Beauty is not necessarily natural. Get hold of the right make-up tips and become the master illusionist.

If you feel like the girl who is always sitting in the dingy corner of the club, waiting to be asked for a dance, then you need to know that nobody is perfect. You need to formulate the right plan of action to combat this feeling. Everybody has had a bad hair day, or a zit-faced day, a dry patch day and so on. You could also be a victim of a combination of a few nice features that don’t go well with each other – or at least you would like to believe that. Whatever the case be, choosing the right set of makeup can do a lot to your self-esteem. Follow these simple gypsite tricks and feel the difference.

• If you have dry patches, which trust me is a problem with every third woman, then you have to forget foundation. Most foundations tend to make the skin dry in general, and what’s worse, they start flaking around the dry patches. Eewh! Try using shimmers mixed in lotion. But don’t overdo it, or you’ll end up looking like an incandescent lamp. Not only will it keep your skin moisturised, it will also give you the extra sheen that dull and dry skin demands.

• Bad hair days can be painful. If you have ten minutes to spare, try ironing only the hair in the crown area. Not only will your hair look neat, the mess inside will actually add to the volume. Hair mousse and gels, if used appropriately can also work.

• Did God forget to give you a pair of lips? No problem. You need to stick to lighter shades of lip gloss and lipstick since it’ll give an illusion of space. Stay away from lip liners and dark shades – why highlight something you are not proud of?

• No, not all women can have high cheek bones. So get over it first. You have a perfectly round face with no prominent features. The easiest way to give an illusion of sharp features is to use your blushers well. Look into the mirror and figure out what needs to be highlighted. Now, use a dark blusher on the area exactly under it – Eureka! You just got yourself a pair of cheekbones or a sharp nose.

• Your nose sits smack in the middle of your face looking all ugly because it is either too fat or too thin or too flat. Blushers can easily cover up the oddities. We need to deal with different noses differently:

Flat:

Apply highlight down the centre of the nose, avoiding the sides. Smooth and blend down the centre.

Broad:

Slim down a broad nose with a foundation that is one shade darker than your natural skin tone. Sweep along the sides of the nose with a small, firm make-up brush. Start just below the inner corners of the eyebrows, and end at the sides of the nostrils.

Stroke a lighter shade of foundation down the bridge of the nose. Blend well.

Narrow:

Sweep concealer that’s slightly darker than your natural skin-tone down the centre of your nose. Then use a lighter shade on the sides of your nose and nostrils.

Long:

Apply a foundation or concealer that is a few shades darker than your natural skin-tone onto the tip, between and around the nostrils.