SK-II via Luxola

If you ask me, I think I am past beyond the age (read past 25 and on the bad side of twenties) where I should stop taking my skin for granted and take my skin-health seriously.

With all the amount of stress, fatigue, pollution, dietary irregularities and constantly disturbed sleep cycle, we have too many factors to take a toll of our skin, making our skin prone to break-outs, pre-mature ageing, dullness and much more.

I have been looking around for products I can trust my (fussy) skin with. Besides that, I wanted products that are easily available and I don’t have to bother about re-stocking else there’s no point of starting a regime I can’t stick to. With Hyderabad, that’s one of the issues, scarcity of beauty/skin care brands as compared to cities like Delhi/ Bombay so even most of the products I used to use earlier till I was in Delhi, I had to give up on those as well.. phew !

Now, about SK-II, I have always had friends, not residing in India, raving about the magic it does to skin and honestly till now, I had been tempted to ask them get it for me while they would be traveling to India or picking it myself from duty-free at the airport, but the same reason that I stated above, not wanting to start something I can’t keep up with would always stop me.

Enter Luxola !!

Yes, Luxola, an e-commerce platform offering a vast range of beauty/skincare products (including SK-II) all across South-east Asia, UAE and more and now they ship to India as well !!!

So when I received this SK-II Pitera Essence Set from Luxola to review I was more than happy to try it. The products in the set are made to make your skin clearer, radiant, firmer, reduce the signs of ageing, improve the texture and rejuvenate; it’s been around a week now that I have been using the products sincerely.

The SK-II Limited Edition Pitera Essence Set includes:

SK-II Facial Treatment Clear Lotion:

The clear lotion is supposed to, as the name suggests, clear the skin.The box comes with usage instructions at its back so you’re not really rendered clueless about how to use the products.

I have been using the lotion once daily, at evening after I come back from work, I use it over my face as instructed on the box just after the cleansing and toning, basically, this is now the ‘M’ of ‘CTM’ for me. (CTM: Cleansing, Toning, Moisturizing)

SK-II Facial Treatment Essence:

The Facial Treatment Essence basically works on balancing the dry and oily aspects of the skin, the vitamins, amino acids and minerals maintain the skin’s natural renewal cycle and keep the skin nourished and well-hydrated. I have been using this twice a day. In morning I dab it on as instructed, just after washing my face, once it gets absorbed, I use my BB cream/ dreamtone over it and am off to work.

While at night, I use it after cleansing, toning my face and when it gets absorbed, I apply my night serum over and go off to sleep.

Basically, both these products are to be included in the CTM regime you’re already following or however you’re comfortable with it.

SK-II Facial Treatment Mask:

The Treatment Mask is more like a once/twice a month or getting-prepped-up-for-special-occasion thing. It instantly rejuvenates, revives and relaxes your skin. The skin looks more radiant and nourished just after you’ve used it (all the brides-to-be, please take note).

Verdict:

• I am waking up to more soft, smooth and supple skin.
• My skin feels more nourished and hydrated, looks really fresh.
• It may look too soon to say but the blemishes have just started to fade.
• My skin hasn’t reacted in any negative way (read any break-outs) but I have had friends who tell me that initially you may break out as it clears up your skin from the inside, so all toxins may come up on the surface for a few days as pimples/break-outs but that’s only for few days followed by a much much clearer and healthy skin.
• I can see that glow, probably you guys too in the selfies I have been sharing on my Instagram for last few days.
• DEFINITELY STICKING TO THIS !

One of my recent picture (from this weekend actually):

Now there’s a special treat for all my readers, you get to have an exclusive discount of 30% on all your first time orders from Luxola.com, the discount code is BLX-RUHAIL.*

I think with the wedding season and festivities on, this is just the right time to pamper your skin. The delivery of products from the site is quick and hassle-free.

(*The offer is valid till 24th December but doesn’t include non-discountable brands:Dercos by Vichy, Dr. Wu Clinical Skincare, Real Techniques, SkinCeuticals, Sigma BesutyVichy, ZOEVA, Origins, Sacha Juan)

Am going to continue with this for a month or so and again get back to you guys with my complete skincare regime, especially for the super-oily skin I have, am sure there are a lot of troubled souls like me to whom it may help !

Do share your experience/ views/ queries via email or just drop a comment here !

Much Love.

The One by Oriflame

Most of us are well aware of the popular Swedish makeup brand Oriflame and they recently launched a new cosmetics range “The One”. I got the opportunity to try some of the products from the collection and will be sharing my views about each product with a picture of the product itself and me wearing the same 🙂

The ONE Illuskin Foundation:

I have been using this foundation for a few days now and I find this apt for daily usage such as to work or even a day outing. I wouldn’t say it can be used for an evening or a night out as you’d be looking for something that gives more coverage but it’s surely worth your everyday wear. The Illuskin foundation is light, gets easily absorbed and doesn’t leave any kind of sticky sensation especially with a super oily skin like mine, am guessing it’s water base. The bottle comes with a dispensing pump making it easy to use and you can even lock the pump, so no leakages in your travel bags whatsoever happens !

THE ONE Illuskin Concealer

The concealer just like the foundation is very light in its feel and covers up good enough. It works well to cover up the blemishes and to even out any pigmentation issue that you may have but I am not too sure about using it on my bad skin days (well I have a funny skin..so yeah), so again just like the foundation it’s good for everyday wear but am not sure about occasions when I’d want something with full coverage.

Here’s how the foundation and concealer make my face look like 🙂

THE ONE Eyeliner Stylo

This definitely is my favorite item of all. I chose the blue color. What I like about it the most is how easy this is to use, specially if you want to get the winged look. It’s basically a sketch pen for the eyes, so you can draw whatever shape you want with it around your eyes ! Plus it stays longer and is totally smudge-proof. However, am not too sure about the red colored after-mark that is left behind after you wash it off with water and your regular facewash, for that I’d recommend to remove it with a cream based makeup remover. But yes, definitely my favorite from the range !

THE ONE Volume Blast Mascara 

The mascara is really nice, doesn’t clump, easy to use and does make the lash look thicker. I have been wearing this to work lately and am pretty happy with it !

Here’s how the liner mascara duo look like on me:

So I’d say that the THE ONE range fares really well for your everyday use purpose, quality is good, priced well and stays fine over the face for a good amount of time. People who’re blessed with a flawless skin or with no major issues can use the foundation and concealer even for a glam night. The eyeliner and mascara are just perfect for all occasions. Definitely a thumbs up from me !

The complete look:

                                                                    Earrings c/o Ae-Tee Designs

                                       

For more details about The One range including the foundation/concealer shades, eyeliner colours, you can check the online catalog here.

Have a great weekend you guys !

Much Love.

‘Caribbean Ginger’ by Kronokare

Couple of weeks back I received this cute hamper by Kronokare with some of the bath products from the ‘Caribbean Ginger’ range, the products included Shampoo, Conditioner, Shower Gel, Body Lotion and a Soap. 

 

The Caribbean Ginger range is all about detoxifaction and purification of the skin with ginger extracts and an exotic feel to it. Did I mention it feels like a dream, specially the soap bar ?!

Besides the lovely packaging with dainty illustrations and a satin ribbon, the cool logos such as ‘Detox on the Rocks’ and other on various item catches your eye at instant. Even the instructions are pretty much fun to read at the back.

Not just the products are eco-friendly (paraben and SLS free) but also pocket friendly.

Personally, I found the products very refreshing and prefer using them after a work-out session or coming back from a tough day at work. It does work in its own way to lighten you up in the shower and eases you up, like a mini stress buster making it perfect for a relaxing bath.

 

The shower gel is refreshing with mild gingery fragrance, I like the soap bar better (considering am not much of a soap person) as I prefer bath products with stronger fragrance. The body lotion in nice and sort of soothes the skin.

(P.S. I can often be caught carrying this little body lotion bottle in my handbag)

The shampoo and conditioner didn’t really work much on me as I have a super oily scalp & usually ginger products work best on normal to dry scalp. Since the bottles were pretty small I was carrying these with me to my Ujjain trip (I am bit fussy about using hotel toiletries) so even husband ended up using the shampoo & conditioner and pretty much liked it.

Like the Caribbean Ginger range, there are other more sixteen range of bath products available to cater all kinds of needs and preferences and I think products are worth trying and I would surely recommend these. I’d easily give them a seven or an eight out of ten.

The products are easily available on the site (kronokare.com) and at Lola’s (Hauz Khas Village, Delhi).

You can also reach them at:

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 Much Love.

 

Fancy Basics

The month of October seems all packed with festivities, Dussehra, Durga Ashthami, Diwali, Karvachauth, Bhai Dooj and more. That and the whole wedding season till February/ March.

Most of you must have already started looking for traditional outfits as most boutiques get booked way in advance, the good stuff gets sold out and there are plethora of options to explore which needs time, hence planning well in advance is always the right thing to do. With the upcoming festivities I too have been looking for possible options for myself for various occasions.

Now Suits, Sarees, Lehngas they are all the regular options that we always have, and the work gets richer and outfit heavier depending on the occasion we have to wear it too.

I love being all decked up, all that bling and jazz for rituals and festivals I am part of back home (read Delhi, with my family), but there are few traditional/social do’s I have to be a part of here in Hyderabad. These are the kind of occasions which demand ethnic outfits but not the kinds we wear at family do’s, something lighter and easy-breezy, minus all the sequins and bling. I personally prefer minimalism at such occasions and look for simple outfits with not much work on the fabric so I can play around with some statement accessories.

I recently got this ‘Corset Kurti-Phulkari Pants‘ combo from VesaOnline for one of such do. It’s a ready-made outfit that I got as a combo, though the pieces are available separately as well for sale. It’s perfect blend of ethnic and modern elements, the Kurti has crochet details on a black sheer silhouette while the pants have ‘Phulkari’ work. This is how I wore it:

 

As I mentioned earlier, I prefer simpler outfits in terms of work to team them with some statement accessory pieces, I added some statement pieces here to bring out the outfit. The tassel earrings are from Aetee Designs and the pretty statement neck-piece & the edgy yet chic bracelet is from Youshine.in.

I purposely kept less jewelry on my hands as didn’t want to clutter the look with too many accessories.

As far as the utility of this outfit is concerned, besides just being worn together, the kurti and the pants can be worn separately as well with other items:

Kurti: The kurti can be teamed with ethnic (maxi) skirts, palazzos, pencil pants such as of brocade etc.

Pants: Basic kurtis, white button-down (long) shirts, crop tops, boxy tops and more.

(Outfit Details- Outfit: VesaOnline, Earrings: AeteeDesigns, Bracelet & Neckpiece: Youshine, Heels: Zara, Clutch: BCBG)

 Much Love.

Feminine Masculine

Do you know about Androgynous trend? I bet you do, it’s been all over for quite some time; and for those who don’t, let me tell you a bit about it.

Androgyny is a combination feminine and masculine traits while androgynous fashion is all about balancing the feminine and masculine elements for clothing.

Adding masculine hints to personal style isn’t something new today for women and is pretty popular all around the globe, look at Alexa Chung, being the poster girl for androgynous dressing. I also love how Mira Duma embraces androgynous style on/off and needless to say, impeccably.

Some see it as a way of dressing (read being tomboyish) and just a personal choice for style, while some rather connote it to power dressing, liberation of women, being equal to men and so dressing up like them. Whatever the reason be as to why women adopt this particular style, it is definitely becoming more popular with each passing year.

I personally see it as comfort-friendly style and like to give my dresses a break for pleated pants once in a while or even switch my heels with ankle boots/ brogues for a relaxed outing.

Pleated pants and boyfriend blazers are my favourite androgynous pieces. I remember buying my first pair of androgynous pants some 4 years back and have been loving this trend since then.

Now for this post, I have created an androgynous look with a white boxy crop top and black pleated pants. I kept the look monochrome only to emphasize on the androgynous aspect but have also added some colours with my accessories and heels to balance the look with feminine elements. I purposely wore aviators as they are unisex.

What to wear for androgynous style without going overboard with it:

1) Oxford shoes/ Brogues: Wear these with with your skinny jeans, dresses, skirts, shorts.

2) A Boyfriend Blazer is a perfect way of earning some androgynous style points.

3) Boyfriend Denims: Style these with crop tops, tanks, shirts anything. You can wear brogues, heels, sneakers anything, whatever works for your personal style.

4) Oxford Shirts: Team them with midi skirts, cute shorts or fitted pants.

5) Feel free to add bow-ties to your outfit, don’t shy away from wearing pant-suits (with heels preferably) or shorts-suit (with brogues maybe), even culottes work.

6) Pleated Pants: Wear these with crop tops, camisoles, tanks and some nice heels.

Basic dos and don’ts:

1) Keep it minimal, don’t clutter the look, and keep it simple, sleek and neat.

2) Don’t be shabby, there’s a thin line b/w doing the ‘little over-sized boyfriend look’ and the ‘bit too over-sized and shabby look’, don’t cross it.

3) Don’t over-accessorize it, that’ll just kill the look.

4) Keep the make-up simple, either a nice lip colour or a hint of smokey eyes/ just kohl, refrain from doing all of it. Too much make-up isn’t androgynous exactly.

5) The idea is to balance the masculine and feminine elements, don’t let one take-over the other but complement each other.

Androgynous look has its own charm, do try it if you haven’t already, it’s easier to carry than you may think it is. Hope this post helps but in case of any further queries, feel free to drop a comment or mail me.

(Outfit Details: Top from Koovs, Pants and Heels from Zara, Sunglasses from Urban Turban, Party Clutch from Accessorize, Rainbow Neckpiece from Vesaonline, Bangles from Globus)

 Much Love.

Ombre Hair

I have had long hair for a while, long enough to reach my tail bone/lower back as I hadn’t cut them for good 6-7 years. What kept me going was how I loved my long tresses and the compliments I would keep getting from everyone around, quite a subject of envy too for many, haha !

But due to frequent place change (Pilani-Delhi-Shimla-Hyderabad all within a year) my hair were not really having their best days. My stylist in Delhi too suggested me to cut my hair for the sake of my roots’ health. Since my hair had been quite long for years and the frequent water change, my roots were bearing the brunt so chopping some length off seemed inevitable.

Few pictures of mine from my Instagram of how my hair looked like just before I decided to finally chop them into half:

 (Outfit Details: Floral Dress from Forever 21, Polka-dots Dress & Leather Jacket from Zara, Pink Vest & Peplum Skirt by Koovs)

Besides that, I had been crushing on almost everyone with ‘Ombre Hair’ and had been planning for months to get it done but was reluctant as I had never got my hair coloured before.

So before I get started with telling you on how my ‘hair makeover’ finally happened, let me tell you a bit about this hottest hair trend of the season.

Ombre is a hair trend with darker/ natural hues at the roots and gradually-dyed lightening at the ends. Ombre hair has been seen on almost all the celebrities, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Emma Stone and even Jared Leto, these celebrities have sported the Ombre this year, only emphasizing that this dip-dyed hair trend is here to stay for a while.

As most of you know that I go for regular hair spas every month, on the first week of May I decided to try ‘Envi’ Salon (Inorbit Mall, Hyderabad branch) for my hair spa. I usually go to Nirva Spa (in Gachibowli) as it’s closer to my place but thought of giving Envi a try after hearing some good words about it from my friends in the city.

So I am sitting at Envi and this stylist comes and suggests me to get a hair cut along, I looked at my husband (who was accompanying me that day to get a haircut himself) and he nodded in agreement.

After getting a head-wash I told the stylist to just cut my hair into half and give me some layers and while I was getting my hair cut, I had this epiphany that if I am already sort of giving my hair a makeover then why not give it a drastic one !

I asked my stylist if he can give me an Ombre, he was more than thrilled about the idea (and my husband was equally supportive).

The most important and not-so-easy task was to select the perfect colour for me  and we finally settled for a honey-caramel hue, L’oreal Majilift no. 13.

Here are the products used for colouring my hair.

I can’t really talk much about the technique much but it’s definitely different than regular colouring/ streaking/ highlights and needs to be done only by a trained professional.

I also got few highlights on the right side of my side-partition.

After the completion of the hair colouring process/ Ombre, the stylist suggested me to go for a special ‘Protein Treatment’ instead of a regular hair-spa. This protein treatment is suggested to be taken two times after getting the hair coloured, in an interval of 30-45 days to maintain the hair texture, avoid split ends and make the colour stay longer. The products used for it were:

The whole process of washing, hair cut, colouring and protein treatment took some 3 hours and around 9000 INR.

And that’s my stylist:

This is how my hair looked like just after the process (clicked from phone camera):

The products (shampoo, conditioner and hair mask) suggested to me to use:

I am currently using all these products to maintain my hair and it’s been around 3 months already since I got the Ombre, my hair still look great to me. Since the colour doesn’t touches your roots, there are no chances of hair fall.

The colour hasn’t faded and my hair texture is still the same as it was before I got the colour. Further, to avoid any split-ends am using ‘TIGI Bed Head After Party hair serum‘. I use the serum after each head-wash and apply it generously on the coloured part of my hair, specially the tips.

I could have posted my experience earlier but wanted to be sure if am happy with my decision or not, if the products used while colouring and the ones am using to maintain it, worked well or not. Three months since I got Ombre-d, I can confidently recommend this to my readers. I am very happy with my hair right now and glad I tried this 🙂

Few things to keep in mind before you decide to go for Ombre Hair:

1) Be confident about the salon you want to get it done from.

2) Trust only a trained professional as the technique is bit different than regular colouring (as I was told).

3) Pick a colour that suits your skin tone and the kind of wardrobe you have. I mean if you wear mostly Indian, am not sure how a blonde shade would look like on a Salwar-Kameez unless you can really carry it.

4) Again, don’t go for anything too shocking unless you can carry it. You can always go for safe choices, such as colours only 2-3 shades lighter than your natural hair, whatever that suits you. You can also test the colour by applying it on a streak of hair and then go for it if you’re convinced with the shade.

5) Use quality products, trusted brands.

6) Do get the products your stylist suggests to use after getting your hair coloured to maintain your hair quality and the colour.

If you still have any further querries/ views, please do post a comment here or drop me a mail.

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 Much Love.