I have been hearing a lot of good things about Shalini Vadhera's book Passport to Beauty and I was very curious. Growing up in my family meant that you learned your abc's, 123's, and herbs beneficial to maintaining a glow simultaneously. At school I was quizzed about the alphabets, at home I would be drenched in cod liver oil to make sure my skin would glow (This is a long and horrendously stinky but true story. Eventually the stench convinced people to take action and they used sticks to keep me and my fish-avatar self at bay). Suffice it to say I know a thing or two about ayurvedic beauty rituals and that this has made me a tough critic on the subject.


Shalini Vadhera's book provides wonderful little excerpts from her travels and encounters. I think this is what makes the book such a fun read. You get some very nice recipes for skin care with a charming back story. It provides a broad range of skin care recipes. Some, such as the yoghurt and honey mask I already knew of. Others, such as the Careyes Body Smoothie or White Tea Anti-Aging Mask I did not know about and found it a delight to read. What I really appreciated about the book was the range of things she talks about. You get a lot of recipes and information on natural remedies for a wide range of skin and body areas.

I spent one afternoon trying out a bunch of recipes and it was a fun and very girly experience. One good thing about the book that I didn't have to go hunting down ingredients such as unicorn tear drops that women in other countries had readily available to them but I would have to use witchcraft to magically obtain. Most of the ingredients Shalini talks about were pretty much in the kitchen and if not they're readily available. One thing to remember is that like with face creams, remember your skin type when concocting anything in the kitchen. If you're looking for a fun read that gives you a lot of recipes you can make in your kitchen, I'd really give Shalini's book a try.

image source: www.barnesandnoble.com

Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet
Another interruption in bringing you my tutorial! I was browsing through Amazon.com and I came across the following book.


Let me start off by saying that I haven't read the book and it doesn't have the "peek inside the book" option I love so much on. To make matters worse, there are no reviews. However, the title itself is so enticing that I wanted to blog about it. The book says that it is about Indian traditions in health and beauty. Sounds quite interesting, as I've been looking for a good book about desi beauty traditions. If anyone has read this book, please let me know what it is like. I am dying of curiosity but I don't have time to read extra books at this moment.

The Book of Natural Skin Care by Supara Trikha
This book I have heard of, and, even better, I own it to boot. I've had it for quite a while and it has some great natural remedies and has an index with a brief description of natural ingredients beneficial to the skin. There are times where I raise my eyebrow in question, or even in squeamishness, because she recommends using sperm, yes you heard that, as an under-eye treatment. I'm not too sure I would ever do that, but her other tips, such as her papaya face mask or her strawberry face mask, are great. I must add that these tips are similar to the many books by desi authors on natural skin care. If you've read any such book, you'll find the approach Suparna Trikha takes very familiar.