Keeping skin flawless and beautiful for the festive times {Skin Care}

Everyone is busy in Christmas and New Year preparations. So, how to prepare to look good in the celebrations. Follow the following tips and enjoy the holidays:

• Drink adequate amount of water, no matter what. People tend to drink less water in winters but it affects the skin more adversely. The winter winds dehydrate the skin anyways. You have to hydrate yourself to keep in balance. If you fail to do it, your skin will look leathery with all the make up on and no suppleness.
• Sleep properly and adequately. Finish your beauty sleep for minimum 7 hours. Do not take any drinks two hours prior to sleep. 
• Cleanse your face every night, no matter what. Otherwise, your skin will look aged on next day. 
• Before the celebrations begin, get yourself an appointment at the saloon well in advance. Remember this is a rush hour season and be on time. Get yourself pampered and indulge in expenses. You would love the result. Get a hair cut and highlights if you wish. They will look great. 
• On the day of festivities, give yourself appropriate time to get ready. Do not rush through it.
• Include body scrub, bath oils, bath salts in your bath and soak for 15-20 minutes. Alternatively, you can pour 2-3cups of milk and 2-3 drops of any essential oil of your choice in your tub and soak. Scrub with wash cloth afterward gently.
• While soaking, you can also apply any fruit face mask if you want and tea bags on your eyes to relax them and make them look brighter. Banana, papaya, orange brings an instant glow on the face. Apple makes your skin look clean and bright. Any fruit will do the job because of the natural ingredients present in it. You can also include milk cream or vegetable oils suitable to your skin while mashing the fruits to moisturize. Prepare a fresh batch every time.
• Wash your hair before you go for a soak. Do not condition. While you soak, apply honey on your hair and cover with a shower cap. While you are showering, wash your hair well and use any tea or vinegar as last rinse. It gives instant shine to your hair. Let your hair air dry if not in hurry. 
• When you come out of the shower, apply some perfume on the skin. Dab perfume on warm areas of your body like armpits, cleavages, inner thighs. Moisturize your body. Apply perfume again on the same spots you applied earlier or as per your choice. You can apply talc and then again apply perfume. Last layer can be put on the clothes you wear. Ensure the floral smells and buy a natural perfume which is non-irritating to your skin. Applying perfume in layers and warm areas ensures it to stay longer.
• When your hair is damp, style your hair. You can use shine serums to increase the shine or other hair products of your choice. Use products in moderation so as to not let your hair weigh down. Less is good.
• Before applying make up, do not forget your sunscreen in case your are going out in day time.
• At night, a lip gloss and mascara is enough to give the effect.  
• For people who are not product junkies and like to go natural like me, 2-3 drops of any vegetable oil would be enough to bring shine to your hair. When your hair is damp, take oil into your palms and finger comb through your hair paying special attention to the ends. This will seal the moisturizer into your hair. While finger combing, gently untangle your hair so that you do not need to comb or brush it. Simple finger combing can give great style to your hair. Try it out. Definitely, it depends a lot on the hair texture too. Wavy hair is the best bet. Or, if you still prefer combing, use a wide tooth comb. Do not forget sunscreen in any case. To be ready for a night out, a lip gloss adds a smashing effect. Making up the eyes is no harm but the least you can do is to apply kohl. They give an instant lift to your eyes. Wash your eyes with lot of cold water before that to make them look brighter. Buy good products. Do not worry about expenses. Cheap products are often not good for the skin but, again, do not judge by the brands. Go for products which suit your skin.

Take care of your skin regularly and you do not need any special vanity case to prepare for a party. Proper nutrition is important in skin care. But, indulge during festivities. Do not starve yourself of the enjoyments.

Wish you all a Happy Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Vedic Line+ BB Cream {Product Review}

Price: Rs 225 for 30ml

Ingredients

Pros

- gives an even brightened finish

- has pinkish undertones and gives a pink flush to the skin

- stays for 5-6 hours

- suits most of the skin tones

- very small quantity is enough

Cons

- may give white cast sometimes

- blending does create problem sometimes

- may not suit really dark skin tones, medium wheatish is fine though!!

My Experience

I love the packaging!!! Absolutely cute and girly and bright. It has a small nozzle which disperses a little amount of product and honestly, you need just a small drop of the product for the entire face. It smells nice as well. The fragrance is very light and almost non-existent so not to worry much about it.

after blending, see how natural it looks!!

The color of the product is light brown which suits even the fair skin tones. It has pink undertones which gives a pink look to the face even if you are a little yellow. The texture of the product is light and a little runny so it spreads easily on the skin and gets absorbed soon.

I did initially face bending issues but later on, a simple tip became my mantra and no blending issues from there on. This tip was published by Paris (check it out here). She says that when using fingers to blend foundations, one should use the whole palm instead of just the finger tips!! And, trust me, it really works. 

And, the finish of the product is very sheer. It gives a light glow to the face but otherwise your own skin shines through. It doesn't really cover any part of the skin. The product does have spf 20 but then you need such a little amount of the product that the sun protection is just not enough. 

Also, sometimes, the product tends to leave white patches, courtesy Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide so use it in just a little amount. I don't know why I always face problem while applying any tinted moisturizer on the area between nose and lips. Probably, I always take more than the amount required.

Overall, I did like the BB cream. My review is probably the last you will find but I have read all the other reviews and there are very mixed reactions to the product but not negative. Also, yes, this product controls oil and sweat to a very less extent. So, make sure you use loose powder to take care of sweat and extra oil. 

Regarding its staying power, I would say that it stays well up to 3-5 hours but doesn't last entire day for me!! If blended portion by portion on the face, it does stay an entire day but the blending becomes difficult for me in that way so I avoid it!!! Otherwise, it does keep the face fresh till the time it stays.

PS: Product sent by brand.

Check out other products from Vedic Line:

Vedic Line+ Exfo 10 Avocado Face Scrub

Vedic Line Apple Green Toner
Vedic Line Fig & Honey Moisturizer
Vedic Line Papaya Scrub and Papaya Face Pack
Vedic Line Neem & Brahmi Disinfecting Face Wash

Do you feel too oily after applying sunscreen?

Well, I hate applying sunscreen because it makes my skin feel like a frying pan even though I have normal to dry skin. None of the sunscreens suit me and I am always in search of new ones. These days I have shifted to Biotique sunscreens and lets see what I have to tell you about them. Now, every day after my bath, I apply a moisturizer (no particular brand) then follow up with sunscreen after 5-10 minutes. So, the fresh feeling which comes to my skin after having my bath vanishes the moment I slather on anything on it and my skin turns dark on its own accord. Ok, I want to say that this does not mean that I apply loads of product. I use very little product but still it happens. So, today, similar kind of thing happened and I was not in a hurry so I took time out to try out a simple trick to curb the oiliness. 

I used tissue paper to blot out the oiliness. Spread the whole tissue paper on your face and press gently but firmly. If the skin is too greasy, tissue paper would stick to it. So, keep on blotting till the stickiness in your skin disappears. Do not forget to blot your neck and chest areas too. And, the result was a soft skin with a glow on the face. My face was no more sticky and greasy. If you also suffer from the peculiar problem of skin darkening after applying anything on skin, that would disappear after this step.While choosing tissue papers, go for paper ones instead of mixed ones or cloth ones. Probably a toilet paper would be even better for this job but I have no idea. The best would definitely be blotting papers if you find them. And, finally, if you want, you can do a little touch up with a compact and face spray or mist. 

One more thing I want to add is that do the blotting of your skin every time you find your face becomes greasy. It will also help you remove the dirt and extra product from your face which would otherwise be blocking your pores. And, it also helps you look fresh and dewy all the time. So, make tissue papers a part of your essentials-on-the-go. You might even be wondering why I did not opt for refreshing wipes. Frankly, I do not like them. They leave a film on my face which I absolutely loathe and then it becomes drying for my skin. If it suits your skin, you might want to go ahead with them but then contain a lot of alcohol (most of the times) and preservatives which I prefer to avoid. Hope this helps you as well as it did help me :)