Products that Work: Nivea skin whitening roll on deo, a Review

Psst... Know what they say about shaving making your skin darker? It's not true! It's an urban beauty myth, if you please. ;) But you know what really makes skin darker? No, apart from UV rays guys. Alcohol based deodorant sprays. Who knew right? But, it's true! I've always avoided these deo sprays and always prefer roll ons but some months back I got this spray deo as a free gift with some puchase and as it happened I ran out of my roll on and decided to use the spray. And sure enough it made my underarms a couple of shades darker. And those look ugly ugh. So I kept my arms firmly at my side, held my head high and went scouting for something that would help lighten em. That's when I chanced upon this lil thing.

The Nivea skin whitening roll on deo. I saw the words whitening and alcohol free and immediately pounced on it and ran to the billing counter. Did it work? Umm.. Yeah, as is apparent from the post title. Duh. So this cost me Rs.165 and is easily available at pharmacies, cosmetics shops and departmental stores.
It comes in a glass bottle with a roller at the top and the liquid inside it is white in colour and thicker than usual roll on deos.

Yay for:

• Pleasant, mild fragrance, just like that of the Nivea skin cream.
• Actually works, reduces pigmentation on the underarm area, making it lighter
• Clear bottle so easy to see how much product is left
• Lasts quite long. One bottle sees me through 2 months with daily usage
• Doesn't cause any burning or stinging even if you've just waxed/shaved the area

Boo for:

• Thick liquid, which makes drying longer and so if you wear your clothes in a hurry it would rub off on them, thus reducing effectiveness
• Not really 24hrs lasting against BO as it claims. I guess it lasts about 6-8 hours at an office. If you're going to be sweating or doing physical stuff, this won't hold up

I could see a difference in the colour within a week of using this. So give it a shot if you're worried about your dark underarms but be warned, this won't protect you much against BO, so layer another one on top of this I guess.

My rating: ***

You can buy it online here.

Products that work: Clean and Clear Blackead Removing daily face scrub, A review

For someone as lazy as me cleansing, toning, scrubbing and moisturising twice a day is too much effort. But being "blessed" with oily skin white heads and black heads come with the territory and sit on the face like ugly gargoyles (no offence to Gargoyles). I guess the only upside to this whole deal is the immense satisfaction you get when you squeeze a whitehead or a blackhead and all the goo comes out, aaah- real stress buster, I tell you. But TMI, and disgusting to boot. Alright alright I'll get on to the good part.

This lil baby works like a charm-zaps em baddies. The Clean & Clear Blackhead Clearing Daily Scrub- this is white in colour with a cream facewash consistency with little white gritty particles. Cost me Rs.90 for a 80g tube. Also available in a 40g tube for Rs.50. I use it once a day instead of a facewash during my shower and it really does leave the nose smoother and better looking. This is not just a scrub, its like a scrub-cum-facewash coz it lathers up well. I would have posted pics of my nose before and after using this but then this blog is about all things pretty and I don't wanna mess with that. I rub well on my problem areas- the nose, chin, forehead and then rinse off with water. Well, its not a miracle product so don't expect your pores to disappear with one use but I can guarantee that with regular use the blackheads do reduce. Easily available at pharmacies or Health&Glow outlets, quite inexpensive and effective.
Or if you're super lazy to even go look for it at a store (thank you, you make me look like a bee on steroids), you can buy it online here.

Rating: ****