Author Archives: Apoorva Dhuper

Coffee: A Wonder Kitchen Product for Happy Skin

Hello Everyone!

Coffee is one substance, I can go on and on about. Most of us limit ourselves to using coffee as a beverage and are unaware of the health and beauty benefits of this wonder kitchen ingredient. In this write up, I would talk about why coffee is good for skincare and how can it be utilized in beauty treatments 🙂 Read on to know more.

How coffee is great for skin?:

1. Coffee is an excellent anti-oxidant. The role of an anti oxidant is crucial in our bodies. There are a number of biochemical reactions and metabolic processes going on in our bodies. These processes produce a whole lot of free radicals. These free radicals have often been described as an important culprit behind skin aging and skin cancers. Coffee is believed to help control both these by destroying free radicals and revitalizing skin cells.Though; the actual effects can only be seen after long term use.

2. Aroma therapy is something very much in fashion these days. Nobody can deny that coffee has an amazing aroma. Sipping a cup of coffee relaxes and relieves our senses so much. Did it ever make you wonder what a Coffee face pack would do! 😉

3. Exfoliating once or twice a week is an essential part of skincare routine due to increasing levels of dirt and pollution in cities. Scrubbing helps get rid of dead skin cells and deeply cleanses pores of skin. Clean skin allows moisturizers and other skin nourishing products to seep in better. Coffee works great as a mild scrub!! Towards the end of this article, I have provided some simple Ideas to use coffee as a scrub at home.

4. Coffee is also a known anti-cellulite agent. Remember how our gym trainers tell us do drink herbal tea and black coffee. The reason being, coffee helps cut down fat and tone down flab. Coffee wraps are being used in various spas as an anti-cellulite treatment.

5. It is an anti-Inflammatory substance too 🙂 So it works well in reducing local redness on skin.

6. It also helps in reducing puffiness around eyes.

Here are certain, easy tips to use coffee in your skincare regimens.

Coffee as a Mild Scrub:

Mix ground coffee (which is easily available in supermarkets) or instant coffee with Johnson’s baby oil or olive oil and use it on your face and neck, using gentle circular strokes. Massage face for 3 to 4 minutes and rinse off with Luke warm water. If you happen to have an oily skin and want to skip the oil, you can substitute it with Lemon juice or Aloe Vera gel. If you want to enjoy the fragrance, you can even leave it in as a face pack, afterwards.

Scrub for Knees, Elbows and Feet:

This is an absolutely simple one. Mix sugar and coffee powder. Use water or milk or Aloe Vera as a medium for wetting. This is a coarser scrub so, do not use it on your face.

Coffee as a Face Pack:

Use finely ground coffee or even instant coffee for this recipe. Mix equal proportions of coffee powder and milk powder. Use water/rose water/aloe gel as an agent to mix the ingredients together. Alternatively,You can take 1 table spoon coffee and mix it with few drops of milk. To make the consistency fluffy, beat the coffee well before applying onto the face. Apply in a thick layer on face. Let it stay for 20 minutes and wash off with luke warm water. This face pack has dual advantage of soothing your skin and relaxing you with it’s rich aroma 🙂

I really hope, you liked this write up and would start exploring the goodness of Coffee to make your skin Happy 🙂

How to Stay Fresh and Fragrant All Day Long? ~ 10 Easy Steps

10 Replies

Hey All!

Are you also out of those who are very particular about smelling fresh and fragrant all day long?? Well if yes, same pinch. I have a 9 to 6 job. It is so tiring already and in such a long schedule if at the end of the day, you are smelling bad. It is such a mood spoiler!

I am going to talk about something different here. It’s not about any perfume in particular. These are general guidelines on how can you make your perfumes and sprays last longer. I am really looking forward to your feedback after trying out these tips and tricks! 😉 I have also included pictures of some of the perfumes I own.

1. First thing, do take a shower before stepping out in sun. Anti Bacterial soaps are the best if you have a normal to oily skin. The reason being, it is not actually the sweat that produces odor but it is the bacteria that do it. However, those with dry skin can skip ant .bacterial soaps or try the variants with moisturizers.

2. You can add essential oils to your bathing water. In summers, mint oil is really nice as it has a cooling effect. Also during monsoons, you can add tea tree oil to water as it is a mild anti fungal agent. Instead of adding these oils to the entire bucket I suggest to add it to the last portion of water left.

3. Using a talc in summer is always an advantage. Since, it helps to absorb sweat as well as masking the odour.

4. Apply a neutral/mild smelling moisturizer or olive oil in small amounts on your skin before spraying perfume. These oils would trap the fragrance and help it stay longer, thus reducing the need of frequent sprays throughout the day.

5. There are certain ”pulse points” in your body which are the best for the fragrance to retain since, perfume scent is stimulated by warmth. These pulse points are the regions where the blood vessels are closest to the skin. The best areas to spray your perfume are the neck (where you can feel the pulsations), wrist, the upper fold of the elbow, the back of the knee or behind the ears.

6. Layering of the perfume. This is a rather interesting technique. Here you basically have to pile up the same or similar fragrances in multiple layers..
For example, I often do it with my Lavender collection.

Add some drops of lavender essential oil to your bathing water.
Use lavender shower gel on a loofah/lavender soap.
Use Lavender talc, which serves a dual purpose of absorbing sweat as well as adding another layer of fragrance.
If you have a lotion with lavender; Great!! Dab it on. I presently do not posses any such lotion. So I choose a mildly fragrant lotion.
Apply additional petroleum jelly to the pulse points and spray your perfume/deodorant on top of it.
This completes your layering and makes sure the fragrance would retain 😉

7. This Layering technique can be used for fragrances like rose jasmine, sandalwood, musk etc. which are usually available in multiple forms like soaps, creams, lotions, talc, deodorants, essential oils and perfumes.

8. Another thing I did not know until recently is hat freshly washed damp hair trap and retain smells really well. So, you can spray some perfume in damp hair and enjoy the fragrance all day long 🙂

9. Fruity and citrus-y fragrances usually disappear faster while deeper scents like musks and sandalwood tend to stay longer, since these are oil based.

10. The staying potential of a perfume also depends on how concentrated it is. ”Parfum” is the most concentrated followed by ”Eau de parfum” and ”Eau de toilette’, which is a more diluted one. ”Eau de cologne” is the most diluted. Last of course are the deodorants. Last but not the least, do not overdo it!!

Products I Use Currently:

Stay fresh and fragrant! 🙂

Palmolive Aroma Therapy Absolute Relax Shower Gel Review

13 Replies

Hi Girls!

How are you all doing?? Long, refreshing showers just take away all the stress of our hectic schedules: ) Don’t they? Given that, The product I would be describing today is Palmolive Absolute Relax Shower gel/Body wash that contains Ylang Ylang essential oil, Iris Extract and Lavender. In past, I have tried the variant with Rose Extracts and Orange one. Must mention, I was not happy with the Latter. 🙁 The smell is pretty irritating (bitter)

Price and quantity:

Rs 125 for 250 m

My Take:

This shower gel comes in a see through plastic bottle which lets you see how much of the product is left. Also the beautiful colour of the product is quite appealing. The bottle comes with a flip-top. The cap closes tightly which makes it quite travel friendly. However, it adds some weight to your handbag 🙁 but it is tolerable. The bottle is shaped somewhat like an hour glass to allow a firm grip in shower.

It is very light purple in colour and is of a ideally thick texture. Choice of fragrance varies from person to person. To me,the smell is mild, relaxing and appealing. It shouldn’t be an issue even for people with sensitive noses 🙂 However, your skin doesn’t retain the smell for much time.

The product lathers well and thoroughly cleanses my skin as good as a soap. It gets washed off completely so full marks in that department. You need to take sufficient amount of gel on your loofah.