Since all of us don’t have the luxury of a make-up pro working on us, it’s good to learn tackle tactics

You give yourself the once over before you make your move to rush out of the door. You look great but suddenly you feel that, maybe, possibly, perhaps, your make-up could do with a little touching up. Your eyes could look a wee bit bigger and your lips could do with a little more definition...

So you reach for the instant eye opener — your trusted tube of mascara. You draw the wand out and eyebrows arched, lips pursed, you try to perform a three-second make-up job. Whoosh! Instead of having one set of lashes, you now have two more! That too in places you would have least liked to have them — your upper lids, where you had done a good job of shadow application, and all over your lower lids, where your family propensity for dark circles has just got a helping hand!

Then just when you try to make up the eye mess, you decide to reach for the roller brush to blow-dry your hair into shape. But instead of distracting attention from your face (which by now has watering eyes, making you look like a mime artist in a tragedy sequence), your hair gets entangled in the brush!

If the above description fits your make-up application scenario, then here comes help.

Situation # 1

Your make-up has started running so fast you wish you had entered it for the 100-ft dash in the Beijing Olympics.

Damage control: Wipe it all off and begin again!

Prevention: Calcutta’s humid climate calls for subtle make-up.

Keep your make-up simple — a single shade of shadow, hint of a tint on the cheeks and ice-stung lips.

Use a water-based moisturiser. A non-oily base will help make-up stay set longer.

Follow with a matte liquid foundation.

Handy hint: Clean off the make-up of the previous day thoroughly with an oil-based make-up remover. This minimises chances of your old make-up messing up the new one.

Models display the latest styles from Schwarzkopf Professional’s Essential Looks. The brand has launched its range of summer colours and cuts — feminine and glamourous New Romance, sharp and masculine Brigade, Asian-inspired East and quirky and deconstructed School’s Out. “Essential Looks boasts a whole decade of powerful cuts and colours that have captured the fashion moods,” says Murali Sundar, country manager of Schwarzkopf Professional India.

Situation # 2

The mascara on your lower lids has smudged, leaving you looking like Mike Tyson has come out of retirement and punched you.

Damage control: Take a Q-tip with a tiny bit of water/make-up remover/Vaseline and clean it up. The Q tip allows for accuracy and works as efficiently as an eraser would.

Prevention: Dust translucent powder on the under-eye area. This absorbs the oil and acts as a barrier to any shadow or mascara that wants to nestle in areas they really shouldn’t. If you are deft with the wand, hold a piece of folded tissue under your eye (up to where the lashes begin) and then apply mascara. Apply loose translucent powder with a clean puff under your eyes.

Handy hint: Start with outer corners first and gently roll the wand over your lashes and remember to clean off the stale mascara well.

Situation # 3

Your normally steady hand gave way under the pressure of a hasty application and you have lipstick outside the lip line.

Damage control: Fold a piece of tissue around the nail of your most deft finger and smoothly, while your lips are in smile position, wipe along your bleeding lip line. If one swipe doesn’t do the needful, go in for a second and third.

Prevention: Use a matching lip-liner, especially if your lips are on the thinner side, but don’t stray too far off your natural line. This is what causes most lip-line feathering!

Handy hint: Apply lipstick with the lip brush and blot with a tissue.

Situation # 4

Your hair just got entangled in a death brawl with the brush.

Damage control:

Calmly look for a pointed object. Don’t aim it at yourself in frustration. You will need it later in your battle against this most exasperating beauty blooper.

Allow a cool, steady stream of air from the drier to cool the metal barrel of the brush.

Next, spray a little serum as close to the entwined inner hairs as possible, bit by bit.

With the pointed edge of the comb, remove the knotted hair, starting from the outer corners of the brush.

Prevention: Get a good quality therma brush with bristles that protrude about half-inch or one-inch from the barrel. Longer bristles may give a better curl but always do increase the chance of a mangling.

Handy hint: Do not twist the hair more than twice around the brush while styling.

Situation # 5

For the beauty junkie, breaking nails that have been nurtured to a decent length can be discouraging to say they least. Take heart, help is at hand! All it takes is a little glue and a tea bag.

Damage control:

Drop the nail glue on a cracked nail and then use a small piece of tea bag to buff the crack till smooth.

Take a clear nail polish and brush it over the broken area and place a tiny piece of tissue paper over the crack.

Let it dry and then reapply the nail polish. Do this for up to three layers but don’t over do it — you could wind up with a bumpy looking nail!

Prevention:

Brittle nails often bend. They chip and can’t retain polish for long, so go in for a long-term care routine. Nails are made of keratin, a fibrous protein substance. Make sure you are eating enough of it.

Handy hint: Look out for the tiny cracks before they develop into larger ones. File them away gently when you spot them and remember to file your nails in one direction only.

How do you deal with beauty bloopers? Tell t2@abpmail.com