Updated skin care regime

Bangalore summer was bad, and the so-called rainy season is kind of non-existent. It has been fluctuating between being super dry and moist.

Basically I have extreme combination skin; an oily T-zone, oily cheeks. While my forehead and lips-chin areas are super dry (to the point that they flake). When I went to Spain, I went to this Kiehl's store, where the lady checked my facial moisture content. It was some 25% when the optimum is 50 odd. However, in Bangalore, my skin gets pimples in some areas as the weather is sometimes humid. I don't know - trying to find one product to suit my skin type is almost next to impossible. Hence I started reading up about Asian skin care. They have this concept of layering the skin with products. They do not follow a simple 3 step cleanse-tone-moisturise routine. They have layers of products that they apply one after the other - and all these layers help your skin. I mean, it's got to work right ? Those guys have flawless skin...

So, I've been following a skin care routine for the last 6 months and I think it is working for me. I'll detail the products below, from where I got them and why I am using them.

AM routine

1. Face wash : Shiseido White lucent. The reason I started using this is because I got a sample of this from Sephora in a kutti box. That tiny bottle lasted me 2 weeks ! And I loved the feeling of my skin after I used it. It was not squeaky clean, but it felt as though all the dirt had been removed without stripping excess moisture. The full size costs 2.8k - but trust me. I got mine some time in December, and the tube is around 3/5ths empty as of today.

2. Toner : Clinique No.2. This toner is from the range that is for combination-oily skin. So far it has suited me well. I use it on cotton balls - which held wipe off any dead skin that might be flaking off.

3. Pre-Serum : Shiseido Ultime Serum. This is my go-to product. I have fallen in love with this after trying not he samples that I got from the sample set I blogged about previously; and I am hooked. The serum glides on my skin and I am on my second bottle in 6 months. The 50ml bottle costs 6.55k and lasts around 6 months. Yes, it is a pricey product but I like the effect it has had on my skin (or so I would like to believe). The product is said to improve your skin's immunity and make products you apply afterwards work better. You have to apply something afterwards so that the serum does not evaporate off your skin - thus rendering its effects useless.

4. Serum : I decided to not go with what I was considering as per my previous post, and instead got the Vit C serum from OST (now called C-source). I read multiple good reviews about it online and I decided that I might as well try it out. It cost me some 700 bucks including shipping from Korea from this website called roseroseshop.com. The website recommends using it at night and that's what I am going to start doing (this will fall under PM routine :)). Until now I have been using it in the morning after the above 3 steps, but the website recommends using it at night as it is more effective (guess while you are sleeping you won't move around and touch your face much - hence product will stay longer).
Now you are supposed to leave this product on your skin for 15 odd minutes before you apply the next step of skin care. So usually after applying this, I iron my clothes, apply moisturiser on my body etc. That takes around 15 min :). Now given that I am going to move this step to the night, not sure how to kill time...Hmmm

5. Face moisturiser : Clinique dramatically different moisturising gel. Now, I am not sure if this is moist enough for my skin - coz I start flaking on my forehead and around my nose and mouth after 5-6 hours. I double moisturise - I use the Loreal Hydrafresh deep boost serum as well. I mix this with my SPF. I somehow still feel as though my skin gets dry towards the end of the day - so I have asked a friend of mine to send me the Clinique Dramatically different moisturising lotion. Let's see how that goes.

6. Sun Block : I have a couple that I keep switching between. Lotus SPF 50 for combination skin; and Shiseido SPF 50 water proof sun block. I like both of them a lot. The Lotus one is not water proof, so I use it to work; while the Shiseido one I use when it is humid / rainy / am in the beach :)

PM Routine

1. Cleanser : Sephora oil base cleanser. I was on the lookout for a make up remover cleanser that gently ensures every single thing from my eye make up is removed easily. Rubbing too much on your eyes with cotton / cleanser is not good - the skin below is extremely fine and prone to wrinkles. This cleanser is super awesome and removes everything very easily.
 

2. Face wash : I either use my all-time favourite Lakme Strawberry face wash, or The Body Shop's Tea Tree face wash. The Lakme one has small granules that are extremely gentle on the skin. Granules are for exfoliation, but too much of it can cause you to break out. In all my years of using this product I have never broken out - which means it is a gentle product to use :)

The TBS product is also nice; it has a slightly tingly sensation when you use it, and my face always feels so clean and fresh after I am done.

3. Toner : Clinique No2.

4. Face cream : I apply the Kiehl's Ultra Facial cream at night - it is super hydrating and my skin feels very soft and moist post application. It is extremely thick - so use it only if you have dry skin and the season is dry. I got this in Spain - where it was identified that I have super dry skin and the weather was not helping.

Additional things I do when I am in the mood, or feel like pampering myself :) :-

Sometimes at night I apply a face mask from The Face Shop (which is available on Nykaa). Read good reviews about the products, so I was like - lemme try. The sheet masks are goooood :) Too much fun in applying onto your face and chilling for 15 min while it works its magic.

a snapshot of my skincare cupboard :)

Another thing that I apply is a Shiseido Ibuki Beauty Sleeping Mask. It has some granules which melt due to our body heat and it smells heavenly :) I apply either one of these maybe once a week - when I feel like pampering myself :)

Well, that's it guys. Hope you found something useful in this post. Let me know if you have found any miracle workers that you swear by (a girl can never have too many skin care products ;) ).

The Spain trip - what we did, where we stayed and how we commuted (1)

Things that we as a group got done before meeting in Spain :
1. Cancel hotel booking
2. Make real hostel bookings
3. Figure out car rentals and take a call on how we were going to get a car
4. Finalise itinerary

So, around a week before flying out to Spain (obviously I got my visa, else I would not have been writing this post :)), I cancelled my hotel booking. The girls coming from US had made arrangements for stay in Spain - as we were going to be driving across the country.

I booked a hostel for Nandhini and myself for the night of 26th in Barcelona. I purposely booked something close to Camp Nou (hee hee); and also because it was close to the train station (from where we were to catch our train to Seville the next morning).

Our flight from Bangalore was at 3AM, and we landed in Frankfurt around 11AM their time. We had a layover of around 5 hours.. On getting out of the plane, my jaw dropped. The size of the airport, the number of flights, the number of terminals and gates - womygawd ... You can imagine what I wanted to do apart from oggling at the planes - DUTY FREE SHOPPING !!! Oh. My. God. The Duty free stores at Frankfurt Terminal A are mind-blowing. The place is massive! You will find every single brand under the sun at that place. I strongly recommend people travelling to EU via Frankfurt HAVE to shop at duty free at Terminal A. I was like, I'll shop on the way back - but I had to go to Terminal C and the duty free shop there sucked (YES, note the singular).

During out 5.5 hr layover, NanGan decided to beautify herself

Life Pro Tip : Shop now itself as most probably while returning to India, you will go through terminal C (if you are flying Lufthansa).

We landed in BCN around 5PM in the evening and took a bus to the train station. This bus is free. It connects one terminal to the other. Bought tickets to BCN Sants (a 4 euro ticket) and from the station, our hostel was around a kilometre walk. Got to the place, unpacked, showered, locked our stuff in the cute lockers provided in the rooms and then headed out for a walk and for dinner.

I forgot to carry a converter pin plug point and needed to borrow from some random girl in the hostel room in order to be able to charge my phone. Early next morning we took a cab to the station (it ended up costing us 4 bucks only!) and got on the train. I had booked the train tickets in India itself from the Renfe website.

Outside Barcelona Sants Railway Station. It was wet and cold :)

Life Pro Tip : Make sure the hostel booking covers breakfast. Luckily the booking I made covered breakfast; and it is expected of you to wash the vessels you use :)

I was super psyched as I heard that the train reaches speeds of 330kmph and that there is a display that shows the speed we are going at !!! In my excitement, I tore the train ticket !! And I did not have a working internet connection to be able to download the ticket again :(
Praying feverishly, I hoped that the guard would not stop us while we needed to check-in to the train... The guard couldn't control his laughter on seeing the train ticket :D
And about the display - guess what - THERE WAS SUCH A DISPLAY ! WOOHOO :D

The 2 of us got to Seville where we were meeting the girl flying down from USA. And what do you know; we were unable to find a good internet connection in order to be able to reach out to them. Somehow we managed to get a feeble net connection from where we told them to come to the Seville train station. The plan was to meet and then figure out stay. The weather was absolutely wonderful - bright, sunny and had a cool breeze blowing.

Madhuri somehow had free international data roaming on her T-Mobile connection and that is what saved us during our entire trip. We figured out a decently rated hostel called The Oasis Hostel and managed to get beds for the 4 of us. Checked into the place and changed quickly. Come on, we were in Spain - needed to dress up and go paint the town red :)

But guess what, it started raining the minute we got into our room. We changed, put on our jackets (covered ourselves head to toe basically), did NOT wear sports shoes (as they would stink on getting and staying wet) and headed out. Walked a whole lot in the city (the hostel location is kinda in the heart - which is a great thing). Got totally drenched while searching for a place to eat, and we were cold and cranky by the end of the day. We went to some 5-6 places until we found one that was serving food that all of us felt like eating :)

Life Pro Tip : check weather.com or the Weather Channel (there is an app in the iPhone. And trust me, go by what it says. It is messed up in India's forecast, but is quite accurate for Europe).

After this, we got back to the hostel and headed to the terrace lounge where we again got something to eat and drink.

By this time, I realised that I needed to buy some pants and a sweater - the place was freezing and I had packed tiny clothes - given that the plan was to go along the cost of Spain and beach hop :|

The next morning, we sat in the hostel and checked the weather across the places we were to drive to and realised that it was raining EVERYWHERE. So we decided to stay back at Seville and check out the city in detail, and leave the next day instead; when the weather seemed to improve.

We had time to kill and spend in the city. So that night we decided that we wanted to go watch a Flamenco show. Boy, I am so glad we went :) Googled and went to the top rated recommended place, and man ... the guy dancer was SMOKIN' HOT ! and the way he danced... My God. The place was freezing and it was cold and wet outside; and inspite of that by the end of his performance, he was drenched in sweat !

We decided to ensure that we try different cuisines throughout our trip, so that night we ate at a Japanese restaurant.

we got 5 min respite from the rain

The next day we visited Alcazar and a famous cathedral in Seville calle Cathedral De Seville. Alcazar is where Game Of Thrones shooting for Dorne scenes is done. OMG OMG OMG !!! :) We were actually going to see Dorne. The cobble stoned streets were lined with orange trees and that's when I realised that Seville is known for its orange trees.

Life Pro Tip : Buy umbrellas, if like geniuses you do not listen to weather forecasts. 

LPT2 : Take as many pics as you can when the rain stops, albeit for 5 minutes.

LPT3 : Carry chappals with you so that you have something to wear apart from shoes

LPT4 : We had one charger among the 4 of us - Madhuri's. She was the only one with a converter pin which is what saved us. Carry a converter where ever you go. If not, carry a portable charger.

Will continue about the drive and what all we did (prior to heading back to BCN) in the next post :)

Como Estáis ! My tryst with the Schengen visa for Spain

3 friends and I are planning to go to Spain to celebrate one bum's bachelorette 😋 And given the fact that none of us in the group has really given another girl a bachelorette, this is like a combined one for all of us (even though the other 3 of us are married :D)

I needed to get my visa and everyone I spoke to told me that it is super easy to get a Schengen visa; you just need to go to the VFS centre on MG Road and drop your documents over there. So I Googled and found the website which told me what all I need to do in order to apply for a visa. What all documents I need, insurance I should have, the fact that I need to have flight tickets and hotel stay for my duration of stay etc. I got all my docs in order as per the website and then was trying to figure out how to book an appointment - even though EVERYONE told me it is not necessary - I can just walk into the place.

Being the particular person that I am (I mean, I need an appointment. I won't just walk into a place uninvited or unannounced). During my searching around for Spanish Schengen visa application (verbatim search on Google), I came across this page (Error 404 image). It used to say a month back "VFS Global no longer accepts applications for Spanish Schengen visa from Dec 2016. Please contact the embassy in your country".

I was a little perplexed at first and assumed I had hit the wrong page. So, I continued the process of making a check-list of all documents that I need and began printing them in office. I made this list from the Schengen visa page. However, at the back of my mind, the error message kept bothering me. So I did a little more Googling and when nothing worked, I finally decided to call the Spanish consulate in Bangalore.

The lady who answered politely told me that VFS no longer is the agency that processes the Schengen (ONLY for Spain), and that the consulate in Bangalore also doesn't accept the application. They had shifted the agency to BLS Global, and I would need to go to Mumbai to apply for the visa. This phone call was towards the end of Feb, and the lady on the phone told me that most likely a centre is opening in Chennai next month. Ok, I calmed myself down and told myself that I don't need to worry, Chennai is an overnight train away. Next moth opening is all cool and good stuff... I called the Chennai office and the guy who answered told me that they have no clue, they don't process visa applications for Bangalore residents, they don't care and that I should call Bombay.

That's it, gone, I am not going to Spain !!!! I completely gave up on trying to apply - what, an additional 8k to fly to Bombay and apply didn't seem worth it to me. At max I was slated to lose ~10k in cancelling the flight tickets.

All sad, I completely lost enthu in planning for the trip... On March 1st, I was out in Bangalore streets on work (I need to go to the market to understand the pulse and what products would sell for my category and all that jazz). While doing this I decided that I should stop worrying about a flight to Bombay and just book the damn thing. Fine it is an additional 8k - so what ? It's for a trip with college bestie :) I decided to check when was the earliest available slot. What do you know ! Chennai was there in the drop down :D I immediately called more the Chennai consulate - they were also surprised at first that Chennai centre has gone live (they were still awaiting official emails and all that jazz - LOL). This time the gentleman who answered was super helpful (Mr. Anthony). He gave me the contact number of a Karthik Balasubramanian who would be able to guide me further. After talking to him and confirming that the Chennai centre IS indeed open and is accepting applications, I did was book train tickets to and from Chennai for the 17th of March. I decided that when slots open up, they open up. I will book it then. Woohoo baby, Spain looked like it was back on :P

I booked an appointment for 17th (once the dates opened up on the website - this happened around a week before the date) for an 845AM slot. I figured it would give me enough time to freshen up after the train reached the station in the morning.

I went through the BLS site in detail and found out that there was a checklist that I needed to comply to, some letters that I needed to get printed and many more "money" related docs. The list of docs is below (a quick summary of over 3 days of research).

1. Cover letter stating purpose of visit along with details of documents enclosed

2. Company letter stating that you are an employee and that you have approved leave (2 letters)

3. Copies of every single page of your passports (please note the plural) - even if they are blank

4. Flight tickets (to and fro)

5. Confirmed hotel stay for the duration of the trip

6. Travel insurance for the Schengen region of minimum 30,000 euros - and it should extend for at least 15 days after your return (this is where I messed up. The first one I got ended when I was to return, and thus is not valid)

7. Income tax returns for the last 3 years

8. Company pay slips for the last 6 months - here I again messed up. When I started the process I got last 6 months slips and that was only until Jan. Hence when I went to the place, I was missing February and needed to get this emailed to me by someone who was in office. Luckily I had left behind my laptop at office :-|

9. Bank statements for the last 1 year - stamped and signed by a bank official

10. Check list - either of Mumbai or Delhi (Chennai has the same list as that of Mumbai)

11. Authorisation letter for BLS (Delhi and Mumbai)

12. Sworn declaration

13. 2 passport photos as per Schengen specifications. These photos have to be GLOSSY in finish. Mine were matte (the ones that GK Vale got done for me when I asked for Schengen visa photos)

14. Passports - duh :)

15. Visa application form

*16. Marriage certificate

*17. Name change certificate - the reason I took this along is because my passport has a different name from the name that is in my office records. I was super scared that there will be issues due to there being different names on the docs, and hence carried this along with me.

(Note to the reader : make sure you go through the site and ensure I have not missed anything)

I am a very, very careful person and thus I kept 2 copies of every single doc. I kept them in 2two separate envelopes and even marked one as "back up". Packed everything I needed and was on my way to Chennai on 16th evening. I was going to stay at my childhood friend's home - Vidya 😁😁 Her mom and my mom were friends while growing up, as were their moms ! The train was around an hour late and my brilliant-old-slow phone didn't get signal in the morning (3 AM onwards). Thus, I didn't know where the train had reached and I almost, just almost, missed getting down at the right station (Perambur). How did I know I needed to get down ? Well, the train was not moving and I asked one uncle who was passing by the station name. When he said it was Perambur, I literally jumped off the top berth, grabbed my bag and ran out of the train 😂

Uncle and Aunty were waiting at the station for me, and took me to their place. Uncle very kindly took me to the BLS centre and I carried the main envelope with the docs. I walked into the place for submission and started handing over the documents one by one - only to realise that I was carrying the back up envelope.

THE BACK UP ONE !!!

Oh. My. God. I started panicking - because the backup folder only had 6 months of bank statements... I clearly remember keeping the bank statements in the main folder within my bag (without checking the name of the envelope as I knew where I had kept  which envelope 😐).

I don't know man, somehow I got lucky I guess... The backup folder had 1 year bank statements; and thankfully had the original letters from Amazon. It did not have the covering letter, did not have the authorisation letter and was also missing the sworn declaration. Thankfully the guy was nice enough to print out these forms for me and I was able to fill it up then and there. But here is the real kicker, the photos I was to submit were not glossy in nature, and hence I needed to go out and get fresh ones taken. I had to leave the centre and go to some random shop near the Hilton hotel for this. I also had to get my payslip; and here's the icing on the cake. A print out at the centre costs 23 rupees (including tax) and I was, at that point of time, thinking "beggars cannot be choosers".

Finally after running around a bit and shelling out some unnecessary cash, I submitted my docs, got the slip, paid 5,788 rupees (visa fees of 4300, BLS handling fees of 1107 and cash for the courier of my passport back to me).

The entire episode ended at around 10:30AM (took me 1.75 hours, but ONLY because I was missing some docs and needed to step outside in the hot sun to get passport photos done). The BLS centre was not crowded, and I would have finished everything in 15-20 minutes had I had all my documents in order). 😕

Phew!!!

Came back to uncle and aunty's place (by this time I was feeling extremely bad that I had made uncle wait for so long with me and he walked about in the sun as well while I went to get a photo done again). 

I crashed as soon as we got back (because I was up from 3AM that day as the station was to come at that time). Woke up to some amazing yummy pulao and raita :) Post this, crashed again after which we all went to Marina beach.

Got back to Bangalore, and hopefully in 15 days time I get back my passport with the approved visa :)

Perfumes and a surprising realisation of my taste :D

It's an essential to every woman's (and hopefully all men's) wardrobe - not wardrobe exactly, but the thingamajigs you use before you walk out the door. Everyone has their preferences - some like it musky, some like the woody smell .. some even like floral fragrances :)

Essentially there are 4 basic notes to all perfumes

1. Floral

2. Woody

3. Fresh and

4. Musky

The names kind of are self explanatory. I don't have any preference per se, but I know or sure that the woody ones are not my choice. Almost all perfumes have a combination of these 4 types of scents, but there are layers : head note, middle note and base note. Base notes last the longest and you need to ensure you choose one that has a base note that you like. The base note kind of influences the lingering scent once you have applied the perfume.

Applying perfume on your skin is supposed to be the most effective way to get the smell to last longer; especially applying it at your pulse points. 'Coz when you get warm a bit (due to the sum / slight perspiration), your heart beats faster and the molecules dissipate, thus making the perfume's fragrance come out a bit more.

I remember the first expensive perfume I ever got. It is Dune by Christian Dior. The reason I love this fragrance is because of my mom :) She has this bottle in her cupboard and it has been her staple perfume for as long as I can remember. The shape of the bottle, the approval my dad gives when either one of us wears this perfume, the long lasting smell - all of them make me love this one. The base note is Vanilla. Now, I am not a fan of Vanilla smell - it can be extremely strong and many perfumes in my opinion have gone horribly wrong with it.. But Dune .. oh my God.. Dior has nailed it with this classic. I asked my friends to give this to me as a wedding gift instead of the usual jewellery 😁

The next one I own and love is Weekend by Burberry. I remember the first time I smelt this perfume - it was at Central in Bombay. I was still in college then and had gone shopping with my mom and one of her friends. The sales lady sprayed this on those paper thingies you get for smelling perfumes and among over a dozen perfumes we smelt, all 3 of us loved this one. But even during the sale it was freakishly expensive (over 2k). So I let it pass. When I started working, flipkart had a sale and this perfume was being sold by WS Retail (back then) and it was 1.2k for a 100ml bottle :D Of course I bought it :) The base notes in this one are woody.

My next favourite is the one my husband got for me as a wedding gift. Burberry Body ... It was a newly launched scent in 2013; and I wore it during our wedding, honeymoon .. Hell, now every time I use it I am reminded of Goa :D Base scent is again woody... I guess I tend to like base notes that are woody ... Hmmm 😀

Last but definitely not the least is Sunflower by Elizabeth Arden. It has a fruity top note, and a woody base note. Lol!!! I first got a whiff of it at my first job when the HR walked by. I actually stopped her and asked her the name of the perfume she was using - and ever since then I have been on the lookout. I finally got my hands on it at duty free at the Bangalore Intl Airport. I think they have discontinued this range !!!! But, next international trip, I plan on buying a bottle to make sure I have a back up just in case they actually do stop production. I hate it when companies stop stuff that you like- happened with the Lychee fragrance range from the Body Shop. Yes yes it is a limited edition - thank God I bought 3 bottles when it was on sale 😐

Another range that has been discontinued is the White Cherry Blossom from Bath and Body Works. My God - the smell ... absolute heaven. They've stopped it; so I bought it off on amazon.com and asked a friend to bring it ove. Unfortunately they didn't have the perfume, so I made do with a body wash and 2 bottles of lotion - hee hee😎

I'm sure more will be added - but I know for a fact that I will definitely repurchase all the above if and when I run out of my current stock !

Sephora Invite !

Yesterday I get a call from Sephora that's at Orion mall. I know some of the people there (given that I have gone so many times with multiple people). The Shiseido guy was on the line telling me that the next day they were having a Shiseido facial-sample-hand-out kind of event and if I was interested. Hell yeah ! I politely told him I was and that 11AM sounded good (first slot and I was the first customer to book an appointment). Woohoo!

Went to the place and I actually reached on time ... But then I was like, what if the program has been cancelled ? What if I am the only one there like an idiot; and there are no there registrations ? OMG, am I lame for wanting to go for such a thing ? Then I was like, chuck it; lemme go grab a coffee and kill some time so that I don't appear tooooo desperate 😐 While I was sipping my cappuccino, the store called asking if I was coming over as planned :) :) yay, it was not cancelled 😜... 

The first thing the lady did - her name is Sahiba - (she was the Shiseido person who had come over), was talk to me about my skin care routine and if I had any skin concerns. After figuring out my main concerns, she put a sort of bib on me, and covered my hair :D

I found it super funny but it was effective. Here is a picture of what I looked like.

The chap who is usually at the store (the Shiseido sales person by the name of Salman - he is the guy who called me for this event) was also there - and let me tell you... He is very good. He understands the products and knows what will suit your skin - unlike the people at the Phoenix outlet who gave me a face wash (the Ibuki Purifying Cleanser) that was not meant for my skin and kind of broke me out as it was too strong (I basically over-exfoliated my skin). He was like you should have used the White Lucent Brightening Cleansing Foam I gave you a sample off, and also told me not to worry because I can use the exfoliating face wash once or twice a week as a scrub.

Sahiba (the Shiseido rep) first started with a simple cleanser which she softly massaged onto my face and then wiped off with cotton. After this she used a softner - both of these were from the White Lucent range. Then she massaged this amazing Ibuki sleep mask onto my skin - which was extremely soothing and smelt like oranges!! She explained that this is because the product contains vitamin C and vitamin E. Also, this product is supposed to help make skin look refreshed and give it that pick-me-up sort of effect. It can be used once a week like a mask which you wear over night. She left this on my face for around 10 minutes, and then gently wiped it off with cotton - you don't need to do this while leaving it on over night. The small granules in it just melt at human body temperature and the product just glides on to your face. I could immediately make out the difference in my skin after this. She then applied the White Lucent moisturising lotion on my face -to be specific she used the All Day Brightener SPF 36 (the link is for SPF 18, but she gave me a sample of 36). 

I then took a look at my face in the mirror and saw that my skin texture was pretty clean and smooth. After this she applied the Water resistant sun block - which did not leave a white cast. She used such a tiny amount and that itself spread very well. She also explained that if your face/body gets wet when this has been applied, the sub blocking abilities improve😎 So here is what I looked like after getting these beauty services done 😊 (sorry for the weird face :P)

After this she told me that the foundations are on sale, and I was like why not😈 She got a yellow, a pink and a neutral toned foundation for me to try. The product range that she was applying on my skin was the Synchro Skin lasting Liquid foundation - she said this would suit my combination skin the best (and it also has SPF 20). After a lot of patch testing we both agreed that the neutral shade number 4 (N4 - Neutral 4 to be precise) suited me the best. Im an NC35 from M.A.C in the pressed powder compacts. It matched perfectly when I did a swatch along my cheek and neck. However, I decided not to buy this product however because it was a whopping 3.6k. I was like, let me finish my Make Up For Ever HD foundation first before splurging on another high-end foundation.

I then told her that I wanted to check out a few lipsticks and that I wanted something in a neutral/nude shade. She applied the shade "RD 732" from their Perfect Rouge range. Apparently this shade is called Blush (I found out while writing this post 😊). It is a very light pinkish brown and it can be built up very easily on application.

I decided to pick up this colour and then proceeded to bill my purchases. Now, at Sephora you get points for your bill - kind of like every store currently gives. I got upgraded to a Black membership status a while back and now get 3 points for every 100 spent. Once you hit 250 points, you get 10% off on your next purchase. I was at 200 odd; so I told the lady to only bill the lipstick (that was already at 10% discount and was coming to around 1.6k) in one bill, I will hit 250 and then I can use the 10% discount on the face wash and sleep mask. Smart right ? Well, the servers decided to fail on me and they were not able to process the 10% discount right then and there (coz of some time lag in updating of the points). I ended up paying the full price for the products 😖

Salman (the Shiseido chap I have been telling you guys about), said he would make up for this, and what do you know !! I got a Dolce & Gabbana travel pouch 😁😁

Apart from this he and she (Sahiba) also loaded me with samples (white lucent lotion, softener, face cream with SPF, sun block, white lucent face wash travel size, and a Burberry Body perfume travel size bottle!!) and a Shiseido pouch to carry all my products 😍😍

All in all, a wonderful 2 hours spent at the store and being pampered... I spent around 5k, but I think the free stuff they gave me (especially the D&G bag), made up for this hole I burnt in my pocket 😄

edit : in the face pics you can see that pimple on the left top of my forehead right ? Well, it is not there this morning !! That sleep mask has worked wonders on my face - I swear !

My bag on my way home :)

A collage from this app called Layout!

Contouring

This is going to be a kutti post ... :)

Basically, contouring is a make up methodology by which you make your face look thinner and more angled and chiseled. It's a good technique to use when you want to have that defined jaw-line look :)

No contouring. Simple chubby face

I found out about contouring from the youtube channels I watch where all of them perform this step.

Contouring comes after you prime and apply foundation. Some people do contouring before the eyes, some do it after, I do it whenever I remember :P

Steps for contouring are simple. What's your end objective ? Make your face look more angular. Hence, in order to achieve this what do you need to do ? Apply the contouring stuff in

1. Jawline

2. Cheek hollows (just blow where you apply blush)

3. Sides of your nose

4. Temple portion (if you want) - I usually don't do this step

Here you can see on the left the way I have applied the product on the first 3 points from above. The product that I have used on my face is the Clinique Contouring Chubby Stick.

Applied in jawline, nose and cheek

Do note, I have not applied anything on my face under the contour; this means no prep, no prime, no foundation, nothing. The effects of the contouring will be much better after prepping your face.

The blog is a little haphazard because I'm still trying to figure out how to align all these pictures the middle of all the text - it is extremely frustrating !
Basically the 2 pics on the sides of this para are post blending the product which  had applied. You can see that a slight shadow has been created in the cheek hollows, and nose - thus giving me a slightly thinner face look :)
Coming to products that I have and like :)

1. Clinique contour chubby stick. This Clinique product is non-comedogenic, does not have any fragrance and glides on like a dream. Extremely smooth and non tugging on your skin. Some people have an issue with it being a little orange-y, but I think for Indian skin tones that should not be an issue (unless you are really really fair). It is a stick applicator and needs to be blended well. You have to make sure there are no hard lines after blending - else it will look cakey and fake. I use my Real Techniques beauty blender and it works like a charm :)

2. Benefit Hoola bronzer: This is from the company Benefit. It is available at Sephora in 2 sizes, I have the smaller one (which  bought in Singapore for 26 SGD) and should cost around 1800 odd - if you buy this from India. I bought the smaller size as it's travel friendly. I have not really found it available anywhere online (at a reasonable price whilst being from an authentic seller), so if you're looking to buy it, you will need to go to Sephora (which is there in Bombay, Bangalore, Delhi, and now also in Chennai !). Benefit comes with a flat-rectangular brush that makes it easy to apply along your jawline and nose. Also the shape of this brush helps ensure that the lines are not too sharp and artificial looking. The advantage of this product is that it goes well with any skin tone as it is a very natural looking shade. The lady at the store told me that it has grey undertones which are complementary or all skin tones and just add a bit of shadow to your skin (which is what contouring is supposed to achieve).

Below are snaps of how they swatch.

Benefit

Clinique

Comparison of the 2. Left : Clinique, Right : Benefit

You can see that the Clinique one is slightly orange in colour when compared to the Hoola one, but it does not show up this way when you apply on your face and blend well. Also, usually since I wear a slight blush above this, it looks natural and not weird :) I kind-of prefer the Benefit one over the Clinique due to the more natural shade, but I also like the Clinique due to its ease of application.