“The most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy” quoted Yves Saint Laurent famously.
Every woman who applies make-up would swear by YSL’s quote and by the dopamine rush that one gets on buying that perfect new lip colour or an eye-shadow. The rising popularity of cosmetic industry is evident by business figures. The global cosmetic products market was valued at USD 532.43 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach a market value of USD 805.61 billion by 2023.
Amidst this growing popularity of make-up are the beginners who want to enter this magical world of cosmetics but are unaware of where to begin from. Ciceroni brings you a cuarted list of make-up essentials for beginners. We have carefully sorted the starting range for each product after speaking to few women who use cosmetics in daily life.
10 commandments of Make-up Essentials are :
1) PRIMER – Primers are used as a base for make-up, it builds the canvas for you to work on. However, most women do not prefer using primer on daily basis. You may opt for primer when you want professional finish of make-up. Primer evens out the skin tone and helps conceal pores. It gives the skin a matte and glowy finish depending on the kind of product you choose.
Recommendation – Oily Skin – Colour Bar Perfect Match Primer ( INR 850)
L’Oreal Paris Base Magique Transforming Smoothing Primer ( INR 950 )
Lakme Blur perfect make-up Primer ( INR 675)
Dry Skin – MAC Primer ( INR 1500 onwards)
2) FOUNDATION – Most women go wrong in picking the right shade of foundation. Wrong foundation can make you look either very yellowish or ash coloured. It is important to identify your skin colour first.
Are you a warm coloured person with a yellow tone or are you a cooler coloured person with a pink undertone to your skin ?
Pick a foundation shade that matches your skin shade first. Then ask for both pink and yellow undertone for the same number shade of foundation. By quickly applying both on the forearm, you will get an idea which shade to pick up. More often than not, we make two mistakes in picking a foundation. One , we choose a lighter shade than our original skin shade in an attempt to look fairer and then we mix up the yellow/pink undertones badly.
Once the skin shade and skin undertone is identified, choose a foundation also based on skin’s oil properties.
Recommendation – Dry Skin – Cream Based foundation / Mousse
Oily Skin – Liquid based foundation
Acne prone Skin – Mineral Foundation ( Loose powder base, silicon free)
Brands – M.A.C. ( INR 2500 onwards )
Maybelline FIT ME ( INR 500 )
Lakme 9 to 5 natural mousse ( INR 595)
3) BB CREAM /CC CREAM – For the uninitiated, BB Creams are Beauty Balm and CC Cream are Complexion Care products. In layman’s terminology, they are basically tinted moisturizer with added element of primer, sunscreen and light foundations all in one and thus an easy wear for a routine day.
So keep one of these handy with you for the days when you don’t want to apply foundation.
Recommendations – BB Cream – Colorbar BB Cream ( INR 599 )
Loreal Paris True Match BB Cream ( INR 650)
Deborah Milano BB Cream ( INR 695)
CC Cream – Lakme CC Cream ( INR 250)
Bourjois CC Cream ( INR 1700)
4) LOOSE TRANSLUCENT POWDER – It is the most important step in make-up and yet most of us skip it. The loose powder basically sets the foundation right. It doesn’t allow the make-up to be transferred on your phone neither does it stick to the clothes. It gives an instant glossy even finish to the skin.
Recommendations – Inglot Translucent Loose powder
MAC Mineralize Foundation/Loose
5) BLUSH – To perfect the oh-so-trending dewy make-up look with a natural flush on cheeks, blush is a must. It’s the perfect addition to any makeup look and ties everything together. Blush comes in a wide variety of shades and finishes — from creams to powders and formulas that do a little bit of both. Pick a light pink or a peach shade that matches your skin tone to begin with. Peach blush is trending globally for 2018.
Recommendation – MAC powder Blush ( INR 2000 onwards )
Lakme Absolute Face stylist Blush Duos ( INR 600 )
6) KOHL – Kohl or kajal instantly enhances the beauty of a face. It perks up the eyes and makes them expressive. Once you start applying kohl, there are chances that you get hooked on to it. There are various options available in market – pencil, gel and liquid. Pick the one that you are comfortable with, try out all options and then settle for the one that best suits your eyes.
Recommendation – MAC Gel Eye liner ( INR 1550 )
Maybelline NewYork Colossal Kajal ( INR 180 )
Lakme Eyeconic Kajal ( INR 180 )
Revlon Kohl Kajal Eye liner Pencil ( INR 199)
7) EYEBROW FILLER – Eyebrows frame our face. In fact most of the women dread the day when the beautician screws up the shape of the eyebrow. It is generally a neglected make-up step, but if done it can instantly glam your face up.
Go in and fill up those empty spaces in your brow.
Recommendation – M.A.C brow Sculpt ( INR 1650)
Colorbar Brow pencil ( INR 650)
Maybelline brow ultra fluffy ( INR 550)
8) MASCARA – Mascara gives an elongated look to the eye lashes as it opens up the eyes making them look bigger. In a country obsessed with big eyed beauties, applying mascara is the make-up guru mantra. Pick up a waterproof mascara to avoid smudging through the day.
Recommendation – Maybelline Volum Express Colossal Mascara ( INR 399)
Lakme Iconic curling mascara ( INR 375 )
Kiko Milano Extra Sculot Waterproof mascara ( INR 1050)
9) EYE SHADOW – If it is your first buy, then always buy a neutral palette of eye shadow. You can later add on trendy shades to create glittery eyes with blues and greens. Get your gear ready to create smoky eyes for night party and dewy eyes for morning brunch.
For the beginners, nude shades in peach, pink and taupe should do the trick.
Recommendation – Maybelline New York The Nudes ( INR 899 )
Lakme Absolute Illuminating Eye Shadow Palette ( INR 995)
Makeup Revolution Ultra 32 shade ( INR 1750)
10) LIPSTICK – Final step of finishing any look is filling up the lips with perfect colour. You can choose to opt for minimal trend with nudes in peach and pinks or go all bold with bright scarlet red, tangerine orange, fuchsia, oxblood or burgundy. The experimental ones can try the trending violet, black, grey and blue lipsticks. Do buy M.A.C Ruby woo, it’s a classic that every girl must own.
Recommendation – M.A.C ( INR 1500 )
Chambor ( INR 899 )
Ruby Organics ( INR 990 )
Sugar ( INR 799 )
Lakme 9 to 5 ( INR 480 )
We have prepped you with brand names and prices too to make a laundry list of what should you buy. Go ahead and create your own make-up kit.
Falguni Patel is the Editor and Head – Strategy & Operations at Ciceroni. With a keen eye for aesthetics and ardent love for words, wit and sarcasm, she critiques fashion and lifestyle unapologetically. She doubles up as a strategic communicator in her other life. Self confessed Bibliophile, travel enthusiast and sucker for humour in mundane, Falguni loves food analogies in all her conversations.
