Remembering the tragedy queen - Meena Kumari

Sorry for the long disappearances which are becoming a bit of a pattern. Have recently shifted to a new home and getting things running there was taking a while. I still need to get myself a camera.  An easy to carry basic one, not the SLR varieties before I can put up pictures again.

However moving on to today's post. Today morning they were showing a Meena Kumari special on DD Rangoli (its a must watch if you are a film buff and miss getting your dose of retro songs). A lot of things they said , about Kamaal Amrohi and her, her drinking, her subsequent death and the work of her life , Pakeezah, was something most of us already know. But watching songs from lesser known movies and seeing how she evolved , the way she wore her hair was a revelation of sorts.

In Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam , one of her most acclaimed works, she starts off as a prim and proper wife of a rich landlord, who is willing to do anything to get her husband's attentions, including hitting the bottle. This is her in all her finery as a newly married thakurain. Perfectly done hair, all the jewellery of the era, neat and tidy saree and kohl rimmed eyes.

Face Mask Junkie - DIY strawberry mask

Though it rarely looks like it, I am actually a lover of all things facemasky. I always love trying out new beauty recipes and am a big fan of DIYs. But the past few days I was craving the texture of professional face masks. If you make your own face masks you know that most of them tend to be runny and drippy. Hardly any give you the store bought mask texture.

Everytime I walked into a beauty store I read the ingredients in all the ready made  face masks. I realised that all these masks had a few things in common.

None of them added water -Water can make a mask runny, and also provide a breeding ground for fungi.
They all contain some oil -Most DIY masks are water based, however the reason they never feel as smooth is because they do not contain any oils or butters to lend them some smooth texture.

I did a fair bit of googling and searching to come up with a nearly professional face mask and here is what I found.

No Poo experiment - Simple desi version

Every curly haired girl has at one point of time or the other asked to go in for the no-poo method.  For the un-initiated , no poo method means not using a shampoo at all on your hair. A lot of people switch to washing hair with only water, only conditioner and various similar concoctions.  Sounds gross doesnt it. I thought no different, I have a few reasons for why it was not for me.

1. I live in a humid sweaty and insanely polluted city called Mumbai, and going without shampoo for days let alone weeks always sounds like a bad idea. 
2. I love my hair after a nice shampoo. It may smell a bit too strongly artificial, or feel only temporarily soft, I still love the effect too much to let go.
3. I am scared of stinking my hair up if I give up on shampoo. 

So why try now. Because my hair was falling like crazy and I was getting insanely paranoid. I started reading all the prevent hair fall ads from Dr Batra's and other similar clinics a lot more closely. As a last resort I decided to try this.

Its been a week since I have gone no poo, and so far so good I would say. Though the temptation to reach for a yummy smelling shampoo is still there. I am going to try this for a month atleast. I have also made this a desi hair treatment of sorts.

At home facial for dull skin in Winters

Sorry for the long disappearance. I have been wondering why the winter in Mumbai, which actually only has two seasons namely monsoon and summer is not ending at all. We are at the end of January here and there is still a nip in the air, not to forget dryness.

The dry air is giving me so much trouble, dandruff, itchy and dry scalp and dry skin too. So here are some things I am doing to keep my skin happier.

I am sharing my elaborate at home facial that seems to be keeping atleast my skin happy.

Winter skin care tips and beauty routine

I suffer from oily skin, so Winter is relatively an easy time for me. But even my oily skin can look dull with too much of face wash.  I believe natural oils are the best thing to happen to our skins, and should be preserved. Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t wash my face, it only means that I am not going to OD on talc or face wash to keep my skin shine free.  Last time I did a post on how my beauty routine has changed from Summer to Winter. Today I will talk about the winter regime I follow.

Here are my Winter beauty heroes..

Kryolan Wet and Dry Finish Compact

Sorry people for the long disappearances crazy work schedules and life in general keeps me away. Though I long to say so much .

I am a makeup loving lazy girl, who puts on most of the makeup in the car (so half my fancy makeup stays unused since I don’t want to spoil it by lugging it around.) But as you can tell, putting on the base is a tough job if you are travelling. And I use very little by way of base.  Just one product and I am done.

So far I was using Revlon photoready mousse foundation, and I often skipped doing a compact over it. Partly due to time issues and secondly if you must layer products, you must always always go back to the base once its set and blend it to make it look natural.  Sounds like a drab doesn’t it.

I was therefore on the lookout for the much advertised compacts that can be used both wet and dry. But I wanted  a perfect skin tone match too. (and no one shade lighter just doesn’t work.)

So I did the only thing I could, got myself to a Kryolan store (since I am not yet ready to shell out the bucks at MAC) and looked through all the foundation textures they had.

I settled on their  wet and dry compact  , but that was what I was eyeing in the first place. However being a beauty blogger means you look through a 1000 things you don’t need so you know what is available and who it might suit. By the way for mature skin, their Ultra Foundation is awesome and if you need heavier coverage try Derma color.

Kryolan Lipstick review (LC 213)

So since I mentioned my Kryolan haul, I had to review the thing I have been using the most. No points for guessing, it is indeed the lipstick. Its a blue toned pink which is slightly neutralised so that it doesnt look too bright. I find that this magenta makes my face shine anytime of the day. Anyone who said yellow tone , yellow lippies was limiting options. I would say try try till you succeed.

So this is what the lipstick bullet looks like. The shade is LC 213. (which means it is a classic sheeny finish)

As you can see it is a very basic case, and if you peer closely enough you see the price as well, which is INR 250, so I am not really complaining about the packaging yet. Maybe if I get a few more I will.

Anyways without further ado, I will come to the main review