Month: May 2016

Starting Make-up Artistry: Flawless by Nabila Nabi

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Beauty products have fascinated me since I was a child, and I have long been interested in make-up, make-up application techniques and make-up styles. For a long time, I have also been doing make-up for my friends and family at their requests, however never really thought of starting my own make-up artistry, until my own engagement. As I’m very picky about make-up, and have undertaken courses in make-up, I thought of doing my own and I was extremely glad I did.

Ever since my engagement, the numbers of requests increased significantly, and I thought, why not start make-up artistry? Given that I have undertaken make-up courses and have received plenty of positive feedback from friends, family and acquaintances, I thought starting this new endeavor!

So here’s starting Flawless by Nabila Nabi! ( www.facebook.com/flawlessbynabilanabi )

I’m based in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Melbourne, Australia. I work in both countries and travel between them.

Below are a few samples of the work I have done 🙂

Naila’s make-up for a night out: Glammed up cut crease in black and gold and brown lipsUpload 2 (2)

My Engagement make-up: For my engagement, I decided to do my own make-up. Inspired by the colours of the orchid, I wanted to enhance (not alter) my natural features

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Denise’s make-up: Contour, highlight and smokey eyes

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Rashmi’s make-up: Subtle pink tones, glowing skin and soft antique gold eyes for a dinner partyFlawless 9

Pastel smokey eyes and nude-pink lips

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Naveela’s make-up: A soft cut-crease and light pink lips

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Naila’s make-up: Old Hollywood glam

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Black and gold cut crease – attending a wedding in Dhaka

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My make-up for the Bengali new year (red and white being the tradtional colours)

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Zaiba’s make-up

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Fariba apu’s make-up: Soft smokey eyes and brick-brown lips

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Tri-colour eyes

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Day-time glam: Winged eyeliner with metallic purples and pinksUpload 10

Shades of pinkUpload 11

Brown lips and smudged liner Upload 14

 

Our Engagement: the Event

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I’ve written about our attires for our Engagement (click here for mine, here fore and Naveed’s) and the activities preceding our Engagement Ceremony (Pre-Engagement Dala exchange, my attire, his attire for the evening), but what actually happened on the night of the ceremony?

 

(Not a reader? Scroll down below for links to the video)

Essentially, it was opportunity for our close friends and family to come together (this is a lot of people if you have two Bengali families), celebrate our engagement, the union of our families and for our loved ones to bless us for our lives ahead.

The Engagement ceremony is typically hosted by the bride-to-be’s family in Bangladesh, and my family and I, especially me and my mom planned every detail of the ceremony from months ahead. My mom even personally designed many of the decorative accessories used in the hall.

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I am a huge fan of bright colours, and although I knew that although pastels are the go-to choice for Engagements in Bangladesh, I wanted mine to be different, and after discussing our ideas with my fiancé, Naveed, and his family we decided to go with a purple and white colour scheme for the event. The décor of the entire event had a pearl white base with accents and highlights of colours of the orchid flower.

Speaking of flowers, I adore Chanel’s use of its now iconic Camellia, and so I was inspired to use large white, blooming floral arrangements throughout the decor of my engagement hall.

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The entrance 

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Metal structures adorned with flowers and accessories – designed by my lovely mother  

Pearls were also featured in the décor, particularly the entrance and the stage on which Naveed and I sat. I also wore a purple dress which my mom designed (more on my dress here), pearl and polki (uncut diamond) jewellery and wore orchids in my hair to bring every element of the theme together. Naveed too had purple touches in his outfit, namely his bow-tie, cummerbund and lapel pin (more on his outfit here) as on our night we wanted to complement each other.

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Butterfly chocolate boxes for our guests 🙂

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The event went as follows:

  • Close friends and family arrive
  • My brother (hosting the evening) welcomes Naveed and his immediately family on stage
  • I walk into the hall accompanied by my family and join Naveed and his family on stage
  • Speeches by parents (there were tears)
  • Exchange of rings – this usually happens at the Engagement stage in Bangladesh
  • We receives gifts from parents
  • A small prayer with everyone in attendance
  • We cute a massive cake
  • More gifts from relatives (because you can’t have too many)
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After this, all the guests came up on stage to congratulate us, take photos and give us their blessings. Of course, food is the centre of event in Bangladesh so we also invited ours guests to join us for a feast.

It was an extremely busy night for me and Naveed, and we were overwhelmed by the love and good wishes we received.

I’ve included links to a full video and a trailer of our Engagement below. Also included, is a link to a full video, and trailer to our Pre-Engagement Dala Exchange 🙂

Enjoy!

Our Engagement (full video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAp8QyZDcuM

Our Engagement (4 minute trailer):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3OrerjTvLs

Our Pre-Engagement Dala Exchange (full video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gHZ1K4qCvs

Our Pre-Engagement Dala Exchange (trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp-H9L-pRp0