#Lookbook : The Maharani Look/ Traditional Indian Look

Maharani Look A-Z

Okay so this is my first lookbook on my blog. To be true, I’ve never been comfortable in creating one, perhaps because this is not the usual topic I deal with. If you’ve been reading my blog for some time, you’d know I’m more of a skincare person, dealing with the nuts & bolts of science behind skin treatments rather than flaunting my fashion sense of which I’m not exactly sure of. But anyway, when I decided to do this finally, let me tell you it was not an easy decision.

So, I’d pick up a look I think I know much better than any other style; here it is the Traditional Indian Look or as I’d call it ‘The Maharani Look’. ‘Maharani’ is the Hindi/Bengali word for Queen.

With the word Maharani, the first thing that comes to your mind is a lady moving around with a lot of heavy jewelry & an extravagant saree or lehenga. It is true to a certain extent but it’s not all. A woman can look like a Maharani even without all that extravagance, armed with only her elegance which sets her a class apart.

I find there are so many misconceptions about this look when I see around. Most people from abroad would interpret it as a look involving a lot of heavy costume jewelry & traditional attire along with heavy makeup involving loud lips & eyes which is not entirely true.

Yes, even I have seen most looks that refer to being ‘traditional’ deals with heavy makeup but here I’m presenting to you a different perspective of it. In most of these looks, I’ve only used nude makeup, perhaps a little bit winged eyes effect but nothing more than that.

According to me, a subtle look goes a long way especially in this case because Indian traditional jewelry is often enough to overpower the look & to exactly flaunt its beauty you need a clean canvas.

If you’re flaunting smokey eyes , red lips & lot of colour in your makeup, the beautiful craftsmanship in Indian jewelry would look like a junk & it’ll kill the look. I want to make a clear distinction between Indian Bridal Look & The Maharani Look because hey, you don’t get married every other day, so yes; Indian Bridal Look would deal with heavier makeup & attire because you don it only once or twice in your lifetime while A queen is a queen forever with her elegance, class & style that she’d don from morning to the night; which doesn’t make it feasible to wear such heavy makeup all day every day.

This is exactly I’ve drawn my inspiration from old photos & movies but I’ve shaped & moulded it in my way to give you a ‘revised look’.

Without wasting any more time in lecturing, let’s move on to my first photo.

On the above photo, I’ve created this fun look using a minimum makeup. The first thing that’s visible is glossy nude lips. These days, coloured glosses are coming handy which perfectly blends with almost NO EYE MAKEUP except that winged lines with a simple pen liner with a felt tip (I’ve never been comfortable with long wands of liquid liners) & kohl kajal along with a red bindi.

For the face, I’ve opted for a clean matte look with no highlighter/blush. This is the perfect base for a look with heavy jewelry.

I’m wearing a traditional Rajasthani borla matha-patti which itself is an elaborate head dress. So, to match it, I’ve preferred my necklace subtle, just a simple pearl necklace because this is morning & I don’t want to look like a walking fireball.

The gota patti lining (traditional Rajasthani embroidery) of the saree which shouts ‘Look at Me’ is visible, which perfectly complements the borla.

Now I’ve also created an evening look with the same attire by simply changing the neck piece & the heavy blouse.

Here, it’s the same look but the evening version. It’s like those spot the difference games. But as you can see, just because it’s evening, the nude makeup hasn’t changed because hey, I’m wearing a heavier necklace; same saree but the hairstyle has also changed according to the style.

I’ve just sprayed a heat protectant & blow dried my hair & finished up with a texturizer to create the messy waves to neutralize all the bling.

Here I’ve chosen a rather deep neck blouse (not visible) to properly flaunt the kundan necklace because it looks clean against the skin.

Now there’s another Day look.

Now this look is a lot different from the others although I wore this for another morning as well. Makeup is again nude with my favourite nude glossy lips but the eyes have changed. Being a Kohl-freak, I can’t imagine my makeup without lining my waterline with kohl kajal.

Here, I’ve used kohl to draw my upper lash line instead of a sharp eyeliner & also using the brush that comes with a gel liner, I’ve smudged it & to highlight that, no mascara is applied. I think it perfectly complements the super heavy neckpiece.

To make the look stand out, I’ve preferred a heavy Kanjivaram silk saree & a huge bindi.

Both silk saree & a heavy necklace is enough to overpower the look & thus I always prefer nude makeup, smudged eyes & a huge bindi to seal the deal rather than a face full of makeup.

The only thing I’ve worn extra is a nude pearly highlighter (Nyx Bright Idea in the shade Lavender) on my cheekbones which is barely visible but gives a subtle glow, complementing the beautiful silk saree.

Also the hair is worn loose, with a light hold gel, given the wet look.

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Thank you for reading.

Cheers!!!

Koyel M.