Wedding Update: Outfit Ideas for BFF/ Sister of the Bride

Hello lovelies, Most of you know my BFF is getting married in December and I have my cousin's wedding coming up in the November. I am stressed thinking what to wear and which look should I sport. I am thinking so much about this stuff that these days I dream about me and my boy dancing for Bff's sangeeth. Me fumbling while hosting her event and also nightmares that my outfits went missing and chaos around me. 

Well I am totally jealous of my BFF because her supermom is handling all her silhouettes- lehengas, anarkalis, blouses, sarees, lingerie, shoes and every other goddamn thing. Well I got married about five months ago so I have loads of pattu sarees and couple of lehengas with me but I want to try something different and unique. My BFF is planning a lavish wedding with mehendi, sangeeth, haldi, youngsters and wedding so i need 5 outfits ready for the event. I want to wear something else all together at my cousin's wedding because the crowd wont be very forgiving to my sense of fashion, If you know what i mean :), and i dont want to wear same thing in all the pictures.  Dushera and Diwali are a life savers in this season, all I had to do was bat my eyelashes to my husband and he had to give up. 

I will wear a saree to both the weddings ( two different sarees obv!) I don't want to overshadow the bride, that's the most cruel thing you can do to any bride. Let the Girl shine on that one day. Dont wear too much jewelry and too many fancy things that people talk about you more than her. 

Here are some options I am considering which are trendy and appropriate

Dhoti Saree: Now I love how amazing sonam kapoor flaunts anamika khanna, but we here in south are not very fond of these but they look so trendy and fashionable. You can wear them to mehendi or haldi functions if you think they are not very heavy. 

Corset Lehenga: Now we here in hyderabad are obsessed with lehenga/ half saree. But seriously that's what you see every where, The bride wears it, The SIL of the bride wears it and most of the guests wear this it too. Now a corset and lehenga would look more of a ghagra but our designers are very good with the fittings and you will look beautiful and yet simple 
If you are not okay wearing them at a wedding try sangeeth or reception. They look amazing.

favourite.

 Jacket saree : I love these, They are now so in vouge that you cant ignore them anymore. These are the perfect reception sarees but you can sport them at night weddings too.

Sharara's : Remember them guys?? They are so comfy and heavy looking they are super perfect to wear on the sangeeth event and you need not change at all. When all your cousins will go ahead to change into something comfy for the upcoming DJ, you can own the dance floor. I still cannot get over kareena kapoor in Bole chudiaan .

Uppada sarees : Now this is what my beloved sisters did on my wedding day, They chose these plain uppada sarees and paired them with a heavy contrast blouse work and wore jwellery. They looked beautiful beside me when I entered the hall in my phoolon ka chadar. I wore my kanchi pattu saree from Sai kanchi which was quite red and gold so their uppada sarees did not over power me but definetly screamed for attention. 

let me know if you have any cute innovative ideas because the season is approaching pretty soon.
Bye!

Brazilian wax and A BFF

Hello everyone. It's been five months since the wedding and all I do every day is cook, send hubby to office and wait for him only to cook again and sleep. This is pretty much my routine apart from watching colors infinity all the time. I am totally loving the new TV series that are being featured.  Husband is an amazing person to live with so no complaints there!

Brazilian wax and everything : Ok now we all know about this but the only thing we don't know is how is it done and how painful it will be. So let me tell you all about this because I have been through this. First things first I had my first one done at blue heaven, banjarahills and the second one in nvi, banjarahills. My first experience was kind of okay because this girl had this cute smile and kept stopping in intervals and told me it's absolutely fine and everything. Most embarrassing moment was when she asked me to seperate my butt cheeks. Yes she actually told me that! But the result was amazing, the skin became smooth and the growth was slow and much more soft.
Coming to second experience it was double the price and I was expecting something so much better. The girl was too harsh the way she handled. I still had some bits of hair here and there. The worst thing was the entire area turned dark and till date I am scrubbing the hell out if it.
Overall you can try it if you want that soft skin. It's awfully painful I can say that. Will I try it again ? May be for a surprise some day but as of now I will stick to the trimmer.

So the biggest news is my BFF is getting married in two months and I am going crazy each second thinking of what to wear and which song to dance on. There are two bride making ceremonies which is basically haldi, a mehendi, a sangeeth and the wedding. I have decided on few outfits and I have to still think of others.

What songs are we thinking ? The groom who is also a very good friend of mine is strongly claiming he can't dance but we are pretty sure the choreographer can think of something to do with him. And my boy is excited to dance but claims he is non dancer which is something I can easily handle. Well I always wanted to dance on rabta on my sangeeth but that dint happen so I am planning to do that now. The bride is planning her songs too, she basically wanted a medley which depicts their love story. All her outfits are being designed by her lovely mum while she is chilling in the US.

Let me go over all the songs again now !

Bye!

Wedding update : Make up Breakdown

Hello Everyone! I was supposed to give you my wedding updates but then I got so busy and As you all know weddings are too stressful so I couldn't find anytime to blog then. But now everything is kind off settling down and I am slowly trying to accept that I got married and trying to live with the new guy.Anyways this is one of the thing I promised you guys I will write about, And its my makeup. I did my makeup for  Mehendi, Haldi, Sangeeth, Pelli kuthuru and Wedding. The Engagement and reception were however a huge mistakes. I hired a makeup artist because I couldn't find a hair stylist on his own, they only offered combo services so I had no choice.

Engagement:

Base : He used Kryolan products for face including powder and concealer.
Eyeshadows : Maybelline quads, gold from copper brown and pink from lilac mauve.
Lips : I used my Maybelline MAT2 lipstick .
Blush : He used a coral blush from colorbar and i have no idea about the shade.
Eyeliner and Eyelashes: Maybelline gel eyeliner and some random fake lashes.
Eyebrows: A dark brown matte eyeshadow.
Outfits: Half saree from mungalal, saree from chennai shopping mall and Blouse designed by spandana reddy.

My opinion: Well I hated it. I look okay in the pictures but the base definitely was few tones darker than me making me look dull and there was no glow. I wish he took me seriously when I said I want chiseled cheek bones.

Sangeeth :

Base: Benefit porefessional primer, MAC NC42 foundation,  MAC concealer in NC40 , Shishedo translucent powder

Highlighter: Stila all over shimmer liquid luminizer in the shade kitten shimmer
lipstick: Mac Ruby woo.
Eyeliner : Gel eyeliner by bobbi brown in the shade Black Ink
Blush : Melba my MAC
Mascara: Too faced better than sex mascara
Contouring: Too faced chocolate soleil in medium deep matte bronzer.
Eyebrows: Urban decay The Brow box in Brown sugar. 
Eye shadows: MAC Eye shadows from my customized Mac palette.
Gown : Taruni.

Mehandi :

Base: Clarin's beauty flash balm, MAC NC42 foundation,  MAC concealer in NC40 , Derma color fixing powder in D4

Highlighter: Mac strobe cream and Inglot highlighter in AMC 83
lipstick: Inglot 103.
Eyeliner : Gel eyeliner by L'Oreal 
Blush : Fleur power my MAC
Mascara: Loreal voluminous million lashes mascara
Contouring: Too faced chocolate soleil in medium deep matte bronzer.
Eyebrows: Urban decay The Brow box in Brown sugar. 
Eye shadows: MAC Eye shadows from my customized Mac palette.
Dress : Designed by Spandana reddy.

Haldi & Pelli kuthuru:

Base: Moisturizer and kryolan fixing powder in D4 for haldi and Mac NC42 and Nyx photo loving primer for pellikuthuru.
Lipstick : Mac Ruby woo for haldi. Colorbar thrilling pink for pelli kuthuru.
Eyes: No eyeshadow, lakme eyeconic in black and no mascara.
Outfits : plain cotton sarees from general bazaar. pellikuthuru saree by south india shopping mall and blouse by spandana reddy.

Wedding:

Base: Benefit porefessional primer, MAC NC42 foundation,  MAC concealer in NC40 , Kryolan fixing powder in D4

Highlighter: MAC mineralize skin finish in soft and gentle.
lipstick: Mac Ruby woo.
Eyeliner : Gel eyeliner by bobbi brown in the shade Black Ink
Blush : Fleur power my MAC
Mascara: I forgot to put on my mascara and fake lashes. 
Contouring: Too faced chocolate soleil in medium deep matte bronzer.
Eyebrows: Urban decay The Brow box in Brown sugar. 
Eye shadows: MAC Eye shadows from my customized Mac palette.
Saree : Sai kanchi , Blouse by Spandana reddy.

Reception:

Base: No idea but it looked very cakey and started melting due to heavy lighting on the stage.
Lipstick : I used my Loreal pure Amaranthe and topped it with Loreal shine caresse in Eve.
Blush: Mac Pinch me. 

My opinion : I looked worst on this day. My skin was loaded with layers of base products and I have no idea about the eyeshadows he used. 

*My MAC customized Eyeshadow palette has: Amber lights, Bronze, All that Glitters, Antiqued, Wood winked and Rice paper.

Wedding Update : Skin Care Routine

Hello lovely ladies! This post might get really long so be patient until you finish. I recently posted in the Facebook group that I am getting married and do you wish to see my skin care routine for wedding and you all were super excited, so here it is. These are the products I am using now and will continue to use until the big day. These are according to my skin type and regarding the problems I have. I am not a parlor person but then yes for the wedding I am planning to do some facials and polishes and I will update my experiences and opinions. Being a bride is too stress-full and everything shows up on your skin so its very important to keep it healthy and glowing. Well fiance does the job for that special glow and blush but the rest you have got to handle. 

My Skin
My skin is too sensitive and stubborn at the same time, so me! I do not have any acne but my skin breaks out at that time of the month. It changes along with climate, gets too oily in summers and is extremely dry in winters. I have few spots due to pricking old pimples and yes, open pores too!

Cleanse : As always said, Cleansing is the most important step in your skin care regime and i use three different cleansers according to my skin's daily mood! 

H2O water white advanced brightening cleanser
Price : 1450/-
Buy : Here 
This amazing cleanser works good on my skin. It brightens up my skin and makes it soft and smooth to touch. It definitely does an excellent job of cleansing everything because I don't find anything else when I follow up with the toner, skin is definitely clean! 

Ponds Pimple Clear White Multi Action Face Wash & Scrub
Price : 75/-
Buy :  Here
This cleanser is not the best cleanser out there but it definitely works on my breakouts. My pimples are gone and skin is healed when I use this. It takes about a week for my skin to turn back to normal when I use this after a breakout. Skin is squeaky clean and is brightened up but the brightness vanishes after a couple of minutes and you are back to your actual complexion. It is a staple face wash in my skin care regime which I keep purchasing every time it's finish.

Clinsure
Price : 120/-
Buy : Here 
This one was recommended to me by a derm and she told me to use it five days before I am up for chemical peeling and microdermabrasion which she suggested me to get done, but I was too afraid to try anything new on my skin which involved chemicals and stuff right before the wedding but I got the cleanser and i have no regrets! This baby works beautifully on my skin which stopped reacting to cetaphil ages ago. Cetaphil was my go to cleanser but later somehow my skin stopped responding to it. This is amazing, cleanses my skin beautifully and also repairs the damage. I use this atleast twice a day, Love this! 

Tone

Oraganic Harvest Neem Tulsi Toner
Price: 345/-
Buy : Here 
On my recent visit to Health and Glow I picked up this toner because i was running out of my biotique cucumber toner. This is not a miracle product but I decided to keep it my refrigerator along with my eye cream for that extra work! It works fine but is definitely not the best toner out there.

Scrub

Forest essentials Hand pounded organic fruit scrub
Price : 1450/-
Buy : Here 
This scrub is a miracle product, It has so many good ingredients that you can feel the luxury you hold in your hand. It's 100% natural without any artificial color or fragrances. This thing doesn't break me out at all, I use this thrice a week for that extremely soft and smooth face. Love it. 

Soap and glory The Greatest scrub of hall Instant radiance foaming face polish
My Friend got this from her recent visit to US and this is something I use almost every night as a part of my skin care routine, This is like a personal dermabrasion in your closet. its smooth, creamy but effective. 

Eye Cream
When you have sleepless nights then the stress shows up and you wake up with panda eyes, so an effective eye cream is a must.

Vichy roll on eye cream : I keep this in refrigerator and when I massage the product for a good 30-40 seconds, The cold roll on and the product works wonders on my eyes. My magic potion in a tube!

Serum
Basically serum is a highly concentrated product which works instantly on the targeted areas and gives you faster results. Generally I use only one serum but since it is my wedding I slowly introduced another serum for much better results. Initially I used two serums one after the other every weekend and then every alternate days and now every night

Olay White Radiance Intensive Brightening serum : Brightens up my skin, works on lightening the spots. Basically my fairness facial in a bottle. I used this couple of times in the past and really liked how it worked on my skin.
Price : 1299/-
Buy : Here 

L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Laser renew serum : I really don't need this at all. This is meant for people in their late 20's who are experiencing skin aging. My skin is oily so I have very less chances of aging in the next five years but the wedding is getting too stressful for me and I am worried it might show up on my face, so this is just a precaution. I am really liking the effect on my skin. It is kind of covering up my sleepless nights and irregular eating habits effect on my skin 
Price :1499/-
Buy : Here 

Moisturizer

Olay classic moisturizing lotion : Works well on my oily skin in summers, doesn't make it greasy and works as a day cream
Price : 210/-
Buy: Here
Jhonson and Johnson milk cream: My go to night time moisturizer, Love that baby scent! been using this since forever! 
Price : 70/-
Buy : Here 

Face packs

If you know me you will also know my love for face packs. I am currently using these three face packs every alternate day for that extra pampering my skin needs. 

Madhulika Nourishing Honey lep : 

Forest Essentials Madhulika Lep Facial Masque is packed with potent herbs and cold pressed organic oils. Enriched with organic raw Honey this masque deeply cleanses, tones and gives an instant glow to the skin. The combination of natural herbs along with Raw Cane Sugar eliminates dead and dry skin cells leaving a smooth porcelain finish. There it says it all!!
Price : 1475/-
Buy : Here

VLCC Clear tan fruits face pack 

Regular usage definitely reduces tan and helps you get back your lost complexion. Cleanses. exfoliates and removes all the dirt on skin. Amazing product for the price.

Price : 215 Buy : Here 

Himalaya fairness face pack
Does nothing on my skin apart from cleansing. Am planning to stop using this and change to aroma magic glow pack. waste of time and money!
Price : 130/-
Buy : Here 

Sunscreen lotion 
My go to lotus matte sunscreen lotion 40 spf
Price : 235/-
Buy : Here 

Make up removing 
Now this is really really important. Never sleep with your make up on and always remember to clean it completely. 

Clinique cleansing balm : A tiny bit goes a long way with this, removes tricky mascara with ease. Nourishes the skin and keeps it healthy. Rinses off easily. I use Johnson and Johnson baby wipes to remove the oil before washing
Price : 2061/-
Buy : HERE 

I spray cold water on my face when ever I am at home once in an hr or so for that refreshing look and to keep my skin hydrated 

Special Treatment

Forest Essentials Tejasvi Night Emulsion

Forest Essentials Tejasvi Night Emulsion is specially formulated by combining unique natural moisturizers along with selected Ayurvedic herbs to provide extraordinary fairness,smoothness and suppleness to the skin.Cow’s Ghee is used as a carrier (Yohavahi) for herbs because of its supreme penetrating qualities and ability to carry actives of herbs deep into the skin .Cow’s Ghee along with Coconut oil and Organic Beeswax soften, nourish, protect and strengthen the skin tissues. Active herbs like KasturiManjal, Peepal and Banyan leaves are very potent antioxidant agents which help reducing the damaging effect of free radicals. Specific herbs like Akashneem and Jivantimakes the skin tone lighter and brighter and keeps it flawless. Regular usage of Tejasvi Night Emulsion enhances elasticity of the skin leaving it with a lighter fairer skin tone,supple and youthful with a noticeably soft resilient and ‘plumped’ quality, and a radiant glow or “Tejas”

Price : 1975/-
Buy : Here 

P.S: This is just how my skin likes. You need not use the same products.
and sorry for the shitty photographs! 

Make up basics 4: CONCEALERS 101

As the name suggests this product is a miracle which conceals all your imperfections. We all are humans and we all have dark spots and dark circles. No exceptions there! ( If you are someone with perfect skin just make sure I never see you because I might just kill you). Before going ahead with concealing and how to conceal,Lets talk about different type of concealers.

Types of concealers: 
Covering concealers 
Corrective concealers

Covering concealers are normal concealers which are in the same shade as your skin and are used to cover up simple blemishes and not very dark circles. There are loads of these in the market and you can opt for any brand if you don't have any major skin problems.

Corrective concealers/ correctors: 
Well these also come under concealers but they have colors, like yellow, purple, green and orange. NO, these are not to paint your face but to conceal your imperfections. Did you know about color wheel? Yes, The same one we learnt in science long ago which says one particular color cancels the other color, same thing is applied on skin here.

Green corrects Red
Orange corrects Blue
Purple corrects Yellow

Green concealers are used to cover redness on the face caused by acne or irritation or rosca.
Orange: Peach and Salmon shades also come under this and Now these are very very usefull to conceal the under eye darkness. Most of us have blue or dark grey under eyes which turn more grayish when you apply just a concealer, But when you apply any Salmon/Orange or Peach tinted corrector and then layer it with concealer you will get that flawless under eyes look.
Purple : Well this is to cover up yellow tones on skin caused due to skin problems or jaundice

How to cover your dark circles:
Well tons of people ask me this question and brides seem to go paranoid about dark circles. Easy there! Here is a simple tutorial to conceal your dark circles.

What will you need:
One orangy/peachy corrector (used pixi corrective concealer in brightening peach)
One concealer slightly darker than my skintone (mac select cover up concealer in NC44)
One concealer slightly lighter than my skin tone (lakme absolute concealer in the shade fair)

lets get started

Firstly This is my eye with just some moisturizer on. I dont have very dark circles but yes I do have a little darkness in the inner corner of my eye and the shadow of my eye makes it very prominent.

Step 1: Apply a corrector. Use your ring finger to apply anything under your eye because it has least amount of pressure. You can also use a makeup sponge or a concealer brush.

Step 2: Take a concealer slightly darker than your skin tone and use it on the corrector. Blend with minimum pressure.

Step 3 : Layer a slightly lighter concealer to instantly brighten up the area.

Now lets see the before after