New trend among Asian brides

Meghan Markle’s pared-down wedding look has sparked a new trend among Asian brides who want a more natural look on their big day.

We all know that western bridal make up has long favoured the ‘less is more’ approach while our Asian sisters have gone down the high octane glam route; glittering eyes, ruby red lips and more contours than an Ordnance Survey map. But, according to a skincare expert in Bradford, that’s all changed since actress Meghan exchanged wedding vows with Prince Harry.

Surrinder Kaur, 52, who runs the Beauty Wardrobe, an aesthetics, laser and skincare clinic in Leeds Road, Bradford, says women want to address and fix skin issues rather than mask them with make-up.

“Meghan has reversed the trend for a heavy made-up look. Women want now clear, flawless skin on their wedding day, a very natural healthy glow.

“It’s not about covering the face in make up as that results in a very cakey look. It’s about really tackling those problem areas for brides so their skin looks as perfect as possible.”

While the skin may be ‘au naturel’ the procedure to achieve it is anything but.

Luckily Surrinder’s state-of-the-art clinic offers a one-stop shop for ‘problem areas’ such as dark circles, acne or acne scarring, skin tags and wrinkles.

The clinic also offers the cutting edge Soprano ICE laser treatment which is one of the most advanced methods of hair removal in the world keeping the skin cool as below the surface hair follicles are heated up and destroyed.

But now the anti-ageing and non-invasive treatments are proving very popular.

Clients have a free 20-minute assessment using a hi-tech ‘Skin mapping’ machine which to identify the issues that need to be tackled.

Surrinder says: “We find that a lot of brides who have come from India will have issues with pigmentation especially if they are from the village and have not been using sunscreen.

“We also have a lot of clients who have acne scars and pitting. Or it could be fine lines and wrinkles. The treatments are non-surgical and there is little to no downtime needed to recover. We can plump up the lips, reduce dark circles, brighten the skin.”

After a course of treatments the skin is assessed again and sometimes the ‘skin age’ has reduced by 10 or even 20 years.

“The worse the problem the better the results,” Surrinder says.

“But it’s also good to use these treatments as preventative before any issues come to the surface.”

She says she is against Botox as no-one really understands the implications of using it.

“It’s a poison and we don’t know how it is excreted by the body. No-one really knows the harm it does.”

Surrinder looks amazing for her age and has a lot of passion for her work too.

She has been running the Beauty Wardrobe for 18 years and always wanted to be a beauty therapist but typical family constraints meant she was married off at just 17.

Unhappy and struggling to make ends meet she worked in various jobs while her son, Harminder, was young.

She worked for a while on the beauty counter at Boots which she loved until she decided she’d had enough and fought for a divorce.

When Harminder was 11, she went back into education and pursued her first love which she hadn’t been allowed to do before.

She spent five years studying and eventually rented a tiny space behind a barber’s shop.

Now the Beauty Wardrobe is a sprawling airy state-of-the art building taking up two shops and across two floors.

“We would say that there should be at least six months before the wedding, there are some brides who come at the last minute because they’ve been sorting out all the other details and left themselves till last.

“We are a leading clinic offering the types of cutting edge treatments that women in cities like London, Liverpool and Cheshire are accessing but we have it right here in Bradford.”