Solution to my Skin Issue (Talkathon)

Ok guys, sit back with a cuppa coffee since this is gonna be a long one. I'm in one of those moods today :) I'm gonna call 'em The Talkathon series.

So, to start with, I'd like to first brief you on my skin type. I have extremely sensitive skin. It's super dry in winters and super oily in Summers. I donot have any major acne/pimple scaring on my face. I get the usual pimples now and then especially during my periods. But I get rashes on my cheeks and forehead. These rashes aren't acne or whiteheads. They're like small bumps sometimes red when majorly irritated. Can be itchy.

Now until a few months I just could not figure out the reason for these rashes. I never used too many products before (I only used clean & clear face wash and moisturiser for the longest time ) so I didn’t know what was causing the allergy. 

After quite many hit and trials here's my verdict. Pollution, Dry skin, Ph  level.

My skin gets worse when I’m out, more susceptible to pollution and dirt. I ofcourse wash my face with a cleanser once home. Then apply some moisturiser. In winters. During summers, previously I would usually skip the moisturiser since my face would get oily and I believed that the rashes were ‘coz of that.

BUT, I realised washing my face with a facewash cleared the dirt off my face but it also stripped off all the moisture and natural oils. And hence my skin produced more oil in order to counteract the dryness and all the stripping. So once I started using moisturiser regularly, it helped my rashes. A lot. But it didn’t completely go. So, I started wondering what I was doing wrong again. After some personal research (read- googling), I realised my facewash was not only stripping away my natural oils but also increasing the Alkaline level of my skin.

OK, for those of you are a little confused. Our skin has the potential to go Alkaline or Acidic. On a scale of 1-14, 1 being the most acidic and 14 the most alkaline, Our skin needs to have a PH level (Potential Of Hydrogen) of 5.5 to be normal. It needs to be slightly more acidic to fight the bacteria which causes acne, rashes, allergies...blah blah all the bad things ie.

Hence the need to avoid SLS, since they have an alkaline Ph level of almost 10!!

So that’s when I started using Toners and checking the ingredients of the products I was using closely.

They don’t say the CTM routine for nothing. Using a Toner is REALLY important. And that’s what made all the difference to my skin.

 Basically, using mild cleansers, toner, and moisturisers which balances the Ph level should suit and work best for the skin.

You could use toners from The Body Shop; Aloe Toner (great for sensitive skin), Thermal Water or Rose water.
Check out my Skincare routine to know what works best for me in combination.

The most important thing - Be consistent.

The CTM routine needs to be followed everyday twice. Once you wake up in the morning and second when you're done for the day.

This will definitely help, just have a little patience.

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What kind of Skin issues are you facing with?? Talk to me. Maybe I can help :) 

2015 FAVOURITES { SKINCARE }

Skintype - Extremely Sensitive. Prone to rashes and allergies. Very oily during summers and very dry during winters. Here's the detailed version. Also check it to know how I cleared my skin.

I'm hoping similar skin types can get some help/reference from my favorites. These are what have really worked for me.

So...Here are a few of my favorite things! 

2015 FAVOURITES - SKINCARE

1)      Neutrogena deep clean Facial Cleaser – HG!! Does not strip my face off moisture. Cleanses it thoroughly. Best of all it suits my ultra sensitive skin. Controls my break outs.

  2)     TBS Tea tree face wash-  Summers in Kolkata are horrid. This was a saviour. It feels so fresh and tingly. Cleanses beautifully and does not irritate my skin! 

3)      TBS Aloe toner – Game changer. I never realised the importance of toner until this came into my  life. This solely soothed my hyper sensitive skin and rashes. Gem!

4)      TBS Aloe soothing Gel –Again, in combination with the Aloe toner...Amazing. If you have hyper sensitive and irritated skin, you need to try this combo!

5)      Neutrogena Oil free moisturiser (Sensitive Skin) – Basic moisturiser which does its job to the T. Keeps my face moisturised. Gets absorbed in the skin within a minute. Does not make my face oily.

6)      Lotus Herbals 3-in-1 matteDaily Sunblock – Oily skinned people, this is your man! Can also be used as a tinted suncreen. Although this does not really give any coverage. Only slightly evens out the skintone. My staple during Summers.

7)      Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch sunblock(spf 50+) – The best Sunscreen ever! Does not make your skin oily. Feels like a primer.

8)      Neutrogena brightening serum – Used up 2 bottles of this. Again, sensitive skins should try to incorporate a serum in your routine. Helps to soothe the skin a lot. Not a fairness cream, mind you. But this helps to even out my skin tone.

9)      TBS Drop of Youth Bouncy sleeping mask – One product which literally worked on my skin overnight. Expensive, but guys one jar has lasted me 8months and counting. I’m no where near finishing it. Amazing product! Worth all the hype.

10)   Maybelline Baby Lips –Mango pie/Berry – Staples again. These obviously need no explanation.

11)   Boroline – Old and gold. The ONLY thing that cures my dry chapped, bleeding lips. CANNOT live without it.

12)   TBS cocoa body butter – The only thing that worked on my swollen pregnant hands and feet to keep me moisturised.

13)   Bio Oil - Really worked when I had itchy stomach and breasts during pregnancy. Can't say if it prevented stretch marks 'coz I did get some. But I like to believe it could’ve been a lot worse if not for this.

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Have you used any of these? Did you like them? 

Let me know your favorites. It could help me!

Organix/OGX Coconut Water Weightless Hydration Oil

                         

Price: Rs.725/- for 118ml

Available: Nykaa, Purplle, Flipkart, Jabong.

Company claims:

Drench your dehydrated strands in this ultra-light blend of weightless hydrating coconut water, supercharged with nutrient rich electrolytes and combined with coconut oil to transform dry, parched hair into silky shiny perfection.

After shampooing, towel dry hair, spray weightless hydration oil evenly onto damp hair then blow   dry to infuse it into the hair shafts. Finish by misting all over for optimal shine and hydration.

                         

               

I fall in love with every OGX product I use. All of their products are really commendable and they actually work.

Firstly, I love the packaging. It’s a cute, handy, travel friendly plastic bottle with the best  pump I’ve ever used.The pump sprays a fine mist,very evenly. There’s no gloppy product oozing out or leakage whatsoever.

OGX or Organix is a cruelty free brand. Does not test on animals.

It is sulphate and Paraben free.

The product looks like water in the bottle. The texture is exactly what it claims- Weightless Oil. It is extremely light, not greasy at all. It basically acts as a serum.

The best thing about it is the smell. I LOVE it. It has a very sweet nutty-vanillary fragrance. Very difficult to explain but do give it a sniff if you get a chance. It leaves the hair smelling amazing! The fragrance stays on my hair for approx 5-6 hrs.

Does it work you ask? Oh yeah! It makes my hair shiny and keeps it looking healthy. My hair feels and looks so much smoother. The effect lasts on my hair for 2 days..  

The consistency is so light that it is very difficult to go overboard with it.

How I use it – I use this on clean dry hair. I either spray it directly on my hair (from the middle to the ends of my hair) or spray some on my palms, rub it in and then work my palms into the hair.

This does not attract dust or pollution like many other serums or creams do and hence less build-up.

It works just as well through out the year in all weather conditions.

I LOVE this product and recommend it to everyone I know! 

I also use it as a heat protectant and it does a damn fine job.

I have this oil since over 7 months and I use it pretty religiously everytime I wash my hair. I haven't even finished half yet. So I know this is going to last me a long looong time, thus justifying the price.

I haven't used any heating tool here. Just the OGX weightless hydration Oil on freshly shampoo-ed hair. 

Have you used this? What is your HG hair product? Talk to me.

Momster Diary #1 Just the way it is.

After all the worries, excitement, anticipation and anxiety, my baby boy's a whole month old now. Almost 2 actually. This whole year (since I got pregnant) I've been given truck loads of advice and suggestions. I myself went almost crazy google-ing anything and everything regarding being pregnant and raising a child. Ofcourse google knows everything! 

One thing I realised is this generation moms are way different from the previous ones. Given the situation and the world we live in now, we've got to do things differently.  And the most important thing is there is no right or wrong way about it. It's simply how you handle it. 

So here I just want to document my experiences and share my thoughts about  being a new age mommy. No clichés, no sugar coating. Just the way it is.

Blue Heaven Lip Bombs

Hey guys!

With Christmas  round the corner, I usually like to indulge my nieces with all the cutesy Xmas sha-bang! And like all girls, my niece loves to play make-up. Since she's not allowed any (she's only 9), except for lip balms, needless to say she's obsessed with them. So I was looking for one when I found these babies!

Eos dupes, you ask? I wondered the same but could not find any reviews about them online. So thought of trying them myself. Was too curious not to! I found only 3 variants so I got them all 😆.

I think they look super adorable! I have not used Eos lip balms so I can't really compare. So apart from the look alike lets treat them as individuals...shall we?

Price - Rs.85/-

Compared to the other lip balms in the market, these seem reasonably priced.

The variants are strawberry,  bubblegum and cocoa butter.

These balms are heavily fragranced and very artificial. Like over the top. No kidding. If you are one of those who can't stand fragranced products, this one is sure to give you a headache.

Cocoa butter didn't smell like cocoa to me at all. It reminds me of a cough syrup whose name I can't recall. Hate the smell.

Strawberry smells like well..,. strawberries, but like you were punched in your face with boat load of them. I anyways don't like the smell of strawberries. I found it sickeningly sweet. I shall however be giving this to my niece since she loves strawberries.

The bubblegum variant I like! It smells exactly like Boomer bubblegum, if you guys remember!

TEXTURE - These are matte balms. Does not turn out glossy on the lips. Does an ok job at moisturising. Thankfully does not just sit on my lips. Great for applying under matte lippies.

Lip balms anyways don't stay on me more than an hour or so. I've got really chapped lips, to the point that it bleeds and hurts like a bitch. I have to apply boroline every 2nd night and sleep with it to keep my lips from hurting. Sadly nothing else works.

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Finally I think I'll use them up. The smell majorly doesn't repel me and the texture feels good enough. I just wish they didn't smell so artificial and strong.

Online Haul December'15

Hey guys! It's been ages since I last posted. A baby does that to you. Oh yeah, I had a baby last month on the 4th of Nov'15. And it's been a task..I wont lie. But at the end of the day, it's definitely all worth it. So December being my bday month, with holidays round the corner and not to forget SALEs everywhere, it's difficult not to binge in a little. Although I had promised myself that I wouldn't buy any more makeup for the next 4 mnths (atleast; coz you see I'm of 'em hoarders who buys everything but wears none :|), however birthday haul to banta hai!

So, here goes...

1) Iphone 5S pink glitter waterfall cover -  Can we just please take a moment here. How pretty is that?!? I needed that in my life. And no, I don't think I'm old enough for glitter. No girl ever is!

it even looks rose-goldish in certain lighting. #Obsessed !!

The quality is good enough does not look or feel flimsy.

Bought this from amazon HERE.  Also available in ebay and flipkart.

Price - Rs.350/-

2) Makeup Revolution London Palette in RUN BOY RUN -  I needed a nude palette which had matte shades and specifically a pigmented matte black shadow. Narrowed on this. First impression, it feels quite soft and smooth. Like the feel of it. Bought this from NYKAA.

MRP - Rs. 1350 After discount - Rs.1013/-

3) Loreal Paris Volume Million Lashes Mascara - Have heard rave reviews about this one. So thought of trying it since it was on sale. I have only ever used Maybelline mascaras as yet. So pretty excited for this one and hoping it'll work for me. Bought this from NYKAA along with the Revolution palette.

MRP - Rs.795/-  After discount - Rs.636/-

4) Beauty Heaven Lip Bombs - See those cute EOS lip balm look alikes? I did too on Shopclues. So ofcourse I had to buy them to check them out. Found 3 variants. Bought them all.

MRP - Rs.85/-

5) Miss Claire Soft Matte Lip Cream (shade 05 & 07) - Been hearing about these since ages and I could not find them anywhere online. Being pregnant and all I couldn't even scrounge through the city in search of these. I finally found them on shopclues. Bought them a tad bit pricier than it actually is. But frankly I didn't mind shelling out that extra since they're still cheaper than NYX ones which "also" I cant find anywhere!! If you know where to find either Miss claire/NYX soft matte lip cream in Kolkata, plzzz do lemme know in the comments below.

Price - Rs.399/

In mumbai you can get it for Rs.150/- Can't you mumbai girls courier it to us here?!? Spread the love guys!

That's all for now folks. Which ones have you tried out of these? 

Serendipitously Urs,

SS

Mini Haul

I’m a little late for this post. However I’ve been trying to keep my shopaholic gene under check for a while now. Hence I indulged in a mini haul albeit only essentials.

1)  Dove conditioner: I’ve used this 4-5 times as yet. And I’m loving it!  It makes my hair feel smooth and soft. Does not weigh down my hair. Washes off easily. Smells amazing! Out of  all the budget conditioners I’ve used, namely- sunsilk, tresemme, loreal 5oils ( these are the ones which worked for me),  I find this the best. 

        

     2) Marks & Spencer  Cocoa butter exfoliating body scrub:  Smells good. The fragrance lasts for about 10 mins after shower. The scent isn’t  too overpowering. It says cocoa butter but it does not smell anything like it. It’s more of a cologne-ish scent. This one’s quite artificial but subtle and rich. I like!

  3)  Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel liner: A re-buy. This is an updated version which claims to be more smooth, long staying. Smoother it sure is. The 'Stay' seems similar to the previous version. I like the cute glass container with the square base. The brush is the same.

    4)    Maybelline colorshow in ChocoSin- Got this free with the Gel liner. An offer @Nykaa. Me, personally would’ve never gone for this shade. But anything free is always welcome right? Thankfully didn’t receive a shade that I already owned. So shall try this soon. Let’s see how it turns out. If not, I know mom’s gonna like it:)

  5)   Maybelline Hypersharp Liner: A rebuy.  My HG Liner. I tried the Maybelline Colossal Liner. Despite the hype,  it did NOT work for me. At all. (READ ON to know why). So I had to re-buy this liner. Love Love LOVE this.

   6)      Selfie Stick: OK so this might’ve been an unnecessary buy. But I think it’ll be very useful when on trips. The remote only works with Android so I’ll have to check it on my man’s phone.  Guys please check beforehand if the remote’s compatible with your phone, while buying one.

Do let me know if you want a review in particular.  

Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award

I was nominated by the lovely TheSillyCrusader for the Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award. 
Thank you so much for the nomination dear and guys do browse through her blog. She shares some amazing Skincare tips and I especially love her pictures!

The ‘rules’ are:

Thank the blogger who nominated you & link back to their site.
Answer the ten questions sent to you.
Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer.
Nominate seven bloggers who you feel deserve the award.

1. When was the last time you made an ass of yourself? 

Me: I do it ALL THE TIME. A typical Sagittarius at that. Just yesterday, I whatsapp'ed my boss an abusive message (by mistake ofcourse!!) which was intended for my best friend. However, he hasn't brought up that subject yet and i hope he never does :/

2. Deadlines amuse you or are you scared of them?

Me: I DONOT enjoy them for sure. But funny that I always end up doing things ONLY at the last minute. Do they have pills for procrastination?

3. Last time you laughed till your stomach hurt?

Me: Just yesterday. My cousin Bro manages to do that everytime! 

4. What’s your worst nightmare?

Me: That i might just keep going on rote...follow duties and responsibilities and suddenly wake up one day on my 50th birthday realizing I spent half my life not living it. 

5. Lip gloss or lipstick?

Me: Lipsticks!

6. What cheers you up instantly?

Me: Frank Sinatra - I've got you under my skin. 

7. A book or movie which you couldn’t sit through?

Me: The movie Tees Maar Khan. It was probably worse than Ram Gopal Varma's Aag. I was done right after the song "Sheila" which is probably in the first 10mins of the movie.

8. Bad habit which you are trying to give up?

Me: Did i mention "procrastination"??

9. Beach or mountains?

Me: Can I keep both?!? But if I had to.. like HAD to choose... then beach. I have an affair with the water...

10. The song which you are humming now? 

Me: I'd tried so hard not to give in...I said to myself, this affair never will go so well. 

But why should i try to resist when, baby, I know so well.... 

I've got you under my skin.

I nominate:

Jhilmildsaha

Vanitynoapologies

Newlove-makeup

Thepinktrends

Sweetandbitterblog

Freshfacebeauty

Indianbeautymaniac

My questions for you:

1) Story behind your blog name?

2) Would you rather spend on high end Makeup/Skincare?

3) Name 3 of your Holy Grail Products.

4) What's topping your lust list?

5) A memory you can never forget (or touched you deeply)?

6) The best surprise you ever got/gave?

7) Your first lipstick ever?

8) School/ College?

9) Something quirky you want to do atleast once in your lifetime?

10) Your favorite quote?   

A friendly approach to connect... Join in and have fun guys.