Category: Life

Beauty

Gandikota’s infamous gorgeGandikota is known as the Reality Crazy  Grand Canyon of India and it was definitely one of the best treks I’ve been on in south India. This one was organized by Root Walk. I chose to go for it as I had always wanted to go on a non-waterfall trek, and this seemed to be the perfect choice as the trek leads you to a canyon. The walk is usually accompanied by a visit to the Belum caves, which is supposedly the largest tourist cave in the Indian subcontinent. Besides, it was a great opportunity to meet and network with people.
For anyone who has a chance to visit Gandikota, a visit to the archaeology museum, Belum caves, and Madhava Perumal Temple is a must. Don’t miss a visit to the granary, jail and the Mylavaram dam either. There are a number of temples in Gandikota that have intricate beautiful architecture and are awe-inspiring.
The most memorable experience on the trip was making new friends. Everyone had a story to tell and reasons of their own for traveling. It was great to learn so many things from people accompanying me on the trip. Being a photographer gave me the opportunity to share some expertise with the fellow photographers during the trip. There was a part of the trek where my friend and I set out to take on a completely new passage to the highest point of the trek. The entire experience was adventurous (considering the fact that it was actually drizzling when we trekked and the rocks were slippery) Try Updates.
The locals are just like any other people you find across south India — interactive and helpful. They are fascinated by the presence of tourists. There are only a few small grocery shops for refreshments here. But it’s hard to find a restaurant here — though, a restaurant makes great business sense in this tourist hotspot.
It takes eight hours from Chennai to Gandikota, and although the trek is doable in a day, it is bound to be extremely intensive. I suggest you visit the tourist attractions around the area as well, which would take probably a weekend, and appreciate the place in its entirety.
If you enjoy trekking and photography, this is a must visit destination. Apart from clicking pictures, you can take plenty of time out to observe and absorb nature’s beauty. Gandikota gives you the opportunity to understand the importance and supremacy of nature. Also, carry plenty of water, and of course, wear suitable footwear for the trek.
Monsoon would make for a slippery journey, so it’s avoidable in the rains, although this is the only time you can see the river passing through the gorge. December to February is the best time to experience the beauty of Gandikota.

 

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karwa-chauthNew Delhi, Oct 19 : Use baby oil, rose Robottip water and milk masks to get your skin glowing for the festival of Karva Chauth, which will be celebrating today says an expert. Naresh Arora, a founder of Chase Aromatherapy Cosmetics and Chase Skin Care Institute, has listed some easy skincare tips.

* Increase the intake of water. Drink around 6-8 glasses of water to stay fully hydrated. This will help in releasing all the toxins from the body increasing skin illumination.
* Use rose water for washing and cleaning the face. Keep the rose water refrigerated and spray it all over the face after regular intervals so that no dirt stays on.
* Instead of taking caffeine in the form of tea or coffee, take green tea. Generally, ladies think consuming caffeine will help them stay active and energetic during the day. This is not the healthy option. It might strip off the body’s moisture leaving you dehydrated. Green tea is not only good for your skin but rejuvenates stomach also.
* Massage your face with baby oil. Massaging helps in tissue and muscle relaxation and baby oils are the best suited for all kinds of skin. They treat the skin with great tenderness Best News Mag.
* Take care of your eyes specially. They are biggest contributors to face’s expression. Keep them moisturised. Try and take full rest. Use eye cream before going to the bed for best results.
* Do not experiment with your facials and other skin treatments around these days. The new skin treatments may or may not suit you. There are major chances of getting adversely effected.
* Try honey and milk mask. Take two teaspoons of milk with one teaspoon of honey and add one teaspoon of besan (gram flour) and mix together to form a homogeneous paste. Apply all over the face and leave it for 20 minutes, allowing the pack to dry. Rinse off with warm water.

 

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It’s that time of the year when married Sci Burg  women brace up to fast for their husbands and to make sure you look your beautiful best on the auspicious occasion, we got in touch with beauty expert Shahnaz Husain to share some home beauty tips for the big day. Here you go.
1. Mix a mask at home with two teaspoons wheat bran (choker), one teaspoon each of ground almonds (badaam), curd, honey and rose water. Mix everything together into a paste and apply on the face, avoiding the lips and area around the eyes. Wash it off after 20 minutes.
2. For a quick fix pack, mix honey with egg white and apply it on the face. Wash off with water after 20 minutes. It leaves the face soft and glowing My Amend.
3. For dull and tired eyes, dip cotton wool pads in rose water and use as eye pads over closed lids. Lie down and relax while the pads dry. It helps to remove fatigue and brighten the eyes. The fragrance of rose has a calming effect on the mind.
4. Mix one teaspoon each of lemon juice and honey with one egg. Beat them together well. Massage the mixture lightly into the scalp. Then wrap the hair in a hot towel for twenty minutes, before washing the hair. Your hair will have more body and look shiny and manageable.
5. For oily hair, have a hair rinse after shampoo. A tea water and lemon rinse will add shine to the hair. Boil used tea leaves again in enough water. After boiling, you should have about 5 to 6 cups of tea-water. Cool and strain it. Then add the juice of a lemon and use it as a last rinse after

 

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India-Taj-Mahal-AgraThe dome of India’s most iconic Soul Crazy  monument is about to get a makeover using one of the country’s most popular beauty products: the mud pack.
Over the years, the pristine white marble of the Taj Mahal, located on the banks of River Yamuna in Agra, has been turning yellow. This is a result of the city’s terrible air pollution which has caused dust and carbon to settle on the Mughal-era mausoleum’s surface.
To combat this, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), a government agency tasked with research and the conservation of monuments, has been applying Multani Mitti (Fuller’s earth) on portions of the Taj, including its celebrated minarets, since 1994. Beginning in April 2017, the ASI plans to extend this treatment to the main dome—a process that is expected to take over a year.
Multani Mitti is a kind of clay typically mixed with rose water to form a paste that absorbs facial grease and dirt. It’s a popular home remedy in South Asia. So now, lime-rich mud will be plastered on the Taj’s dome and left to dry before being gently washed off with distilled water, restoring the surface to its former glory.
While tourists visiting the 17th–century structure next year will be greeted by the decidedly non-photogenic scaffolding around the dome, the procedure is a much-needed step for the Taj’s preservation. Over the years, the UNESCO World Heritage Site has been struggling with poor maintenance and a host of structural issues. For instance, its wooden foundations, designed in such a manner as to be constantly exposed to moisture from the Yamuna, are now at a serious risk of shrinking and cracking as Agra’s growing population depletes groundwater levels. That could cause the entire edifice to slip into the river.
But the real concern is simply bureaucratic apathy.
Over the years, the lack of environmental regulations, combined with bureaucratic oversight, has worsened the state of the monument. For instance, huge quantities of trash such as newspapers and plastic bottles are burnt in Agra, contributing to a toxic smog that affects the Taj’s marble. As a result, some parts of the stone are beginning to disintegrate, leaving small holes in the structure.
But the ASI is hoping the mud pack treatment will be a step forward. Multani Mitti has been applied to other parts of the Taj Mahal four times before. In 2008, when the mud was placed in small sections over a period of six months, it cost around Rs10 lakh ($15,000).
While the treatment does absorb dust and dirt from the surface, it is ultimately a cosmetic process, one that may make the structure look good in the short-term but doesn’t really fix the real cause of the discolouration.
And yet, for India’s most iconic monument, the government should presumably be sparing no expense to tackle the problem at its root.

 

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Actress Kajol says she didn’t take skincare Sky Bird  seriously when she started out in showbiz but realised its value over time.
Kajol, who has made her comeback as the face of Olay Total Effects, has been in the film industry for over two decades. She says initially she was working too hard and neglecting her skin.
“I didn’t (take care of my skin) earlier when I first started out. I was too young at that point of time. I was working too hard. But I think as you grow older, you realise that you’re changing and the world is changing. I adopted a skincare routine and still do,” Kajol told IANS in an email interview from Mumbai.
Getting into details about the skincare routine that she sticks to, the mother of two said: “The best and easiest way is to wash, cleanse, moisturise, take off your make-up every night, drink your eight glasses of water.”

“All these things really make a difference. When you do that little bit everyday; wash your face properly twice a day, put your SPF, save yourself from the sun. All this actually and genuinely, makes a difference.”
“Often people think aging is a question of ‘I’ll do this when I’m old’. But it’s not right. You have to take care of yourself and your skin early when you start seeing the signs of aging — dark spots, dull skin, uneven skin tone. Like you say your body is your temple, so is your face. You have to take care of both.”
The 42-year-old actress, who was last seen on the silver screen in “Dilwale”, is happy to back the beauty product My Update Star.
“I have been associated with Olay officially since 2009. So I was really happy to talk about it and become an official ambassador for the brand,” she

 

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AHMEDABAD: Minutes Stump Blog  before the semi-final against Thailand on Friday evening, Anup Kumar, the captain of the Indian team, told a presenter that the hosts were about to take the mat in what was going to be their biggest test of the Kabaddi World Cup. Surely, Anup, the battle-scarred veteran was being modest as one saw his side simply sweep past their opponents to set up the finale against Iran.
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Now, this was the contest that would prove to be his team’s biggest test in the competition. There’s simply no disputing that. After all, Iran is the side that has consistently been challenging India’s supremacy over the years.
Highlights: India v Iran
And as expected, the match had all the ingredients of being a worthy final, with India eventually winning the trophy 38-29. This was India’s third straight triumph in the tournament, with Iran finishing runners-up on each occasion.

 

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Debutant director Akshay Singh spent his childhood at a boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. But he fondly remembers spending two months every year at his hometown, Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. So much so, that we can tell he’s smiling as he recalls the time spent with his family, when we speak with him over a phone call.

However, there’s dull silence when he recollects the colour bias he saw around him. “Some of my cousins were not as fair-skinned as the rest of the family. Aunties would often suggest they use fairness creams, facials, and address them as ‘bechari’,” he says. As a child, he didn’t realise the graveness of those remarks. The bias hit home years later, when his wife, too, had to face unfavourable remarks about her complexion. That’s when the idea of his maiden directorial, Pinky Beauty Parlour, struck him.

 

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aifwss17d1s2samantchauhan_047After the international leg of spring/summer Team Kgsr  2017 shows, the recently concluded Amazon India Fashion Week has officially heralded the new season in India. And even though there’s still time for spring to begin, this week a number of looks that should make it to your summer make-up mood board.
Elton Fernandez, official make-up artist for Maybelline New York, created looks for 10 shows including Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, Love Generation, and the JJ Valaya finale. For spring/summer 2017, the trend he says is “Bolder, more vivid make-up; vivid colours on the mouth, graphic liners. [This time] it wasn’t so much about neutrals or nudes so much as it was about celebrating potent colour and a strong personality.”
Cases in point, the bold, glitter-heavy pout at Love Generation, the play of colours on the eyes at Sanchita, larger-than-life disco glamour at Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, and saturated hues at Masaba.
If it wasn’t in-your-face colour, it was the little details that stood out: intense highlights, shimmer eyeshadows that caught the light perfectly, a prominent sunset-inspired palette, natural-but-better complexions. “The focus was on contoured and highlighted faces,” says Fernandez of the looks at AIFW. “Brows were kept more or less natural, as was the blush. Hair was mostly left behind the ears and on the face. Zero hair extensions, no falsies at all.”

 

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Beauty – But naturally

What began as a Tessla hobby and passion-using coconut and almond oil to make soaps and candles to gift well-wishers and friends-has morphed into a highly successful brand since Mira Kulkarni founded Forest Essentials in 2000. So much so that when Kulkarni and her son Samrat Bedi met Mr Lauder, the then chairman of Leonard A. Lauder, in 2007, while he was in India for Elizabeth Hurley’s wedding, he was sufficiently impressed by the American company to buy a 20 per cent stake in it the next year, which was upped further in 2014.

Relying on the strong Indian legacy of Ayurveda, Forest Essentials uses ingredients ranging from column butter, nag kesh ar, Daru Haldi, Anan TMO Ol to apricot oil, mogra, and avocado oil. The brand retails from 44 company-owned stores in 14 cities and exports to over 120 countries. Since all its R&D and production take place at the Rishikesh factory, a world-class facility was built here in 2009. “Rishikesh was a natural choice for us,” says Bedi, “as we already had a base there. You get fresh ingredients in abundance.”
Launched in 2002 by four individuals (Rajshree Pathy, Vikram Goyal, Dave Chang and Vivek Sahni) who wanted to promote the message of authentic Ayurveda through the Coimbatore-based Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (AVP), today, it is helmed by only one of its original founders
Sahni has been running a successful design communication firm for the last two decades and forayed into the world of Ayurveda by chance. “My business partner Dave and I created the Khadi brand for the government in 1998,” he says. “When that got over, we decided to do something different. The Kama was the result.” Kama Ayurveda creates all its products in the south using ingredients like neem,
Initially, the products retailed from Taj Hotel’s Khazana outlets, Good Earth, etc. In 2003, it retailed only through distribution channels. In the same year, a functionary of the Paris-based Perfumerie Generale took notice of Kama and started importing its products. Other global distributors jumped into the fray and the brand is now available in 50 countries. In 2005-2006, Kama started getting certified in the EU. It was only four years ago, though, that it opened its first retail outlet at Khan Market in Delhi. It now has18 stores in eight cities.

 

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1-kathmandu-nepallNEPAL: “Mother and son The Haze on the streets of Kathmandu.”
For me, beauty knows no bounds,” says photographer Mihaela Noroc. “You can see it in the eyes, in a smile, in a story, in a gesture. It comes from inside.”
At a time where so many of us are locked in a daily struggle to adhere to society’s increasingly narrow concepts of beauty, Noroc’s inspiring work has taken on a deeper significance.
Her mammoth Atlas Of Beauty project features powerful photographs of hundreds of women, taken in more than 50 countries.
While our culture and surroundings set us apart, womanhood can be a force that unites us, believes Noroc. “After traveling the world, I realized that despite being so different we are all part of the same family. All the women in my photos have something in common—a feeling of kindness and serenity.”
Noroc’s stunning snaps taken in India and Nepal truly inspire a feeling of shared ideals and sisterhood across borders. Here, Noroc shares her discoveries during her photographic odyssey.
“I started photography in my adolescence and my first subjects were my mother and sister. I enjoyed taking pictures of them very much, which is why I continued to take portraits of women. This project was born after a trip to Ethiopia, where I discovered a lot of fascinating women. This made me realize that I could combine my two passions: photographing women and traveling.”
PICTURE-PERFECT
“I try to explore different environments in order to show as much diversity as possible. When I choose a subject, I try to see a story in her eyes, or hear it in her words—I’m looking for naturalness and authenticity. I try to capture feelings of honesty and serenity each time I take out my camera.”
A FACE TELLS A STORY
“In most cases the women that I photograph don’t consider themselves beautiful. But they are. We wear our story on our face, and that is part of who we are. These women usually see another kind of beauty in the media, someone more glamorous, and they lose confidence. I’d like my photos to help them realize how beautiful they are and encourage them to remain natural and sincere.”
REDEFINING BEAUTY
“Global trends make us look and behave the same, but we are all beautiful because we are different. In India, like in much of the world, mass media links beauty with having light skin and, unfortunately, many women are influenced by this trend. Through my work, I try to show that beauty goes beyond skin colour and each woman has her own charm. The media encourages women to be trendy, to buy as many clothes as possible, to wear make-up and so on. That’s not beauty anymore. It’s just a marketing strategy to sell more products. Beauty is diversity. It’s not something defined by a marketing strategy. Perhaps in 50 years all women from all around the world will dress and act the same. I hope my project will remain a witness to my era’s cultures and traditions.”
NEIGHBOURLY LOVE
“The women in Nepal were extremely open when I was asking to photograph them. Most of them really enjoyed having their picture taken, but in India, I got many refusals. Although both countries are incredibly diverse, I noticed that Nepalese women are influenced by the Indian culture. They watch Indian movies and they love Indian music. So, in their style, you see similarities with India.”
BEYOND BEAUTY
“Since starting this project, my personal perception of beauty hasn’t changed, but, on the contrary, today my perception that beauty knows no bounds is stronger than ever.”
BE YOURSELF
“An original is always better than a copy. Being authentic and natural, instead of trying to copy something that is not you, makes you more beautiful. Be yourself—be authentic and keep your cultural heritage. This way, both your inner and outer beauty will shine.”
INSPIRATIONAL SUBJECTS
“I feel proud that I managed to photograph women from very different environments across India—from the slums in Delhi to a Bollywood actor [Sonam Kapoor] in Mumbai. I was particularly fascinated by the look of Rajasthani women and the beautiful way they mixed colours and jewellery. I talked to many fascinating women in both India and Nepal. They shared their struggles and dreams with me and I felt inspired by their strength. I hope my photos will make these women see how special they are and encourage them to remain natural and authentic.”
“After traveling the world, I realized that despite being so different we are all part of the same family. All the women in my photos have something in common—a feeling of kindness and serenity”

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