I’ve been going through a crazy schedule these last few months, and I have to say, I have had no time to pamper myself beyond the occasional threading and trim. So, when K asked me and a group of Kolkata Beauty and Lifestyle Bloggers (check out our Facebook Page HERE) to join her at the Green Trends Salon, in Salt Lake to check out their newest trends for Durga Puja, I was grinning like crazy. So on a rainy afternoon, I hopped into an auto (there was a taxi strike!), and made it just in time for the event.
I was invited to the Salt Lake Branch of the salon. Green Trends is essentially a Chennai based salon chain, and they now have around 200 salons around India. In Kolkata, they have three branches, and their brand ambassador is Kajal Agarwal, popular South Indian actor, who also featured in Singham (I hated that movie, though!). We met with the brand trainer Saddique Alam, who was discussing beauty trends for the upcoming Durga Puja. He was pretty enthusiastic about the trends, and loved talking about the hair and style trends that he thought would work out the best.
He emphasized on coloring and adding curls to hair, especially adding color blocks. Now I was thinking of getting my hair colored, but he took one look at my baby fine hair, and my extremely tired skin, and ordered me to get a facial, and then have my hair treated, cut and styled. Goshdarnit, that man can be bossy.
Naturally, the others decided to go for something fun and fabulous. Some chose to get their hair cut and styled, some went for nail arts, some decided to color. S from Sorelle Grapevine, and D from FlySongBird, two of my favorite beauty blogs, decided to color their hair. While D colored the ends of her hair blue (and it was GORGEOUS!!!), S had her hair cut and styled by Saddique Alam.
And then SP from Sold for Shoes decided to get nail art done. Isn’t it absolutely pretty? They have a number of nail art effects, like marbling and drawing pretty details, and it is all very cute.
D from Poutpretty was in a hurry, but wanted her hair cut and styled to enhance the curls. I took this picture of her when she was trying to relax while getting her hair wet. Needless to say, she glared at me right before closing her eyes, and giving me this oh-so-serene smile.
S looked every inch the reigning queen as Saddique Alam did what he had envisaged – color blocking. She got thick streaks added to her hair in fiery red shade, and then got her hair cut by him.
Just LOOK how pretty she looks!
Meanwhile, this lovely lady (her name’s Priyanka) took charge of me, and pointed me to a spa room. I spent nearly an hour there, my skin getting pampered by Mousumi, a sweet girl who gave me a Puja Special Facial and a backrub while she was at it. They have five new facials, especially for the Durga Puja season – Fair Bloom, White Sparkle, Glowing Radiance, Platinum and Bright and Shine, which are priced at 1250/- to 1950/- plus tax (members pay less). She took one look at me and told me to get the Fair Bloom, which was priced at 1450/-, and boy, was I in for a treat.
They have private, small rooms, in which you can change into a comfortable gear, and then the procedure begins. My masseuse, Mousumi, expertly gave me a dry massage first, and then applied a tan removal pack. Then she removed it and scrubbed my face lightly before steaming my face and getting the whiteheads and blackheads on my face out. Then she continued by putting some serum all over my face. After that, she used a machine on me to ensure the serum went in deep. Then, another round of massage later, she applied a mask on me which was unlike any mask I have been given till date. This one was spread thickly all over the face, including my eyes and lips, and I effectively shut up for 10 minutes (STOP LAUGHING). When she peeled it off, I could see my face imprinted on a rubber mask.
Cool, I thought. So that’s how the film guys do this! Only this one seemed to draw out loads of dirt and tan from my face, and left it looking clean and fresh. S commented on the fact the moment I came out of the room, that she could see my face looking much better, without a single scrap of makeup.
I was thinking of getting my hair colored, but I got a reproachful look from Mr. Alam, who told me that my hair would not be able to tolerate the attack of color just about now. It needed some help for the time being, in the form of tender loving care, and a cut would make it look much better. They have cuts with regular or premium shampoos used. They used premium on mine, so I am assuming the price is going to be around 450/- plus tax.
After that, my hair was washed, a mask was applied to the length of it, and then the guys talked about the fine quality and too much damage. Trouble is – my hair is thin and limp – always has been, so they suggested certain products to make it better. They cut and blow dried my hair to enhance my natural curls, and the result was this.
That’s my natural curls, feeling happy after a long time!
Disclaimer: Poorna Banerjee was invited to the Blogger’s Preview Event organized by Green Trends Salon.
