Back to my happy place

Hello lovely people!

Feels so  good to be typing in a proper blog post and how I missed this feeling!

With Instagram ruling the social media and taking over the concept of ‘blogging’, I used to feel absolutely demotivated to post anything in this space and to be honest, I would feel very unhappy about it.

But here I am … back in this space … for the love of writing … for the love of ‘real blogging’.

Expect a lot of beauty and make up reviews in here.

For now, I am back to a hot cuppa and some reading!

But I shall see you soon …. here …. at my happy place!

Here is to ‘blogging’ in the true sense of the word!

Toodles,

Chandni

Hello 2018!

 

Hello lovely people of the Sheikhland and around the world!

Happy happy 2018 to all of you! 🙂

Love the positive spirit a new year brings along! And armed with all the determination, I am absolutely looking forward to this year with bigger dreams, which I am sure will bring in bigger challenges.

But whilst I am totally focussed on achieving my work-related goals for the year, I have promised to give equal attention to my health and well-being this year; something I have always neglected in the past and 2017 came up with a much needed alarm on this front.

If you too tend to do this to yourself, its time to change that because nothing in the world is as important as your health.

So, hope you have a fabulous 2018, may you are able to turn your dreams into your goals and your goals into achievements.

Let’s do this!

Cheers

Chandni

 

 

My Collaboration With Max Fashions

Recently I got the opportunity of doing a lovely collaboration with Max Fashions – UAE’s very own homegrown brand.

Max stores are a one-stop destination for everything and anything you wish to shop for – clothes, home ware, kids’ wear and toys, make up, accessories and what not. And what  makes shopping all the more fun in a Max store is the easy navigation, gorgeous display and the helpful personal assistance you get in there.

Talking more about the collab, I was lucky to get a sneak peak into Max’s Ramadan Collection this year and what was a lot of fun was to capture the accessories from the collection through my lenses.

Earrings, necklaces, bags, hats, goggles – I picked a whole lot of lovely stuff from their lovely collection available across Max stores at reasonable prices.

Sharing some of my favourite picks from Max –

 

This gorgeous Red bag with golden details. This bag was love at first sight for me – the colour, the structure and the size makes it the coolest accessory to jazz up any of your outfit this summer. Isn’t it really pretty?

 

 

Earrings are to women what ties are to men. Being a self-admitted earrings-hoarder, I could not resist myself from picking this simple yet classic pair of reverse earrings from Max. I loooooove the combination of Wine Red with Gold to add a touch of both colour and elegance to your outfit. Isn’t it a beautiful colour-combo?

Love myself a gorgeous embellished Red bag to put together a festive look together or to just lift up a simple outfit and this lovely bag from the Ramadan collection of Max is just perfect for that. Isn’t it oh-so-pretty?

Max has gorgeous summer hats, sunnies, jewellery and a whole lot of makeup from popular brands like Maybelline, Rimmel and Max factor.

Love this silver watch – so chic and classy!

So hope you liked my faves from Max. If you wanna shop any of these pieces, visit your nearest Max store or shop online at http://www.maxfashion.com

Until I see you at my next post,

Toodles

Chandni

 

Hello!

Hello lovely people of the Sheikhland and around the world! 🙂

Howdy dowdy? I know it’s been long since we met here in this space.

I will share the reasons in another post which I warn you is gonna be a long one.

Let’s keep this a short and a sweet one as I just wanna say that I am reeeeeally happy to be back with my blogs here.

Although Instagram kept me more busy than you can imagine while I was away. If you ask why, go and have a look at my feed here – https://www.instagram.com/chandniatsheikhland/

Like it? Not like it? I would love to hear what you think of my new improved white themed Instagram feed.

See you at my next post!

Toodles

Chandni

{VIDEO} In Conversation with Chef Kunal Kapur

What I love the most about blogging is that it gives me opportunity to meet achievers, celebrities from different walks of life. Be it fashion designers or Bollywood stars or Master Chefs, I have been fortunate to interview some very interesting personalities who we celebrate and who inspire us.

 

And today, I am delighted to share with you a tete a tete with the very popular Celebrity-Chef Kunal Kapur at his lovely signature Indian restaurant, Patiala by Kunal Kapur located in the beautiful Souq-al-bahar.

 

Chef Kunal Kapur is Chef Extraordinaire and is much loved as TV show host too. He has won several culinary and television awards and has even written a cookbook called ‘A Chef in every home’.

 

So, here is yours truly in conversation with Chef Kunal.

 

Hope you enjoy  watching the interview as much as I enjoyed doing it.

 

Until I see you next,

 

*Shine Bright*

The Red Lipstick and I

For the longest time, I avoided buying myself a Red lipstick. Honestly, I had no confidence to put on a Red lipstick. I had no courage to make a statement. No guesses, what my little vanity had was only neutral, plain, simple shades of lipsticks. Somewhere I felt comfortable behind that no-makeup, neutral face – comfortable because I was not saying – Hey! I am here. Look at me! … safe because I was not taking risk by putting a nobody face on.

But it was not a happy face either as I was hiding the real me inside, scared of how my face is gonna look if I chose that red lipstick which to be honest I always wanted to wear but was  afraid of looking ugly, felt I did not have a perfect face nor a perfect pout. Afraid of speaking my mind, I would not share my thoughts.

And when I thought deeply over it, I realised it was not just the choice of lipsticks, I was scared about taking any bold decisions in my life, be it the kind of baggy clothes I would wear or the boring finance job that I hated to the core.  I would not voice my opinions. I was not courageous enough to take a decision to change all of that. I was not feeling great enough about myself. I was not living enough.

And this realisation was just the start of every single thing that followed thereafter … great things because I let go of the feeling of ‘playing safe’ in my life. I may not have a ten on ten face or a sexy pout but I am perfect just the way I am and I deserve to make my choices, without being scared of what the world would think. I deserve to make choices that make ME happy – right or wrong, bold or not so bold as long as I make them with confidence. I deserve to voice my opinions – right or wrong … they are mine.

I gave up the finance job. I changed my wardrobe. I started writing a blog. I bought a Red lipstick.

 

Featured Lipstick – Rouge Pur Couture by YSL No. 01

{RECIPE} Easy and Delicious Oreo Milkshake

When I am dieting, all I dream about is Oreo cookies. Well … I hope that explains my love for these yummilicious cookies that have found a die-hard fan not only in me but in my husband and even my almost 2 years old toddler.

 

And so in my home, weekends aka cheat days, are all about an indulgent Oreo milkshake that we all love and since sharing is caring, I thought of sharing the delightful recipe here on the blog today with all you wonderful people.

 

And all you mommies out there, the great thing about this recipe is that it is just gonna take 2 minutes out of your precious weekend morning and tada … your indulgent weekend treat will be all ready to set the weekend moods right. (smiles)

 

Coming to the recipe now –

 

Ingredients:
4 tbsp powdered sugar
2 cups milk
1 tbsp cocoa powder
4 – 5 oreo cookies
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
– Add sugar, cocoa powder, oreo cookies, vanilla essence in a milk jug
– Blend everything well using a blender
– Pour the chilled mixture in a glass
– Crush some oreo cookies, garnish it on top and serve it chilled

– To make it more indulgent, you can add a scoop of vanilla icecream or Hershey’s chocolate syrup to it.

Easy peasy! Isn’t it?

So, I hope you liked tis recipe and if you want to see more of such easy recipe posts on the blog, let me know in the comment section below.

And most importantly, if you end up trying this recipe, I would so love to hear how you liked it.

Until I see you next, Keep creating! Keep smiling! 🙂

{FEATURED STORE} Les Nereides comes to Dubai

Bonjour lovely people of the Sheikhland!

 

Yes … yours truly is in Parisian moods. Thanks to this new luxury costume jewellery brand that has hit the Sheikhland all the way from Paris.

 

Les Nereides recently opened its first ever store in Middle East in Dubai in CityWalk.

 

Pascale and Enzo, along with their children create handmade luxury costume jewellery under this label.

 

The jewellery is inspired by seasons, animals, travel, fairy tales, flowers, fruit and the beauty of it is that every piece of jewellery they create is unique as it is all handmade.

 

Handmade and such intricate details … sigh!

 

My favourite piece was this pair of earrings with flamingos. Now isn’t that reeeeally pretty?

 

Oh wait … well I also loved this pumpkin ring with a little sparkly Cindrella shoe in it.

 

 

Well well well …. how can I not love this gorgeous ballerina pendent?

 

So, if you too are mad about jewellery like me and like it to be unique, you cannot afford to miss checking out Les Nereides in City Walk.

 

Leaving you with their Facebook page link – https://www.facebook.com/lesnereidesdxb/

 

Until I see you next,

{FOOD} Spice & Ice – A Review

When it comes to food, the Sheikhland ensures you have a zillion options to explore. But what is amazing is that there are some hidden gems in the city, which are always a delight to discover.

Spice and Ice in JLT is one such restaurant that I happened to explore recently and was impressed with their creative take on the Indian food with regards to some dishes that I tried.

The ambience is not amazingly lavish but pleasant. I tried their mocktail called – ‘Sundown’ with passion fruit and quite liked it. Was refreshing but not overloaded with sugar.

The dishes I tried were:

* Cocktail paneer (AED 36) – Loved the presentation of this dish in a martini glass. I had never had the combination of paneer, curry leaves and raddish. Tasted delicious!

 

* Parmesan Broccolli (AED 40) – I wish this dish tasted as good as it looked. It was too cheesy for my liking.

 

*Bhatti Paneer (AED 62) – This dish was pretty yum and rich with cashew nut gravy.

 

* Crispy Vegetable Envelope (AED 62) – This was just their star dish according to me. It looks amazing with so many different colours on your plate. It is pickled veggies wrapped in filo pastry served with couscous and mango moilee. It just tasted ahhhmazing. I have never had something like that before and so full marks for creativity here.

 

* Dal Makhani (AED 30) – Loved the dal – was light, not too oily or creamy and very yummy.

I was vegetarian for the day but the chicken kebabs looked pretty tempting.

 

So, the good thing about this place is that whether you are a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian, there are loads of options for either.

Now for the desserts, I absolutely loved the Mango shrikhand (AED 48). The Gulkand Kulfi was quite nice with the rose after taste.

 

So, all in all, Spice and ice is totally worth a try They are running a lot of promotions too at the minute. You can also make use of Entertainer vouchers here.

<a href=”https://www.zomato.com/dubai/spice-ice-restaurant-and-lounge-jumeirah-lake-towers&#8221; title=”View Menu, Reviews, Photos & Information about Spice & Ice Restaurant and Lounge, Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) and other Restaurants in Dubai” target=”_blank”>

 

Until I see you with yet another post,

 

Toodles

{BEAUTY} Garnier Micellar Water – A Review

Sheikhland is one happening city, where one event follows another. What I enjoy the most about the events is getting ready for them and to try new make up looks but what I hate the most is the part where at the end of the tiring day, you have to put in so much effort to get rid of all the make up.

And so I was delighted to discover a hidden drugstore gem which saves me good 20 minutes of removing make up in the night by making it a super-easy task and which is becoming very popular in the beauty community.

Garnier Micellar Cleansing water it is ladies!

But before I go any further on my review of this product, let us see what micellar water actually means.

Micellar water is made up of micelles (tiny balls of cleansing oil molecules) suspended in soft water. And if you want to read in depth about how it works, check out this on Huffingtonpost.com –

http://huff.to/29hekAF

It is easily comparable to the famous Bioderma makeup remover but at a drugstore price.

I used to be very loyal to the Bioderma makeup remover and this was after trying quite a few other makeup removing products in the market. So, I was pretty surprised … well pleasantly surprised to see such an amazing dupe for it in the drugstore.

You get 400 ml of product, costs AED 36 and it lasts for 200 uses on an average. The product is pretty gentle on the skin and you don’t have to scrub your face with it. But it doesn’t completely remove waterproof mascara that well. But other than that it pretty much breaks down your makeup. And icing on the cake is that no rinsing is required after using it.

You get a mini size too which is great for travel. What is great about it is that, it doesn’t leave my face feeling dry, but in fact makes my skin feel both clean and moisturised after I use it.

All in all, a product totally worth trying. Infact Garnier has recently come out with another version of the micellar water, which is their oil-infused micellar water and I am so looking forward to try that too.

So, until I see you in my next post, take good care of yourself and never ever sleep with make-up on.

Toodles