Memories Of An Uneventful Afternoon

Some days you try to get along with the world, and pat yourself on the back for making an effort. On others, you try and end up judging yourself for becoming everything you ever hated. You feel like you will explode by simply being nice, by simply trying to get along, by simply trying to avoid conflict and confrontation. You breathe in, you breathe out. You make poetry with every heart beat that was a bit too loud, a bit too hollow, a bit too rebellious. You survive. One more day; for it to begin again the next.

Dress - H&M

Boots - Street Style Store

Cardigan - Street Shop

Photos c/o - @stootea

When the Road Gets Dark and You Can No Longer See... Have a Little Faith in Me

I am here to make no promises. I am here to tempt no hearts. There is no illusion that anyone might even be listening anymore. But, hey! Here I am. Calling out into space.

FYI - Still very exhausted, but raring to go one more time.

Dress - Janpath street market, New Delhi

Bag - Lino Perros

Long Cardigan - some online shop

90s style scrunchie on the wrist - It came from where it will go, oblivion

 Background - Amber Fort, Jaipur

Follow on Fcebook if you care - Project Curve

Of Last Impressions and Cold Shoulders

There is a saying that goes "the first impression lasts forever". But, the truth is first impressions are rarely ever right. The memories of last impressions are mostly what we're left behind with. So, make them count. Last impressions.

Location - Taj Mahal, Agra

Cold Shoulder Top - Westside

Living In A Trance

We live in terror that if we ever show our true self, even to the one who has breathed into our skin and left traces in our bloodstream, we would automatically be deemed unloveable. This quote by Marilyn Monroe is so famous- "...if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

Sure we would love to practice it for real. But, in truth we refuse to ask for what we think we deserve because we are so terrified of being left all alone. Most days you pretend you are good with it all, your brain dictates you to be more pragmatic. But, certain days when you are already feeling low, you just turn into mush and slowly dissolve into the nothingness deep inside of your hollow heart. Every bit of defensive behaviour is just a way to protect our hearts from being broken again and again. You say things to break off ties, before they can. Decades long friendships come to end, lovers leave, parents die, cousins get too busy- you stood alone to look at the moon even when they were around anyway. You never saw the same things and felt the same things about them anyway.

Tend your bruises in silence, tend them alone. No one else has a magical salve to soothe your burns. We are not faces, we are not bodies; we are just trembling fingers and toes trying to make sense of everything. We are all living inside our own heads, where we are the perpetual victims. Do we ever come out of that trance?

of fires that burn through you

of deliberately unclean shoes

Follow on facebook for more - Project Curve

Bed Head TIGI India

As of 5th April, 2015, I have officially bid goodbye to good old fly songbird. That doesn't mean I have left behind my free flying days. A name change was needed. I have considered changing the name of the blog ever since it became a fashion and lifestyle blog as opposed to just being a personal blog where I wrote about everything that knocked at my brain. I have always maintained that a blog needs to stick to it's niche(it's very easy to say yes to brands who will pay you or give you lucrative freebies). Quality over quantity, people. And I have stuck to mine and an appropriate name was necessary. I have thought of names for years on and off. I have thought of buying a domain and redesigning the look of the blog on and off. But, always put it off for tomorrow. Always thinking I am still learning how to blog better and making mistakes here and there. This March my blogging journey completed a whole 5 years. And I put my foot down. I had to get my big ass moving and get all the changes done. The new look is simple and clean with a hint of colour and calligraphy, a good combo of everything I love in design, and life in general. Project Curve does not signify only the curves of a body, even though every curve and plane of a woman's body is celebrated here. This is a no body snark, only body love zone. And it will always remain so. But, this curve I speak of, signifies also the curve of life. The journey to anywhere is mired in following a lot bendy roads, there are seldom any straight lanes that take us to our destination. The curves make it fun. I have plans of launching a new segment soon. But, my "soons" are longer than your "soons".

______________________________

How many of you have used and love TIGI products? It is a hugely popular hair product range abroad. When I had just started discovering hair products that can do wonders to my otherwise straight hair, TIGI was one of the first brands I wanted to try. So, when it became available online a few years back (all heavens bless online shopping!) I was a very happy girl. But, I have even better news for all you city dwellers. TIGI will now be available in Calcutta, exclusively in select salons all over the city. Their Bead Head and S-factor ranges are coming to town. I was invited to the product launch event for a one-on-one styling session. I got into a tête–à–tête session with TIGI creative expert, Rohit Solanki as he styled my hair.

Q. What's the difference between the Bed Head and S-factor ranges?
Rohit ~ S-factor is more of a high end, luxury range. Whereas Bed Head is for the young at heart, the more spirited ones.

Q. Which city in India has the more experimental crowd in terms of hair styling?
Rohit ~ Bangalore for sure. It is not like the other cities. It is like a hub.

Q. How would you rate the Calcutta crowd?
Rohit ~ Most people in cities like Calcutta, Chennai and even Delhi love their lengths. They like a particular look. They are much more conservative.

Q. But, would you say the younger generation is moving away from conservative style choices now?
Rohit ~ Definitely. There has been a huge shift in the past few years, the young generation is definitely more aware of international trends. India and China especially are growing markets.

Q. Why are the TIGI products only available at salons?
Rohit ~ Well, the TIGI products are like medicine for your hair and the salon experts are like hair doctors. You should buy the products you need only after you know how to use them.

Q. Okay, I have always wanted to go really short with an asymmetric bob. How short should I go?
Rohit ~ The front layer should touch your shoulders and back should cover your neck. That would create the right frame for your face.
__

Well that's it guys. Hope you got a little insight. Next time you ask your hair stylist to spare your hair length, know that you are just being a true desi. 
TIGI Products used on my hair - Hard Head hair spray for strong hold and a subtle shine. Manipulator gunk for texture. And Head Rush mist spray for a sheen. It smelled so exotic.
I loved the glamorous curls. It lasted for a whole day and some more. Almost made me want to go in for a boudoir shoot.

Project Curve

Howrah Bridge by Anupriya DG!

I have wanted a floor length kurta dress for almost 3 years. When I spotted a woman wearing an Ethiopian style cotton gown in a mall a couple of months back I decided to take things in my own hands. Or rather seek out more expert designer hands to accomplish the task soon. So, I reached out to my friend Anupriya DG who is not only one of the pioneer Calcutta fashion bloggers, but also the owner of a fashionable designer label Howrah Bridge. I have featured her earlier on this blog several times, go here and here to refresh your memory again. Check out her designs and tell me how much you love them. And if you want then get a custom made designer piece for yourself!

I had asked her to design the dress in a way she thinks would look best on me; all I told her was that I don't want it to make me look like a sack of potatoes. The compliments that came my way were proof that I do not resemble anything potato-ey in this gorgeous dress. I am wearing it here with leggings because it was kinda pretty cold that day. And I don't know why I haven't featured this backpack on the blog yet. I have been carrying it around everywhere with me for the past year. It goes with everything!

Cobalt Blue Kurta Dress - Howrah Bridge by ADG

Silver Hollowed Out Cuff - Avon
PU Leather Backpack - Romwe (click to buy)
Hamsa necklace - Accessorize

Platform Shoes - B.K. Market

FlySongbird

Green Trends Salon Review - Forever Blue Hair

I was invited to review the upcoming Durga Puja hairstyle and beauty trends at Green Trends Salon, Salt Lake branch. But, me being me, I got my hair coloured blue and decided to take my time and review it properly after the colour had properly faded and washed off. So, here I am to rave about Green Trends Salon for doing such a great job. I also should mention right away that here I got one of the best pedicures of my life ever. Just go in and ask for Zainab. It would be an understatement to say that I have horrible feet. And she worked magic by scrubbing and massaging all the right spots. I felt truly pampered.

Green Trends is a family chain salon originally from Chennai, but now they have around 200 branches all over India. They have 3 branches in Kolkata - Salt Lake, Golpark and Bangur Avenue.

"Green trends is a contemporary hair & style salon that offers cool looks for a new you– all at practical prices."

We had a chat session with head trainer, Saddique Alam. He suggested colour chunks and curl enhancing treatments as Bong beauties have a natural tendency towards curls. He personally oversaw every step of my colouring method. It was decided that my already honey blonde ombre hair had to be lightened further for the blue to show up. After the single bleach session, they put in the Majirel mix blue colourant in my hair and kept it in for no longer than 10-15 minutes. This ensured the colour did not turn too dark. There were 3 people working at my hair and that was a very funny feeling. The other bloggers opted for red hair highlights, curl enhancing haircuts and treatments, nail art and facial treatments. The end results for everyone was pretty amazing.

Pre-bleach and colour

Waiting for the bleach to lighten my hair further

The Majirel Mix Creme Blue looked like this after being mixed with a 20 vol developer

The process begins. Soon he will be joined by 2 others and Mr. Alam

The awesome pedicure where Anupriya and I got pampered. Pic c/o Poorna Banerjee

Saddique Alam brushing my hair personally before the money shot. Felt like a celeb in a photoshoot. Pic c/o Anupriya Dg

The money shot Pic c/o Anupriya Dg

Wish I had magical powers so that I could change my hair to all sorts of amazing colours like this whenever I wanted. My hair was as blue as my studded Peter Pan collared sheer top from Vero Moda. I washed my hair once or twice(maximum) a week. It took a full month for it to completely go away. It faded to green. After waiting for 1 & 1/2 months I decided to use the soap capping method(details here) to remove the colour completely.

Green Trends already has very reasonable rates for their wide range of services, but if you get a membership card worth Rs.100(valid for 2 years!) you get further discounts. Now, I have given you every reason to try out their services for yourself. Go get pampered!

FlySongbird

How To:Hair Chalking, 90s Inspired Grunge Green Hair

Our decade can easily be defined as the comeback era. We have taken everything good from the past style decades and put a modern twist on them. Grunge and Gothic subcultures have always attracted me because of their aesthetic appeal. My wardrobe predominantly consists of blacks and darker solids. As much as I love prints, it leaves me feeling slightly chaotic. So, I instinctively tend to reach out for solids. I have done a couple of posts previously about how to colour your hair unnatural shades. I have done a post about How To Do Pastel Hair (if you do not have chalk pastel) that discusses how to put the colour in your unbleached hair step by step. I did another one  How To: Lighten Dark Asian Hair Without Bleach where I described in detail how to lighten your dark hair before colouring in a gradual and safe way with the soap capping method.

Grunge styles are inherently gritty. It regales in imperfections, a slight messiness. The colour looks best when it's slightly faded. Opt for a piece-y/choppy shag haircut. Leave your long locks slightly wavy. Your hair should look like it's not been made up. Mr. Cobain and his hair was a huge inspiration in the Spring 2013 designer runways. Just look up Peter Som's Spring 2013 collection to get an idea. The hair was absolutely fantastic. P.S. - Green hair has shown up at the Indian Fashion Week 2014. Check out the Easton Pearson show *here*

Here are a few tips to get the perfect (imperfect?) 90s Grunge green hair with hair chalk pastel:

1. Shampoo your hair and use a light conditioner if at all. I would advice not to use conditioner. It prevents the colour from depositing it's pigments properly even if hair chalking doesn't lead to penetration of the colour into the hair.
2. Use the twisting method I wrote about in the 1st post (scroll up to see link to the relevant post). The friction leads to better colouring. Do it on wet hair. This time I used the blow drier to set the colour.
3. You do not need lightened hair. This green would have showed on unbleached hair as well, not as brightly perhaps but, still would have showed up.
4. But, having said that ^ I did like the effect better with my lightened hair. There was a three tone ombre effect which was everything 90s Grunge hair ideally is supposed to be. You do not need to damage your hair with bleach. You can use the soap capping method instead. Follow the detailed directions provided in my previous post (link provided above).
5. If you prefer a more pastel Grunge effect then you need lighter hair than mine. 

 I used soft hair chalk pastel from Born Pretty. Shade - Dark phtalo green 026. I also have their Magenta 022 (seen *here*). It was very easy to put them in my hair and the colour showed up pretty easily. Just wear regular plastic gloves that you you would wear to colour hair to avoid staining. The pastels did not break while applying and there is still a lot left. They are a steal at only $1.27 each.

images via google, pinterest, tumblr.

Sport it in an off duty ballerina bun hairstyle just like in the 3rd photo. It is the hottest hair trend of 2014, been spotted at Diane Von Furstenberg, Altuzarra to Marchesa. Well so are all kinds of fun braids. Why not try a braided bun like at the Dolce & Gabbana show?

FlySongbird

Hanging with Heisenberg

Just casually chilling and hanging with Heisenberg aka Walter White.

I got this Heisenberg t-shirt from YoYo Melody. Guess what? I got this delivered within 8 days of ordering! That is some superb shipping service. You do have to pay for this awesomesauce super fast shipping though.

It was very easy to order and the website is easy to navigate. If you are a "Breaking Bad" fan you will want to own this tee right away. They have an awesome collection of cool t-shirts among other things. 

Go ahead and use this coupon specially made for you all and get $10 knocked off of your purchase - ym10off

Heisenberg tee ($18) - c/o YoYo Melody

Green hair colour ($1.27) - c/o Born Pretty (review coming soon)

Long cardigan with sheer panel in the back ($14.84) - c/o Dress Lily

Blue denim - Shopper's Stop

Booties - New Market

FlySongbird

Dress Lily Long Cardigan

It's when you get as close to someone as you can get, that you lose them.

Sheer panelled long cardi - c/o Dress Lily ($14.84)

Hair Colour - c/o Born Pretty ($1.27)
Lip Colour - Matte Lilly c/o Avon (review *here*)

Ombre Top - Vero Moda

Slouchy Pants - Chemistry

Studded Bracelet - Romwe

Shoes - B.K. Market

The sheer panel at the back of the cardigan is what makes this so much more precious than if it had been just a simple long cardigan. See what else I got from Dress Lily *here*

And do you notice any change in my hair? More on that in the next post. 

;-)

FlySongbird

Sheinside - Genius!

Sheinside sent me this fun sweatshirt. Donald Duck with nerd glasses on, and the ironic "Genius" written on it just makes it more quirky. It is pretty thick and definitely not for the summer. But, the moment the temperature drops I can see myself wearing this repeatedly. I got the product within 18 days of ordering, thoroughly impressed by that. When I like something/someone, I fall hard, and I don't mind being a repeat offender. The longer things last the better, I was never into cheap thrills and flaky friends anyway.

Donald Duck Sweatshirt - c/o Sheinside (get it here, not an affiliate link)

Round Sunglasses - c/o Firmoo

Shoes - B.K. Market

Jeggings - Pantaloons(years ago)

Some times I feel stupid taking my own photos. It feels even more odd editing the photos. The urge to Photoshop a bulge here and there remains strong, but I fight it because this blog is for people to see how a non-thin body looks like. The oddity of your own body and the imperfections often stand out more when you stare at it longer. I sometimes wonder if I really look that way in real life, when I move around and breathe and talk and laugh or if it is all a trick of the light in a particular photo.When I look at other not so thin (plus-sized or not) bloggers, I identify with the bulges and not the smooth perfections. Seeing anybody wear clothes and wear it well is an inspiration in itself, but when the whole world is obsessed with becoming thinner or in having a thin waist and the "right" curves, you need to see these other bodies that exist all around. I follow a lot of body positive sites and all those women dress beautifully. There is nothing wrong with feeling and looking like a slob on some days, but, the fact that you can look good and be admired despite being bigger is a good feeling. It reminds you people are not all brainwashed, that the future may not be so bleak that people won't be able to look beyond the outer shell of a person. You don't need to dress up or put make-up on, but you totally should if you think it's fun without making excuses for it. If you are a guy and like wearing nice clothes and carrying jazzy accessories/gadgets don't bother about those who think you are odd, slap anyone who thinks it's a girly thing to do. Teach them to open their minds. There are too many people telling girls to cover up their bulges and scars, there are too many girls self-harming, trying to resemble the girl on the magazine cover or on the runway without realising the model also looks like a human being in person. That is why it is essential that there are also these other people who exist with all their glorious flaws out in the open.

FlySongbird

Red Hair - Matrix SoColor SoRed

My post on lightening dark Asian hair without bleach seems to be doing pretty good traffic-wise. So, I have decided to do another post on hair colour. I have been colouring my own hair since I was 19/20 and I have done my best friend's hair as well a couple of times. I don't think I have been to a salon in over a year, I snipped of my layers at home when I started lightening my hair to get rid of the thinning at the ends.

Anyway, this post is about red on virgin black hair. We used Matrix SoColor SoRed (the normal red shade they have) with the 30 volume Streax developer I have been using(read about it and what kind of developer to use in the above link). We got them from medplusbeauty, but the colour is out of stock it seems. It was very difficult to get a reasonably priced red from an Indian e-store, the L'Oreal Excellence HiColor Red HiLights every youtube vlogger raves about (for using on dark hair without bleach) costs somewhere north of INR1500($25), which is too much I think for some fun experimentation. This Matrix colour was INR290($4.75) and it worked pretty good. The hair that processed for about 2 hours was the brightest red. The ones at the top were kept for a little more than an hour and even though it wasn't as bright, it was pretty obviously red. According to this website, it deposits so much pigment that the first few shampoos there will be some excess dye bleeding out.

See the before and after results.

She only wanted strategically placed streaks which will show through her braids, she does mean braids, that girl does. See another photo of Rashmirekha with her red hair here.

14th February, 2014

♫In your love my salvation lies♫

I took this shot last week in an empty corridor running up to my department in my college. There is a stillness in this photo, a certain calmness and light that is very peaceful.

What Are You?

If you don't smoke or drink do you think that proves you are better than others?

If you had to overcome certain hardships growing up do you think that makes you special?

~

You are not your achievements. You are not your job or salary. You are not your hardships.

You are how you treat others.

Polo Neck - Mango
Maxi Skirt - West Side
Crochet Cape - B.K. Market
White Nail Polish - Colorbar USA

as seen on instagram

Supermassive : Inspiration

I am always naturally attracted to dark colours, dark stories, dark personalities and with winter here I regale in having a darker wardrobe, a darker makeup palette. Violetta E is a source of supermassive inspiration to me.