Review-Aroma Essentials Skin Brightening Gold Gel

I just took a New Year Resolution ( Bengali one) to take my blog seriously and to do something about my organic skin products obsession… to review them so that you don’t end up wasting so much money and time like I did.

What is the better way to start than to write about the best organic beauty and skin care brand..Aroma Essentials. Authentic, Effective and Affordable they tick all the boxes.

Coming to the product.. the gold gel is intended for night time skin care rituals.. couple of drops are enough.

What the product claims:

• Rejuvenates skin
• Makes skin healthy and glowing

My Experience

• This gel really works well on combination/oily skin. You get up next morning with a glow minus looking like an oil mine.
• I have been using it on an off for four months, it was little drying for pick winter but a blessing for humid Kolkata summer.
• Evens out skin
• Really affordable INR 350/45 gm and it will last for 5/6 months
• Cruelty and chemical free

My rating: 4/5

My misadventures in a makeup counter.

I had a simple requirement, to buy a foundation stick for daily use.. should have ordered via Nykaa, but also had to visit the nearby Fabindia to check some of their latest skin care range… thus landed up in the neighbourhood mall.. and had the ill fate to enter a local makeup and beauty shop.In the Avani mall howrah you will found them in the ground floor.. and what followed is a series of unfortunate events..

1. First mistake was I went to the skincare shelf because some colourful packaging got my attention..rookie mistake, for the next 10 minuets two ladies pushed 20 bottles in my hand, even when I was talking to a sane- ish SA, one jumped and pushed a jar in my hand.. this after telling them thrice that I do not need their help

2. After I moved to the make up section, by then I realised it is terrible idea to browse, if you don’t want to be rude to extremely annoying sales person. I asked for the foundation stick. The guy in the Maybelline counter was not there, three other SAs told me that “NO SUCH PRODUCT EXISTS”, and went on swatching their own products and mind you most of them were wrong shades for me.. one guy tried to sell me a concealer as foundation…beat that..

3. When I finally snatched the product and literally ran to the counter, as I was swiping my card two sales girl asked me 20 times why I am not buying a shampoo or a kajal or a fairness cream..because of course I need one…

I have the bad habit of being incredibly polite and nice in shops but by then I was in the verge of loosing my mind…

So do yourself a favour, avoid the Beauty shops in malls and shop online.

City of Ghosts By Victoria Schwab-Review

“Two parents, a girl, a ghost, and a ticked-off cat, ready for the next adventure.”

Cassidy Blake’s parents are The Inspectres, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one. When The Inspectres head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly.

The first thing first…. this book is meant for middle graders so it won’t be fair to measure how much or how less scary this book is based on our grown ass standard of scary, specially when we live in a scary as hell world.

Now coming to the review

1. The writing is taut, characters are extremely relatable and well developed, which is remarkable in a barely 250 pages long book.

2. The book is atmospheric and draws such a spooky and fascinating picture of scotland that it immediately went to my “must visit place before I die”.

3. Though all the action happened in last 25% or so, I enjoyed the build up way more.

4. Cassidy’s parents specially her mom is adorable, Cass is a darling strong character with a major Harry Potter syndrome and her best friend Jacob( who is a ghost) is brave , funny and absolutely adorable, but my favourite charred remains Lara Jayne Chowdhuri, whose father is from Delhi and I guess that is where she has inherited the spunk and swag.

5. It may be for really young people but the book deals with loss of children in a terrifying and heartbreaking ways.. extremely well presented but trigger warnings nevertheless. Also it is really really spooky at places.

6. The main trouble I had with this book is that the ending was hurried and the cover seems to be a bit too much inspired by Coraline..

But overall can’t wait for the next adventure of Cassidy Blake and Jacob the ghost.

My Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Insecurities & Body Image Issues …What Helped Me to Cope…

I was born in the 80s in the intellect capital of India, under communist rule. In my kind of families vanity was equated with vain.. Putting an effort to look good meant you have nothing better to do, you better read a book or learn Rabindra Sangeet….

The benefit was manifold, I am well read and always look beyond appearances… but on the other hand grew up to be extremely shy and always reminded myself that am not of right height, right haircut, right skin tone etc etc…..It took me long to overcome these insecurities, not completely but mostly.. I want to share what helped me, because it may help someone else

• Find an inspiration: I had a room mate who was from north east throughout my JNU days, and they are the most effortlessly stylish Indians you will ever found, she played a big part in developing my own sense of style..
• Follow Blogs: There used to be blogs by mortals like us who used to share their daily styles in ways we can follow. Not the instagram bloggers who posts photoshopped, fully made up snaps in clothes sponsored by brands. Dont find inspiration there, better follow runaway models, they are at least professionals. But I digress, I entirely learned how to accessorize from few blogs.
• Find your way: After you are done with getting inspired there will be a time you will find tour own footing. Like after visiting Zara, Forever 21, H&M many time I realised handloom cotton is my holy grail of fashion.
• Accept Your Flaws: It is more difficult to comprehend and follow than the social media memes make it look, but that is the ultimate goal….

These four bullets took me 20 minutes to write but it took me a decade to not feel dejected by my own reflection on mirror on most days..