Trend watching in Bangalore…

Posted by: ashchowdary on: January 16, 2013

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 Hello gorgeous people…

 As I join the league of extraordinary ladies who want to immortalize their passion for fashion and beauty through words, I want to make no apologies if the subject sounds too trivial for the serious minded set.

True, you may not sigh in rapture over a dreamy taffeta dress (check Zooey Deschanel at the recent Golden Globes) or nearly swoon over a jaunty box set of limited edition makeup in a nautical theme (example: MAC 2012) or admire a shot of dazzling turquoise thread in a hand woven stole.

But hey, who can dismiss art? Because, ever since clothes turned more beautiful than functional and skincare and beauty worked on stylised packaging, these gorgeous collections moved from being regular products/garments to sublime works of art.

So, join me as I explore beauty and fashion trends on this blog. I will try and get an expert opinion on my subject of the day often, unless I am just rambling to tell you all that I have discovered on my own.

This blog is for all you style loving gals out there, for all the beauty-aware-and-wanting-to-know-more ladies who surf the net for information and for all the guys who might drop by to pick up some ideas and tips for themselves.

Now, let me begin…

Oil over troubled waters!

Here’s a look at the magic of oils on the beauty scene today.

There was a time, quite some years ago, when were told to avoid oil. ‘Do you oil your hair? But that’s a terrible thing to do’ said salon owners and hair stylists of the day. Rewind further back, and there was also a time when our mothers would not let us wash our hair before applying several cups of warm oil on the scalp and along the length of our tresses.

Well oils have truly come full circle. The stores are full of them again, and I was amazed at how many I found during my last shopping trip.

Facial oils are now huge on the beauty scene.  Today, here are oils for the face, the body, the hair and so much more.

I had bought a fragrant jar of lotus oil over the winter and it has served me well. Unlike moisturizers, they don’t make you feel good for a while and then disappear into thin air, leaving patchy skin behind. These oils seep into the face, wipe out all traces of dryness and … voila, smooth, kissable skin.

This was also the year I gave hand cream a miss and went into for tubes of cuticle oil instead. This gentle oil gets soaked into the fingernails, and your hands end up feeling like soft silk. A total must buy for the gals and as for guys, they should check them out too, if they work in a job where their hands are always on display.

There are eyelash oils to make your eyelashes grow denser and there are body oils to pour into your bath water to fight winter dryness.

But what had me smiling this month was when I found a whole range of hair oils from companies that had never made them before. Beauticians are recommending warm oil hair massages and now even the shampoo makers have decided to create oils that can make your hair manageable and lovely.

So, if creams and lotions are not helping you too much these days and you’ve made a resolution to look after your skin, get yourself a bottle of oil instead from one of the luxury brands.

It is imperative to remember that you cannot smear any kind of oil on your face or your hands. Look for products specifically made for these areas of your body and use them in the proportion mentioned on the jar.

This is one product that promises to make your life silky smooth this year!

Expert Take:

Dr Sandhya Zacharias (dermatologist)

“The concept of using oils on the face was frowned upon once upon a time. Doubts about oils clogging the pores and causing acne was a matter of concern. However, now fads have changed and so has the outlook. Synthetic/natural oils are said to regulate the natural oils that are produced on the face. However, most of these factory produced natural oils have fragrances which may contain certain components that could lead to pigmentation over the years. On the other hand, tea tree oil has shown some promise where lessening acne is concerned, though there is no clear medical evidence to substantiate this. My advice is … use fragrance-free face oils and use sparingly till you are sure that it suits you. After that, use as per the instructions on the package.