Brow Tutorial

Hello Ladies! I've been asked a few times about my eyebrows and how I do them and to do them for others! So, I thought I'll put up a tutorial.

Contrary to popular belief, tweezers aren't that bad. In fact I used to end up crying when I went to get threading done at a Salon. While in the UK, I couldn't believe how expensive threading was and decided to just include tweezing as part of my daily routine. 

Things to remember:

1. Once you've got the ideal shape, just pluck the one or two extras that start showing up every or every other day, depending on growth.
2. Keep an eyebrow pencil (more convenient than carrying around brow powder and brush) and touch up the little gaps in your eyebrows as and when you need to.
3. Your eyebrows should look like sisters, not twins and definitely not friends!

How to get the perfect brow:

1. Measure Your Brow-Beginning: Take a long and thin object (I just used a nail-file, but you can even use the end of a brush or an eye pencil) and place it alongside your nose. Angle the end of the nail-file so that it just crosses the inner corner of your eye. This is where your brow should begin. Take any eye pencil and mark that spot.
2. Measure Your Brow-Arch: Next, angle the nail-file so that it sits along side the edge of your eyeball while you're looking straight ahead. Mark the spot where the nail-file cross the brow. This is where the arch should be. 
3. Measure Your Brow-End: Angle the nail-file so it just crosses the outer corner of your eye. Mark the spot, because that is where your brow should end. Make sure you stick to the marks!
4. Brush: Take an unused or old Mascara Brush (wash properly) and brush the hair of the brow up.
5. Trim: Using the Cuticle Scissors, trim long hairs so that your brow now looks even.
6. Pluck: Using the Angled-Tweezer (I use the one from Body Shop) pluck the hair right under the marked arch. This is the highest point of your brow. The angled tweezer is good for plucking as is hurts less if you keep the slant side next to your skin. Over a few weeks time, your hair will slide out from its roots like butter and it wont hurt at all. 
7. Strays: Once you've created your arch pluck below the brow and get rid of strays. Maintain a straight line along the bottom of the brow and pluck any that deform this line. Pluck above the brow, only if you must. If you have a natural arch forming, dont pluck anymore! If not pluck a few so that it gives the brow a clean and groomed look, maintaining a straight line along the brow.
8. Gaps: Fill in gaps in your brow using an eyebrow pencil or brow powder. While using the eyebrow pencil remember to make gentle strokes and only fill in gaps along the brow. I use "Stud" Eyebrow Crayon by M.A.C. 
9. You're all set! 

Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Fashion for a Cause: Pinktober

I know, I know. Its been a while. What can I say, I haven't even had the time to look in the mirror. Its been a hectic month and its over. Time to get cracking. Which is another reason LwW is going to be, umm... irregular, for lack of a better word. 

This past week I had the honor of attending a charity fashion show, Pinktober for raising awareness about breast cancer and aid for breast cancer patients who can't afford treatment. It was presented by The Imperial hotel in association with the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) and Satya Paul. The charity show saw jewelry by Amrapali and an opening performance by Shibani Kashyap, who gave the hit single 'Ho Gayi Hai Mohabbat', something one would know if she/he were brought up in India and in the Nineties and 'Sajna'. The models were a mix of professional models, survivors and winners of breast cancer and supporters of the cause. 

The models were wearing Sarees and gowns designed by Satya Paul and were smashing shades of pink to go with the theme. I don't want to, but I will pick favorites! Though, they were all very beautiful sarees and if I could I would take 'em all! All, I tell you!! 

Calm down, Gayatri. Right, favorites:

Picture #1: Shibani Kashyap's lehenga. Its bright and colorful and just the color palette for this wedding season. 

Picture #2: Really? You want me to say why?! Look at the amazing Pallu of the Saree! Its got pop-art portraits along the most important part of the saree! 

Picture #5 and 6: An amazing white Anarkali dress/gown. Looks beautifully elegant and the gold embroidery work near the hem makes it look Royal. Perfect for a winter day wedding in Delhi. 

Picture #9: Pink and Peach net Saree with gold and fuschia (tilting towards red) embroidery all over. 

All in all, an excellent night, wonderful hospitality by The Imperial and a really fun and chilled out fashion show put on by the survivors and winners of breast cancer! 

{A model and winner talks to NDTV reporters about the event}

Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Birthdays

{Dad and Mom}

{Opening presents}

This weekend is the best weekend of this year! Its my parents' birthdays. Yes. Parents'. 

It was my Dad's birthday yesterday and my Mom's birthday today. Great coincidence huh? Its really special (and convenient, if I may say so). Moving from one birthday to the next at midnight is the most fun ever. We get to have a cake, both get to cut it together. If we are at dinner on Dad's birthday, we keep celebrating Mom's past midnight. Best excuse to carry on a party even longer! This year its a weekend which is even more special, because we can celebrate the whole weekend, which is exactly what we plan on doing.

And which is why I don't have a Foodie Friday post today. I've been too caught up in the Birthdays and surprises to do much else!

I won't also reveal much else because the Birthday Weekend is still on and my parents read my blog! Wouldn't want to give anything away, now would I? 

*Happy Birthday Mom and Dad! Love you!*

Have a lovely weekend everyone!  

Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

LwW Loves: Ikkat Notebook

Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

LwW is loving Ikkat, a traditional Indian printing technique. Its mostly found on clothing like Sarees or handloom products like silk and cotton. Its mainly a dyeing technique, sort of like a tie-dye. The difference between them however, is that in a tie-dye process the fabric is woven first and then dyed, while in Ikkat work the threads are bound and dyed first and then woven into the fabric. Ikkat work is very common in India but you will find versions of the Ikkat process in other Asian and some South-American countries as well. 

In India, Ikkat work is mostly a cottage industry, ie, very small scale industries mostly produced and sold by village artisans. 

Ikkat work has been taking the world by storm. You can now find Ikkat prints on bags, cushions and even notebooks. I found this notebook in Fabindia and fell in love at first sight. It has great colors and is a painted impression of an Ikkat print.   

LwW is also loving some other Ikkat stuff:

This Ikkat bag.

Great article about Ikkat work, how its dying out and the need to bring it back to the market.

A lovely Ikkat print dress at Miss Selfridge.

Pink and Orange Ikkat fabric.

Ikkat sofa-chair.

Bright runners (pink and orange) for an Indian-themed wedding (why not?).

Ikkat oxfords by Anthropologie.

Bright ikkat sneaks by Urban Outfitters.

Fitness Regime

{via kikareichert}

{via They Roared Vintage}

Warning: I'm not giving professional advise on a good fitness regimen. I'm talking about my own experience, specifically with swimming and comparing it with any other form of workout. Wow, this sounds surprisingly like one of my essays for college. Don't worry, this should be a lot more fun and definitely much clearer than my papers. If I may digress, isn't the 50's swimsuit in the second picture just amazing? A classic little black swimsuit. Should I try calling it an LBS? Maybe not. 

Right, first things first. Its important to have a fitness regime, and I will say it at the outset, I don't think gym-ing constitutes a good fitness regime. Yes, you're working out, but the results you get from sport are long term and the ones from a gym are short term. Mostly, because your muscles are actually resisting the environment around it to work out. Unlike, say using a treadmill or a stationary cycle. So while the effects of sport will last you for years, the gym only a couple months. 

Which is why I will now come to my sport of choice: swimming. If your workout routine is swimming then these are the things to bear in mind. These are the results of experimenting with my regime for a few months. Note before though: I swim in the mornings (early or late) and I swim laps (2 lengths in a lap).

1. Eat before you swim (Not immediately before silly).
   
   Eat a small meal two hours prior to swimming. By 'swimming', I mean you are swimming lengths in the pool and not waddling.
   
   I tried this out in three different weeks:
   
   Week 1: Went for a swim without breakfast. Result - no energy, lethargic swimming, got tired quickly, felt tired through the day.
   
   Week 2: Went for a swim 1 hour after breakfast. Historically speaking, it is said one must swim at least after half an hour of eating, so I decided to make it an hour, just to be on the safe side. Guess what. Cramps and knots in my tummy.
   
   Week 3: Went for a swim 2 hours after breakfast. Result: A whole lot of energy, I was swimming faster, more lengths, had more stamina and strength, fewer breaks. It also keeps you going for the rest of the day and no cramps!
   
   Reasoning: It takes the body two hours to digest the food in the stomach. Which is also why you start feeling a little hungry after two hours of eating a meal. Nutritionists will tell you and so will doctors that in order to loose or maintain weight, one must eat 5-6 small meals every two hours in a day.
2. Warm up before you swim
   
   They all say it, warm up, warm up, warm up before you exercise! Its extremely important, because you're basically using a warm up to prepare your muscles for the attack - the workout. If you look at boxers, they kinda jump around a little bit before they go in for the punch right? They're prepping themselves to figure out a line of attack. Same way, a warm up or a little stretching is prepping your muscles, or telling them to wake up so that they can be ready to attack your workout. If you start straight away, its like jolting your muscles from a deep sleep and they'll be groggy throughout the workout. You know I'm making sense.
3. Hydrate
   
   I keep a plastic cup filled water at the shallow end of the pool. Even though you're in the water at all times, it doesn't mean that you're hydrated. When you start feeling the dryness, sip some water.
4. Alternative Exercises and Stretching
   
   If you really want to work your entire body, just the breast-stroke or the freestyle isn't going to help. You need to mix it up a little. There are plenty of water exercises that you can do. Egg beater and cycling (or trying to) in the deep end are excellent additions to your swim. My favorite is the toe touch. Or a version of it.
   
   Toe Touch: At the deep end face the wall and stay afloat by rotating your arms in the water (as in waddling to keep your head above the water. Try to stand straight in the water (all the while moving your arms!), bring your knees up to your chest and push your toes out to touch the top of the wall. Try to see your feet outside the water. Bring them back in to your chest and push them straight down into the water. Repeat 8-10 times.
   
   Tip: While pushing your toes down rotate your arms anti-clockwise (towards yourself) and while pushing your toes up rotate them in a clockwise motion (away from yourself). This will help you stay in the same place in the pool.
   
   Stretching: It is extremely important to stretch, if you want the effects of the workout to last. Stretch any which way you can and whichever way you like, but make sure you stretch your entire body, arms, legs, your sides and your torso, because you use your entire body to swim and do the alternative exercises.
5. Rest
   
   Right, so you (1) ate properly, (2) you've warmed up, (3) started swimming and hydrating, (4) did the alternative exercises and stretched and now (5) you need some rest/relaxation.
   
   This is the best part of my 45 minutes to an hour of swimming. I just let my body go and float on my back as if lying on a water bed. I do that for about 5-10 minutes. It allows the body and your muscles to relax so that they can start the reconstruction process. Yes, your muscles actually break down during your workout and a good rest lets them build themselves up again.

Oh, and don't forget to enjoy yourself!