Sushmita Sen and Mindy Kaling let sculpted blush lead this week’s best beauty looks

There’s something telling about a beauty look that begins at the cheek. This week, blush wasn’t the afterthought—it was the architecture. Sushmita Sen leaned into a sculpted flush that framed the face without overpowering it, all set against ’90s neutrals. Mindy Kaling layered tones of rose and berry, letting her makeup build in dimension rather than intensity. From Maitreyi Ramakrishnan to Chitrangda, these looks made a case for colour that lifts, rather than leads.

Sushmita Sen looks like she just walked off the set of a ’90s power ballad—flawless blowout, taupe lids and a creamy nude lip. The blush is strategic and the lashes are lush without veering into falsie territory. It’s glam with gravitas.

Mindy Kaling’s blush is bold, the lip is lined and lacquered, and the eyes are smoked just enough to hold their own. But it all syncs, thanks to a tight tonal range: flushed rose, berry-brown, soft black. The lip—somewhere between mauve and mocha—ties everything together like a thesis statement in gloss form. Nothing shy here.

Neha Dhupia’s look is all about lived-in luminosity. The skin is glossy in that just-finished-skincare way, and the tones stay loyal to a warm terracotta-pink palette—from the eyes to the cheeks to the creamy nude lip.

For the Freakier Friday world premiere, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s glam sits somewhere between Disney darling and desi diva. The hair is big and bouncy—Old Hollywood by way of Mississauga—and the lashes are turned up, adding drama without drowning her features. But look closer and it’s the smoked-out eye that does the real heavy lifting, paired with a soft, peachy terracotta lip that nods to 2000s gloss culture without veering Y2K.

This is your sign to bring back bubblegum gloss. Mrunal Thakur’s skin is luminous without looking glazed, the brows are brushed up but not overdone and the blush is a background player, letting that glossy pink lip do all the talking.

Chitrangda wears monotone right. The rosy-nude eyeshadow, brick-rose lipstick and flushed cheeks are all dialled to the same frequency as her sari. It’s wearable glam that works day and night.

Below, a roundup of the best beauty looks from this week: