Virtual Valentine: Smoulder Like A Classic Bollywood Star For Your On Screen Date

Dating in the age of COVID is almost akin to love in the age of cholera: Difficult, fraught with risk, and let’s face it, filled with moves from the ’40s where people glanced at each other. The soulful gazing is as hot as especially when setting up your Valentine’s Day meet up on screen — à la Raj Kapoor and Nargis, or Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, if you please. Here are key tips on how to create romantic looks that will bewitch your virtual Valentine and perhaps even give Cupid pause for thought. 

People may argue that if you look like Madhubala, that you were born on fire and hence destined to set the pupils of many afire with a single glance.  I think that the argument is simplistic, and after having viewed several videos featuring Madhubala and Nargis, I conclude that their beauty looks served their personalities and acted as a conduit for their talent, rather than their being moulded to look a certain way.

Personality is as singular, and as special as one’s DNA, and if a beauty look can help you smoulder while letting your charm shine through, you have already aced the hardest part of a first date.  Read on below for tips and tricks:

KEEP THE HAIR SIMPLE

Don’t complicate things with super sleek hair or with complicate twists. Embrace a relaxed vibe by adding volume at the roots and then clip the hair into a simple style such as a loose braid. Nargis embraced this style in the famous song “Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua Hai Pyar Se” in Shree 420, and it is unfailingly lovely and clearly charmed Raj Kapoor as they declared their love to each other under an umbrella while walking in the rain.

A fast way to achieve this effortless look is to spritz the roots using a dry shampoo such as Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ newly-launched Anomaly Dry Shampoo.  The product’s rice starch will absorb the oil which you can quickly brush away, and in its place is a light volume, that lends itself to easy styling.

EYEBROWS — DEFINED

As was par for the course in the forties and fifties, a defined eyebrow was key to establishing the framework of one’s look. The eyebrows were not overdone, and always possessed a bit of heft. Madhubala’s seduction of Ashok Kumar in the song “Aiye Meharbaan” in Howrah Bridge was unforgettable in part because her brows lent her softly made up face a sense of structure and purpose.

https://youtu.be/LjZ0DCaPSP0

For such a look, I recommend using a soft eyebrow pencil such Vasanti Cosmetics Brow Powder Pencil, which deposits a deeply pigmented colour that does not look harsh on the skin.  I always warm the tip of pencil by rolling it between my pointer finger and thumb; then holding it with medium force at a 45° angle I draw little hairs using quick strokes throughout the eyebrows. Once the eyebrows possess more heft and structure, I set them in place using a clear eyebrow gel.

COMPLEXION — GLOWING

The key words are glow and luminosity with a sophisticated twist. We are in the midst of winter, and a cool edge to one’s complexion truly enhances the allure. I wasn’t surprised that Dilip Kumar would serenade Nargis with the song “Tu Kahe Agar Jeevan” in Andaz.  Nargis was the epitome of style with her lightly marcelled hair; barely adorned beauty; and her complexion glowed, even in black and white.

The modern way to achieve the glow is to start with a primer that is designed to add brightness. I thoroughly enjoy the Make Up For Ever Dullness Eraser Step 1 Primer. This cashew barfi coloured, lightweight liquid is easily massaged into the skin and leaves a subtle glow for light-to-medium skin tones. It neither settles into fine lines nor does it brings imperfections to the fore. It literally creates a smooth canvass that looks awake and rested.

The collection includes a terracotta shade for tan-to-darker skin tones called Grayness Reducer which ensures that the rainbow of South Asian beauties can all have brightened complexions.

I follow the primer by spot applying a lightweight, glow foundation such as Nars Sheer Glow Foundation (40 shades available). I love  how this wonder liquid mutes the discolouration around my mouth and on my upper cheeks, while seamlessly blending into the rest of the face. I like to tap a few dots on the discoloured areas and then blend it in using a stiff, duck-billed foundation brush.

For particularly dark areas on my face such as the under-eye area and tiny colonies of brown spots, I recommend dabbing on stick concealer and then blending with clean finger. I’m totally obsessed with the Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Brighten and Correct Duo (16 shades available) because this double-sided sticks has two shades that help you create bespoke shades for different parts of the face.  For example, under my eyes I will blend in a few dabs of corrector but more dabs of brightener. I will then use the same duo to camouflage my dark spots but in this situation, I will use more corrector and top it off with a quick swipe of brightener. The texture is creamy but it stays put when you dab the areas with a light powder.

What is striking about Nargis’ look in Andaz is how her magnificent bone structure is bathed in light, and this can be achieved without making a duck face or adding copious amounts of bronzer around the perimeter of the face.  I love to highlight my bone structure using a pearlescent product such as Wander Beauty Catch the Light Highlighter & Glowtion, which contains a liquid highlighter that you can dab on the cheeks and the down the centre of the nose, and a stick that you can tap under the eyebrows. After carefully blending the areas, you will have highlighted your bone structure in a gentle, effortless manner.

I finish the complexion by adding a pop of blush to the cheeks using a neutral shade. By pop, I mean that I dab it on the apples to add a flush to the area. I enjoy using Glo Skin Beauty Blush in Flower Child because it is a subtle shade of pink that makes me look healthy and never overdone.  The collection contains several shades such as Melody and Papaya which also produce the same effect.

EYES — SIMPLE AND DIRECT

The soulful gaze is the hallmark of the Hindi film heroine from the forties and fifties, and what is interesting is that they appeared to have achieved it with minimal effort. The eyes were not bathed with kajol or heavy eyeshadow and yet they still captured our attention. The elements to achieving such a look is composed of these elements: soft, metallic eyeshadow, dark liner, cream liner and a single coat of mascara. Madhubala’s soulful gaze towards Dilip Kumar as she serenaded him in “Tere Sadque Balam” in Amar demonstrates the power of this simple eye look, because let’s face it by the end of the song he was enchanted.

You too can create this effect through your device’s lens by following these tips:

1. For the eyeshadow, I recommend using soft metallics that veer towards earth tones If you prefer a simple eye shadow looks, then I suggest colour washing the eyelids with Burt’s Bees Colournurture™ Cream Eye Shadow in either Honey Caramel, a shimmery bronze, or Rose Cream, a shimmery rose gold. My eyelids are a bit oily but I was impressed by how this product did not settle in my crease and stayed put for several hours.  It added brightness and contrasted nicely against my coffee peepers;

2. If you prefer a bit more intensity then the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter Luxury Palette in Eyes of a Star is perfect. This quartet of shadows softy textured, shimmery powders, in the following shades: gold, copper, milk chocolate and bark. I love how I can intensify the shades by adding layers because the shadows are finely-milled. I like to apply a mix of the gold and copper on my mobile lid, and then define the crease with the milk chocolate.

3. After applying the shadow, I line the inner rim of the eyes. I like using the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Exagger-Eyes Liner Duo because the black liner is an unforgiving onyx with a matte finish. It glides on easily when tight line the upper rim of each eye, and it makes my eyelashes appear thicker. I then rim the waterline with the metallic shade, and the whites of each are extended and look brighter.  I then curl my eyelashes and apply a single coat of mascara to finish the eyes.

MOUTH — LUSH AND POUTY

A date look is incomplete without a pair of pouty lips, and for this look, the finish should be glossy and wet. Madhubala and Dev Anand engaged in a passionate battle of the pouts in “Achha Ji Main Haari Chalo” from the film Kala Paani, and I think Madhubala won with a wink and smile.

People have praised Madhubala’s impish, naughty grin, and it is fascinating to observe that her lips are not enhanced by anything except for shiny colour. I found the following products which will beautify the mouths of South Asian Venuses:

1.     The combination of Shiseido’s LipLiner InkDuo in True Red and Shimmer GelGloss in Shin-Ku Red – 07.  The liner has one end that is a primer for the lips which fills in tiny lines that impedes colour bleed, and the other end is a smooth pencil that deposits the colour.  The tip is precise so you can define the mouth perfectly, including the corners of the lips, and I like that the colour is soft, rather than strong, because it does not look harsh against the surrounding skin.

I apply the gold and red shimmer infused gloss, and the resulting look is playful and flirty;

2.     If you prefer more intensity, then a swipe of Charlotte Tilbury Hyaluronic Happikiss in Happiberry is a lipstick balm that hydrates the lips and plumps them immediately.  The pigment stays put so while you are chatting, your lips will not fade. I literally swiped (left) on each lip, and I was impressed by the intensity of the pigment and even though it was shiny, the shade is urbane.

Classic Beauty Will Always Be Timeless 

After watching hours of melodious hits of the forties and fifties, what is clear is that we can easily adopt the beauty tips used by women like Madhubala and Nargis and successfully communicate our essence through the lens of a device. These women delicately enhanced their natural beauty, and since we all have our respective, inimitable physical and personal charms, we should put them on display.  Dating through a lens removes the magic of physical presence, so it becomes that much more important to show our best, polished selves, so that we communicate  is ourselves, not our makeup artistry.  Remember that there is a little Madhubala and Nargis in all of us.