Deepika Padukone enters her 40s today on January 5, and fans around the world are sending her wishes. If you have been an ardent DP fan, you would have noticed how the birthday girl has never been one to blindly follow beauty trends. Instead, her makeup evolution over the years proves one thing clearly: she has consistently been ahead of the curve, often wearing a look long before it even became a trend.
How, you ask? Allow us to explain.
Remember in 2009 when Deepika Padukone was two years into her debut era? Deepika was spotted rocking blinding highlighters. Highlighters went on to become a rage in 2014, 2015, and 2016. So, Deepika was already embracing shiny skin in the early 2000s, way before others jumped on the bandwagon. Her skin looked hydrated at a time when matte bases still ruled red carpets. Pair that with her love for glossy lips in her early years, and it’s clear she was way ahead of all the trends.
Image courtesy: AFP
One of her most defining beauty shifts came in 2012, when Deepika debuted thicker, pencilled-in brows. Prior to this, she was known for her arched and moderately thin supermodel-esque brows. This new eyebrow look was bolder, darker, and much more dramatic. Before Deepika, celebrities mostly preferred having thinner brows. But DP broke this notion.
Image courtesy: AFP
Interestingly, the global thick-brow movement didn’t fully explode on social media until around 2014. In that sense, Deepika didn’t just follow the trend, she kind of predicted it.
Post-2011 marked another major phase in her beauty journey: the bold lip era. This was when Deepika began experimenting with bold lips. Be it classic reds, fiery oranges, or deep wine shades, DP aced them all. These looks became synonymous with her red-carpet presence and began the era of statement lips in Bollywood.
Image courtesy: AFP
By 2019, her brows underwent yet another evolution. The once-arched, sculpted brows softened into a bushier, straighter, more rounded shape. We saw her in upswept, laminated brows. Interestingly, this only took off online post 2020, when everyone went for hair-like strokes and feathered, laminated brows. The iconic Deepika Padukone brow arch was almost gone, replaced by a more natural look, that many prefer now.
Fast forward to 2022 onwards, and Deepika’s makeup aesthetic feels especially relevant today. Her eye makeup turned neutral. She preferred more smokey and softly smudged eyes instead of sharply winged ones.
Image courtesy: AFP
She even opted for understated and neutral lips. What’s fascinating is how this current phase mirrors exactly what Gen Z now gravitates towards: minimal makeup, soft glam, and natural-looking skin.
Looks like DP has been setting trends since forever. But which beauty era of hers is your favourite?
