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

I started off trying Jojoba oil as a night time moisturizer. It was not a huge success. Yes, it made my skin look and feel like a baby's bottom but soon I started getting bumps and my skin looked like a baby's bottom when the diaper needed changing. I was crying not only because it made my skin bumpy, but because I didn't know any other product that made my skin so incredibly soft, smooth, and hydrated. My skin was radiant every morning. I had a huge tub of Jojoba oil, but since I couldn't use it for my face I was determined to find some use for it. Well let me tell you, I've found that use.
The skin on my body is extremely dry and can looked like the parched, cracked desert earth if I don't moisturize properly daily. I have been using jojoba oil for the past four weeks and I cannot believe the difference in how my skin feels. I know jojoba is a wax and all and closely resembles the sebum of your own skin, but I never expected it to work wonders on those rough patches I had.

I have very rough, thick, ashy skin on my elbows, knees, and ankles (you know, that bone that jutts out on your foot near the ankle, I have no clue what it's called). I also am prone to eczema if the air is very dry and air conditioning is death to comfortable skin. Jojoba oil moisturized my rough patches, got rid of the white and ashy look and feel of my skin, thoroughly kept my skin comfortable so I had no eczema flare-up. The best thing about it is that it doesn't feel the least bit oily or heavy like you'd expect it to. I can slather it on and I don't have to worry that it gets absorbed right away. Just the other day, I looked at my elbows and couldn't believe how smooth it felt.

Jojoba oil is also very versatile. It's an amazing and cheap make-up remover that gets rid of every smidgen of make-up on your face. It's also a great hair oil and I use a tiny droplet to get rid of fly-aways after I blow-dry my hair. Also, jojoba oil is such a great cuticle oil that helps keep my nail beds moisturized and without any raggedy skin.

I might not have found the best option for a facial moisturizer, but jojoba oil has proven to be liquid gold as a body moisturizer. It's such a worthwhile purchase and I know that my search has ended for a good body moisturizer.

image source: www.eczemafriends.com

The website is taking too long and it's turning out to be such a pain, so figured I'd just route my blog to my domain. This will be done shortly. I am just going to bring you the information I had on the website over here. Makes life simpler. So while I keep you waiting just another 16 hours or so until I bring you more information, enjoy this bath oil recipe.

I have tried this bath oil a few times and I really liked it. The genius wasn't me but it was Suparna Trikha's Book of Natural Skin Care. As I've stated before, she has some great tips and natural recipes.

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp peppermint oil
• the juice of 2 lemons. I used to either squeeze fresh lemons or the bottles with pre-squeezed lemon juice.
• 4 tsp almond oil
• 4 tsp geranium oil
• 2 tsp camphor

Method:

Just mix the ingredients together and add 1 tsp to your bath.

image source: www.mintindia.com

Yummy Body Scrub

With Summer and Spring slowly peering through the raining skies, it's going to be time for sandals and frilly little skirts again. Since I used the word yummy to describe this, rest assured that it's another one of my "raid the pantry" recipes. This is one of my favourite scrubs I use for my whole body and is great for at-home pedicures. You can store the scrub in a jar and keep it in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tsp milk
• 4 tsp rose water
• 4 tsp cucumber water (grate a cucumber and squeeze the juice from it)
• 4 tsp honey

Mix the ingredients together and it's ready for use. You can add more sugar to get the consistency you prefer.

Gentle, Soothing Facial

Glowing skin is a must if you want your make-up to look good. I remember peeping into the mirror when I was twelve and realizing that my skin was dull and patchy. This demanded serious attention but since my parents were pro natural-remedies and "anti-chemicals" as they called it, I was left to use the natural remedies that were passed on for generations in my family. Never mind that my brother nicknamed my concoctions "pigeon shit," the natural face masks I used were very effective in cleansing my skin and giving it a soft glow.

This is one of my favourite at-home facial.

• First, I steam with a few drops of rose essential oil added to the water. The scent relaxes me while I steam my face.
• Second, I massage the eye-area and lips gently with sweet almond oil.
• Third, I spread yogurt, I use low-fat, evenly over my face and avoid the eye-area and lips.
• Fourth, I put cotton pads dipped in cold milk over my eyes.

I lie down with the mask on for about 15 to 20 minutes and then wash it off with warm water. If there is too much residual almond oil, you can wash it off the targeted area with a gentle cleanser.

Castor Oil
Alright, so I know it's been a while but I promise I have a great surprise in store. It's not finished yet but it'll be there soon. Until then my lovelies, all you can do is patiently wait for me to fill the void with my useless chatter. So in lieu of the anxious wait, I have some tips on natural beauty remedies.

One of the great loves of my life is castor oil. I know it's incredibly thick and the smell can put you, and others (I have hard evidence to support this), off but if you don't mind your popularity suffering for a bit you'll discover it's a multi-purpose messiah. I have quite a few uses for it:

• Before I go to sleep, I pat a little bit on my under-eyes, and rub some on my lashes and eyebrows. It moisturizes my eyes better than any eye cream known to man, won't sting your eyes. On top of that it strengthens your lashes and eyebrows and makes them grow back. Being Indian, I know all about bushy eyebrows, but trust me when I say this has saved me after many a botched eyebrow-shaping incident (considering I first started tweezing my eyebrows in the dark so that my mother couldn't catch me, there have been quite a few incidents like this)
• Before washing my hair I always massage my scalp and the ends with a few drops of castor oil. You don't need much and it does such a good job of moisturizing my poor traumatized hair that it is the only hair mask I use.
• Before I sleep I massage my hands and feet with castor oil and put cotton gloves and socks over them. I know at this point you might think I might possibly resemble the monster you thought was under your bed when you were little when i am getting ready for my slumber. However, in the morning I have the softest skin and it really saves my hands and feet in the winter.
• As a final note, I use it to moisturize everything, my knees, elbows, etc. Any rough skin that I have stands no chance to the miraculous castor oil.
  

Gentle face mask

Although make-up is vital to my survival as a happy, fulfilled, and sane (I no longer dream that I am an Egyptian princess reincarnated thanks to the mystical powers of lipstick) human being, my first and foremost love is healthy skin. I will warn you though, my masks use natural stuff. And natural stuff can be gooey and takes getting used to the texture. Sure, the stickiness takes some getting used to, but the results are worth it.

This is my favourite face mask that I make in my kitchen.

Recipe:

• 1 tsp honey
• A few drops of lemon juice. Use a fresh lemon for this, and by a few drops, I mean two or three (you don’t need much).
• 3 tsp milk
• Half a cucumber sliced horizontally (you get the circular slices of cucumber)

The method:

1. Mix all the ingredients except cucumber thoroughly.
2. Dip your fingers into the mask. Just enough to spread onto your face, but not so much that it drips all over your arms and you become a sticky mess.
3. Gently massage the mask onto your face. Don’t put any of the mask on your eyebrows or eyelashes. I like to massage my face for a good 15 minutes.
4. Spread the cucumber evenly over your face. You should lie down for this as I don’t think gravity will give you the day off and not pull the cucumber slices to the ground. You can put a cucumber slice on each eye to give yourself a great cooling eye-mask.
5. Leave on for 10 minutes.
6. Wash off the mask.