Skincare Routine - Order of products/steps

This was a neat info graphic I came across on CosRX site

It may seem excessive, but you may add/remove steps as you see fit. This mainly gives an order of the steps and products.

Quick and dirty on the natural Deodorants

This is gonna be a quick review of the naturals deos I have tried. This is all for me, a fairly active, sweaty brown girl. I have been used to the protection offered by clinical strength supermarket deodorants, so maybe my standards are really high. I am open to the fact that no natural deodorant will provide me the protection that a chemical-laden clinical strength deo offers, but I am not opposed to the sweat, it's the stink that builds in 24 hours.

These are listed in the order of preference/effectiveness

1) Piperwei: This is a gray solid stick deo, which smells okay. And as expected works beautifully due to the charcoal in it. However, because of the charcoal, it makes the pits appear darker when applied.

2) Native: This has many scents and I have tried a couple. The only one that functions fairly well is the coconut vanilla one. The others don't performs half as well. No idea why the difference.

3) Kopari: This is a very pure coconut oil based deo. It smells wonderful and I love applying it. However the pits get the stank within 12 hours. And that is a fail for me.

4) Lume : More like Lame. It does nothing for me. It is super sticky. And I hate that it has to be rubbed in by hand. Apparently it can be used on other parts of the body, but I stick to the pits. The stickiness never goes away and makes me feel uncomfortable. And the stink is back within 6 hours.

5) Baking Soda: I have tried pure baking soda mixed with water and it functioned beautifully EXCEPT that I have painful welts and cysts form in the pits which lasted a while and left major pigmentation in their wake. I am afraid to try deos with baking soda listed as an ingredient due to this experience. I believe I am allergic. But if you're not, then baking soda is the best ingredient to get the stank out.

Special Mention: LUSH Coconut Deodorant Powder was the best natural deo I have ever used. As all companies do, they discontinued this wonderful product. I hope they bring it back someday. Until then, maybe I should try recreating it with some Corn Starch, coconut oil, and some essential oil drops.

Kryolan Dermablend

More about hair oils... Kalonji and Amla and Mustard...

I've been losing a LOT of hair lately. Although the hair is longer now, the number of hair per square cm./density is very low. I hate it! I have been using Kesh King hair oil from India for the past 3 months and I don't think it has done anything to help stop it.

I've used Navratna Red Hair Oil from India as well to stimulate and tingle the scalp. When applied, it does tingle for 10 mins. or so but I don't really know if it has done anything either. Though I do have a lot of fly-away/baby hairs now visible.

Kalonji (Black Seed) Oil is supposed to be miraculous for new hair growth, so I will try that next. Also Amla is supposed to help, so I have bought Khadi Pure Amla Oil (pure meaning, no fillers like mineral oil etc. in it) to try as well. In the next month or so I will prolly do a half and half concoction of these two oils and apply weekly(will also look into adding mustard seed oil, why not make the most potent concoction?). Then I will try it for 3 months to check for reduction of hair fall as well as for new hair growth.

I know that reduction on hair fall is a more plausible possibility than creation of new hair, but you never know. The hair that fell, hopefully their roots will still be alive and get rejuvenated with my nurturing which will lead to sprouting of new hair ;) (one can dream, can't I?).

I'll keep the blog updated with progress though.

Small L'oreal Haul

I purchased the following 4 L'oreal Infallible eye shadows from the Ulta 40% sale: 759 Burst Into Bloom, 557 Glistening Garnet, 333 Golden Sage, 335 Golden Emerald 

These colors are stunning in real life and the pictures above were taken in natural daylight and are kind of making the colors appear washed out. Do check these out in person when you get a chance. 

Eyelash growth enhancers: Products and Reviews

Mascaras have been around since 4000 B.C. and hence are one of the oldest cosmetics known to mankind. Long lashes are a universal sign of beauty and femininity. From an evolution point of view, I'm guessing it is tied to attractiveness: long fluttery lashes --> flirty --> mating and procreating; and that's all evolution is about, maximizing your chances of mating and procreating ( leaving procreation aside, not much has changed ;) )

Here are 3 products that I have personally used and can vouch for from my personal experience.

1) L'oreal Lash Serum: 3rd one in the picture below, available for $12 to $15 in the US. It is a plain and simple conditioner for your lashes. Pop it on each night before you sleep and I guarantee you will see a difference in 3-4 weeks with daily application. I have noticed however that the difference is fairly small and goes away as soon as you discontinue the application. All in all, this is a great no hassle product and I highly recommend it.

2) Smartlash Eyelash Enhancer (does not contain prostaglandin): 2nd one in the picture below, available for $25 to $35 in the US. It is a bit better in terms of lashes. It has a thin brush for applying it to the base of lashes but apply too much and you get it in your eyes and it burns! So be careful. Avoid the product if you have sensitive eyes. I definitely see results from applying this one in 3 weeks or so as well. However, after a while, the results plateau. It is still not as extreme in terms of results like Latisse (contains prostaglandin) or some higher grade products. All in all a great product, if you know the risks associated and don't want to spend a bucket load on eyelash treatment.

3) Mix of Castor oil and Avocado oil (placed in a l'oreal lash serum vial for ease of application): The most natural one on the list and is the 1st from left in the picture below. Castor oil is a very popular 

I have always had average lashes but with the use of the above mentioned products, they're getting better. Below, 1st pic shows my bare lashes with only the oil applied to them, 2nd pic shows my lashes with one coat of the L'oreal Butterfly Lashes Mascara (sorry for the freaky looking, poor quality pic). 

I bet if I was more regular with the application of these products, I would see a bigger improvement.

New Face Mask

It's not new but a modification of the Tumeric one I had posted a few weeks ago. This one uses an organic Tumeric & Sandalwood powder in place of the besan and includes raw organic honey as well. Being of Indian-birth, I LOVE the scent of Sandalwood. Besides, if you Google about sandalwood, you will see a ton of healthy skin benefits. Here's what it looks like (I bought this on eBay from seller Amber's Organic)

MASK INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tbsp. Amber's Organic' powder shown above
• Additional Organic Turmeric (you can never have too much turmeric)
• 1 spoon Raw Organic Honey (I could've also used Manuka Honey, like the turmeric mask)
• [Whole Milk] or [Organic Yogurt + Freshly squeezed Lime juice] ... (don't use lime juice and milk together since lime will turn/spoil the milk)
• Since this can be kind of drying and pulling on the skin, I could have also added some almond oil

Here's a beautiful pic of me with the mask on:

All in all I loved this mask. I will try to keep it up.

MAC Playland Collection

1st Row: Toying Around, Happy Go Lucky, Red Balloon (MAC Amplified Creme Lipsticks)

2nd Row: Process Magenta, Black Black (MAC Chromographic Pencils)

Lip Swatches

This page is to maintain lip swatches of the tons of lip products I have

NARS Joyous Red Lipstick (fluorescent office lights)

NARS Joyous Red Lipstick in natural day light

bareMinerals pretty amazing lipcolor in Courage (fluorescent office lights)

Review: Aniika Jewelry

There's a web site called Aniika (http://www.aniika.com/shop/) and I bought a pair of earrings from them. They sell a lot of items but their jewelry sucks me in every time. I follow the store on Facebook as well (https://www.facebook.com/aniikadotcom).

They post some of the most stunning pictures of beautiful, heavy, Indian jewelry. And I was sucked in deep by one and finally decided to roll dice. The items in general are heavily over-priced and they charge a ton for shipping. But to try out just once, I ordered anyway.

I ordered a pair of extremely ornate earrings for US$31(prce)+$5(shipping). They arrived in a box like this:

So pretty, right? Then I opened the box to find each of the earrings individually wrapped in bubble wrap.

Gorgeous, right? I turned it to try on and look what happened:

I don't like super-gluing brand new earrings together when I have paid so heavily for them. Also the plastic bead that fell out was very cheap looking plastic and not some gorgeous glass bit I imagined it would be. The metal used in the earring for the post and post back closure is also cheap looking with poor finish. This is not the quality I expect when I pay $36 for a product. But let's look at it as a price paid for a lesson learned.

Thankfully the crystals are pretty and I did this video to catch the glimmer:

Coming Soon: Maybelline Eye Studio Quads

Can you tell that I'm in so much trouble if I fall in love with these? These aren't exactly cheap at US $8+taxes for each palette. And they have so many such palettes with so many gorgeous shades...Look out for swatches and review coming soon.

REVIEW: Garnier Clean Nourishing Cleansing Oil

I had mentioned in my DHC Cleansing Oil Review that I would like to try the new Garnier Cleansing Oil to see if it works comparably well so that I may spend a little less. Here are the results.

 While the product is called "Garnier Clean + Nourishing Cleansing Oil for Dry Skin", I do not believe the usage of this should be restricted to dry skin only. I personally have oily skin and have enjoyed using this oil for makeup removal a few times in the recent past. It is fairly thin in viscosity (not as thin as water but thinner than the DHC cleansing oil). I cannot point out the smell exactly but it is very  heavily fragranced. This might be a problem for skin types which get irritated by fragrance in products. It does a great job of dissolving my heavy sunscreen and foundation. I still stick to using a separate eye makeup remover but the 2 times I tried using just this, the eye makeup (mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner, the works...) came off easily. When I wash it with warm water, it does emulsify beautifully and gets rid of all the makeup. I do always follow-up with a face wash, though it is not needed.

It retails for US $7.99+taxes for 4.2 oz. (around $1.6/oz.) which makes it much cheaper than the $4.17/oz. of DHC cleansing oil. But when I use the Garnier one, I feel like I am using a lot more product in one use so I will probably end up using it faster. Does that make sense? Maybe the thin-ness of Garnier makes me think I need more to remove the same amount of makeup that DHC removes in lesser amount. I will use the Garnier cleansing oil every once in a while, but I recent stocked up on my DHC and will always keep the DHC one as my stable product of use.

SALE: DHC Cleansing Oil

Once a year DHC Cleansing Oil goes on sale. That time is NOW!!!
Instead of US$28 it is being sold for $23.50.
This is also my birth month, so I received a $10 off $30 purchase coupon from DHC (I <3 DHC).
So all in all I have hauled a few of these and stocked up for the year.
You can see here how much I LOVE these babies!

Garnier New Hair Products

Really Garnier? Won't you even bother changing the title? Oh well, I guess the word "Damage" isn't owned by L'oreal...so go ahead and use on...

(in all honesty I would love to see how these compare to the L'oreal ones)

Hair Color

Would you be interested in how I achieved this color on my dark black hair?

Coming Soon: Urban Decay Electric Palette

Excited yet? I know I am!

DHC Cleansing Oil Review

My staple over the past 6 years or more for removing hardcore makeup and sunblock is DHC Deep Cleansing Oil. No other makeup remover even comes close. I remove my eye makeup with an eye makeup remover (although you can also use DHC oil itself for removing eye makeup too, I just like to use a remove made only for eyes for removing tough eye makeup) like the one from Clean and Clear or Neutrogena. Then I follow up massaging my face with 2 pumps of the DHC cleansing oil. When you rinse with warm water, the oil emulsifies and turns milky white, and all the oiliness disappears. And though a face wash with a cleanser after this is optional, I always do wash with whatever facewash I am using at the time. This process is absolutely compulsory for me. The sunblocks I use are hardcore and cling on like 2nd skin. I want to ensure that everything is taken off my face at the end of the day and no other makeup remover has helped me like the DHC cleansing oil.

I have tried using different oils and they do work well but I love the emulsification I get when I wash the DHC oil. I think jojoba oil should work just as well, but again no emulsification and it breaks me out.

I highly recommend this liquid gold to everyone for makeup removal.
It retails for US $28 for 6.7 ounces. ($4.17/oz.)

An Aside: Although the price isn't too bad, over the years it can get expensive. I am eager to try the Garnier Cleansing Oil that has been recently introduced in the market, to see if I can save a few bucks.

INSTITUT ESTHEDERM E. V. E Serum Source

E. V. E stands for Essential Vital Elements. Check the product on it's website here.

This is a much touted miracle serum and it is French (we all know of the craze around French skincare, don't we?). Well I just HAD to try it.It retails in the USD $120 to USD $140 price range. Which makes this product hideously expensive. Among it's many claims, this product also regenerates skin. As a previous cystic acne sufferer, I have a lot of pores and scarring on my skin and I will try anything to help decrease that. I am using this once a day (at night after washing my face) as opposed to twice. I will report it's progress in a few weeks. It promises results in 3 weeks if used twice a day, but since I'm using it just once a day, I will check back in 6 weeks.

FINAL UPDATE: Gia Nasim's Red Hair Oil

This will be my final update on the Gia Nasim Red Hair Oil. I have been using it for almost 2 months now. At least weekly, if not more. It's a nice ritual and a good habit to have. Check out some of my earlier posts about this oil here and here.

Hair oiling has been around in Asian countries since forever. In India, traditionally coconut oil is used; but now there are hundreds (if not thousands) of varieties of hair oils available. Oiling ensures that your scalp is moisturized as well as stimulated to promote healthy hair growth (diet, etc. is important too).

I have seen positive effects from using Gia's red hair oil. My hair has grown an inch in the past 2 months, which is normal rate of hair growth but for my hair it is great considering how slowly it grows generally. However, I do not think it deserves to be priced at US $65. It was not a miracle oil but a good mix of oils nonetheless. I highly recommend other oils. Refer this post for that information. There are other treatments that I believe are also helping me such as the LUSH Roots treatment and L'oreal's damage erasing hair balm that I have written about earlier.

Banana Hair Mask

I tried this hair mask this weekend since my hair was feeling pretty dried out and straw-like.

1 Ripe Banana + 1 heaping tablespoon of Organic Coconut Oil + 1/4th cup Coconut Milk (I used the full-fat canned type) = Grind this all to a smooth paste and apply all over hair. It will be greasy as eff. Leave on for half an hour and then wash your hair. Moisturized, flowy, healthy hair, Voila!

I personally hate the smell of bananas but I  decided to tough it out and bear it. It was worth it of course. Highly recommended.