion, Glow. Apply concealer and then run the highlighter over your eyelids, under your brow bone and along the bridge of your nose. Keep everything in moderation.

Eyes:

Makeover them brows. Tweeze out the extras and shape them with some powder shadow – Milani Brow Fix Brow Kit.

We’re going in the reverse order for this eye look. Start off by applying mascara or adding false lashes. Now with an angled eyeliner brush add some black matte shadow along the outer half of you lash line. Smudge it out gently. This adds drama and makes your lashes look lush !

Cheeks:

Contour your cheeks moving upwards and towards with a matte bronzer – M.A.C Beauty Powder Smooth Harmony. Follow with a sheer shimmer blush – M.A.C Peach Twist. Now dab a bit of the highlighter on the outer corner of your eye / on top of your cheek bones.

Lips:

Line and fill your lips with a red lip liner - Chanel Le Crayon Levres, Rouge. Stay within your natural lip line. Follow this with a satin red lipstick – Chanel Rouge Coco, Gabrielle. Dab some highlighter on the bow of your lips.

How’s that for a stunning you!

Love,
Indian Girl

If there ever was a Kim Kardashian look to replicate - this would have to be it.

Why ?

Coz its easy peezy.

No blending. No layering. No crease job. Nothing. Just a bronze shadow all over lid and along lower lash line.

Kim K and no black eye liner ! Stop the presses ! But I sense there is theme here. One of softness. Notice how her hair is lighter too... Just don't ask me about them lashes.

Remember when Ginnifer Goodwin did something similar with a bright gold shadow ? We loved that look and tried to replicate it too !

Why ?

Coz its easy peezy.



Love,
Indian Girl

How gorgeous is this dressy messy hair style on Sonam Kapoor !


To say I’ve been obsessed with figuring out how to go about it is an understatement.

Because I didn’t have the faintest of clue I asked, stylist Juan Carlos Maciques from Rita Hazan Salon in New York City to put me out of my misery. Maciques has styled the likes of Kardashian sisters (who never have a bad hair day) and was equally excited about the look. “It’s a very modern take on an up-do. Looks fresh because it's an uncontrived hair style. There is a balance between messy and polished.” says Maciques and I agree.

Totally.

Continue reading the How To part of this story here on Vogue India's Website. Gimme a thumbs up if like what you learned !

Love,
Indian Girl

pic source

Would you do it ?

Not me.

Off the top of my head I would never have thought a cool shade like gray would look so good with bright warm orange lips. As much as I love orange lips, gray hasn't been my color. I've always paired orange with very natural / nude eyeshadow shades. But seeing these gorgeous Indian models, I am rethinking my strategy here.

May be Gray plus Orange on Brown = HAWT !


Love,
Indian Girl

The theme of the shoot was - The Graduate.

That's that.

Lets talk about the lipstick - gawgus ! We saw it on AIMB sometime back and you guys were full of intel on what shade this could be. Remember ? Here on the model.

Its here again and I don't think its going to vanish after this. I guess this will be a hot Fall shade.So, I made a list of all your recommendations and some of mine so it helps the rest of us who wanna try this out.





Indian Princess - YSL Rouge Pur in # 19 or a combo of Ysl Rouge Volupte in # 10 and # 11.
Sunitha - Rouge Coco in Taffetas Rose or Paris. Julie Hewett in Scarlett.
Sereen - Illamasqua Resist
Anon #1 - NARS "Funny Face
Priya - MAC night violet
Anon #2 - Vasanti Cosmetics Denmark Lipstick
Smeegal9 - OCC Lip Tar Anime
Anon - Revlon Wild Orchid
Huma - MAC Girl About Town
Seju1987 - Wet n Wild Mega Last Lip Color in Sugar Plum Fairy 908C
Amanpreet - MAC Show Orchid, NYX Hot Pink, NYX Orchid
IG - Rouge D' Armani - Rouge 402, Three Custom Color Specialists Santorini (swatch below)

Any more ideas on the shade ?

Love,
Indian Girl

So who caught the Teen Choice Awards last night ?

Not me.

I don't have TV.
I have Hulu !

But I had to check out who turned up at the awards and who wore what and how.
Two gray looks caught my eye.

One - Selena Gomez .
I know her, naturally.

Two - Jojo.
I bet google knows her.

If I had to try one look on myself it would have to be Selena's look.
Naturally (Sorry I cant help it)
Love how simple and cute it is. Plus I don't really need much of blending skills for it.

Jojo's on the other hand is super mega smokey. With lots of long curled lashes.
Not a look for me. I have no where to go looking so glamorous.

What about you ? What look would you pick to try on yourself ?

Love,
Indian Girl

Jacqueline Fernandes - the new girl in Bollywood. I think she has the cutest smile ! Love pairing pink cheeks and lips with a green gown. Its an effortless combo.


Vidya Balan - I guess the new thing in Bollywood is to dress like the character you're playing in your up coming movie ? In character or not - its hard to go wrong with frizz free hair, great skin, natural looking makeup and kajal !

My mom would ask her to wear a necklace. She is just not a fan of plain neck with a saree.
I cant do sarees so I am just in awe that she is wearing one.


Deepika Padukone - love the bangs. Reminds me of Maduri Dixit circa 1992. If there was one thing I could switch with her it would be a hard choice between

the height
the small waist
gorgeous brows
those dimples
big beautiful eyes
flawless skin...
Its gonna be hard. Very hard.


Sonam Kapoor - Not a huge fan of the girl but that doesn't stop me from admiring her clothes and makeup ! Love the purple punch !
And that earring - Lordy Lord ! Its so cool ! I want it .

I don't wear earrings.
But I still want it.

I don't have a neck as long as hers.
And I still want it.

I have no where to go wearing it.
I still want it.
Now.


Celina Jaitley - Great hair !
I know the girl gets a lot of flack for her makeup choices - but I have begun to see it this way. She is comfortable doing this and has been doing it a while despite what anybody tells her. And being a celebrity I am sure anybody and everybody has something to say. So I guess its time to leave it alone and just accept it as her look !

Love,
Indian Girl

Truthfully I do realize that JLH doesnt really care if we like it or not. No one should. The lady loves it and is flaunting it with many other things( like her gorgeous shoes is all I meant)

But for me, the nails don't work. I am all for bright summer nails but they must exist all along the length of the nail. We are talking full on yellow ! The yellow tips on the lines of white french manicure is not my style.

What about you ? You liking them ? Do you approve of yellow tips ?

Love,
Indian Girl

Jessica Alba looked so edgy & chic at the Paris Premiere of her movie Killer Inside Me. The hair was a bit too high for me but really I am no Hollywood star. I could leave my house with the oiliest, flattest hair tied together with a blue scrunchie and nobody would mind.

I say that from experience.

Back to hotter topics - Alba.

Check out the makeup, y'all ! Love the bronzy sultry look. If you love it too I have THE perfect candidate to recommend to help you master the look - The LORAC Little Black Palette. It was made to go with the LBD !


The palette comes with four metallic baked eye shadows and a mini Behind The Scenes eyeshadow primer. The four shades include a champagne, a nude bronze, deep bronze and a deep brown. It retails for $32 (a $72 value!) at Sephora, ULTA, LORACcosmetics.com, Sephora.com and ULTA.com. LORAC also is having a 40 - 80% off sale on Hautelook so check them out. Sale ends - 7/ 10/2010.

In Other News

What's on your nails ? I've been wearing orange since the start of summer. Took a break with pink in between and no polish for few weeks but now I'm back on orange. This one here is Jancyn by Zoya. Isnt she super pretty !

Love,
Indian Girl

Scar Jo.
Beautiful Scar Jo has been giving us makeup addicts lotsa inspiration looks lately. The girl's been playing with color and I love it ! Almost always Hollywood does that same few safe things - champagne, gold, black smokey eye or a neutral eye . We need more color in Hollywood !

At The 64th Annual Tony Awards - A bold purple and lavender eye look contrasting the bottle green dress.



At 2010 MTV Movie Awards - a very easy golden olive brown look. Look the hair color ! Is it blond ? Is it red ? Is this strawberry blond ?



At 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards in New York - green green lotsa green. A fun way to match her dress with the makeup !


At Iron Man 2 Premiere in Hollywood - bronze glamor. Love the bronze eyes the gorgeous bronzy skin with the white outfit !


At 2010 White House Correspondents Association Dinner - very sweet and simple, almost a girl next door type look.

Scar Jo is beautiful and all but the only thing better is ....
Mmmm...Mmmm....Mmmm..........

Love,
Indian Girl

Oh Zoe Saldana, how gorgeous are thee...
Love the milkmaid braid , the cool dangly earrings and the red hot lips !

For a similar red lip look try Smashbox Double Take Lip Color Pencil - Cranberry.



Love,
Indian Girl

The ever beautiful and recently slimmed down Jennifer Hudson recently got together with Sam Fine, celebrity makeup artist and creator of The Basics of Beauty, for a shoot showing off her gorgeous new look. Here, Sam shares his insider advice on how you can achieve this flawless and glowing face at home with just a few easy steps.


Coverage: Every great look begins great coverage. Jennifer has beautiful skin, but like many women of color, she has varied tones. I use foundation to unify those varying tones. One of my favorites is the Queen Collection Natural Hue Compact Foundation because it’s cream- to- powder, so it dries down to a powdery finish and looks really natural.

Bronzer: Bronzer is always a must for all women to illuminate their complexion. It’s important to choose a bronzer that’s one shade darker than your natural skin tone and apply it to the outer perimeter of your face to warm the skin and create a halo of glow. After applying bronzer, you can go back and layer over blush to give the skin a pop of color. On Jennifer, I used CoverGirl Natural Hue Mineral Bronzer and Cargo’s matte blush in Laguna.

Eyes: To create Jennifer’s classic, natural eye, I used a brown shadow. Shu Uemura makes a great pressed eye shadow in an array of shades – in this case, their Matte Taupe with Golden Flakes Eyeshadow works perfectly.

For this look, I didn’t use a ton of liner, and totally avoided lining underneath her eyes to keep them soft. We used tons of mascara to enhance her look – my favorite is LashBlast from CoverGirl. I always like to apply a coat of mascara, and then move on to something else to let the first coat dry. I’ll come back a few minutes later, curl the lashes, and then layer on a few more coats of mascara to really build the lashes. This makes them much more dramatic and makes the curl hold well. It’s like spraying your hair with a coat of hairspray before using a curling iron.

Lips: To complete her look, I gave Jennifer a beautiful nude lip. The key to a nude lip is to begin by lining the lips with liner that is one shade darker than your natural lip color. Don’t worry about matching the liner to your lipstick – if you match it to your lips, it will look great with any shade of lipstick. After lining the lips, feather the liner towards the center of the mouth to great a base for the lipstick. Next, apply your lipstick.
On Jennifer, I chose IMAN Cosmetics’ Luxury Moisturizing Lipstick in Citron. I finished by slicking on a golden gloss add dimension and shine. CoverGIRL’s Shine Blast Lip Gloss is perfect!

Love,
Indian Girl