Addicted to Blush

Why do v/bloggers get so much hate

2017-07-28T16:26:00.003+10:00

Okay, not all of them. But some of them get some hate.

I admit I have a few vloggers on my sub list that I like to cringewatch because they either sing the funniest songs out of tune or say the dumbest things about products. But that's about it.

I know most bloggers / vloggers get the occasional hate comment, but I was surprised to land upon an actual "hate-site" one day while using google to find a few articles on one of the blogs I read regularly. The "haters" were vicious, and I couldn't imagine what the original "vlogger" could have done to be the receiving end of such comments.

After that incident, I started to scroll through the comment section below YT videos I would watch. Sometimes was a mine-field of nasty. How did things get so high-school, mean-girl? I think the fault lies on both sides.

Where the vloggers/bloggers lost the plot for me:

I remember when beauty blogging started in India, it was just us regular girls, sharing our regular opinions. The vibe was more on the lines of "Hey, I like chatting & sharing my experience about makeup, this is what I think about this product, what do you think?" I think that vibe was true across the world as well as vloggers started to create content.

A few of my favorite fashion items

2017-07-27T17:26:00.000+10:00

Any self-respecting style fashion book starts off with a list of the author's top ten must have items. In the last one year, I have read a lot of such lists. And have found most of them to be odious! It is full of staples like a silk white shirt, tailored black blazer & such items designed to help you, adult, successfully.

Only, I am not that person. I have barely any fashion/style credentials to talk about. I am just a regular girl and my main goal in life is to hide my insecurities and overcompensate for my dull life through my clothes.

Before I start putting up more extensive posts on my ideas on fashion, I thought it might be useful to share some of my favorite things. Not only does this feed my delusion that a ton of people are interested in what I like and will smash through shopping windows resulting in a mass shortage of the below-mentioned items (coz I'm the seventh undiscovered Kardashian sister), it also gives you a solid amount of information to form judgments about my style, and if you would like to copy/avoid it. (That is like the longest sentence ever)

1. Favorite tee: A dark gray/black tee. Preferably in linen with a slouchy fit. I don't like white tees because I always stain them with coffee on my first wear, and I like my tees to be the same color as my soul - Dark.

ATB BB Series: My 10 JERF food rules

2017-06-22T15:56:00.002+10:00

I will complete five years (or six?) this September since I first decided to go on a low-carb diet.

I lost the weight I needed to in about 15 months, and since then have maintained my weight loss (touchwood). In the meantime, I have experimented and cycled through a number of diet variations to now arrive at what are my food rules through trial & error. I say trial & error because while there is a lot of information online on "How to lose weight", there isn't enough on "Maintainance". In addition, there are those random websites (who me? lol) who keep adding to the confusion with misinformation because just they want to make a few quick bucks.

This is quite honestly the rules I follow currently. These may or may not work for you. The important thing is to educate yourself about research on nutrition.

I am assuming if you have come this far in reading this post, you have an interest in weight loss. If you are unhappy with your weight & health, you can do something about it. Don't go down that "Fat Acceptance" rabbit hole (that's a whole another post).

I initially started with my weight loss on Atkins Phase I diet / Keto plan, basically a very low carb diet plan. This lasted for about eight months, during which I cut out dairy, potatoes, grains, sugar & legumes. After that, I slightly raised the fat & carb content of my diet and was basically doing paleo for a while, and then I reintroduced milk. I am still doing a version of paleo, but with slight modifications. I call this way of eating: JERF

This is from my Instagram account :)

JERF = Just Eat Real Food

Losing weight & keeping it off involves a balance of making the right food choices & certain behavioral changes.

In this post, I will talk about the kind of food I eat. Behaviors will follow-up in the next post.

And these are the rules of my food selection:

The Tattered Clothing trend - Recession or Romanticizing Poverty?

2017-06-08T16:23:00.002+10:00

It started off with the 10 piece french inspired no color wardrobe trend. Minimal. Lived In.

Soon Kanye was onto it, and now it is everywhere. I am talking about holes. Holes in jeans, holes in sweatshirts. It is in H&M now and may be the biggest trend in 2017. It is the distressed clothing trend. I don't include the clothes that have artfully placed cuts in them in this category. You know, the cold shoulders & cut-out tops & dresses. Those look good. They remind me of the grunge look popular in the 90s.

I talk about clothes where the distressing is such that you can't make out if "a moth ate it and it is time to make it into a kitchen cloth" item or if it was "designed to look this way".

Like this:

Australian Beauty - Things I love & hate

2017-05-29T17:54:00.000+10:00

I will soon be completing a year living in Sydney. When I moved here, I carried all my MAC & Revlon lipsticks, and some makeup from Lakme & Colorbar, essentially Indian brands. But not too much. After all I wanted to try out the brands here, including Sephora! Over time I have come to love certain aspects of the beauty market here, but there are some things which honestly India does better.

Let's start off with the things I love:

1. You can wear makeup. Or not wear makeup. Without Judgement! There is no beauty standard.

If you were to visit Sydney from India, you would probably leave with the impression that girls here wear a lot of makeup.They are too overdone! I too felt like that when I first came here but honestly, that's not correct. Women here wear makeup without being judged for it by society. Makeup does not carry a moral judgment with it and grooming is seen as a part of self-care. In a lot of parts of India, unmarried girls are discouraged from wearing makeup and red lipstick is seen as an invitation for the wrong kind of attention. Add to that the various myths that float around skincare amongst Indian girls, the Aussie girls here will seem more "made-up". When I visited India after six months here, I felt the girls in India weren't as groomed. Maybe my perspective has changed. I personally love this freedom in Australia and have never ever felt pressured into doing makeup I wasn't comfortable in. Thanks to the diverse population here, on any given day you will see a lot of different kinds of makeup and it is all good. That just means you can do what you feel best in!

Do beauty gurus inspire you?

2017-05-22T19:20:00.001+10:00

Are you bored too? With the cookie-cutter highlighting till they look like a discoball and filler-videos like "Watch me blend my makeup with a boiled egg?" (Yes. this exists on youtube, I believe worse exists involving man-parts. I would rather watch the Red Wedding again.)

I saw Wayne Goss's video on this, and I couldn't agree more.

I can't identify with the Instagram-makeup trend, which seems like a mix of drag queen & kardashian makeup on steroids. It takes massive skills to do that kind of makeup and also time. While the videos are speeded & edited to be short, I doubt it takes any less than an hour to put together that look.

While I really enjoy watching these videos, I doubt I have any occasion to do such makeup. They are definately not looks I can wear in a professional setting (I have seen those drawn-on eyebrows in person and up-close they are so distracting to say the least!), and I cannot wear them for daily life coz I'm mostly schelping around in athelesuire or doing unglam things like groceries. So not inspiring for me. It's why beauty blogging/youtubing lost its lustre for me. It's about selling & not about sharing. Into the Gloss has become an endless parade of interviews with rich trust-fund kids with fancy jobs, who use nothing but warm water on their face and uses nothing that doesn't bring her joy. Most insta makeup gurus have had lip-plumping & other procedures to look like Kylie Jenner.

Unpopular opinion, I don't like Charlotte Tilbury's video's either. Its just endless shill about her latest new launch.

I do like the Pixie Woo sisters, Trinny Woodall and Lisa Eldridge videos though, two of which are professional artists. It's odd that most of the current crop of beauty gurus started off as branding themselves as "we are the consumer's POV" but have become way more about monetary gains than the professionals themselves.

Why plus-size clothing sucks

2017-04-27T21:40:00.001+10:00

Plus-size fashion has come a long way, thanks to the increasing presence of plus-sized bloggers/YouTubers. They have been vocal with their feedback, and the change is now percolating to high-street brands. Target just launched their Victoria Beckham collection that goes up to a plus-size. Five years ago I would have scoffed at the idea of Victoria's designs being available in plus-size. It would have seemed unbelievable.

I have always been very fond of dressing up and having traversed the spectrum from plus-size to straight-size, I feel, plus-size clothing sucks, and will never match up to straight-sized clothes. I am not entirely sure why this is so, but I have observed certain patterns (pun!) in the differences between the two spectrums

1. The construction material: The best plus-size clothes I owned were made of a stretchy jersey knit material. It was very comfortable and had give. Sometimes I would see a synthetic material like polyester mixed with lycra. That was generally for the fitted clothes. I suspect this jersey knit is used because plus-size clothes have to be designed to be stretchy so that they can fit plus-size bodies with varying fat distribution. I know I used to prefer clothes that were stretchy when I was plus-sized (to deal with fluctuations in size) and that were flowy so I could present a smoother silhouette. But this jersey-type/synthetic material doesn't look very good, to begin with, and over time loses its luster. I didn't notice this when I was plus-sized and was very happy with jersey. But when I started to wear straight-sized clothing, I suddenly had a plethora of options in natural fibers.

Materials such as silk, linen, raw denim, leather, suede, wool and other natural fibers were rare in plus sized clothes I purchased. Some of my jackets would have a bit of wool, but it was never more than 30%. Cotton, fortunately, mixed with modal & lycra, was available as jeggings. These natural fibers look beautiful and rich when worn because they drape well. Nothing matches the drape of linen or a silk dress. I can see the fake sheen in a poly-blend blazer, now that I have worn a wool-blend blazer. It just doesn't look as good. Maybe natural fibers are rigid in structure - they lack stretchiness, and the bigger the size of the garment, the more the material that is used (and wasted in cutting as you try to align the design at the seams). Translate this into plus-size and clothes can become prohibitively expensive. I believe the lack of stretch plays a big role because I also haven't seen materials such as scuba/neoprene or woven fabrics in plus-size but I have a few dresses now made from them.

2. Trends take a while to percolate down to plus-size: Trends are presented at fashion weeks, and from their avant-garde origins, they are translated into wearable options by high-street brands. I don't think this is easy to do in the first place. A trend that looks wearable on a supermodel can quickly become frumpy on a regular woman (cropped flares come to mind), and the trend has to translate well on women of all sizes and heights for it to be a success. I think plus-size retailers are risk averse here and wait to see the success of a trend in the straight-sized market before offering it in plus-size. One such trend I can think of is Velvet. It has been quite visible in straight-sizes in the last six months, but I am yet to see it featured in any plus-size hauls.

3. There are less plus-size brands: Obviously, the selection is much narrower

4. Designers don't like creating for plus-size women: In fact, I am yet to see any season of Project Runway where the designers didn't moan & groan about dressing non-models. Plus-size non-models were actually treated quite badly on few of these shows, where the designer blamed their failure on her fatness! I don't understand the challenges of designing, but there must be something that makes it so difficult that they avoid doing it. This lack of attention & talent maybe a reason for the boring clothing. Maybe there is a lot more understanding of how fabrics drape on the straight-size body, maybe there are construction challenges for plus-size. I don't know!

I could be wrong since I mostly write from a consumer's perspective, and if you know better please feel free to correct me.

Does your white tee bring you joy?

2017-04-26T18:46:00.002+10:00

Kon-Mari's famous words in her best-selling tome on decluttering, was to pick every item in the house & ask yourself - Does this bring me joy?

If your heart says no, throw it away! Your space should only be full of items that bring you joy. By that logic, I would be sockless and would have no plates to eat out of, coz neither inspire any joy in me.

Inspired by her, thousands of fashionistas have whittled down their closets to 30 items, all based on a carefully curated color scheme that builds on neutrals and is environmentally sustainable.

But I don't buy it.

This new "carefree wannabe-french chair painter" is just another version of the "manic pixie dream girl" before her, which seems to come in from the entire "French Girl" aesthetic. While their intentions are noble - buy less, waste less - is always a good motto in life, I don't agree with their negativity towards fast fashion brands and their tendency to ignore their economic privilege.

When you dress in a minimalist fashion, you have to buy pieces that are well made in good fabrics, because simple, neutral pieces shine best that way. When plain clothes are your centerpiece, they better be very well made! When these minimalists have a limited wardrobe with carefully curated pieces, it means that they have the luxury to replace their woolen navy pullover the moment they see signs of aging, without waiting for a sale, at any mall because they are a standard size. They don't need to buy backups of items are worn often during a sale because they can afford it at full price.

And then they tend to shit on fast-fashion. Say what you will, but the H&Ms and Targets are the mainstay of most women and have made trends accessible. No one who can afford to buy pieces by Celine is really impacted by Zara also offering the trend in their store. In fact, it just offers everyone more choice. And speaking of Zara, I wish they would offer a lot more items inspired by their own Spanish & neighbouring Italian fashion heritage of D&G and Gucci, rather than keep pushing variants of Celine's French Girl. There's only so interesting you can look in a black blazer, white tee & jeans. No matter how it's accessorized, it is still Pinterest Basic 101.

Maybe it is just me. I have always been a maximalist.

I hate the basic white tee. Why buy a plain, white tee when I can get a black, vintage tee with a print. Or a red trenchcoat? Or a white mini? or plaid? When I look for inspiration for dressing up, I always end looking at Italian & Spanish women. I love prints and colors. I like dressing up, I have never seen it as a chore. That brings me joy. Maybe I'm just briefly distracted from the emptiness of my life by the promise of looking as alluring as those Spanish sirens. Do you think they would rock an embroidered chambray?

Makeup Resolutions for 2017

2017-04-25T22:04:00.001+10:00

I was browsing through my draft posts, and came across one I did in 2014 about makeup trends. Of all the things I noted there (which to be honest was just one item - thicker eyebrows), I could have never guessed how different makeup would be in 2017.

In the past few months I started to feel old & outdated with my brown eyeliner & red lipstick while girls around me have been wearing so much makeup I would probably say their skin type is "Banana Powder". This was rather unbecoming of my past as a beauty blogger and I needed to find a way to burn money, so I made a list. Of makeup resolutions.

My makeup resolution list for this year looked like:

1. Buy highlighter, and apply to high points of face daily for looking like I ate light bulbs for dinner. No such thing as too much highlighter. But not on the nose-tip, cause that's veering into Rudolf territory.

2. Buy contouring powder. Ignore fact that my cheekbones are already very high and looking gaunt comes easy to me. I just have to wait for Week 2 of my cycle when I don't have any PMS water retention.

3. Must get blender. (A beauty blender. Get your mind out of the kitchen, girl!) Ignore fact that it needs to be washed daily and I am one of the laziest people when it comes to cleaning brushes. Also I am the only one who is a little disappointed that it grows in size when wet? (Okay, it seemed like a decent sentence when I typed it, get your mind out of the gutter girl!)

4. Buy mauve/brown matt liquid lipstick (or as my friend calls it - shit colored lipstick). Also buy matching lip pencil to overdraw already big lips.

5. Bake yo face, with banana powder.

6. Buy three different items for the eyebrow - pencil, powder, gel and spend an inordinate amount of time first plucking the hair out and then drawing it back with makeup.

7. Buy Kim Kardashian colored foundation. Earlier I used to buy foundation matched to my skin shade. Apparently, that's no longer cool, and we all need to buy her yellow toned shade match, even if it looks ridic with my cool toned features.

8. Mascara is for kids. Real women wear fake lashes.

Of this, I have only been successful in taming my eye-brows. The rest continue to be mysteries to me though I have watched a ton of YT videos.

I will be talking about some of the other trends in posts in the coming week.

What were your makeup resolutions for 2017?

Some more updates

2017-04-25T21:09:00.000+10:00

Sorry, I couldn't think of a more interesting blog post title. I am a bit rusty.

First of all, I am surprised that my blog post yesterday was read by 51 people! One of them was my adorable younger sister, and she's my constant cheerleader! Thank you, Sims!

And thank you to the other 50 people too! and a big shoutout to Abha, Ashima & Budget Belleza who even commented!

Also Shweta, who has been encouraging me to get back to blogging for the last three years.

I wasn't anticipating more than 10 views, to be honest. But then I was also convinced that there would be stray kangaroos roaming the streets of Sydney before I moved here. After all, Australia has more kangaroos than people.

I have always enjoyed writing. Its been my outlet for dealing with stress, and when I moved to Australia a year ago, I did start an anonymous blog to chronicle my experiences here. I thought my posts could be useful for other new migrants. But I found it harder to articulate my feelings through a hidden cloak and eventually I stopped blogging there too. As a new migrant, I have practically no friends or social circle here in Australia, and on most days I feel invisible. Posting in the incognito mode on that blog just compounded my feelings that I could very well be a figment of someone's imagination.

Thank you for being so kind though, and staying tuned for posts - on Beauty but also other things. I wasn't sure yesterday if I wanted to blog again, but I am now. I am going to write about things that catch my fancy, and as a reader you let me know if you find it entertaining & thought-provoking.

Thank you! I love you!

Life Updates - 2017

2017-04-24T16:27:00.001+10:00

I am not sure if anyone's still reading this blog. But if you are here, Hello! Nice to see you!

I stopped updating quite a while ago. I had to decide between prioritizing my time and blogging took a backseat. I anyways approached blogging from a very casual, chatty perspective (in case you missed it from my terrible pictures of products & swatches, and no blog post announcing the acquisition of a DLSR in 2014). But in 2015, beauty blogs started to become uber professional with color co-ordinated white flatlays, vlogs, five posts a day and diplomatic no-ratings reviews. No judgment there, it just was the direction beauty blogging in India seemed to be taking. And one I had no time for.

With my full-time job and primal lifestyle to better my health, I didn't have the mental mind space to work on reinventing this blog, and honestly, I didn't want to temper my thoughts & opinions just to build professional inroads with the Indian beauty brands. I knew my blog would seem dated and homegrown compared to the professional spaces that were being created, so I decided to take a step back.

Every once in a while, I get an email from a reader. Asking me where I am, what's up with me, when will I blog again. It's actually very touching and after quite a few such emails in the last three years, I felt I should share some updates about my life.

1. I moved to Australia a year ago.

2. I still follow a low-carb high-fat primal diet. I complete five years this September and have successfully (touchwood) kept my weight off. Losing my excess weight completely redefined my perspective on beauty though.

3. I still am a beauty addict, and in touch with all my fellow blogger friends who I admire. I am very active on Instagram, where I do short product reviews. You can see my feed here. Please be warned, I am still the queen of crappy beauty product pictures.

That's about it, right now. I may start blogging again, but it won't be restricted to beauty, and will probably be a lot more diversified.

Thank you for still reading this blog! I love you!

Maybelline The Nudes Palette is here!

2015-07-19T12:27:00.002+10:00

I have been coveting a nude / neutral palette for a long time. It has been *the* eyeshadow rage abroad ever since Urban Decay launched their Naked Palette. It is available in India in the grey market but the price is so prohibitive that I didn't think it was worth it.

Drugstore companies of course responded with their own versions - but that too were not available or launched in India. Our local companies like Lakme & Colorbar always seem to be a on trend trip of their own - and like eyebrows - felt this was a trend not worth responding to. And with Maybelline's history of late to never launches, The Nudes palette was something I put down on my - To Buy from Trip abroad list. I could have just gone to MAC or Inglot and got it custom made, but I'm one of those lazy girls who just wants a ready made palette.

Yesterday I stopped by the Maybelline counter to check out their new Colorshow lipstick launch. The counter had not yet recieved the full 32 shades and had like a very boring selection of 10 shades - most of them brown & purple.

I was about to walk away when the counter girl opened - what looked like a secret drawer at the bottom of the display - and there sat the tester for Maybelline The Nudes Eyeshadow Palette. I just stopped and stared for a minute unsure of what I was looking at. How is this here, and there hasn't been a peep from their PR on this? Did I miss it? Was I living under a rock? How did I not know this was here!

I quickly got rid of those thoughts, and did what any beauty blogger would do. I bought it instantly!!

Priced at Rs. 899/- for 12 eyeshadows - it was just hard to resist. (I got it at 10% off - just made the deal sweeter!)

And then of course I instagrammed about it:

I have had it for less than 24 hours, so I don't really have an holistic view of the product yet. I did use it last evening - I used the top row first shade as lid color, and the one to the right of it as crease - without any primer and it lasted okay for four to five hours.

I did realise that some of the colors they are not as smooth or uber pigmented as MAC or Inglot would be. But then I feel for the price - it is a good deal. The middle quad of shades are very pigmented & the colors are gorgeous.

There are tons of reviews online on the product already, so while I'm making up my mind about this, you can read those. I personal favourite is this one that has good swatches & a side by side comparison to UD Naked.

Now if I found out Maybelline has also launched the Blushed Nudes Palette, I'm gonna forgive them for all those 5 year late launches they have been subjecting us for the last few years!

Calling all Game of Thrones Fans - lets talk about their makeup!

2015-04-24T20:34:00.001+10:00

**Spoiler Alert**: the post references material from the ASOIAF books, online tin-foil theories, and the show GOT.

How many of you look forward to Monday mornings? Not me, until two weeks ago.

Coz Season 5 of Game of Thrones has begun on HBO Defined! It airs at an ungodly 6:30 am on Monday morning, but I make sure to always watch it!

It has been a long wait since Season 4, and I've been spending time between the two seasons revisiting the earlier episodes and also reading the books. I just started Book 4 - A Feast For Crows in the saga called "A Song of Ice & Fire" and spending all my free time reading up various theories online. R+L = J is so popular that now it is taken for granted to be true. Just two days ago I came across another theory D=E that I'm almost convinced about. And while we are talking about Daario, I think they should bring back the earlier actor. I have read that they replaced him because he wasn't a good actor, but I still would vote to bring him back! In a show populated with such superior acting I don't mind some bad acting from eye-candy. Hey, he could be the Katrina Kaif of the show! (Sorry Katrina fans, but I don't like her acting)

Daario 1 v/s Daario 2

I can't remember looking forward & yet at the same time dreading a show so much. Traumatic as the Red Wedding was, Oberon's last scene terrified me so much I could not sleep for half the night! It scares me, yet I can't stop watching the show or reading the books!

In the books and on the show there is a lot of reference to the physical features of the each of the House members. Baratheons have dark hair, Tully have blue eyes & auburn hair, Lannisters sport green eyes & blond hair, and of course the Targaryens have silver pale hair & lilac or purple eyes (Don't ask why. Even on the show they haven't been able to replicate the actual lilac / purple eyes so vividly described in the books). Even the Dornish people have three distinct tribes with three distinct builds.

Set in medieval times (supposed Europe) when there was no MAC, the makeup, hair and costumes on the show are a major departure from the current movies and shows on air.

You will not see red or fuchsia lips, any obvious cat liner. But everything is softly blended and very, very natural looking. Even the hair, is in elaborate braids or buns. No poker straight hair.

While almost all the major women characters in the show wear very similar makeup, it is Dany who is the most adored and you will find a ton of tutorials for her look. The look is pretty simple to executive and is truly a no-makeup makeup look. From the videos I saw online & various forums, these are points I observed:

1. The skin on all of the female characters is prepped very well. You will not see any powdery foundation or dryness. So start off with well moisturised face.

2. There is use of concealer in great detail to mask all imperfections. With not much on the face and eyes to distract, the skin needs to look great!

3. I've read online that to keep it natural, they keeps powder in check. Instead they take away any shine in the T-zone with blotting papers, but leave some sheen on the cheek bones to highlight the bone structure.

4. There is a bit of contouring if needed. I've seen this being used mostly for Cersei. They avoid this on Dany (I think) to emphasise her young age. Also sometimes they wear a dusty tawny pink cream blush, blended in right on the cheeks

5. Use a terracotta or taupe eyeshadow on the lid and just a light sweep under the lower lash line.

6. A white eyeshadow under the brows, followed by filling in of brows. Since the face is so bare, the brows are quite pronounced and filled in

7. There is no eyeliner used for any of the women characters

8. Mascara is applied very sparingly to get literally no build-up on the lashes. I think Lakme eyeconic is perfect for this, provided it is applied with a single coat.

9. Finally either use plain old vaseline or a touch of brown - pink shade on the lips. But no visible lines.

It is not a look I'd like to sport everyday. Frankly I would get bored with the lack of color. But Nude Face makeup is being touted as the New Spring 2015 trend. You can read more about this trend here.

And on a lighter note, here's another quick GOT tutorial: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarrylee/winter-is-coming-and-its-fabulous#.pjvgYvZNm

Have a happy weekend! And here's to Episode 3 on Monday. May your favourite character have a long life!

ATB BB Series: Things I don't miss anymore

2015-04-22T23:25:00.000+10:00

I don't miss being invisible

I don't miss dreading shopping sessions at malls coz nothing that Zara or Forever 21 had would fit me

I don't miss having to make do with matronly style western wear from ALL - my single source of Western Wear.

I don't miss wearing a uniform of kurta-churidar all the time to office, which I hate.

I don't miss the anxiety before attending social events or meeting new people, because I knew they would judge negatively even before I said a word to them

I don't miss not being able to wear more than an inch of heel because my feet could not take my weight

Could your green tea be causing weight gain?

2015-04-21T22:29:00.000+10:00

A lot of women chug down cups of plain, unsweetened green & black teas in the hope that it will

magically boost our metabolism and help in weight reduction. The fact that it looks so innocent, devoid of fattening milk & sugar definitely adds to its allure. It is just flavoured hot water after all. Advertisers have played a huge role in this perception by touting it as the "Zero Calorie" beverage.

If I had a rupee for the number of times I've been asked I drank green tea for my weight loss, I could have easily bought myself a dozen MAC lipsticks. And the answer is no, I didn't!

I've never liked green tea. I don't like the metallic taste it has. I occasionally drink black lemon tea.

Imagine my surprise today when I came across a bunch of articles & scientific studies online that claim that drinking tea (especially green tea) may actually make hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) worse. One of the symptoms of Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) is rapid weight gain, and lowered metabolic rate.

Using Lipstick as Blush: MAC shows how!

2015-04-07T19:44:00.000+10:00

For some reason I received the Day 2, 3, 4 & 5 (Finale) face charts for MAC after the fashion week, unlike Day 1. I was planning to do a day wise break-down initially, but it turns out getting all the face-charts together turned out to be a good thing as it helped me analyse for trends across the week.

Today I'm mixing up Day 2 & Day 3 looks to show you how MAC put into practice the age old tip of using lipstick as blush.

This is a tip that almost all bloggers and makeup artists share in their posts and videos, but it was a real learning point for me to see how MAC used lipsticks not only as blush but also to contour! If you look at the final finish - the blush is barely discernable, it is just a hint of color, and a look that I like. I am not fond of the very obvious blush look.

The first lipstick I want to talk about is Half & Half from MAC. This neutral nude lipstick can be used on Indian skin tones as an excellent contour cream. I feel that it's Amplified Creme finish must make it easy to blend on the skin. I don't own this lipstick as I'm not fond of Amplified Creme finish, but I feel that you can use any nude-to-you lipstick for this trick.

This is the look with Half & Half, and the makeup breakdown below it. It reminds me of a very wearable version of Kim Kardarshian's look.

MAC Half n Half as Blush

Summer 2015 Trend: Red Lips in Summer?

2015-03-26T20:39:00.000+11:00

Fashion shows not only set trends in styles, but also can be a good indicator to predict the styles of makeup that will be in vogue over the season.

If one goes by the Amazon India Fashion Week day 1 look it seems to indicate that red lips are going to be the flavour of the season.

Eyes are fuss-free with minimal definition but lots of lashes.
Eyebrows continue to be thick & strong.
The skin is very dewy and well moisturised and contouring of the cheekbones continues. However the contouring on the model above is a lot harsher than I liked. I feel it needs to be bit more subtle.

If there is one thing I learnt from these looks, it would be the amount of moisturising and prepping the skin is subjected to before applying foundation.

However overall the makeup is not what I expected, to be honest. I'm expecting fashion - wise a revival of the 70s and more specifically the grunge - boho look. I tend to associate messy, smudgy eyeliner with this look a lot more than red lipstick. (And for this reason I loved the Catty frames at Rajesh Pratap's show! so 70s!)

MAC was kind enough to share the face-charts & a step by step breakdown of the makeup for those of you who want to recreate it. I personally find these face-charts with product names very useful, as one can see what the shades look like on Indian skintones & eyes.

Also those of you who wear glasses must scroll down and take a look at the makeup at Rajesh Pratap's show. The models all wore thick-rimmed glasses and the makeup is perfect for when you have such an attention grabbing accessory sitting on your face! Also the clothes on the models are monochromatic in shades of black & white - those of you looking for tips on what makeup to wear with your monochrome outfits - this is look is a good option.

My current skin routine

2015-01-30T22:36:00.000+11:00

Fathima of Babble Queen Diaries has been running a section called "Girl Talk" where she features bloggers / friends and talks about some aspect of Beauty.

For her latest post, she honoured me by contacting me for my current skincare routine. You can read about my entire current routine here.

My routine has simplified over the years. Maybe because I don't have the time anymore to apply and wait for layers of products to absorb, maybe because I use more gentler products now so my skin doesn't need as much TLC.

Anyways, scoot over to Fathima's blog to read more!

ATB BB Series: What's your North Star?

2015-01-15T02:44:00.001+11:00

The "North Star", also known as the "Star that does not walk" is one of the brightest stars in the sky. It is also a fixed star - so while all the other stars change positions basis Earth's rotation during the night, the North Star stays constant in the same place.

In olden times, it was used as a navigation guide for ships to keep them on course.

We all have personal or professional goals. For some of us, these goals may be health related. Simply put, some of you may be wanting to shed some pounds this year. And you set off on this journey.

All journey's have distractions. At times we fall off the wagon. The difference between those who get back on, and those who don't is how well they have defined their personal "North Star"

North Star here would mean your core purpose, the rational, the answer to why do you want to achieve this goal? What does achieving this goal mean to you? What will it do for you?

Marsala never went out of fashion in India

2015-01-10T02:27:00.001+11:00

I never knew the color "wine" was called "marsala" in fancy terms. Kind of like how Maroon becomes Oxblood.

But for a change I love this purported color of 2015. Marsala. Better than the Orange & Orchid they've come up with earlier.

But to be honest I don't really know what happens with these pronouncements of "Color of the Year". I see a bit of furor at the beginning, but I didn't see any Orchid colored makeup or clothes in the store last year.

Marsala looks like a very "fall" color, which is probably why I like it so much. I do prefer deeper, darker tones of color and it helps that it goes so well with grey that has been completely dominating clothing for the last few months. I also tend to prefer it with a bit more red than brown in it.

This MAC Oval 3 brush is the Bomb!

2015-01-09T01:55:00.000+11:00

Foundations.

They are important to a building & for your makeup as well. Without a well-matched, well-blended foundation base, even the most neutral brown eyeliner or the best red lipstick don't really look good. Get a good foundation in place though, and even boring neutral makeup looks fabulous.

I, like most girls, struggled for a while to get the right shade & right formula of foundation. For a while I even gave up and took to the world of single-shade-fits-all tinted moisturizers & BB creams. Until I saw these tooth-brush like makeup brushes from the MAC Masterclass range making the rounds on Temptalia & other blogs. They looked like some black tooth-brushes that we were to use for makeup!

The Oval 3 resting in its Black Box!

MAC claims that these brushes were designed after studying how women apply makeup, and they found that the current painting like brushes work well for MUAs because they can get in really close up to the face they work on to perfect the skin. But when regular people use it, the handle increases the distance between the face & the mirror and makes it difficult to get in real close to notice blending mistakes. Additionally consumers who may not have as much time to blend every morning require much denser brushes to get the work done quickly to get good results.

I made "Washed Ghee" at home and it turned out great!

2015-01-06T22:18:00.002+11:00

Yesterday I posted about the importance of fat in our diet. While doing research for the same I came across the recipe for "Washed Ghee" or Shata Dhaut Ghrita (100 times washed ghee).

After I read about this miracle at home cream, it was inevitable that I would try to create this cream myself. All I needed apparently was some cow ghee & water.

So I made it last evening. And here is how it went.

For those readers who haven't read the earlier post: Hundred times washed ghee is prepared from organic cow milk ghee by washing it in purified water, repeatedly, 100 times in a copper vessel, using a specific prescribed method while chanting some mantras

This procedure transforms the ghee into a soft, cooling, nourishing, silky unguent that is used as a traditional moisturizer and anti wrinkle skin cream. It produces radiant and glowing skin, especially for people with easily inflamed skin. It can be used as a daily face and body moisturizer or for facial massage. Apply it for the hot issues of sunburn, eczema and rosacea.

This how I made it. I mostly followed this site's recipe:

1. I took 1 & 1/2 teaspoon of cow ghee in a plastic melamine bowl. I think even regular ghee should be fine. I didn't have any copper vessel at home so I ignored this instruction. I forgot to take a picture during this start point.

Why 8 glasses of water won't hydrate your skin...

2015-01-05T21:20:00.000+11:00

The beauty pundits say "Dewy skin is always in" but is dewy skin just a matter of glugging down the mandated 8 glasses of water followed by daily application of moisturizer?

It was a chance remark at the tailor's that got me thinking about the real reason for dry skin. I was collecting some clothes I got stitched a while back. My tailor is extremely fond of talking about my weight loss with her other clients. As usual she was discussing it with a client who was there at the same time as me. This other client was wondering why my skin did not display any signs of diet damage. In her experience, dieting always left her skin very dry & dull.

Before I could respond, my tailor quipped, "It's all the ghee & butter she eats!"

We all know that some fat is needed for building healthy skin, but I always assumed that most people are born with certain types of skin - oily, dry, combination - each with its own woes. Some lucky people have "normal" skin which presents the least trouble. The type of skin you have is a genetic lottery that you draw and have little control over it. It may also be heavily affected by the weather and by your diet.

Sometimes skin misbehaves and results in either acne (too much oil) or flaking (too less), but I felt that is result of ignoring skin care routines - not using the right products in the right quantities at the right times.

Never take advice from someone who has bad eyebrows

2014-12-31T17:17:00.002+11:00

2014’s major defining beauty trend was thick Power Brows. Inspired by supermodel Carla D, this

Carla's Power Brows

trend swept through Hollywood (And the White House as well – with the First Lady also laying off the tweezer) and soon had girls sporting fans on the inner corners and bold eyebrows. It is not a new trend though. Audrey Hepburn bought the trend to prominence in 1950's in Hollywood. By 60's her eyebrows had become a bit more refined, but they were still thick. This trend of thick eyebrows continued till the 80s.

The trend died away by the 90s when arched, thin eyebrows ruled the roost all through the 2000s.

Sadly, the Power Brow trend didn't seem to catch on too much in India. I only sported Alia Bhatt, Kangana & Deepika playing up their eyebrows, but that was generally with an androgynous outfit. Most Indian brands offer little to no makeup for the brows and didn't even respond to this trend of brows. Globally brands responded enthusiastically by offering brow growth serums to eyebrow tinted gels.

I tried to influence some of the women around me, but all I got were confused looks – why would you want thicker eyebrows they exclaimed while raising their dental floss like brows in shock!

I did try out this trend. I stopped going to the salon for threading about 2 years ago, preferring to use a tweezers, and over the last 12 months relaxed my use of the tweezers as well.

PK: Anushka Sharma's beauty breakdown

2014-12-30T17:46:00.003+11:00

Did you know that the pixie cut Anushka sports in the movie was a wig?

I just found out a while ago and I'm glad it ain't a permanent cut. I'm not fond of pixie cuts. Even Penny sports one on the latest season of Big Bang Theory and it doesn't seem to suit her either. Anushka does make it work though.

More disturbing than the wig on Anushka are her lips.

During the first 30 minutes of the movie there are close-ups of her face on the giant screen. It didn't help that I had third row from the screen tickets - and it is very evident that she's got some plumping done to her lips. They look so odd and out of sorts with the rest of her delicate features. Instead of focusing on the feelings of love / infatuation she was trying to convey through her eyes, all I could focus on were those duck-lips. I didn't like them!

I enjoyed the movie, the first half is pretty good. The second half drags a bit but I liked the message behind the movie so I would definitely recommend it. I loved the initial scenes in Bruges, Brussels - because I was there during the same time as the shooting! I saw all of that set-up with "Bachchan reads Bachchan" and a local gondola sailor did ask me if I was a part of the Bollywood team there for the shoot. I was just so taken in by the beauty of the city that I didn't pay attention to what he was saying and went my own merry way! Not that I regret it one bit.