Tips to have you looking like you just stepped off the red carpet
Throughout my career in journalism, I have had the chance to interview several celebrities and ask them about their beauty secrets. Some have been candid and some cagey, but I remember the most commonly mentioned tips, even though I may have forgotten the name of the model or Bollywood actress who gave them to me.
Skincare
The most popular and common beauty secret among celebs is the importance given to moisturising. Every single one of them is very generous with their use of moisturiser.
The brands may vary and most of them can afford the best names in the business, but the point here is that after cleansing the skin and removing all the make-up, they dab a lot of moisturiser on their face – morning and night – to keep the skin soft and supple.
Taking care of the under-eye region is also top priority. Most celebrities are notorious night owls, and if they are not shooting late, they are usually partying till the wee hours of the morning. Dark circles or puffy eyes inevitably follow.
A model once told me of her “egg routine” every morning. As she cracks open an egg for brekky, she runs her finger around the inside of the egg shell and then onto the under-eye region of her face – it helps to keep the skin under her eyes to stay taut and not wrinkle.
Removing all make up, no matter how tired they may be, is golden rule number three. An actress once laughed and told me that she may be too tired to change into her pyjamas, but she never fails to take off all the colour cosmetics on her face. That is detrimental, she said, no matter what skin type you have. All you have to do is wash your face with cleanser and you are done. A piece of muslin cloth or a wad of cotton wool and you can leave your skin clean to recuperate through the night.
Hair and makeup
Coming to make up tips, for Indian skins, a very beautiful society lady once told me that no matter how lovely your eyes, instead of a deep black, go with a brown eyeliner. Brown gives a softer look, while black adds years to your face. She also recommended using a lip liner only after applying lipstick so it would blend better. The whole lip liner and lipstick in two different colours with the liner prominently standing out doesn’t work at all, she said.
The hair is the most abused part of a celeb’s body. Dryers, straighteners and irons cause so much damage that, eventually, the hair looks like straw. Most of them spend a fortune on high protein treatments to protect their hair from the daily abuse. Given their lifestyle and the paparazzi, they simply cannot afford a single bad hair moment, let alone a bad hair day.
Most of these beautiful girls believe in oil massages, a tip I got from an older actress who can still give a lot of younger ones a run for their money. Sure, her genes gave her gloriously thick hair, but if you have been colouring it, styling, blow drying, curling and straightening it since you were 16, even good genes would give up. She told me her Sunday routine included mixing six eggs in half a cup of olive oil, massaging it well into her scalp and hair and shampooing after a couple of hours.
Lifestyle
Yoga and regular exercise are part of the routine for most of these beautiful people. While going to the gym is de rigueur for them, a lot of them practice yoga so that they can de-stress from their busy lives. Besides, as one model prone to gaining weight told me, it is more effective in keeping the flab off than other forms of exercise.
Eating healthy is also a very important aspect of their lifestyle. One model I knew could not eat junk food – even though she loved it – as her skin broke out with acne if she did. Instead, though she absolutely hated them, salads and fruits were a major part of her diet. That’s how most of these people retain their glowing complexions – by eating healthy and very rarely cheating on their diet.
I would love to receive feedback from readers: if you have some tips to share, or if you have tried something from one of these columns and it has worked for you, do let us know.