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The femmes of Femina — editor/staffers/contributing writers, let you in on their beauty secrets... stuff that helps keep them in the pink!

Years of working for a magazine that rightly places much premium on looking and feeling good rubs off somewhere and willy-nilly, we have developed some sort of beauty routine ourselves. Read on, this is stuff from girls-on-the-go, people who have fine-tuned the art of looking good with minimal use of products... it’s bound to give you some glam ideas.


Sathya Saran
For ages, Maybelline cobalt blue eyeliner was a staple, almost my trademark. Now it’s out of stock, and I had to search hard to find a substitute. Finally found a good one in Dior’s blue. My beauty regimen begins with a moisturiser, as I have desert soil for skin, and I need to use a sun block all the time, Vichy’s does very well with a spf of 20. I also use Clarin’s white plus moisture spf 20 lotion to help fade my freckles. My moisturiser is from Jamuna Pai, oil free and a real helpmate. Evenings, the L’Oreal quick stick and Givenchy’s blue mascara, and a little Chambor blush add the magic. And of course I depend heavily on lipstick to brighten my mood and feel incomplete without fragrance, of which I have a whole armouryful.

Madhavi Purohit
Shahnaz Husain Kajal, a light fragrance and an occasional dash of lipstick (a Maybelline pink or Revlon brown) is the sum total of my beauty regimen. C’est tout!

Gayatri Jayaraman
I do nothing. Once in a while (read once in five months), I apply a ‘besan-haldi’ home-made face mask. Most days, I rush off to work and am lucky if I remember to comb my hair! I have a two-year-old. I rest my case.

Swati Sucharita
I can’t pretend to be much into cosmetics but there are three things I just can’t do without. One, perfume. I never forget to dab on some fragrance every single day, it makes me feel and look more composed, or so I think. Two, I need colour on my lips to feel complete, so a lipper is a must, preferably one in shades of maroon, coffee or brown. Sans a lipper, I feel a colourless frump! Third is my moisturiser, which is face food.

Ruchira Bose
I am a bath and body product aficionado. Exotic scented oil beads, salts, gels, powders (some with fake aphrodisiac properties), lotions, beeswax, body butters, candles — they all line my bathroom shelves. Before going to bed, I have a luxurious shower or soak-in-the-tub and then moisturise. The Body Shop’s Moonflower Lotion and Lakmé’s Avocado Body Butter are current hotties. Another indulgence are my MAC eyeliners in indigo, lilac, etc. I have curly-wavy hair that makes me look a bed head if I don’t straighten it every morning. So, after washing my hair, I straighten it with a bit of Vidal Sassoon mousse and several frustrating runs with the blow dryer and brush. Even then, people ask me whether I own a hairbrush... so much for that morning ritual!


Madhuri Kirtikar
I have pared it down to two essentials: Lipstick and moisturiser, absolute musts on a working day. If it’s an evening out, then a little hairspray to get my hair to behave.

Cordelia B Francis
After washing my face in the morning, I rub a cube of ice over it before applying some moisturiser. The process closes open pores and leaves my skin tingling fresh. I favour eyeliner because it opens up my eyes, and since I don’t use make-up during the day, some kajal defines the eyes and adds a nice touch, I feel. Exercising is very important to me. It keeps the blood circulating and the pores unclogged. After working out, to clean my face properly, I use a cleanser first and then a face wash.

Continued