DIY Eye Makeup Remover

The strength of olive oil is well known. Rich in vitamin E and A, olive oil helps prolong youth, hydrates the skin, maintains its elasticity and softness and helps skin cells to rejuvenate. The benefits of olive oil is boundless. But I will share what I recently discovered from olive oil here today. 

I tried the olive oil eye makeup remover. And it worked like wonder.

You just require two ingredients; 

1)Extra virgin olive oil

2)Water

And an empty bottle. I used my empty makeup remover bottle in this case. 

I never throw away the empty bottles and containers; you never know when it will come into handy. 

Instructions: 

1) Add 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to 1 tablespoon of water.

2) Pour it into the empty bottle. 

3) Close the cap of the bottle and shake it well. 

4) Now dab this solution in a cotton ball and gently wipe all your eye makeup.  

Then, rinse with warm water.

Voila! You’re done, easy peasy. You can wipe away the rest of the face makeup with it as well. 

I wear mascara every day, so this helps me wipe off my mascara effortlessly. It even removes the water proof eye makeup.  

What are some of the best olive oil remedies have you tried at home? 

 

Stay beautiful.

One of those days…

image found via

There are some certain days in life where your head is filled with a million things which are simply less important but does a major unrest to the heart, days where nothing seems to charm you up. 

In simple words, days where you feel so low in life. Today, has been one of those days in my life. A miserable one. 

A couple of pages was left to be finished from the book I was reading (And the mountains echoed) by Khaled Hosseini. As soon as I finish this, I’ll start with Lolita, I thought and eyed Lolita perfectly perched on the shelf. 

All of a sudden, a cloud started to hover around my heart. Instantly, a million things started to pop up in my head. I pondered over the purpose of my life, the current juncture in my life, where am I heading to? Oh, just the thought of it made me sick. 

At 27, I’ve a perfect roof on my head, a job I like, a car i own and independence, yet I feel a hollow creeping deep inside me. What’s that hollow exactly? I went to bed with these thoughts last night.

I couldn’t sleep well. It gnawed me time and again. My head started to hurt. I closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep. Am I over thinking? I don’t know.

With a heavy head, as if from a bad hangover, I woke up late and rushed to office. But the feelings from last night had lingered on like a bad cologne. My heart was still cloudy from the night before’s thoughts. 

I tried to concentrate in my work but it was all in vanity. As the day rolled on, the cloud thickened.

It became worse. 

I was not able to think straight. My appetite was lost like I was heartbroken. 

This feeling did not leave me at all. It clung unto like a shadow. I hope for these thoughts to pass. That feeling as if I have just lost my best friend. 

As if drunk in opium, my head felt hazy all day long. I longed for that peace of mind. But I couldn’t exactly define that meaning of peace. Soon the day gave way to dusk.

At home,I prepared a hot ginger milk tea, sat down and poured down these thoughts in my journal. God, it has been so long since I last wrote a entry in a journal. 

Writing this down has definitely been a liberating feeling. This could have been that void I was feeling and meaning to fill. Perhaps. 

Have you ever felt that way? 

Do you feel that sometimes? 

Is it perfectly normal? I truly hope so. 

Things I wish I had known when I started blogging

Blogging is one of the best things I had ever done. In these two years and nine months of blogging I have learned so much and still continuing to do so. This blog is my happy place, a place to escape from the sometimes hard realities in life, a place to nurture my passion for reading and writing. 

It’s the outlet for the creative juice to flow, to share on life’s little sorrows and happiness, a place where I can be myself and most of all feel connected.

I wish I had known these things when I started blogging. Nevertheless, it’s never late. I’m no expert on these things yet I would like to share what I’ve learned about the aspects of blogging here today. 

# Photography: Picture speaks louder and aesthetically. Seriously I find a blog post too cumbersome to read if there are words only and no pictures. Adding an image to the post never harms instead it brings a new facet to the post. And yes make your image as large as possible. 

# Disable your CAPTCHA : This simply turns off your readers from commenting. Lots of verifications to be done. Sometimes I can’t leave a comment because I‘m not able to see the gibberish codes clearly and just to save my time, I rather not comment. Read this post to understand it fairly. 

# Clean Background: I can totally understand that neon orange is your favorite color. But does that mean that you have to keep your blog’s background the same color? It would only mean one thing, to strain your eyes to read. I wouldn’t like to read some dark post which would hurt my eyes, therefore, no matter how good the content is I’ll simply skip that post. Thus, clean white background with black letters is the best deal. 

# About Me Page: When I read a blog and I feel it worth my time, I immediately hover to the ‘about me page,’ to know the person exactly behind the blog. This tells the readers a lot about your blog. So it’s very important to build your about page and yes update it as well. I realized this quite recently and I’ve done it immediately after realizing its importance. 

# Staying inspired: Finally the most important component in the blogging world is to stay inspired. After a while we run out of post ideas and that’s the dead end of the blogging world. This is so true for me. Looking for ideas by reading other blogs is important (CAUTION: No plagiarism BUT of course credit wherever possible). So a blogger means an avid reader too. This would keep us on our toes for fresh ideas, news and updates etc. So reading means staying inspired. 

Hope this would be of some help to newbie bloggers. Happy Blogging. 

2014 Reading Challenge

1. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

3. Matilda by Roald Dahl

4. I'm the Messenger By Markus Zusak

5. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty 

6. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

7. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

8. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai 

9. Inferno by Dan Brown

If there's one thing I need to and want to do in 2014, then it's to read more and more and buy books of course. I'm reading these books and already started with And the mountains echoed. As always I've loved Khaled Hosseini's writings and this is no exception.

These 9 books are on my 2014 reading challenge. I know I will read other than these but these are the ones I'm dying to lay my hands on for quite some time now.

Have you read any of the books here? Any other recommendations? I'd love to hear in the comments section below. 2014 reading challenge, bring it on! 

Update: The striked ones are the ones that I've finished reading as of Feb 14, 2014. 

New found love – knitting and crocheting

I’ve been M.I.A from the blog land. And the reason is…my craze for knitting and crochet. Like a maniac, I’ve been knitting away late into the night spending endless hours in front of the heater watching movies or TV. Not a single moment is wasted. Oh, I’m obsessed. There, I said it! I didn’t want to feel that way ACTUALLY. 

The cold weather brings a different charm to knit altogether. There’s so much of satisfaction when you wear what you knit. Growing up, mother used to knit sweaters and socks for us during winter. We used to wear it without any appreciation. Now I understand what a tedious task it is actually. Later, as a teenager, I knitted a scarf which was worn (I think) by everyone in the household. Still today, my brother has that and wears it. That was the last time I laid my hands on a ball of yarn and needles. It was a decade ago. 

This winter is being a different one. The craft of knit and purl has returned. More and more women and girls are seen visiting the local yarn shops. Many women are sharing the same passion for knitting. 

Almost all my friends and colleagues are into the fever of knitting and crochet. If there’s one thing that is truly making us come together then it’s the love for knits and purls.

Our Knitting Project//The Infinity Scarf and Slouched Beanie//Isn't this little guy rocking in a beanie?

At home it’s the click and clack of needles. While the sister crochets I knit. Over a cup of coffee/tea with a good movie, knitting has become my favorite activity now. Well, it’s been a good start to the new year.

How has it been in your part of the world? What is your favorite activity when it is cold outside and likely to snow?