Eyeshadow is the new lipstick, thanks to Coronavirus masks

South Korea, the land of all new ‘cool’ beauty trends is already thinking ahead on post lockdown make-up, basically adapting it to the ubiquity of face masks. Beauty bloggers and experts are coming up with trends and tutorials on dressing up the face – and the eyes are where the drama is going to be. Even in China, eye make-up has become the new normal. Post lockdown, the sale of eyeliners and eye shadow products rose by 40 per cent in China.

Make-up expert Ambika Pillai says, “The idea is to tweak your eye makeup as eyes would be the only part of the face that would be visible. Experiment with coloured liner, lash extensions and mascara.” Pillai says that often people just find one look and stick with it for ages especially with liners. Get creative. Try winged liners, and colour the inner and outer corners differently.

Try new looks

Make-up expert Samaira Sandhu says that the trend of dramatic eyes like you see in the Middle East will come to India, while the overall look will be more nude. Her picks: false lashes, glitter shadows, neon colours, coloured liners and mascara. If there’s one eye trend that can trickle from social media to IRL right now, it’s neon eye colours. Make-up expert Anuj Dogra says, “Accentuated lashes, colourful mascara especially blue and neon eye liners will take over from lips,” he says. He says there will be a return on the ’60-70s Bollywood aesthetics a la Sharmila Tagore with nude lips with defined eyes.

Matte matters

Pillai suggests keeping everything matte especially with the hot and humid season ahead. She advises against shadows as they tend to crease. “Use an eye primer. It makes the lid look spotless and clear and your mascara and liner stand out more,” she says. Use an easy-to-apply shimmery shade like eye glosses. Sandhu likes to seal in the kajal (that usually smudges) with an application of black eye shadow that also gives it a smokey look. For a festive look you can add Swarovski crystals or pearls or paste-on eye tattoos. Recently beauty blogger Jovita George showed off a hand-drawn eyelid design while fashion blogger Santoshi Shetty has been experimenting with bold eye statements.

Brows for more

Pillai says try not to shape brows at home. “The big, strong brows are in especially now that there’s no choice. Just tweeze the extra and the in-between,” she says. Unruly brows can stand out even more when half of your face is covered. Take a few minutes to groom your brows. Dogra advises brushing them with dry glycerine soap and a mascara wand. “Just make them settle and then tweeze the extra and cut the strays,” he says. You can even use gel to keep it in place. Don’t fill the brows unless you have bald spots. More trends are surfacing around the mask: matte foundations, better skincare, lip balms. But for now the eyes grab the eyeballs.