I can finally say...

This looks like a happy new year!

Wrapping up two projects that have more or less dominated the past year, and now I can open my arms to new projects, new directions, new afternoons trekking up hills.

Something else dominating my thoughts has been the subject of beauty.

Not just a lust list of products, but beauty as an extension of personality.

Makeup not to look perfect, but to add character, a lived-in look.

Like the girl above: how did she decide to make her face all tawny and orange?

Without the flattering trappings of eyeliner or pinks, just that orange blush and a shadow that matches her hair?

The overall look is not pretty, but it makes her out of the ordinary.

And this one: her tattoo and deep chocolate hair is as much a part of her look as the red socks. Everything a person wears is ephemeral, but things that are done to the body, the skin, the hair--they make the identity.

The orange lips are everything here.

Then you have Michelle Harper with her wigs, teal eyebrows, and blood red lips. Makeup is part of her costume change everyday, a way to express herself and never get bored of her own look.

I would like to peek into the beauty routines of the regular people on the train. I often look at a person and try to imagine what powder they're wearing, how often they put on masks at night.

Sometimes I get to see women putting on makeup in toilets or on the train, and that is the best part.

Immaculately-done women who use drugstore makeup.

Natural-looking girls who in fact put in a lot of work to look unmade-up.

An auntie who ran a khol pencil above her lids, so that her eyeliner looked like very fake double eyelids. No other makeup to speak of.

An Indian lady who chose to brush on the brightest shade of purple on her lids, with metallic purple lipstick to match.

Women in Watsons' sales piling stuff into bags, and they don't look like they bother about their appearances.

The subject of beauty is not about beautiful women. It's about the secret, sacred rituals that each woman keeps, which she believes makes her more beautiful. Okay, not just women. Every person, no matter how little they care about makeup, still has some beauty preferences they hold on to. Be it a brand of shampoo, a way of shaving, a favourite facial wash, a familiar perfume.

All these little bathroom secrets envelope the person when she walks out of the house.

Intimate details. I want to know them all.