The {Un}Real Diaries : Make up & Bling

Just looking at those two words -make up and bling written together made me wonder if I should tell April to write about this since both topics are far away from my area of expertise. Now that I have started,though, I figured I might as well give it a shot. If you haven’t figured by now, make up and me are distant distant cousins who like each other sometimes and the other times, we forget about each other’s existence. Just so you get an idea , I bought my *first* lipstick a month before the wedding, and figured out the purpose of foundation.It’s true- I am 29 years old and have survived with kajal, mascara and chapstick all these years. I was (am) one of those people who’d peep in to the MAC store and wonder what actually goes on in there with all the ladies (and men) dressed up in black with these things that looked like Batman’s utility belt. It was a different world to me and kind of intimidating.

I’m not against the idea of make-up but it’s just not a priority as it is for so many people. Post wedding, I carry around a little make up pouch and feel quite ‘grown-up’.Ha! Anyway, for the wedding, I decided there would be some make up but it would have to be managed internally (read:in the Unreal Bride office) because there was NO way I was going to any beauty salon where they would most definitely paint my eyes magenta/maroon and gold regardless of the colour of my outfit. I am shuddering at the thought of that and a big poof of fake hair on my head that seems a criterion for every bride.

Thank goodness for friends who went to all girl schools and spent days and days trying out hairstyles and make up on friends.Endlessly.Who is this talented friend, you ask? None other than April! She said she would happily do my make up and boy ! was I relieved!  The combination of April + her love for make up + pinterest was the best ever!

To cut a long story short, we visited MAC, bought all the necessary condiments (?) to paint my face so that it wasn’t obviously painted (how curious is that!) and combined it with her existing stash of make-up , we were all set to go.

We did do a dry -run to test out what colours suited me and stuff. You MUST do this to know what will happen on the final day and if a certain look will work for you or not. Here is a picture of our trial run-

Erm. Best leave the wine out if you want to actually get somewhere. Clearly , I thought I was a great make up artist judging from what I did to April’s face. Let this serve as a what-not-to-do-on-your-wedding-day make up tutorial.

So,in reality the night before the wedding is when we actually did a dry run and April did a perfect job.

Thank you Mother and Amrit for the photos this day.

On the day of, everything went seamlessly- except for maybe one ‘cat’ eye becoming longer than the other (or was that the other night?) -regardless, it was rectified immediately . The make up was perfect and I looked exactly the way I wanted to. Nothing over the top but with just a little bit of drama! Here are some getting ready photos taken by a very talented friend who you all must be pretty familiar with by now- Maya Singh. She played a huge roll in video documenting the wedding so she was only ‘allowed’ to take photos right in the beginning which I am so glad she did!

Photos by Maya Singh

In case you are wondering what happened to my hair- it was a stroke of pure genius on Aprils (and Pinterests ) part where we were able to take my one side longer hair and make a really cute side ponytail situation. That was a blessing in disguise because I was sure I would have hair issues but I was wrong! Oh , joy!

Here is the picture that was inspiration for the hair-do. I couldn’t find the actual post it was linked to but if you know where it’s from-let me know!

Via Pinterest Via Victoria’s Vintage

As far as the bling goes, I like it more than I like make up , but I like silver more than gold. I didn’t want to spend truckloads on something that I would probably wear only once in my life and that is where Amrapali came to my rescue. Not very expensive, unique designs and so many things to chose from! In the end – I wore a combination of Amrapali jewelry along with some of  my Mum and Masi’s jewels. This was not pre-planned. All these decisions were made on the spot. By the end of it, I really lived up to the saying- “Something old, something new. Something borrowed, something blue.”  It was totally unintentional but not unwelcomed

Photos by Maya Singh

I guess I should end this post with some wedding day make up gyan , right? Nothing complicated to it-just remember-know what you want and stick to it. Find the right make up artist that works for you even if it means you do your own make up on your wedding. You don’t need to wear a kilo of foundation to look gorgeous.Find your style-make up wise ,jewelry wise and stick to it.

Oh,and last of all-wear waterproof mascara . xx

Read more of the {Un}Real Diaries here.

Tuesday Shoesday : Banana Pancakes

This may be an odd trait that is unique to me, but, this is what I do when I look at a pair of shoes in a store – I imagine myself wearing them; the outfit, the setting, what I’ll be doing; everything.  I look at these super cute shoes and imagine myself in a cotton dress belted at the waist, hair loose and skin dewy – walking from my (ahem!) banana plantation along the caribbean coast of Central America, to the local post office to pick up a present that Kismet has sent me from India! Oh the joy! *all in my day dreams* 

Strung Packages Sandals at Anthropologie

What have the other ladies chosen today? Go see for yourselves!

{Magnolia Rouge}  {Brancoprata} {Postcards & Pretties}{Beyond Beyond} {Niche White} {Marry You Me}

Friday Find : Utterly Butterly

LunaPurPurie via Etsy

Limoges, France is famous for the gorgeous porcelain that has been manufactured there since the 1700′s and maintains that reputation even today.

This vintage butter dish is a beautiful example of the same and would make a welcome addition to any dining table!

*found on friday*

Friday Find : The Rise and Fall of the Painted Pony

Carousels – immensely popular and painstakingly crafted for the amusement of children and adults alike, have unfortunately become rare treasures in todays world. To me, carousels instantly bring a feeling of joy and merriment with a touch of romance and nostalgia.

Fine art photograph by Irene Suchocki via Etsy

Reel Wedding: Neha on NDTV

Via Design Sponge

We love LOVE Bombay (some say Mumbai!) so when we got to go over there to do a photo shoot earlier this month-the excitement in the unreal office was hard to hide! You will have to try and understand all the layers of excitement to actually feel what we were feeling! The trip meant- an exciting photo shoot (obviously), the Unreal Bride’s first work trip, national television, great advertising, meeting my favourite six month old, hanging with the family and of course, getting a whiff of the city’s lovely fishy air!

We quickly finished off a project we were working on (more on that later!), realising suddenly we  had less than a day to get everything together. In a mad rush, we packed all the props and ideas we would need for the shoot , made a list of what we wanted to do (we surprise ourselves with how organised we can be if we want to) and before we knew it, we were on a flight to Bombay.

As most of you already know, the bridal shoot we did got featured on Valley & Co’s blog a week or so ago which just added to all the excitement that has been synonymous with this whole experience! Got to love Aleah and Nick for featuring us- thanks again guys We have some more photos to show you here in addition to the ones that have been featured on their blog,so don’t go away thinking you have already seen all of them before!!!! I am stealing some of the text from that post though – just so you get an idea of the day we spent on the sets of the show.

What show , you ask? Band Baaja Bride.

A fairly popular show here in India. We only discovered how popular it was when April got asked by a random Aunty in Delhi if she had been on TV. Yes, our five minutes of stardom have definitely paid off !

If you have read the post on Valley&Co’s blog then you have read all the italicised bit before, but if you haven’t then you can read all about it here!

This is what happened- there is a show ‘Band Baaja Bride’ (that translates loosely to the fan fare and music that is associated with all Indian Weddings) that runs on one of the better-known channels here in India. It’s a make-over show for a bride who wants to look extra glam on their wedding day. The girls send in their entries, if they get chosen – the channel dresses them up in the prettiest designer lehengas, spoils them silly with all sorts of spa sessions and things, with expert make up artists – basically the works! And then follows them through their wedding day in all their fabulousness. Reality TV comes to weddings, in a nutshell!

This particular bride was getting married in the US and wanted some help with DIY tips for make up and how to deal with all the stress since she wouldn’t have a lot of help there. The Band Baaja Bride team decided to help her out- give her her outfit, have a make up artist show her some easy make up tips and hair styles which she would be able to do on her own.

Since they wouldn’t be able to be their on her wedding day, they wanted her to give her something ‘special’ and that’s where we came in. They called us asking if we would like to do a photo shoot with her and that’s the part where we started this post off- many levels of excitement etc etc.