Your Ultimate Holiday Glam Guide: 3 Makeup Looks For Networking, Family & Friends

Your ultimate holiday glam guide! Learn how to master 3 glamorous makeup looks made for networking, family dinners, and festive fun.

For South Asians from all communities, our holiday season kicked off on Diwali as many of us partook in beautiful parties tinged in gold and filled with smiles.  As we trudge towards winter, our innate sense of glamour will be working overtime as we will be attending more gatherings, for the remainder of the holiday season.  These events, which I have classified as networking, family and friends all require different types of glamour, and in this blog you will learn how to achieve these looks with just a few swipes of colour.

Networking – Build Soft Power with a Bold Lip

Canadian actress and director Andrea Drepaul has been gracing screens for twenty-plus years and with her recent directorial success with the film Rising Tide at the Tasveer Film Festival and Market, is an inspiration for upcoming South Asian performers and directors.  The strength and discipline it takes to break open doors for oneself and for future artists is admirable, and her glamour is perfect for networking!

As autumn slides into winter, work is stressful because offices are girding their loins for year-end results, and after work cocktails are a great way to breathe easier… and to build a personal empire.  The first rule of the cocktails is to limit alcohol intake and to keep the work mindset, because even though you are in a bar or lounge, you are surrounded by other colleagues and professionals, all of whom talk, observe and text.  Even if you are not in the office, the people you meet during cocktails are potential connections to new jobs and investment opportunities. Use cocktail hour as an opportunity to meet at least one new person and to engage in polite conversation, making sure to follow up the exchange with a quick email.

Integral to a successful exchange is to look polished, and this can be achieved with a soft eye and bold lip, as demonstrated by Depaul’s classic look.  Below is a breakdown of the elements:

1. The skin has a soft matte finish that has a light finish. You want your beautiful brown skin to be on display, not hidden by layers of complexion products.  I recommend using a foundation such Clarins Skin Illusion Velvet (18 shades available) because it is a mattifying liquid foundation that gives a bare skin effect.  Remember when you are networking you are not behind a screen, you are being observed in real life, and uniform skin tone that celebrates your colour is attractive.

2. Dark circles are the bane of many a South Asian beauty, me included, and skin brightening concealer that treats the delicate eye contour is a necessity! I like to dab on and then softly tap into place Tula Skincare Radiant Skin Concealer (20 shades available) to add the illusion of sleep and freshness.

3. The eye makeup should be light and low maintenance, because at work, lunches and breaks are usually cut short by pings and emergencies so there is scant time for complex touch-ups. I suggest colour washing the eyelids using a neutral, satin finish eyeshadow such as Rare Beauty All of the Above Weightless  Eyeshadow Stick in shades such as Integrity (a champagne shade for light skin tones), Contentment (a rose taupe shade for medium skin tones) and Adventure (a bronze shade for dark tones). The stick format means that you can just swipe it across each lid, and then tap out the line using your ring finger.

4. I then curl my lashes and apply a thin line of a liquid liner such as the Revlon Colorstay Lash Serum + Liner^TM Liquid Eyeliner. This liner’s ultra fine tip allows you to deposit a thin line of pigment that defines the eye and stays in place all day.  In addition, this product contains serum-infused Tahitian Microalgae which helps you to achieve visibly healthier lashes in one week.

5. Since the eye make-up is on the soft side, I use a volumising mascara that coats in lash in plumpness such as Vasanti Cosmetics Kajal Big Up! Volumizing Mascara. Remember the beauty brief for the holiday season in glamour, so even if a networking look veers towards classic, fat lashes are a must.

6. The skin glows in for this look, so I recommend dabbing on a liquid highlighter that has a hint of colour such as the Dior Forever Glow Maximizer (10 shades available). The bevel-tipped applicator delivers a sufficient amount of highlighter, such that you need one tap per cheeks and then you can blend out with your fingers.  The resulting luminosity looks like it comes from the skin and the product not does not cake. I recommend packing this product for a quick touch up prior to heading out for cocktails.  You can also add a touch under the eyebrows to add a more luminosity and glamour to the eye area.

7. The final step are the lips. I am fan of the bold lip, and the holiday version is all about wine shades like shiraz, burgundy or dare I say it… our beloved aunties’ maroon shades!  I think these shades work for the season because they mimic the intensity of fallen leaves and their depth mimics the pull towards night as we lose daylight to the ever longer nights.

The trick to a successful vino lip is to gently exfoliate the lips in the morning using a gentle scrub that delivers ghee-filled moisture and vitamin E to the delicate skin such as the Ghlee Lip Scrub.

After I rinse my lips, I swipe on a Ghlee Lip Balm because it is rapidly absorbed by the skin and leaves a matte finish, which make the perfect surface for a wine coloured lipstick.  I pack this lip balm because I re-apply it before I touch up my lips before going to cocktails.

A strong wine lip requires a lip liner to define the area and to prevent lipstick bleed, because the colour can never look messy as the lips are the focal point of the look.  Vasanti Cosmetics has two wine coloured lip pencils shades that suit the rainbow of South Asian beauties: Plum Royalé and Black Cherry.  The lip liner glides easily and delivers the pigment smoothly along the lip line.

Vasanti Cosmetics also has a collection of gel-based hydrating matte lipsticks that infuse the lips with Cherry, Pomegranate and Evening Primrose Oils and Mango Butter so that the lips are soft and plump.  The texture of the My Time Gel Lipsticks is sublime, as my lips never feel dry and the colour deliver is even and smooth from corner to corner.  The best vino shades of the collection which are great for brown beauties are Fun Time and Good Time.

Family Time – Keeping it Real and Low Key Glamourous

During the holiday season, family potlucks are a great way to strengthen connections with aunts, uncles, cousins, extended family and family friends.  Even though the affair is family oriented, this is not an occasion to attend looking homely and just hair’s width above presentable.  The family potluck is a celebration of heart connections which will sustain you when times are tough, and I posit that low-key glamour is the applicable beauty brief.  Your effort demonstrates your respect for such important ties, and when the pictures and videos are inevitably distributed in the family Whatsapp chats, you want to look like a twinkling star.

American dancer and singer, Lara Raj, who is always stunning whether dancing in stage or wearing South Asian outfits, demonstrates how soft shades make for an unforgettable look.

To achieve her low-key glamourous look, read on:

1. The complexion is fresh and light, and I recommend using a lightweight skin tint to even out the face and neck.  I enjoy the Gucci Glow Skin Tinted Moisturizer with Hyaluronic Acid and Bakuchiol (20 shades available) because I love that this product attracts moisture to the skin with the hyaluronic acid, and the bakuchiol (which originates from India) acts like a retinol by softening lines and evening tone.  The liquid goes on the skin like water and quickly sets, creating a candlelit glow.

2. I use the same approach for dark circles as described in the section above.

3. Lara’s look plays with soft shades to enhance her beauty. Her eyes are bright and sensual, so an eyeshadow quad like the Estée Lauder the Essential Eyeshadow Quad in Après Spree is a great kit for low-key glamourous looks, which uses soft pinks and deep browns. I colourwash the eyelids using the pale rosy cream colour (upper left shade).  Once the base is set, I define the crease using the soft rose shade (lower left shade) to define the crease.  I then dab the rosy pink sparkle (upper right shade) at the centre of my eyes to attract light.  I then wet a stiff angle brush and dab it om the rich brown satin shade, and I draw a soft line on the upper lash line.

4. I curl the eyelashes and then waterline the eyes (upper and lower lash lines) using the classic Vasanti Waterline Eyeliner Pencil in black.

I complete the eye make-up by applying a lengthening mascara that creates a baby doll eye lash look such as Benefit Mascara Fan Fest.

5. For this glow, I prefer to use a watercolour approach on the cheeks. Since the cheeks occupy prime real estate, it is important that the blush enhances the moisture of the skin, so that your complexion looks fresh.  I am a fan of the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dewy Flush.  This tinted serum delivers clinically effective ingredients such as niacinamide that brightens dark spots and watermelon extract and centella asiatica to hydrate the skin.  I lightly dab the serum, whose colour comes from its jojoba coated pigments, using the jumbo sized doe foot applicator.  I apply a single dab of tinted serum on the top of each cheek and then use my fingers to blend it into the rest of the cheek area.  The result is a diffuse look, as if you completed a light run.  In this collection of tinted serums, I recommend Dragon Fruit Flush (a medium, cool pink) for light-to medium skin tones and Berry Flush for deep skin tones.

6. The lips are ultra-shiny and plump, and I recommend lining and defining the lips using a nude shade that works for your lip colour. If you are like me and have pink lips with touches of mauve, I suggest using a deeper pink nude to achieve a uniform base colour for the lips.  If your lips are mauver with hints of pink, use a deeper nude shade.  The Vasanti lip liner collection has two shades that fit the bill: Mauvenberry and Rose Sorbet.

7. Lara’s lips look shiny and juicy, so a tinted lip balm is the way to go. The lip balm will likely not withstand the oils and masala that are integral to South Asian cuisine but if you follow step 6, your lips will never be naked.  Glow Recipe has launched several new shades in its Glass Balm^TM collection, including deeper ones such as Coconut Bingsoo which delivers a nice touch of mauvey-brown pigment, and is a 90’s throwback shade.  For lighter coloured lips, Blackberry Bingsoo delivers a nice berry gleam.

Brunch with Friends – Look Cute, Your Tribe Deserves it!

Between work and family, sometimes friendships take a backseat because there are only 24 hours in a day.  The squeeze on time means that sneaking away for a girls’ brunch during the holiday season is that much for more special because you will be with people who want to be with you because your uniqueness fills their lives with joy. It is important to honour the occasion by embracing a soft glamourous look because i) you are celebrating your friendships; ii) you will be ready in case your waiter is a cutie pie; and iii) when you look back at pictures you will be proud of your effort.

Indian actress and environmentalist, Dia Mirza, is a world-renowned beauty, and this is in part due to her timeless soft glamour.  Her look is not about harsh defined lines, it is about playing with browns and golds to create a romantic look.

The key difference between Lara’s and Dia’s looks is that the former is shinier and slightly more defined.  Dia’s look is perfect for brunch with friends because it is easy to achieve and does not require in-depth application techniques:

1. I recommend using steps 1 and 2 of the look above to achieve a soft, glowing complexion.
2. The eyes are stunning, and I recommend using soft, brown metallics to achieve the look. The Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Eyeshadow Stick collection is a great source of brown metallic shades that flatter the rainbow of South Asian skin tones. Three outstanding shades from this collection that will add brown shimmer around the eyes are Copper Prism, Golden Prism and Espresso. I like to swipe the stick on the mobile lid and the softly blend the colour into the remainder of the lid.

3. I then curl my eyelashes, and apply Benefit Fan Fest on the upper and lower lashes;

4. The cheeks are lowkey in this look, so I recommend using a soft highlighting stick such as Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick (7 shades available), because you can twist it up, swipe on the cheeks, blend in the product using your fingers and you look like you have glass skin.  Amongst the 7 shades, the following look great in brown skin tones: Brûlée, Nectar and Biscuit.  This product is efficient and effective!

5. The lips are warm toned and glossy, so I recommend focusing in caramel lip balm shades such as Blume Superbalm Tripeptide-1 Lip Tint in Toffee. It smells like candy and leaves a hint of soft brown shine on the lips. The peptides in this formula work to improve the lips’ elasticity.

Holiday Glam – Hot Chocolate all the Way!

The three talented South Asian artists featured in this blog demonstrate that our brown skin tones are well-suited to all intensities of glamour.  Glamour is golden but it is also professional, low-key and soft, but what these looks have in common is preparedness.  Regardless of the intensity or style of glamour, the ritual of engaging in a glamour look ensures that you will put your best foot forward, so that you will be present in the moment.  The present state of mind will enable you to establish new connections and celebrate personal ones as we march towards the depths of winter.

Suggested Readings:
Strategic Faces: A Makeup Guide For South Asians Navigating The Networking Game
The Beauty Styles of Strong South Asian Women