Tag: make up

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Defining eyes


I first applied homemade kajal when I visited an acquaintance many years ago. While I waited for my friend to get ready to head out, I chatted with her mother — a tall and slim, simple rural Haryanvi lady. As our mundane conversation veered towards the use of kajal, she mentioned that she had prepared some herself.

I had a vague idea about kajal being nothing but soot. But the small boxes available in the market contain a sticky substance which smeared, so I wasn’t quite sure. She showed me her preparation. The homemade kajal that I saw was, indeed, soot and a tad rough to the touch. I gingerly dipped my finger in it and applied it to the waterline of my eyes. To my surprise, it spread easily and gave a beautiful definition to my eyes. I wondered how she had made it, but our conversation was interrupted, and I didn’t get the chance to ask her.

Life has a funny way of answering our questions, and seemingly disconnected memories find themselves being connected into one big picture. I had shelved this memory of the homemade kajal in the corners of my brain. Until one fine day — on the first Deepavali after our wedding, to be precise — I saw my in-laws performing a puja.

I saw them pray, and then light a large earthen lamp. They then placed an empty lamp, upside down atop the flame, supported by smaller lamps around the flame.

The next morning, I saw our own kajal, ready to be used.

Kajal
The soot collected overnight, a.k.a kajal

This is post #13 in this year’s NaBloPoMo, or as Ra calls it Nano Poblano

NaBloPoMo = National Blog Posting Month = Thirty straight days of blogging

Categories
Hobbies

Glamorous Trio


I’m not much of a fan of wearing make-up. But they sure can make a statement by themselves!

glamorous_trio_befunky
Shimmering statement

For more trios, head on over to Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge.

Hat tip to my friend who edited the images using this cool online editor.

nanopoblano2015lightThis is post #22 in this year’s NaBloPoMo, or as Ra calls it Nano Poblano

NaBloPoMo = National Blog Posting Month = Thirty straight days of blogging

Categories
Miscellaneous

Renewal…

Brushes
Brushes of a different kind of artist

Brushes
Brushes of a different kind of artist

It’s been a very weird past week or so… I have not really had much inspiration to write. To get my mind off, and to ‘renew’ my thought process, I pulled out a make-up kit, and tried to photograph it.

There is a reason why this fancy kit is completely unused. I deplore make-up. Make-up would be the absolute last topic on which I would write.

And yet, here I am, admiring this set of brushes, and the soft shimmering palette of colours that is a part of the kit.

Colour Palette
Colour Palette

Putting on make-up must be hard, and must definitely involve skill and artistic abilities. Perhaps I’ll put it to use someday – I don’t know. For the moment though, I am content just admiring the colours.

Wonder how it would look on paper!

A late entry for the Weekly Photo Challenge – Renewal. Aah well, I shall renew it for this week 😀