So finally the house is limping back to normal. Limping because the work is not yet done but with only a little bit left to get finished, we are more or less back to normal. Normal for me is when my computer is working so once that is in place, I feel much better. But I still needed some retail therapy to make me feel even better and what better than Palladium at Phoenix Mills? I packed up a small goody bag for P and tucked him in the crook of my arm and set off for the mall. I had two items on my shopping list – a spaghetti storage jar and a face cream.

Eternal Youth

I am a real sucker for beauty products and am always ready to try out new products, especially those that promise to keep age lines away and clean up the age spots that gradually appear as you get older. 

Three decades ago I was in a plane load of Estee Laudee ladies who were going to New York for a business trip. I was so impressed by their sales talk that by the end of the ride, I was converted to Estee Lauder’s magic formula Advanced Night Repair Serum. I was hooked onto this magic potion which used to come in a small brown bottle. I religiously applied the one drop dispensed with a dropper and loved smoothing it on my face….For many many years this was my beauty routine till my husband’s overseas business trips dried up and I had to rely on more local products. ( This was in the days before the Mall attack and invasion of foreign products onto our soil).

Anti Aging and entrepreneurship? 

I then switched on to Aviance largely lured by the prospect of becoming a multilevel marketing millionaire. But this was in the initial stages of door to door selling and there were not many takers for multi level marketing particularly in my city. Alas! I also realised that as a stay at home mom, I had no network to offload my products to and my sole customer was ME. So even though the products were well priced and effective, I had to abandon the dual package of day and night cream particularly since the outlet was not easily accessible and  I got fed up with making the trip to the suburbs to pick up my sole order.

French secrets

When the Malls opened up and brought along a range of luxury high end skin care products, I happily switched to Lancome’s Genefique when it became available in Mumbai. And then after seeing the radiating beauty of Kate Middleton, I switched to Lancome’s Visionnaire in the hope that some of her luminous skin tone would rub off on mine!

I must say, I was very pleased with both Lancome’s products, in fact, I have been equally pleased with all the skin care products I have tried so far.

The lure of Ayurveda and Swadeshi

Last year while walking through the Mall, I was attracted by the soothing calm radiating out of the Forest Essentials store and went inside to check it out. The Sales lady tempted me with Soundarya, their night cream with 24 karat gold! Being a sucker for a new cream, I bought a jar, especially since my Visionnaire was over and I was toying with the idea of moving onto Lancome’s latest offering Dreamtone. This skin corrector comes in three shades but since I was short of time and couldn’t go through the process of finding which Dreamtone was appropriate for me, I gave it a skip and succumbed to the temptation of Forest Essential’s Soundarya. I am not very fond of creams having got used to applying serum so was hesitant to try out the entire package of two separate day and night creams so opted for the Eternal Youth formula of Date & Litchi.  I loved its smooth application and used it diligently by day and night. I must say I was quite surprised when the frown line between my eyebrows visibly smoothened out! Encouraged by this I wanted to buy the night cream.

So yesterday I went to the Mall and bought their combination package of Soundarya Radiance Cream and its companion Advance Soundarya age defying facial serum with 24 karat Gold.  Last night I applied this for the first time and was a bit disconcerted with the fragrance. But the application was smooth and I felt a wonderful warm glow as I slept through the night.

I am hoping that this magic formula will live up to its promises because at a price of  Rs. 3800 + Rs.2950 this was quite a hefty amount to dish out!

                       

So Dreamtone will have to wait for another few months till my Ayurvedic magic formula is over.