Hot head & cool look

Reshmi Ghosh sports the look of the season ‘ dark eyes and subdued cheeks and lips; models show off Puja special hair cuts and styles at June Tomkyns.

Be it the Bunty Aur Babli kurta or the long flowing skirt, by now you have surely figured it all out in terms of clothes for those four days of festivity. But if you are still wondering what hairstyle to flaunt and what hues to sport to complement your wardrobe, help is at hand.

GoodLife, in consultation with experts in the field, lists some of the hottest styling tips of the season.

Hair highlight

Bold experimentation in terms of both colours and cuts is the way to go with your hair this Puja.

“You should be able to set your own style statement, something that suits you, instead of following trends blindly,” says Raman Bharadwaj of AN John Hair Salon.

However, the expert stylist recommends some dos and don’ts for the season. For instance, long hair is completely out and the boundary line is the shoulder blade.

“Though the forecast for this year was a whole lot of curls, more and more women are still preferring the straight look. Actually, a combination of straight and wavy curls is today’s rage,” he reveals.

The real experimentation is, however, happening in terms of colours. Global colouring in shades of maroon, red and violet is still in fashion, but the focus is clearly on streaks in a mix and match of colours, a technique called panel highlighting.

June Tomkyns has launched an array of unique hairstyles especially for the festive season. Called The Circle of Life, the first one is the Naive Look. It’s casual, and the highlights seem to be sun-kissed.

The Rebellious Look for evening dos recommends hair colours like garish blondes, cold black sheen and fiery red.

The pick of the season ‘Being in Love ‘ styles the hair in bouncy curls and colours them with rich blondes, deep burgundy and reds.

For guys, the John Abraham look is the hottest thing happening on the hair front right now. Says Raman: “Medium-length straight hair styled like John Abraham is really rocking. The popular shades for men are from the blonde family.” Short, spiky hair is on its way out, adds Raman.

Make-up mode

While bold and adventurous are words describing hair trends this season, subdued, simple and natural are the passwords in make-up.

Says make-up artiste Ambika Pillai: “The focus is largely on the nude look and subdued earthy tones for both your cheeks and lips. However, heavy eye make-up for the evenings is big this season. A simple way of adding a dash to your personality would be smudged kohl-lined eyes in brown or black.”

Make-up artiste Aniruddha Chakladar feels Puja make-up should be simple and natural. “During the Pujas, the weather is usually humid and so you can’t wear heavy make-up because it will start melting as soon as you step out of the house. Especially if you are going out pandal-hopping for the day, your make-up should be such that it can be retouched easily. You can go for a heavy look if you are attending an indoor function in the evening.”

For the day look, he rules out the base make-up totally and starts off directly with a touch of compact.

“Heavy eye make-up is very in right now and hence you should highlight the eyes with black or brown kohl, a bit of mascara and matte eye-shadow,” he suggests.

Avoid blush-ons and underplay the lips with soft flesh tones like nude, pink and peach.

For the evening indoors look, Chakladar recommends pancake base or powdered foundation.

The eyes can be highlighted with bright shadow in shades like fuschia and orange, eye-liner or kohl and mascara.

Powder blush in soft hues and a glossy or shimmery lip colour should complete the look.