Genelia D'Souza's Beauty Essentials

Genelia D'Souza is all about fresh make-up and fuss-free hair. She prefers to go au naturel most of the time as she has a clean-face fetish, which is why her biggest fear is bad make-up and skin breakouts.

This month's Vogue (Indian Edition) tells us what this pretty lass, who captured many hearts with her breakthrough performance in the hit movie of 2008 ~ Jaane Tu.... Ya Janne Na, has in her vanity case.

~ Skincare ~

Her skin care essentials include Clarins Hydraquench Rich Cream, Clarins Hydracare Tinted Moisturizer and Elizabeth Arden Good Morning Skin Serum.

~ Make-up ~

Foundation ~ Benefit Non-Fiction Liquid Foundation Volume 2. She has stuck to this base from the very beginning of her career.

Blush ~ Swears by M.A.C Blushcreme in Posey

Eyes~ She usually opts for extremely dark eyes or very nude eyes. She uses M.A.C Eye Kohl in Smolder and M.A.C eyeshadows in shades of black. For nude eyes, she goes for Chambor smudge pencil in Ebony Black and Lancome Definicils High Definition Mascara.

Lips~ Prefers fresh shades like orange and neutral pink by Bobbi Brown and sometimes plum shades by M.A.C. Lip gloss is reserved for a quick fix.

~ Hair Care ~

She is a L'Oreal loyalist and uses L'Oreal Professionel Liss Ultime Smoothing Night Treatment and their hair capsules to treat brittle hair. She gets Kerastase deep conditioning treatment once a week, and goes for a good volumising blow-dry most of the time.

~ Fragrance ~

 Genelia is a die-hard Davidoff Cool Water fan. It's the only fragrance she uses.

Happy Wednesday to all the Genelia D'Souza fans reading this :)

♥ Cynthia Z ^_^

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Beauty Tips I Learnt a Long ~ Long Time Ago

Growing up in a small town in North-East India called 'Shillong', I used to love hearing stories that go way back. Like most people from my hometown, I believe in some 'Old People's Sayings' and 'Old Wives' Tales'

So, I just want to share some tit bits I learnt when I was a kid.

***You'll need that pinch of salt before reading the rest.

For long... long... hair

How? Braid your hair before going to bed. Tie the end with a band and then a piece of ribbon on top. Make sure one end of the ribbon is a few inches longer than the end of your braided hair. Supposedly the hair will follow the ribbon! Maybe hair is just competitive and wants to win the race, I don't know.

Tip from ~ My childhood friend's old housekeeper, whose daughter had ~long~ hair past her waistline.

For Soft & Smooth Lips

What to do? Put a drop of mustard oil in your belly button before sleeping.

It WORKS! I think any oil works though, because every time I apply Bio Oil or BS Monoi Miracle Oil on my whole body (including belly button) , I don't reach for my lip balms every 10 minutes anymore.

For Shiny Nails

What You need? A brick!

How I know this ~ When I was a kid, I used to love playing with bricks that were lying around my house. I don't know how I thought of it, but I used to rub the powder from the broken ones on my nails using the sides of my palms (where the pinky is.) It made them very very shiny and smooth!!! I haven't done that again since then, but I'm telling you, even buffers have never made my nails so shiny like the brick powder.

**Rubbing too much could make your nails thinner though.

What they applied all over me when I was a baby

Mustard oil with sliced garlic fried till golden brown and crispy in it. Mustard oil is warming and garlic has anti-bacterial properties, so the combination prevents babies from catching colds and infections. Where I come from, most people use this on their babies after bathing them. In fact, some of them still do even today. Not so much a beauty tip, but I thought it's worth a mention :)

To Lighten, Clean and Exfoliate Skin

What you need : A Pumice Stone

I don't mean the textured ones you find in the market. I'm talking about the natural and smooth ones you find near the rivers and caves. Personally, I really do prefer using these, because the textured ones scrape and hurt my skin.

Years & years ago: My mom went to a well-known homeopathy doctor because of the melasma/hyperpigmentation that covered her face. He told her that the best way to remove it is to use a pumice stone once a week to exfoliate it. The doctor died one week later!!! :O

Mom took it to be a valuable advice since, you know, he died soon after. And yes, she still uses a pumice stone and her face has really really improved.

***A little superstition: Some say that most of these rivers are haunted, so when you take these stones home, a part of the place and all the 'eerie' things come along with the them *shudders*

So you need to drop a few coins/pennies in the river, as a way to give something in return. What? That's what they say!

That's all for now peeps.

Will post some more later.

♥ DBA ^_^

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