A Big Thank You and Awards

I was on a blogging break over the Christmas weekend and realised that I have had not one, not two but FOUR lovely ladies nominate me for an award! Also, I crossed 60 followers! I know ppl shout out at 50 or 100, but I am just weird that way :D

So, I got the Versatile Blogger Award this week and let me tell you about the fab four who gave it to me:

Deepika from Divassence
The first thing I loved about her was the stylish party goer at her banner. The second was the fact she made chocolates! Reading her posts, I love the clarity and simplicity of the content. Head over at Divassence for a host of product reviews and NOTDs

Jyoti from Everything That Matters
She is a gorgeous girl who writes from the heart. Her LOTDs are great and versatile. If you don't believe me, check out the One Look Two Ways post where she takes the same basic look and makes it work for Indian as well as a Western outfit! She is super talented, I tell you...

Sukanya from Few Unnecessary Stuff
Beautiful is the only word for her. Sukanya has an amazing porcelain skin and a great warm disposition. Her blog has tons of product reviews with the odd food recipe thrown in (Aloo Posto!) She does a lot of skincare reviews and if you are into that, her blog is the place to be

Parul from About Lipsticks and Blushes
New mommy Parul is a woman after my own heart. Reads fantasy fiction, Likes cosmetics and is passing on the love of all things pretty to her daughter. We are peas that sprung from the same pod girl! You'll find such variety at her blog its amazing... from the mid-range Bourjois to the economical Miss Claire... she has it all and loves them equally.

And now for the award....

Thank you lovelies....

Now this award is meant to spread love in blogsville and so I need to do a few things:

1. Thanks the person who nominated me and give them a shout out (Hola!)
2. Pass on the award to 15 bloggers
3. State 7 Random facts about your self

Ok, lets start with the other two things. Shall we?


Random Facts

1. I am a chocoholic. I love them chocolates, the bitter, the better... 
2. I am a Mumbai girl who got married in Delhi and is now living in Kolkata. I'll just add Chennai to the mix somehow and be the Metro girl!
3. I have been blogging since 2004! My alter ego blogs sporadically, but that blog has been my voice board for 7 years now. I fact, I started writing it in December 2004 so am approaching the seventh anniversary. Needless to say, I love to write.
4.  I care too much about hurting others with what I say or do. So, I avoid confrontations to point of being recluse.
5. I am a word game junkie! Text Twist, Scrabble, Jumle words, word search... I love them all...
6. I love J.K. Rowling. Woman, you are my inspiration!
7. I used to be a prissy miss goody two shoes till college. Then, I got off my high horse and became quite chilled out.

Hmm, that was fun... bet you guys said, "We didn't need to know that" at least once in these seven lines!

Now for the Nominations:

1. Anuradha from Golden Sequins for her truly versatile blog that covers looks, products, skin care and bit of fashion!
2. Namita from Vivacious Flair for her great pics and equally good product reviews
3. Mehak from Peaches and Blush for her inspiring posts. I just love her passion for blogging! She is blogging on Temptalia now and yet remains so down to earth...
4. Suma from I Simply Love Makeup for her awesome LOTDs. The way she does her eyes makes you wanna wish you had monolids!
5. Kiran for being the EPIC ICON she is. I adore this woman for her spunk, independence, fashion and liberated views
6. Anindita from Make u up for all her lipstick reviews
7. Taps from Beauty Through My Eyes for her FB initiative of bringing bloggers together :)
8. Eesha from Makeup by Eesha for her great LOTDs
9. Radhika from My Weekend Ramblings for that humor. And those pics. And the Skincare Tips. And the Bags. And the Chanel. Oh you get the drift. Don't you?
10. Ikya from Makeup Monologues for being one of the sweetest bloggers around
11. Ankita from Corallista Makeup Blog for pulling me out of the neutral rut when I needed it most
12. Kimi from Beauty Diaries for being the miss congeniality of blogsville
13. Beeni from Beauty and Everything Else for her reviews, LOTDs and sweetness
14. Nidhi from My Beauty World for her awesome eye makeup looks 
15. Kejal from Nail Art and Things for the gorgeous awe inspiring nail art

I wish I had more than 15 to give out.... :)

Also a shout out to the super stars of Indian beauty blogging scene....Rati, Anamika, Rashmi, Cynthia, Deeptima... :) You guys are the best and have caused the beauty blogging scene to erupt... kudos!

Change

They say change is the only constant in life. I couldn't agree more... but if you are wondering where this thought popped into my head and more importantly, what is it doing on a beauty blog, hold your horses... there is a connection :)

Most of my school and college friends (who are connected to me on FB) posted pics over the last week. Some have just had babies (at least 4 of them.. the stork has been busy!), some have taken awesome vacations, others have been to great parties.. well, you know its that time of the year. So I looked at the pic of a girl who has not posted pics in ages and almost did a double take! I would not have recognised her if she was not tagged. (In the last decade, ppl would have said if she walked next to me on a street :p). She has gained some weight, chopped off her lovely long tresses, coloured them darker.. you get the drift. Right? She looks like a different person. Now, I am not commenting on her weight. I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. But when a stick thin girl goes plump in two years or so... it is difficult to recognise her. With that thought stuck in my head, I looked at a few more pics. The geeky nerdy girl now looks chic and polished. The tomboy is one hot babe and the babe of the class looks like she belongs to another century. There are very few people who are the same when I knew them. Its been a decade since I saw my college friends and more so for the school ones. Changes were bound to have happened.

I am so happy for those who have changed for the better. Lets face it... in today's world, looks matter. And looks is not just your natural features. It is the whole package. What God gave you is ten percent, your grooming, carriage and self presentation is the rest. In the professional world, you have to smarten up and shed your grungy jeans an tees, messy hair and the general air of not caring for your appearance. But I am a tad disappointed for ones that let it slip. I hope none of them have serious body image issues. I would love to see them as the visually pleasing individuals they were...

Oh, and I have changed tons too. But I am still the nerdy one :p

Query: Mascara with Specs

Girls, do you wear specs? No? Great... you can rock any eye makeup! Yes? Hmm, do you wear mascara with  specs? I don't. Should I?

Review: Colorbar Triple Act Compact

Being the proverbial lazy gal, I like products that do more than one role for me :) A foundation, concealer and compact rolled into one sounds heavenly. Does it not? I'd tried Lakme 9 to 5 triple compact and was reasonably happy with it. So, I decided to give this Colorbar one a shot. Was I happy? Was I disappointed? Read on to find out...

What Colorbar Says
This 3 in 1 concealer, foundation and compact is a one-step makeup. The Triple Act Compact Powder reduces spots and blemishes, gives a glowing complexion and a smooth and oil-free finish. Containing sunscreen, it protects the skin and gives it a fresh look. Triple Act Compact Powder is available seven shades – Neutral, Sand, Dusk, Marble, Fawn, Bisque and Walnut

What I Think
This is an extremely drying product. So much so that even on my combination skin, dry patches are visible! Everything else works in its favor but the drying nullifies this all. The shade I got is 005 Fawn. This is what it looks like

I think the packaging is quite nice. The lock snaps well, the sponge goes in the top compartment and the product is in the bottom compartment. The sponge is of really poor quality and combined with the dry product, it was a disaster. 

I applied this with a foundation brush, dry sponge, fingers and a wet sponge! Wet sponge gave me the best results. To combat the extreme dryness, i applied liberal amounts of moisturizer or water over my face, picked the product with a wet sponge and then blended it in. That is the only way I got this to work. However, the shade is too light for me :( Here is me wearing this... (this pic was taken almost a year ago!)

This is a medium to heavy coverage product and works well to hide blemishes. If you are oily skinned or can work around the dryness, this is a really a very good product. It lasts for the whole day on me and covers blemishes like a charm. I use it as a concealer these days.

The Good

1. Good Coverage and works as a foundation cum concealer.
2. Mattifying. You don't need a powder as it sets to powder finish
3. Sturdy Packaging
4. Long Lasting

The Bad

1. Leaves a whitish cast in flash photographs. Quite a whitish cast. I must add!
2. The sponge is pathetic
3. This is not good for your five minute touch-ups. You need to have a moist face and apply it with a wet sponge

The Ugly

Extremely Extremely drying (in case it wasn't clear earlier on) which makes it a very difficult product to use. My Lakme triple compact was much better than this.


Final Rating
5/10

DIY: Lipbalm makeover

Hi ladies, I purchased a jovees lipbalm sometime last year and while I liked its hydration, I hated the smell and the fact that it was not tinted. You can read the detailed review here. 

This one was relegated to a dark dark corner of my almirah and did not see the light of the day till I came across an article on Anamika’s blog  about how to make a lip balm at home. She has used petroleum jelly as her base. I thought why not improvise? I have a useless balm that will most likely be thrown away. Why not see if it can be salvaged? I whipped out my balm and added a spoonful of cocoa powder and a spoonful of honey to it and mixed well. Unlike Ananmika, I have not microwaved or heated it.

Wanna see the transformation???

Before:

After: 

So Now I have a lovely smelling chocolatey sweet honey flavoured balm that I have to struggle not to lick!!! I love applying this and reach out for it as soon as I have washed my face in the morning or anytime of the day for that matter! I use it at night and wake up to soft smooth lips!!!! 

Adding honey to the balm results in such a shiny glossy finish that I can easily use this as a lipgloss too! I have worn it under lipsticks for great moisturizing effect and over lipstick for a glossy sheen. It works well both ways. It also works well as a lip prep balm. I applied it for 15 mins before wiping it and wearing lipstick. It did a good job then too.

Do you do any makeup makeovers?

Lifestyle Deal Experience

Hello girls… all of you must have seen the snapdeal ads on TV unless you’ve been living in oblivion. The 60%, 70% and 80% off on things like restaurants, spas, gyms are pretty tempting na? I got tempted too and me and hubs being the net junkies that we are, we searched for more of such sites and came across Koovs.com in addition to snapdeal.com and bought a multitude of deals. My experience has been mixed and there are a few learnings too. Let me start off with my experience at the Magnolia Spa, Gurgaon

Img Source: Koovs.com

You can see that the deal is quite tempting. And I snagged it up even though this salon was quite far from my place. Kuhu fell ill the weekend I was supposed to go and the coupon was due to expire. So I called the owner and she agreed to stretch it for me. 

When I finally reached there, my first impression was UNKEMPT! I figured this place to be at least a decade old and later on when I chatted with the owner, she told me she has been running the place for sixteen years now! So, the place could do with an overhaul…. There was seepage on the walls, the paint was peeling and the place did have a general air of disintegration. When this place would have been new, it might have looked quite posh. There were stylish cut mirrors, wood paneled booths and a separate area for haircuts and separate for wax/facials etc. But the years had taken their toll.

Coming to the service, I have mixed feelings. The staff was courteous and polite and checked up on me twice or thrice if things were going well. There was an attention to detail like putting cotton in my ears before the shampoo so that water does not seep in, a foot and leg massage post waxing and so on. At the same time, another girl just lifted the magazine I was reading from the arm of my chair and handed it to another customer. She did not even bother to ask me!! How utterly rude is that????

When I reached the place, the owner was not there and I found the girls slacking off a bit. There were four ladies on the chairs to be serviced and all of them were waiting for something or the other. Two of them were even complaining! My attendant took an hour to wax my arms and legs… An hour!!! Even with the massage thrown in, that was way too much…

By that time, I was irked by the service. I had made the decision to not get my facial done and had told the lady in charge right away. Despite that, at least three different girls came and asked me if I was getting my facial done. My attendant told me that haircuts were done by the owner and she may or may not come. Now, I was pissed. I had called the previous evening to take the appointment and called the owner asking for directions as well. She should have told me she wasn’t gonna be available. But then, I was told that her son was not well and she had rushed out to attend him. When I called her, she told me that she would be there in an hour. She made it in an hour and a half and even though I had to wait a few minutes for her, I am glad I did! She set to work as soon as she came in, asking me what cut I wanted. I asked her to trim and get them into shape without sacrificing the length. She snipped and snapped and her experience at handling hair was evident. She casually chatted up with me while she cut them and advised me to do something abt the premature graying. I told her I use henna in summer. She said it wud spoil the texture of my hair and if I did want to use it, I should add lots of eggs to it! Now almost all stylists who have cut my hair have told me not to use henna, but no one told me about the eggs. Most get me to sell me the colouring services. This one told me I could even colour at home. It’s no big deal! I liked that she was not trying to sell me too many services. And then, when she was doing the blow dry, she asked me whether I wanted it curled in or out. She gave me a nice spirally sort of blow dry. I liked the end and I might say that the haircut was the saving grace of this deal.  I still have to see how it behaves when I have just shampooed it and left to air dry but I do have a good feeling about it. Not the best experience but not one to give me nightmares either.

Img Source: http://kittybradshaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/hair_salon_image.gif

And now, my wisdom from the various deals -

1. When buying the coupon, look for deals close to your home, workplace or someplace you visit often. If the deal is disappointing, you wouldn’t feel about the time and effort spent in getting there 
2. Always read the fine print carefully before you buy the deal. There could be some exclusions or conditions that the merchant will not relax
3. If possible, check out the place beforehand. If not, at least read some reviews on sites like mouthshut.com. Reviews give against the deal could be written by the merchant or their close ones and are generally glorious ones
4. Even if the place does not meet your expectations, give them a chance (unless you feel it’s a shady place). They just might surprise you
5. Always take an appointment before you land. This is especially true when the Merchant has two or more outlets and the deal maybe valid for only one of them. This happened to me with another deal. While taking the appointment, declare that you have a coupon and carry the coupon with you to the outlet
6. When you buy a restaurant coupon, taxes may not be included. Understand beforehand how the calculation works. A club we went to, added taxes to our food and beverage, applied discount on this total and calculated what we need to pay. Then they levied tax on the amount again! We had to pay tax twice!

All in all, these sites are great for finding lifestyle deals if you are willing to put an effort into it. You get to explore new places and can come up with real gems around you. Don't let one bad experience deter you!


 Disclaimer: I wrote this post a while back and it has been in my drafts for ages. While I am not trying to comment on the vendor or her services here, I am relating my experience and what I have learnt using the lifestyle deals for over a year now.

Beauty Tip - Reusing Unflattering Lipsticks

All you lipstick lovers out there, how many unflattering shades do you have? What do you do with them unflattering tubes of colour? Do you work at that relationship or just move on? I try some of these:

• Lipstain: Sometimes, the full on colour can be a bit too much. Specially so if the colour is bold and bright. Moisturise your lips with a balm, dab it lightly across lips and rub with your index finger. You could leave it at that or top with a clear gloss
• Layering Colours: I use this trick all the time. You'd be surprised how two unflattering colours together make a colour that you will love. Two negatives make a positive. No? Or use the unflattering colour beneath others to warm up, cool out, tone down and brighten other lipsticks
• Eyeshadow Base: Before you go screaming about it creasing, it won't crease if you use a primer. A soft wash of lip colour will work as a cream shadow!
• Blush Blush Blush: My all time favourite method! Lipsticks make the most perfect blush ever. The frosty ones make highlighters and matte ones make blushes and bronzers. 

What are your tricks? How do you make them work??