If you’re always on the lookout for an unblended contour, or secretly disgusted at the layers of foundation, relax. Make up, like any other clothing choice, is nobody’s business but your own.

Whether you love it or only tolerate it on special occasions, here are 11 hacks all Pakistani girls should know:

1. Use a Brown eyeliner not a black one

Desi girls love to go heavy on the kajal, not really bothering with the difference between the waterline and rest of the entire eyelid. But the fact is that black eyeliner makes your eyes look smaller. If you want to make your eyes look bigger, you should use an eyeliner for the lower lash line that is closer to your skin tone, in your case, a brown eyeliner. The idea is to keep the waterline undefined and merge it with the color of your skin, which makes your eyes look more open than they are.

2. Your concealer should be darker and not lighter than your skin tone

Dark circles, pigmentation and a weird dark area around our mouths are curses that most desi girls are born with. You should use a concealer which matches or is a shade darker than your normal skin tone to help cover up. Concealers that are a shade lighter are good for highlighting, but make dark areas like under your eye turn out grayish.

3. Orange corrector can help you where your concealer fails

If a concealer wont cut it, try a corrector instead. The orange helps cut out the darkness and can make dark circles and areas literally disappear. Dab some on wherever you’re having problems and then apply your foundation as usual. Kryolan does a great orange corrector stick which is a little hard to work with, but has wonderful coverage.

4. A foundation that matches your skin tone is what you need

A lot of women seem to think a lighter shade of foundation will make them look fairer. It won’t. They only thing it does do is make you like grey and sick. Stick to a color that is as close as is possible to your skin tone. You’re brown and beautiful, don’t try and look grey and on the verge of dying.

5. Sunblock. Sunblock. Sunblock.

We live in far too sunny an area to take sunblock lightly. Even if you’re not in direct sunlight, indirect sunlight can do a lot of damage. It speeds up the aging process, causes pigmentation and can cause serious problems like skin cancers. Lather up before you leave the house everyday, and don’t forget to cover your ears, neck, hands and anywhere else that is exposed.

6. In layers is how you need to apply lipstick

We do love our food and most of us end up eating our lipstick before its even 10 in the morning. Try applying, then blotting with a tissue paper and then applying again. Do this 2 to 3 times when you’re getting ready and it should help your lipstick make it through the day.

It will survive almost anything. Even pigeon kissing. We’re pretty sure that’s not good for you though, so just take our word for it and don’t go kissing any stray pigeons.

7. Do your eyes first for weddings

Always do your eyes first whenever you’re getting ready. If you leave them till last, eye shadow pigments will end up all over the tops of your cheeks and make you look like you just got out of a fight with a toddler armed with glitter.

8. Use talcum powder for oily hair

The humidity and dust can make you look like you haven’t showered in weeks, even if it was just a couple of hours ago. Give your hair a second life with talcum powder. It absorbs the oil in your hair and helps your hair look cleaner and fresher. Just rub some into your roots and then brush it out.

Like actually brush it out. It should definitely not look like this.

9. Use concealer on darker lips

If your lipstick comes out a completely different color on your lips than it does on your hand, you can try dabbing on some concealer before your lipstick. The color will show up brighter and closer to the color in the packaging.

10. Gold eye shadow is you best friend

You don’t need to make the effort to break out an eye shadow kit, a simple smear of dull gold on your eyelids looks gorgeous on all brown skinned girls.

11. Never use frosty pinks as highlighters

They show up far too white on most Pakistani girls. Its a much better idea to pick something more towards your natural skin tone, so a gold or skin colored highlighter would blend a lot better. You could even use the same gold on your eyes and your cheekbones.

So girls, to sum it up: always think about your skin and what looks good and not what looks good on an angrez model in those foreign fashion magazines that you saw. But always know that what you think is important and not what everyone else.

Cover Image via: paklinks