Let's make-up! With Bina Khan

Bina Khan shares some simple, easy to do tips, and some secrets to help you look beautiful.

It is my sincere hope that the column that you are reading at this very moment is the first page of the last make-up book that you will ever need to read. Tear out every column and stick it on to your mirror or simply review online; either way I am going to blow the lid on every beauty secret out there, making a make-up whizz out of every single one of you. After 15 years of doing make-up and thousands of faces later, I have loads to share. So here goes!

Contouring following the angle of the eye line

I get loads of people who come in to the salon wondering if their face will take make-up well. The funny thing is that all faces look good with make-up, given a proper understanding of structure and balance. There are just a few tricks with some variations and varying strengths that are repeated again and again and those tricks work for just about everyone. As long as you have a skull, you fall within predictable parameters and make-up will indeed work for you. However looking past the distractions to the structure beneath is the trick to achieving accomplished looking make-up.

Creating symmetry with the eye line

Good make-up creates symmetry because symmetry is pleasing to the eye. Just think about the wonders of nature, be they flowers or butterflies or cats or Monica Belluci. Symmetry is everywhere and we instinctively find order attractive because we are just made that way.

To find the symmetry in your face look at your face in the mirror, dead straight, looking yourself dead in the eye, with bright even light falling on your face.

Now imagine you are lining the inside of your eye with kajal or eye pencil (Step 1), but instead of stopping where your eye ends you carry that (imaginary) line on (Step 2), without changing the angle, till you reach your hair line. We will refer to this as your eye-line (Step 3).

Eye make-up, liner, blush and contours following the angle of the eye line

Using this eye line as an all important measuring rod we will repeat this angle up and down your face. It can be used to trace the correct angle of your blush (and cheek bone contour), used to create the correct angle as you contour your jawline, even to measure the correct angles of your eye liner (refer to the eye liner column coming up as column 3) and so much more. We will cover the use of these angles more thoroughly ahead but suffice it to say that your eye make-up, blush on and indeed many more aspects of your make-up will all line up at the same angle following your eye line creating beautiful symmetry.

In the studio this week:

Book your bridal photography with us and get Rs5,000 off you make-up cost! Also get a pre wedding shoot with your husband — absolutely free.

My top tip:

Use a wet brush on any dense black eyeshadow and create a paste that you evenly work on to your brush; HeyPresto! Your very own eyeliner!

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2011.