Wedding/ Event Manicure Ideas

I've been posting less frequently and there's a crazy amount of things happening right now. If you didn't hear about it yet, I launched a new fashion label! It was primarily just accessories but the spring/summer 15 collection is set to have lots of clothing and beautiful shoes so stay on the look out. You can have sneak peeks of the collection on it's instagram page. I'm also flying back to India this week to attend my cousin's wedding and shopping for the wedding has taken so many months of constant trips to malls and stores and even to different cities. So while my family has been in this festive wedding mood, I thought of writing a post about wedding nail art that can help you guys get ideas for how to dress up for nails whether you're the bride, bridesmaid or guest! The post was published on Real Beauty Spot but since many of you aren't active on the website I thought I should share it here as well.

Glitter it up! : Glitter is the easiest way to make your nails look wedding-ready. Rose Gold has been in trend for a while and isn’t leaving any time soon so it’s a good medium if bright silver or gold is too loud and tacky for your taste. Holographic glitter also looks beautiful if you’re planning on wearing white or dark shades like navy blue, deep green, etc. 

Match your colors and prints: This looks like the new trend in bridal nails and it’s definitely the most fun one. Matching the colors and prints of your gorgeous traditional outfits with nails is pretty easy since it doesn’t require coming up with new patterns. However, since drawing patterns on a nail requires some serious skill you might want to get it done professionally. There are quite a few ways to rock this trend. 

Metallic Overlays: Having a plain base color that’s either the same as the color of your outfit or a pretty contrast works well. The base can be either glossy or matte (since matte nails were all over the spring/summer15 runways it might be a great option). The pattern is drawn over the top with a pretty metallic color that complements the sparkles and work on your outfit. 

Accent Nails: Accent nails came into trend sometime last year, have been around for over a year and are definitely here to stay for quite a while more. They’re a good way to add some whimsy to your manicure while still staying subtle. 

Get Fancy with some DIY: “Nail Jewelry” is a new concept and can be bought easily online and is quite pocket-friendly too. Some of it is even reusable! Get a few pieces that flatter the patterns on your outfit and you’re guaranteed a compliment every time you shake someone’s hand. 

Nail decals and stickers: Nail art stickers are one of the most fun and easy nail art tools around. The really great thing about these stickers is that they come in a whole range of different designs and are easy to apply.

If you're in India or in any other country with easy access to a store that sells fancy Indian bindis you can also get creative and use some pretty bindis to decorate your nails. Buy a pack in a pretty design and stick them onto your nails once the base color coat is done. Add some top coat and you’re done! It is an easy way to avoid placing fussy little crystals and doesn’t require the patience that doing “real” nail art requires. 

I would love to know if this post helped you get ready for a wedding or any other event and if any of these ideas were part of your wedding look tweet me a picture of tag me on your instagram post! I would love to see pictures of your nail art looks even if they aren't inspired by this post. Leave me cute comments below and be sure to follow me on instagram and like this blog on Facebook! 

Hair Chalking for Dark Hair

Hello There!

So a little while ago I wrote an article about Hair Chalking for Dark Hair for Real Beauty Spot and thought it would be nice to share the article here as well. These tips would work for anyone with darker hair colors like dark red, brown, auburn, black, etc. Hair Chalking is a great way to add some temporary color to your hair. It's also the best way to try mermaid hair tips after your hairdresser refuses to do it with permanent color for fear of damaging your hair! That really happened to me and hair chalking wasn't a thing back then so I finally get to live my dreams...Haha.

"....

Hair Chalking DIY – How To Hair Chalk

Step 1: Choose your colors. While dark blues, greens and reds may look adorable in the pictures online, most of them don’t show up that well on dark hair so pick carefully. Go for brighter shades such as a bright teal, bright blue, yellow, or pink. Pastels look wonderful if they show up but that depends on the kind/brand of chalk you use too.

Step 2: Soak the chalk. Fill an empty pill-box, color pallet or spoons with some water and dip one end of the chalk in them. Drip a few drops of water over the top if you think the chalk isn’t soaking up the water on it’s own. This will help release the pigments.

Step 3: Soak Yourself! While the chalk(s) is/are soaking, hop into the shower and wash your hair. Use a clarifying shampoo that will remove the excess oil in your hair but skip the conditioner (that greasy stuff doesn’t let the pigments stick). Towel dry but not too much and change into an old tshirt because it may get dirty.

... Click here to read the entire article! 

PS: I know it might be annoying to be led to another page for the article but I hope I've sparked your curiosity enough to make you go check it out. Real Beauty Spot, being a different website that isn't owned by me, prevents me from posting the complete article here but I'm sure you'll find it worth the trouble. 

Let me know what you think and if you've ever chalked your hair in the comments below. I would love to see pictures of your hair chalking attempts on twitter/Instagram so tag me! 

Love,

Tanaya <3

Argan Dew Giveaway!

Hello there!

I'm finally posting this giveaway here on the blog. It is already active on Instagram. As you know, Argan Dew is a brand I've previously blogged about and their replenishing hair mask has quickly made it's way into my haircare routine. I initially tried a few samples of their products which is what made me fall in love with the hair mask and discover their brand. Since I can't imagine going a day without my Argan Dew Replenishing Hair Mask, I really wanted you guys to try it too and hence this giveaway. Argan Dew will be sending out the prizes directly. The giveaway is open to all USA and India residents.

5 winners will be picked. 3 from Instagram and 2 from here. You can enter on both places and to increase your chances of winning. To enter the giveaway on Instagram go here.

To enter through my blog, enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comment below to let me know if you entered! :)

Tanaya <3

My Winter Skincare Must-have : Coconut-Argan Body Oil

Summer seems to be on it’s way out all too soon and the temperatures are dropping so quickly! I thought it’s time to start talking about fall/winter essentials and so here’s my first essential. While the skin on my face is in it’s best condition during winter, I know it’s strange, the skin on my legs and hands gets dehydrated and dry. Having oily skin made me hate heavy moisturizers and oils for my face and unfortunately I couldn’t bear to think of applying them on my body either. However, if there’s one ingredient I would trust with moisturizaton it’s Argan Oil. I decided to give this body oil by emerginC because it has coconut and argan oil in it- a combination that I’ve never seen before in any other product.

Packaging: It comes in a spray bottle, which looks pretty ordinary. The different shades of green on the bottle look cute. Ignore the awkward sheet of cling film/plastic wrap on my bottle. I was traveling with this bottle and didn’t want it to leak.

Texture: The product feels like an oil (obviously) but it isn’t sticky at all. In fact it gets absorbed into the skin so quickly that you hardly have time to realize that it’s oil.

Fragrance: It is not fragrance-free. It definitely has a smell and not everyone may like it but I love it. It smells like herbs and something else that I can’t put a name on. It’s a difficult scent to describe but I would say it smells very organic and earthy.

Results: Go get it! This product would make it into my winter-survival kit, my daily-essentials kit, my zombie-apocalypse-survival kit and anything else you can thing of. I love how I can just spray it onto the dry region of my skin and it sinks in instantly. It hydrates the skin better than any moisturizer I’ve ever used and it leaves behind a lovely fragrance that I really like. This product gets a definite 5/5 or 10/10 from me. If you have dry skin I’m pretty sure you could even use it on your face since it’s 100% organic and natural and wouldn’t have any side effects. It’s a definite must-have.

I really hope you'll try this product because I love it so much and that this post was helpful. Let me know what you think in the comments below and if you can recommend any winter beauty essentials. 

Tanaya <3

Makeup by One Direction and Miami Concert Giveaway

This is a follow up to the previous giveaway and we're following up with an even bigger giveaway! The winner of this giveaway will not only have a chance to win the makeup collection but also win a free trip for 2 to the One Direction Concert in Miami!

The Prize

The prize Winner will receive:

1) 2 Field Level Tickets to One Direction Final Concert Tour Date in Miami on Sunday 10/5/14. 

2) 2 R/T economy tickets (within continental United States ONLY) to Miami.

3) Room Accommodations (1 Room) at the Turnberry-Isle Miami Hotel (http://www.turnberryislemiami.com/) 

4) Ground transportation (to/from Airport and to/from Concert)

5) $300 AMEX Card for incidental expenses

6) 2 Autographed Make-up by ONE DIRECTION limited-edition collections of beauty essentials, housed in a collectible keepsake tin. Inside is everything you need to rock all your beauty looks on or off the stage. The 2 makeup tins will be randomly selected from the 3 available collections (Midnight Memories, Take Me Home, or Up all Night).

To Enter:

1) Follow this blog on Bloglovin', Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

2) Click on the link:  : and fill in the form

3) Follow One Direction on Facebook.

So go ahead and enter and I really hope you'll win! Stay tuned to this blog for other posts and reviews coming up soon. 

Tanaya <3

Makeup by One Diection Autographed Giveaway!

As promised on my Instagram page, here's the giveaway for the One Direction makeup line. This is an international giveaway. The rules to enter are given below:

1. Visit https://www.facebook.com/MakeupbyOneDirection and like their Facebook page.
2. Follow my blog on Bloglovin' , Instagram and Twitter. This may not count for an extra entry but it's just nice to follow the person that introduced you to the giveaway...be the sweet person I know you are and follow :)
3. Go to https://promosimple.com/ps/5645 and fill out the form.

The Winner Receives: A tin of The Looks Collection signed by all five guys!

Let me know in the comments below if you enter and especially if you win! I would love to see pictures of you with your One Direction Makeup so tweet them to me.

Tanaya <3

Garnier Pure Active Neem Face Wash Reviewed!

It's been taking me a while to get around to posting on this blog recently and I really don't like it. I'm going to try and post every week starting now and hopefully stick to that schedule because I love writing these posts. Quite a few weeks ago, while I was in India, Garnier Pure Active sent me a lovely package with their new neem face wash. If you follow me on Instagram you probably know how long it's been since I received the package (why do I delay these posts? ).

Packaging: It comes in a pretty standard tube and the only part that really annoys me with many tubes is the twisty cap which comes off completely. I read that many people have tubes with the twisty cap but mine wasn't so I'm happy. I prefer these flip-top tubes since they're convenient and you don't have to struggle with trying to hold the cap and not misplace it. Since I've left the actual tube back in India I had to turn to google images for some help. (See how the google image has a twisty cap and a different design on the packaging? They must have repackaged these!). I do really like the look of the tube though. It's simple, clean and neat.

Texture: It's a clear gel-like texture but too runny to really be classified as a gel I think. It has a lime green color and I'm not sure what I think about that. Some days I love it because it's bright and fresh but on some others it reminds me of those disgusting snot-like slime things little kids play with. I guess it just depends on your mood. It foams up pretty well and smells really good. I can't describe the smell exactly but it has hints of neem and something fruity in it.

Results: You don't need a lot of this product since it foams up and spreads very evenly on the skin. Once you wash it off, it leaves your skin feeling really soft and moisturized. Garnier claims that it fights bacteria, fights pollution and removes oil. My skin definitely feels cleaner after using it and I've seen neem products work very well on most people with acne-prone skin. However, neem products seem to hate me and give me more breakouts. I was hoping that this one would be different and to a certain extent it was. I just loved the smell and the fresh/clean feeling after using it so much that I hoped it would be good for my skin. It took a few weeks to start giving me breakouts which is a good sign because it means the face wash wouldn't be harsh on someone else's skin (someone whose skin doesn't react to neem in a bad way).

I believe it costs INR75 for a 100ml tube which is extremely affordable so you should give it a whirl if you have acne-prone skin. If this one doesn't do it for you, I recommend the Garnier Pure Active Daily Scrub with Salicylic Acid. That face wash has my absolute favorite for years now and even though it's marketed as a blackhead scrub it works amazingly well on acne.

Extras: That Garnier pen and notebook came in so handy especially since we were making notes, reminders and lists while planning events. Thank you for those Garnier if you're reading this! However, may I suggest changing the graphics on the notebook? The animated pimple-covered faces made me cringe and not want to use it so I tore out those pages while using the notebook.

I hope you guys found this post helpful. If you've used this product before or plan on trying it out, I would love to know more in the comments below. You can also head on over to twitter where you can follow me at @Thesecretlife_T and Garnier at @PureActiveIndia . Tweet us with your opinions about this product in particular or anything else from the range!

Tanaya <3

Review: Nivea Fruity Shine Lip Balm in Peach

You can also check this post out on Real Beauty Spot where it was originally published.

One of my absolute beauty must-haves is the Nivea Fruity Shine Lip Balm in Guava so it isn’t surprising that I was very excited to try the new Peach Lip Balm.

Packaging: It’s changed! I think this new packaging is slightly thinner but it may just be an illusion because there’s barely any difference in shape. The new packaging looks more mature and mainstream when compared to the old one but I don’t mind it. On the inside the tube is still the same. A convenient twist-up style tube that twists smoothly. The outside may not look nearly as cute and quirky as the older one but the practicality is still just as good.

Pigmentation, Texture, Finish: The texture feels exactly the same as my Guava Lip Balm when swatched on the hand. It’s very smooth and buttery. However, it’s a whole different story when applied on the lips. This Peach version has a weird tacky feeling to it. I can’t even keep it on my lips for over 2 minutes without getting irritated by it. In terms of pigmentation, it has none. It looks like a lovely peach with tiny shimmer particles in the tube. I expected a sheer peachy color but it just comes off as a clear balm. There’s no color and even the finish looks like a cheap lip balm. It’s glossy but doesn’t give the ‘my lips but better’ look.

Lasting Power: With the terrible texture and finish, I wasn’t even able to keep this lip balm on enough to find out how long it lasts. It can easily last upto an hour or so as long as you don’t eat much.

In conclusion, I’m very disappointed in this product. That obviously isn’t my opinion about the whole Fruity Shine range because I still adore the Guava Lip Balm and cannot spend a day without it. I do not recommend spending your money on this Peach version but do give the Guava version a whirl (psst…it’s amazing!). 

Since I've been doing a lot of posts about Indian products I thought a Must-Have Products on the Indian Beauty Market would be fun to write and read. Would you guys like to read a post like that? Let me know in the comments and I'll do one soon!

Tanaya <3

New Haircare Crush & Staple - Argan Dew Replenishing Hair Mask

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now but I haven't posted much at all recently. I feel so bad about not giving this blog enough time recently but I've been caught up in something very exciting that's coming up and if you follow me on Instagram you probably know about it already. I will do a complete post about it soon but this post is about my new haircare product obsession.

A few months ago, a brand called Argan Dew contacted me and sent over a few samples of their products to try and review. Argan Oil isn't a new discovery anymore and beauty bloggers as well as beauty enthusiasts have been going crazy over this miracle ingredient. I expected Argan Dew to be another one of those hyped up Argan oil products that are nice enough but aren't good enough to rave about. Argan Dew's Replenishing Hair Mask was a much-needed product for my hair. My usual favorite - Matrix Biolage - had stopped working quite as well as it used to( I have no clue why). As a result, my hair wasn't getting the moisture it needed and was getting terribly dry. Argan Dew's hair mask is that weirdly wonderful product that works and makes a difference with one use. I'm absolutely in love with this product and I'm trying to figure out how to get a full size of it (Since it's available only in UK) before I run out of the samples I was given. Update: Soon after this post was published, Argan Dew wrote to inform me that their products are available worldwide through argandew.com or amazon and ebay. Lucky for us!

Texture, Consistency: The mask has a thick and creamy texture. It has the most divine fragrance I've ever smelled in a hair product which makes using the mask a wonderful experience. If you're not much into fragrances in your products you may not like it but I love it.

Result: My hair feels softer, glossy, healthier and moisturized. It feel so luxurious and soft that I have to actively resist touching it. Hahaha.

I would recommend this product to anyone dealing with dry and frizzy hair or split ends. Although I love the Hair Mask I'm not a huge fan of their Miracle Hair Oil so I wouldn't recommend it.

I hope this review helped you and let me know if you've tried this product yourself. What did you think of it? Will you be trying it out soon? I'd love to hear all about it!
Don't forget to follow on: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Bloglovin' | SecretClosetShop

Tanaya<3

*The product mentioned in this post was provided for review. The opinions expressed in the post are unbiased and honest. 

Lakme Absolute Gloss Addict Lipstick - Desert Rose

Have you watched the commercials for this new launch by Lakme? With Kareena Kapoor wearing a red and extremely glossy lipstick? When I first saw it I loved the red color but I found the glossyness to be too over-the-top and quite tacky-looking. However, once I saw swatches of the lipstick (or "Gloss Sticks” as Lakme likes to name them) I couldn’t wait to try it! They looked like the perfect amount of gloss and nothing like the exaggerated tacky lipcolor in the commercial.

Packaging: The tube looks absolutely precious! I love the effect created by the clear plastic tube over the metallic one. Lakme really stepped it up with the packaging for this lipstick (I don’t usually like the packaging of any of their other products) making it both practical and elegant. The clear top is really convenient since you can see the shade and easily find the lipstick. The outer black box is quite average. Nothing too fascinating or classy but it isn’t bad either.

Pigmentation, Texture and Finish:  The texture is nice and buttery which makes the color glide on without any efforts or rubbing. It allows the color to be applied evenly across the lips and is responsible for the glossy effect. While I love how glossy the product is, it’s not as pigmented as I had expected it to be. It’s still a beautiful product and I’ve started reaching for it almost everyday now but I’m sad that it was hyped up to be more pigmented than it actually is. The bright side to it not being too heavily pigmented is that it is so wearable. It’s perfect for every day.

Shade: While staring at the numerous swatch galleries on Google, Desert Rose repeatedly stood out to me. It’s like... 

Continue Reading... 


Tanaya <3

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