Gloss and Magic

The Weekend Post #41: The French Braid Fight

By Gauri on April 22, 2017 in Weekend Post

The title of this post should probably be ‘Hey look at this knot that I’ve created in my hair’, but instead I’m going to try and pass it off as a French braid. Yeah? Sorta? I mean it’s more of a plait, but you see where I’m trying to go with this. It’s become a bit of a regular thing that when I’ve got a spare half an hour at the weekend, I set up shop in front of the mirror with a plaiting YouTube how-to, a bunch of bands and my nimble fingers at the ready in a desperate attempt to master all things twisted. My obsession with a bit of side-swept braid action began way back in my Hills-viewing days, L.C always rocked a good one and so I’ve got to get down to it.

Where to Splurge and Where to Save

By Gauri on April 20, 2017 in Notes

I’ve been scratching my head for the past few days pondering where it’s best to invest your cash in the beauty world, and where you can hold back, buckle up your purse strings and no-one will even know, not even you. Where to splurge and where to save – what made the list? Read on…

Smooth Hair Alert

By Gauri on April 18, 2017 in Notes

Hold the phone, for I have found something that makes my hair SMOOTH – note the use of capitals, it’s required. Smoother than smooth. Like polished. So glossy I felt the need to swing it around in a ‘I Whip My Hair Back and Forth’-like fashion just for celebration. A little stalk round Health & Glow the other day ended with the L’Oreal Paris Professionnel Air Fix Extra Strong Fixing Spray – a bit of a hairspray, shine imparter and wave teaser-outer three-in-one, more on that at a later date – and the BBlunt Back to Life Dry Shampoo entering the basket, the latter of which was spritzed into my hair after the fastest hair wash in the history of showers immediately as I walked through the door. And well…

The Beauty Bag: April

By Gauri on April 1, 2017 in Beauty Bag

“It’s getting hot in here, so get some colour on” – I’m sure that’s how that Nelly song went right? I kid, I kid. I still know all the words to that tune (yes, tune), 15 years post its release – yep even all the rappy bits too. But in the spirit of April’s Beauty Bag lets just go with the revised hook cause in India we’re starting to experience summer and having exhausted all bronzey, highlighted, glowy options in my makeup arsenal I’m vowing to add a splash of shading from the other end of the spectrum this month; pinks, oranges, blues, greens. You might want to be sitting down for this one…

Minis + Faces = Love

By Gauri on March 22, 2017 in Budget Buy

When spring gets cheeky with Faces and has a small baby, it’s a guaranteed formula that ends with a generous handful of new shades entering into my nail polish inn. I received a duo from their Splash collection and it was approximately six hours before my favourite of the bunch, Aureolin made its way onto my nails. A straight-up yellow complete with high shine, it’s love. Now I’m not usually one for brightness in my lacquer, but this whole sun induced appearance is something I can appreciate – good thing really as the other one, the green Go Green has this barely there shine.

Lakme 9 to 5 CC Colour Transform Cream

By Gauri on March 18, 2017 in Review

With what seems like every light base lover in the world declaring their unwavering HG status stamped adoration for Lakme’s CC Complexion Care Cream, the launch of their accompanying CC Colour Transform Cream wasn’t going to be hush hush. It snuck onto counters a month or so ago and surprise surprise a package arrived at my doorstep. But does it live up to its much celebrated Complexion Care sibling…

Square or Almond?

By Gauri on February 26, 2017 in Trend

I’ve been hacking my nails into a square-like fashion since I can remember. My best friend and I used to stock up on the French Manicure sets on the way home from school and file our nails into oblivion before getting our white tips on. It was a thrice weekly occurrence. And after years of trimming them straight across, the whole square shape thing just became my thang. But for the past few seasons nails have been eking out into a more almond shape – ‘a curve that reflects that of your cuticle’ – is a term I’ve heard being tossed around. And it got me thinking, it’s time to crack out the Nail File and get to work on softening those edges.