Coffee Body Scrub - Thank you Rads

Now we all agree that fabulous skincare secrets lurk on our kitchen shelves, it takes some God-sent soul to remind us and then some motivation to haul our lazy asses to kitchen and use them. One such God-sent soul is Rads from My Weekend Ramblings. If you haven't been to her blog, just head over there and see her awesome photography right now! She has a great sense of humor, loves all things Chanel and has some great skincare posts on her blog. One such post is about the divine Coffee Scrub (she makes that look like chocolate ice cream and mine looks like... well, never mind that)

Whenever I have used this scrub, my skin has felt luxuriously soft. I feel like wearing flirty feminine clothes and floating about like a pampered queen! You get the drift. Right? It is the best body scrub ever. Try it!

Casual Dinner Look

Hello girls, how often have you been caught in a situation where you have almost no makeup on you and you need to head out? This happened to me on a recent business trip to Bangalore. I was carrying the basic compact, kajal and a few neutral lippies for day wear. Turned out bro had other plans. He took me out thrice and each time, I kicked myself for not packing in extra stuff. Since I had to make do with whatever was available, here is what I did on day 1

Face:

• Lotus 3 in 1 Sunblock
• Oriflame pressed powder

Eyes:

• Lotus Kajal applied on upper lashline, lower lashline (smudged) and waterline

Lips:

• Oriflame Visions lipstick in Almond Brown

This was an almost no makeup look that can be easily worn in the day time as well. I'd replace the kajal with Colorbar I-Glide in blackout. I went heavy on the kajal and smudged it on the lower lashline because I wanted some makeup to show. What do you think of this effort?

Beauty Tip - Using Scrubs

Hiya ladies, this is a fantastic tip I picked up blog hopping long time back. I have shared it with a lot of ppl and all have loved it. So trying to spread some love on the blog too...

When you use a cream based scrub for exfoliation, allow it to sit on your face like a mask. When the scrub is semi dry, wet your hands and massage your face. This will allow the creams to penetrate deeper and give you much better results.

Image Source: http://www.rainbowremotehealing.com

Try it and let me know if it worked for you. Or share your own exfoliation tip.

My Diwali Outfit and Makeup

Hi peeps, how was your Diwali? Those of you who celebrated, I hope you had a blast. I sure did. There was last minute cleaning, a mini feast and a party to attend among the usual stuff. On top of that, I had to redo my sari twice. So, I had very little time for my makeup. Here is my Diwali outfit:

This is a burnt orange georgette sari with antique gold sequins in a honeycomb pattern all over. I kept rest of the bling minimal with a polki necklace and matching bangles. My FOTD was pretty simple as well.

Face:

• Lotus Whiteglow Micro Emulsion
• MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation in NC 41
• Maybelline powder blush in Apricot Flush

Eyes:

• Glittery Copper colour from Maybelline Chai Latte quad all over the lid
• Colorbar i-glide in Cocobar on the upper lash line
• Lakme Black Satin kajal on lower lash line

Lips:

• Lotus Herbals Pure Colours lipstick in Peach Creme as a base
• MAC Twig lipstick

The last time I used Twig, camera flash brought out pink undertones very prominently. This time, I wanted it to retain the earthy colour in pictures as well. So, I added a coat of Peach Creme as base. Do you think it worked?

My Karwa Chauth Look

So Karwa Chauth came and went.In north India, some women are more excited about the outfit, accessories and makeup than the actual fast :p And honestly, you can't blame them. The fast itself is not much to get excited about. Soooo, here is my look for this year.

This pic was taken in the evening after the pooja. So excuse the oiliness please (and the fake camera smile!!!)

Face: 

• Crabtree & Evelyn moisturizer followed by Lotus 3 in 1 sunblock
• MAC Studio Fix powder foundation in NC41
• MAC Fix +
• Garnier Light Anti Dark Circle Eye Roll on in Medium as under eye concealor
• Faces Mineral Blush in Amber Rose

Eyes:

• Colorbar Creme Foundation as primer
• ULTA eyeshadows in Blue in the inner corner and Gold in the outer corner
• MAC Siahi on upper lashline
• Lakme Black Satin Kajal
• Oriflame Visions Mascara 

Lips:

• Lotus balm in Velvet Rose
• MAC Twig Lipstick  

I wore this look even after the Pooja when I changed into a more comfortable pink cotton salwar kameez. The flash makes Twig appear a lot more pink. In reality is was more brown. The best part is that the pink became more apparent when I wore pink. 

So what do you think about this look?

Prunella ends the Purple woes

None of us are strangers to Colorbar I-Glide pencils....

From colorbarcosmetics.com

If an I-Glide popularity poll was to be conducted, Prunella would feature right at the top! Few pencil liners boast of a vibrant purple as prunella. It is a fantastic jewel toned purple that showed up beautifully on my dark lids. I first noticed this colour when Tanveer of ATB swatched it in her Purple liners comparison post. Have you read it? No, then please click on the post link above and have a dekko. She has some fabulous purples! The shade are all pretty but when I saw then Prunella stood out. N, it actually called out to me. Till that point, I had never even thought of a purple liner. I had black, brown, blue and a green that looked horrible on me. Thats all the colors I would need. Oh, the naivety of noviceness! Anyway, since then I have been to the colorbar counter often and it was always out of stock. I tried other purple liners but none seemed good enough. It had to be prunella.

Yesterday, I finally got it and my purple liner quest has come to an end. Now, to find another quest..... :)

My camera is out of action and hence no actual swatch of the product. But then, you've all seen it. Right? 

Random Ramblings and MACness

I am drawn to black these days. Black the colour. Specially when it comes to clothes. I realised that 4 of the 8 tops I took on a recent trip were black. And then I picked out a new black shirt. All without realizing it. Maybe I am going thru the fat girl syndrome. I just made that up. I am not aware of such a syndrome actually exists. So yes, I  acutely aware of all the unfitting clothes in my closet and dressing up every morning throws me into five minutes of depression. Just give minutes? Yeah, that's all I have time for. My day flies and every night I have the feeling of having spent hours and not achieved anything. There is so much I want to do, there is so little I manage. Can you believe the frustration? 


Anyway, on the plus side, I bought some gorgeous stuff! Mac studio fix powder foundation in NC41. I know now why it was called a must have on beauty blogs. It gives such a flawless finish!! My Singapore pics show such fresh skin when the bare skin was anything but. It was dull and patchy. Thanks to the lovely MUA Gayathri at Koramangla in Bangalore who picked this out for me. My only grouse is that it oxidised on me after about an hour in the sun. All foundations do that on me. I expected this one not to. And she sold me fix+. I am so glad she did. I love the dewiness it imparts. 


The other thing that was not on my agenda was a lip pencil. My fist mac eye product was Siahi. The first lip peoduct was going to be Cosmo. I had never in my wild dreams imagined I would pick a lip pencil. But makeup Gods had other plans for me. And I am so glad they did. I love love love the pencil in Spice. Near perfect match for my lips and can be worn under the sheerest of lippies without any worry. It's beautiful on it's own or topped with a gloss / balm. And so hydrating! 


Then, I went on this big trip and picked Twig and Cosmo at the airport duty free. I got them for 800 bucks! That's why I got two. Yipeedoo!!!