***Update 30 November 2020****
If you are reading this post to buy Pat McGrath’s US$ 12 lipsticks as part of the Black Friday sale, the short answer is BUY. Here is a LINK
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When I booked a vacation away from the sweltering and blistering heat of an Indian summer, I vividly imagined spending my evenings people watching in London or Paris. I would be surrounded by mountains of strawberries, rivers of chilled champagne and a cool summer breeze.
I did not visualise swapping central air-conditioning for this:
or this
No, Ma’am – becoming a barbecue fried omelette, is what I do at home (which is literally, like the Nevada desert) and not on my eagerly anticipated European holiday.
However is 47 C in Paris, going to stop me from executing my exhaustively researched “How to Spend It” list?
I think not. We are Indian. Our motto is to save our hard-earned cash and purchase luxury / cheap goods at the LOWEST price point – even if we have to fly there.
Anyhow, I have been told I should not digress. Apparently, I am really not as funny as I used to be.
These are some of the things on my curated and extravagant shopping list. I will post an update on what I eventually buy.
Happy Skin Days “How to Spend It”
1) Pat McGrath make-up – Blitztrance liptsticks
My first item is one £35 lipstick from Pat McGrath’s “Blitztrance” range.
If you have never heard of Pat McGrath, it might really just be you. This brand sold one product every 40 seconds in April when it launched as a temporary pop-up shop in Selfridges, London.
Unfortunately, as is the business model of pop-up stores, it soon closed shop.
But the Lord is merciful and while he/she/they did not send the Europeans rain this summer, he/she/they gave Selfridges a permanent Pat McGrath beauty counter.
If you buy one lipstick this year, then let it be a Pat McGrath lipstick. These lipsticks have the same quality and endurance as you’d expect of an elite athlete or a Ferrari – except, its a lipstick and not MS Dhoni or a Ferrari Portofino. The lipsticks are intensely pigmented, have butter-like consistency and are as smooth as melted chocolate in their application.
Also, I want the Blitztrance lipsticks for another reason. I never liked matte lipsticks and I don’t understand why I should want my lips to have the same texture and finish as the yellow whitewash that cover the walls of the Aadhar card office in Pahar Ganj. Who wants that?
All hail the return of shiny and glittery lipsticks!
2) Creed’s atomiser
This is a perfume atomiser by Creed. You fill the perfume of your choice in a glass container that sits inside the leather case and then use, as a normal spray.
Having only ever been to real, elitist universities I can only speculate that such an atomiser is probably mandatory for entrance into a Swiss finishing school. Its a product that every woman doesn’t know she requires, but yet desperately needs.
I came across it when I broke my third perfume bottle in an expensive leather handbag. After learning, that leather and perfume are not happy bedfellows – I missed that class at law school – this perfume atomiser (in red) has rarely left my bag.
It now requires replacement, as its (mysteriously) found its way into my sister’s bag.
3) Fragrance
Chantecaille is a French high-end make-up brand that makes products of excellence. As its an old-school brand still living in the Stone age, most of the make-up line is not designed for Indian skin tones. I forgave them as soon as I discovered, Petales. Petales is a perfume I would be happy to die in.
The irony of course is that the brand don’t know how great this product. It deserves nothing short of a Kylie Jenner Insta-following. Instead, its hard to track down and is generally sold out.
The best place to buy it is a Space NK boutique and if you don’t want to become clinically depressed skip the South Molton street branch off Oxford Street, and head to the infinitely more pleasant St John’s Wood high street branch.
4) Nail varnish
When I lived in Switzerland, I discovered MAVALA. As with many things Swiss, this is a fantastic product that the company doesn’t know how to market properly. I digress, as I am not going to fix Swiss management style via a blog.
It comes in small 5 ml sizes and at £5.20 per bottle, its a steal. I don’t know about you but my nail varnishes develop the consistency of Fevicol glue after 2 or 3 usages. Not this nail varnish.
Also, as the featured image lays testament to, this range has an insane number of colours.
My collection has Ankara and Cape Town. My mother who is infinitely fairer than I am, stocks Velvet and Pink Diamond, because who doesn’t love glitter?
The best place to buy MAVALA nail varnish is Switzerland. If you find flying to Zurich for nail varnish excessive, then Selfridges or any John Lewis store. Online, the best option is nailpolishdirect (click here)
5) Sunscreen
No list of mine would be complete without sunscreen. I am not leaving London without an industrial sized vat of Ultrasun. As you may know, Ultrasun = Gucci of sunscreens = what Zachary Levi should use. The best place to buy Ultrasun is Marks & Spencer. Click here for the full range.
In my Top 5 sunscreen recommendations I include mainly French sunscreen brands. Naturally, the best place to buy these is in Paris – 99.999% of pharmacies will carry at least one of these brands: Bioderma, RoC Soleil and Avene.
The airport
The airport is definitely the cheapest place to buy make-up and skincare. Naturally, retailers are super-efficient in never stocking anything I actually want. I hope you have better luck than me.
Closing remarks
As I travel during the summer, this may be my last blog till August. Enjoy your summer!
I would love to hear what you bring back from your summer holidays abroad too!