Sridevi's Look in English Vinglish

First of all, this is an awesome movie. If you have the time please do watch it.

Sridevi In English Vinglish

Sridevi just knocks it outta the stadium with her acting. In fact she is far superior to all the actresses reigning supreme right now (other than maybe Vidya Balan or Rani Mukherjee) and makes a very good case for why Bollywood should look at giving good actresses, good roles irrespective of their age.

I was initially unsure whether to write this post. Sridevi's look in the movie is a very understated look that has been designed for her character of an housewife in her late 30's or early 40's who is low on self-confidence and doesn't consider herself a priority.

I'm not sure how many of my readers fall into that demographic. But then, I couldn't help but notice her makeup while watching the movie & making mental notes.

So here goes. In the movie, Sridevi has


1. flawless matt skin, but she sports a matt finish. Use a primer to mop up oil if needed and then use a matt foundation like Bourjois DeTox Organic foundation. Use concealor where needed. Use a highlighter in the centre of the forehead and on the cheek bones.

Sridevi in English Vinglish

2. For the eyes, apply a warm matt light / brown shade all over the lid. This shade should be just a shade darker than your skintone. Use a cool brown / taupe if you are cool toned. Define the crease very lightly using a matt dark brown applied very lightly. In some scenes I felt she was wearing a white / nude liner on her lower waterline, but it in some scenes it changed to black. So just do what ever you like here.

3. Use a black or dark brown eye pencil (which ever you prefer) and line your upper and lower lash line. On the lower lash line, smudge the line a bit on the outer 1/3rd corner to make the line seem like it is moving thicker to thinner as we go in. Don't smudge too much though. We aren't looking at doing a smoky eye look or even creating unnecessary dark circles with makeup. If you smudge too much, just clean it up with a cotton bud dipped in makeup remover.

Sridevi in English Vinglish

4. The brows are defined very well with a light brown colored powder / eyeshadow. Use lots of mascara for that wide eyed look.

5. For blush, in some scenes it seems like she has a very light dusting of peach-pink blush like MAC Springsheen, in others she could be wearing something like MAC Margin used to contour.

6. The lips have a very light neutral pink lipstick. It seemed a lot like MAC Offshoot Lipstick to me (it's one my fav natural lipsticks from MAC), but since that was LE I guess something like MAC Brave also might fit the bill. Basically just use any lipstick that looks like a light neutral pink on you. Only in the last scene in the plane, do you see a hint of gloss on her.

Her clothes are all saris, and I have like zero knowledge on those kind of clothes, fabrics & all. So I'm not gonna go there. Only thing I noticed was as the movie progressed her clothes moved from being very pastel (most saris were white / cream / ivory) or light with an equally light / small print (basically dull) to more vibrant & earthier shades. They were deeper. Whether that was to reflect the increase in self-love her character undergoes, or else she just packed better clothes coz she going to the US, I dunno. :-)

The movie has a number of amazing scenes with wonderful dialogues that will leave an impression. One of my favs is where the french guy & sridevi talk to each other but in French & Hindi respectively. They both offload their emotions & feel better having done so. They both then realize & say in English: Sometimes the less you understand, the better it is.

Another scene that I think must be mandatory for all girls to watch is where Sridevi talks about the importance of loving one self. But let me not reveal anymore, some of you may not have seen it yet.

So that's it for her look. Any suggestions that you may have to achieve her look are most welcome. 

Have you seen the movie? What did you think of her look & the movie?