DIY – Makeup brushes holder

I did my own makeup for my wedding (did I see raised eyebrows in surprise :P). I did not trust the beauty parlour I knew in Visakhapatnam and more than that I did not want to shell out thousands for every occasion. One of my cousins spent a whopping total of 25k for makeup for 5 occasions! (that is considered a lot in traditional south Indian families, our weddings are more subdued than north Indian weddings which I love btw am waited to be invited to :P). My logic was that it’s better to buy makeup products worth 25k and learn to apply than pay so much and hope that he/she does a good job. And finding a good makeup artist in Visakhapatnam would have been tricky as I was in Bangalore and was traveling there just in time for the wedding. Anyway I am always in for DIY, my wedding lehenga was a DIY for god sake! I had a harrowing time getting it done but at the same time I had a lot of fun J (does that make sense :P)

    So I became all makeup junkie, reading reviews online (IMBB was a boon), watching tutorials, getting to know the difference between a bronzer and a blush etc and in the process collected a whole lot of makeup. My makeup collection before consisted of a kajal, a compact and a few lip balms (all of it fitted into my old college pen pouch) and after the wedding I had cream blushes, powder blushes, eye shadow palettes, mascara, two different foundations for matte and dewy (I did not even know these terms before) and etc etc. I am proud that other than one or two lipsticks (thanks to the mall lighting when I tried on at the store) there were hardly any misses (again the credit goes to IMBB). I have not become a pro at makeup but I am decent now (I can apply blush without looking like a clown and I can apply eye shadow without looking like someone gave me a black eye).

     With all that makeup came quite a few makeup brushes (never knew there were so many types) and I wanted to store my fluffies properly so that the bristles were not damaged and they were handy at the same time. A mug was an obvious choice but I wanted to up the cute quotient and make it all girly and pretty. So I took the plain white mug and painted makeup products all over it. I went all high end and painted Channel lipstick, Dior eye shadow palette, Givenchy mascara etc on it. I just googled for the images of real products and drew the same, first with pencil (it does not come out very dark, but it is enough for outline). Then I went over the same thing with acrylic paint. I tried to keep the colours same and added the logos and tried to copy the labels as well. At the end here is what I got J

On my vanity shelf :)

You can paint dresses or bags or shoes or even teddies or hearts or you can just doodle cute stuff on the mug. It would make a cute addition to your vanity display and more importantly all your brushes will be in one place intact.

Psst: It also makes a very good gift for your bestie :)
And psst again: This post is dedicated to IMBB which inspired me to start this blog :)

DIY – Gift for an expectant mother

I find the whole gift giving business quite tiring (Sheldon Cooper thank you very much!) but I also secretly enjoy it J I love finding the perfect gift suitable for the person, suitable for the occasion and ya also suitable to my wallet. Now with so many factors thrown in, finding that perfect gift which will make the other person go “Wow! that was what I wanted” or at least “Wow! I never thought I should have it.” is quite a challenge.

But challenge accepted (à la Barney, that’s the second sitcom reference, I should stop now :P). So where was I…. ya so we have established that fact that I love buying/making/fussing over the perfect gift. Now when my cousin’s wife broke the good news, I immediately started thinking of a good gift to take along when we go to visit them. Sweets, chocolates, flowers etc are done to death and between the morning sickness and mood swings, remote chances that she would have enjoyed them. My next option was a pamper basket including hand cream, body butter, scented candles, the works. But I did not get the perfect basket to pack them all in (yup I am such a nitpicker) but more than that I did not have time to hunt for all of that and the basket. I wanted some easy way out yet without compromising my unique and perfect gift condition. So I thought of customizing something, and a mug seemed to be quite simple and easy. I went with the super mom theme, twisted it to make it more appropriate by adding “to be”, added her name and googled a fun image for the mug and photoshoped it all together into one image. Just give the image to any of the customizing kiosks and it was ready in one day J. I got it done in Kodak customizing shop in Jyothi Nivas College Road, Koramangala, Bangalore. But you can get it done anywhere. And you have an appropriate gift which conveys the thought aptly. Pack it up in a cute way and you have upped the gift’s aww factor even more J

Here are the pictures (sorry for the bad quality, took them in a hurry with a phone just before giving :P)