Get soft, silky and manageable hair with the Herbal Essences range

There is ONE shampoo range that I'm currently RAVING about.

Say HI to Herbal Essences!

This range of absolutely yummy-scented shampoos will leave you longing for more and more. The range consists of Hello Hydration, Totally Twisted, Color me Happy, Drama Clean, and Body Envy (there are some others, but these are the only ones I've seen so far lining the supermarket shelves here in South India).

To be honest, I've so far tried just Hello Hydration and Totally Twisted (beats me why I bought the second one, I have hair that's anything but curly lol) - but me luvs them!

I think to begin with, its the oh-my-GOD fragrance of these shampoos that have got me dying for them. Trust me they smell DIVINE!

Hello Hydration is for fine/medium hair, and claims to be made of a fusion of Hawaiian coconut and orchid, and essential moisturizers that give your locks that much needed drink of moisture. And whoa, the coconut smell just lifts you up and takes you away instantly on a tropical holiday. Sort of reminds me of a holiday in some beachy-land like Goa or Kerala or the Maldives. And yes, it is VERY hydrating. It gave me this super shine which was inexplicable to my friends when i first started using it lol.

The other one I tried from this range was the Totally Twisted shampoo which, as the name clearly implies, is for those who have curly locks. I have naturally wavy-to-straight hair, and hence actually wanted to buy the Tousle Me Softly Shampoo but couldn't find it :(. So settled for the Totally Twisted shampoo instead, which is for curls and waves. It claims to have a fusion of wild cherry twist and jewel orchid, that "makes curls and waves lush and defined". This one too smells oh-so-heavenly, I just love the scent on my hair. Though I didnt find it to "define" my waves as such, it's a pretty good shampoo overall, and it did leave my hair feeling moisturized. If you're a Curly-Locks, I suggest you definitely try this on out - it's got a 4.5/5 rating on the site. 

Get MORE info on http://www.herbalessences.com/en-US/hair-products#

Try this range - I guarantee you wont regret it. One of the best U.S. hair-care lines to come to India :)

Gorge-lock-ciously Yours,

Diva-licious!

Scrub, scrub, scrub away!

Scrubs are an important part of every girl's beauty routine. Whether it's in the form of a facewash, a moist scrub-pack, or even herbal homemade remedies, scrubs are the way to go to slough all that dead skin away. The key to revealing youthful, radiant skin!

In this post, I will be covering some of the best/worst scrubs that I have used - these can be found at any leading store or supermarket in India, or even online.

LOVE

Biotique Papaya Scrub:

This is a moist-facepack-like scrub, that comes with papaya fruit granules. Smells exotic, like papaya fruit (I dont really like the smell of papaya, but I'd give the scrub's fragrance a thumbs-up).
It has medium-sized powerful granules that really work to exfoliate and remove dead skin cell, as well as dirt and grime. Reveals a youthful glow with regular use and is good as a face exfoliator. I would say one of the best ready-made scrubs available in the Indian market.

I recently discovered that this scrub is one that is used in a very well known local beauty salon for facial clean-ups, and for good reason too. Since it's herbal it doesn't have rash side effects and can be used on almost all skin types.

Garnier blackhead uprooting scrub:

This is THE scrub to buy if you have blackheads! I found it very effective in removing mine. Not only that, it has hints of menthol/eucalyptus in it and gives your face a blast of freshness when you wash your face with it.
Like rubbing ice cubes all over your face, but better cos it has scrubbing granules :)

HATE

Banjaras Olive scrub gel:

I'm not a big fan of Banjaras products, but decided to give this one a try. Not a good decision, cos i spent like 300+ bucks on this product and I wasted it - literally. Used it just a couple of times and actually got breakouts :(. This product is a gooey, olive-green gel-like substance that claims to have olive oil and some granules that help in making it a scrub. I felt it did nothing for me except for making my face super-oily. Yuck!

Will be back later with a list of yummy, easy home-made scrubs!!!

Exfoliatingly-Yours
Diva-licious!

Faces Canada: Affordable Quality Make-up

Faces Canada is a cosmetics & skincare line that has recently entered the Indian market. With its affordable quality cosmetics, skincare and accesories from shimmery eye-shadows in pretty pinks to earthly nude colours, to nail enamel in beautiful deep shades, to face-exfoliation buffers and soothing gel eye-masks, this cosmetic line is surely one that has grabbed the limelight.

My first visit to the Faces counter at one of the malls here ended up with me buying an eye-pencil and 2 nail enamels. Love all 3 of them!

My earlier favourites for eye-pencils were the Bourjois Contour Clubbing eye-pencil and the Eyeliner pour les Yeux in Blackest Black by Prestige Cosmetics (Prestige Cosmetics is a German brand that is currently not available in India, according to my knowledge.) The Faces eye-pencil is super creamy, smooth and glides on like a dream. Doesn't sting; is especially good for using on the lower water line of the eye. The one I bought was in Solid Black and my, it is the deepest, most loveliest black that I have ever lined my eyes with! To die for.

The only thing I didn't like about this pencil was the fact that it tends to smudge if/when you wash your face (but doesn't smudge before that, however long in the day you wear it for - unlike the Himalaya Herbal Eyeliner which smudged within 2 hours, even with me sitting inside an a/c room).

Priced @ Rs 185/-. Available at all Faces counters and also online.

The nail enamel range has really pretty colours, ranging from cobalt blue to forest green to indian bridal red (nope, those aren't the names of the nail colours, its just my description of them). I decided to go in for one of the blue (kinda forgot the name, will get back to you on that) and a silver one called "Shanghai Shimmer" which isn't really silver but more like clear nail enamel with silver glitter particles. Put a double coat and it gives such a gorgeous silver shimmer! OHH-so-lovely. The blue one was also pretty good, goes really well with all my dark blue dresses :)

These were priced @ Rs 99/- for 7 ml. Also available in size of 12 ml for Rs. 199/-.

Love this cosmetic line! I'm considering trying out some of their mineral pressed powders as well. Will let you know how that goes!

Dying-to-try-more-ingly Yours
Diva-licious!

Himalaya Neem Foaming face wash

Foaming face-washes are the BEST of all the ones out there. Seriously!

I stumbled upon the first one I used by accident. It was the Vichy Purete Thermale (by Vichy Laboratories) which I got for free when I bought the Vichy Bi-white reveal night cream. Pretty good, but I didnt want to buy it again cos it was really, really expensive for a daily-use facewash.

It was at this point that I chanced upon the Himalaya Purifying Neem Foaming facewash (let's call it HPNF for short). This had been in the market for so long, but I was finally opening my eyes to it only now!

Amazing product. Effective, economical, and like all foaming facewashes, so easy to use :)

HPNF comes as a green liquid in a big cylindrical clear bottle, that has a pump to dispose the foam. It claims to be made of

• Azadirachta indica (Neem, Nimba)
• Curcuma longa (Turmeric, Haridra)
• Veiveria zizaniodes (Vetiver, Ushira)

that combine to form anti-bacterial, antiviral and germicidal properties, helping in purifying the skin. It also claims to control acne, pimples and their recurrences.

This is my favourite foaming facewash till date. You need just about two pumps to wash your face and neck, and it lathers so softly and smoothly onto your skin. Like a dream! It has such a light and airy texture which feels oh-so-great when applying. I love this product because it makes my face feel soft and clean, without stripping my face completely of oil. However it has a very tiny drying effect - which I actually like since I have combination skin which tends to get oily as the day goes by.


As for acne control, I'd give it a thumbs-up - even the occasional breakout that I used to have seems to be in hibernation after I started using HPNF.

Priced at Rs. 150/- for 150 ml of product (and trust me, that's a lot). Wow!

Use-for-money     :  5/5
Economical           :  4.5/5
Product Efficiency :  4.5/5
Overall rating         :  4.8/5 

Purifying-ly Yours
Diva-licious!

Summer war : Biotique Fruit Pack and Lotus Herbals Safe Sun DeTAN

When I think of summer, an alarm bell starts ringing immediately in my head. Time to bring out the anti-suntan facepacks!

Sure, you go out heavily protected with a suncreen of SPF 30+ (or if you're obsessive like me, then 50+), but still, at the end of the day your face looks super dull, tired and patchy from sun exposure.

Not to worry, disaster management is now readily available at your fingertips.

Meet the Biotique Fruit face pack and the Lotus Herbals DeTAN, your new best friends for the summer.

Biotique Fruit face pack

The Biotique Fruit face pack claims to be made of the juices of Lemon, Tomato, Pineapple and Papaya - all of which are fruits known to have bleaching and whitening properties. The face pack comes in a dark pink colour and has a smooth, paste-like texture; glides on pretty easily. The packaging is just like standard Biotique face-pack products - small green cylindrical tub filled with product, which has to be taken out with fingers/ brush/ spatula.

On application, a slight tingling feeling may arise. Nothing to fear, this will disappear in a few minutes - it's just the bleaching ingredients working.

This pack is best when used frequently, especially for those with longer durations of sun exposure. Yields results within a week or two.

Priced @ Rs 199/- for 85 gms. With daily application, it could last you upto a month or even more.

Use-for-money     : 4/5
Economical           : 3.5/5
Product Efficiency : 4/5
Overall rating         : 3.8/5

Available @ all leading beauty supply stores across India.

Lotus Herbals DeTAN

Lotus Herbals SAFE SUN DE-TAN After-Sun Face Pack claims to contain active herbal extracts of liquorice, dandelion and carrot, which helps to remove sun damage and bring back radiant glow to the skin.

This face pack too has a creamy paste-like consistency, and has a pale carroty-yellow colour. The packaging, too, is in-sync with the whole "Sun" theme - the product comes in an orange tube which can be squeezed to extract the face pack.

The DeTAN is a good product from the Lotus Herbals line, infact I would say one of their best-selling and fastest moving products. For a reason - it works well. You need to give it time though, regular application of around 2 to 3 weeks to see big results. Be patient and you will be rewarded!

Priced @ Rs. 185 for 100 gms. Available at all leading beauty supply stores across India.

Use-for-money     : 3.5/5
Economical           : 3.5/5
Product Efficiency : 3.5/5
Overall rating         : 3.5/5 

Anti-sun-tanningly Yours,
Diva-licious!

Lakme Perfect Radiance Compact

My first ever compact powder was a disaster.


Nope, not because the powder was bad, but thanks to my own foolishness. I was wandering aimlessly at the Dubai International Airport when I noticed a MAC counter standing magnificently in the middle of the duty-free area. My entire vacation had been spent on researching MAC products and I had absolutely fallen in love with their then new product, the Mineralize Skinfinish powder. I dont know what seized me at that moment, but I went up and asked the lady at the counter (who seemed to me to be of middle-eastern origin) which shade would suit me most. She seemed kind of lost at first and suggested I go for medium, and well I didnt want to end up looking like a clown so I asked her to give me the medium-dark version instead of medium-fair. I still blame the yellow lighting at the duty-free, but it sort of looked OK and I bought it.


Bad, bad mistake.

The medium-dark Mineralize Skinfinish is NOT for those with a light olive complexion. For those of you who have medium-toned skin and are on the lighter side, be warned - it would suit the role of a BRONZER far better.


Well enough about the MAC, cos the star of today's show is the Lakme Perfect Radiance Compact.

The best ever economic compact you'll get in the Indian market. Love love lovvveee it!!!


The product claims to be made of multi-minerals, with an SPF of 20+ with UVA/UVB protection. The minerals help in giving a translucent glow to the face and this compact comes in 5 different shades - Ivory Fair (01), Rose Fair (02), Golden Medium (03), Rose Medium (04), Beige Honey (05) and Rose Honey (06) - each designed specifically for the warm complexions of Indian women.


The packaging is light and fresh. If you are familiar with the earlier version of Lakme's compact powder, you would know that the packaging is not much fun, and it comes in a rather sober maroon casing (quite typical of Lakme). However, the Perfect Radiance line's packaging screams youthfulness all over. With it's pretty white and pink packaging (with 'Lakme' and a flower motif engraved on the compact in silver), its much, much more fun to behold than the original.


Like I said, the product is highly economical and comes at a nominal price of just Rs. 150/-.


As with any other compact powder, I would recommend trying it on using a large powder brush, as this will help in spreading the minerals across the face to give that polished look. The compact comes with a built-in mirror and a free applying sponge which can also be used, but sponges tend to give rather a cakey effect, so if you own a brush, use that instead. Or just buy a good one if you dont - it will be one of your best beauty investments EVER.


My shade is Rose Medium (04). The product lasts me upto 3 months, even with daily application. Not bad, if you ask me!


So here's my rating of this product:


Use-for-money        -  4/5
Economical              -  4/5
Product efficiency  -  3.75/5
Overall rating           -  3.91/5

This one is definitely a winner. Especially for those who want a flawless look without dishing out the big bucks! Very easy for beginners to use as well.
 Available @ all leading beauty supply stores. In Chennai, it's available at all Health & Glow outlets :)

 Translucently-yours  
Diva-licious!