Aromatherapy doyen Blossom Kochhar was in town recently with daughter Samantha, a celebrated make-up artist, to make the city familiar with the latest hair trends, courtesy the Intercoiffure Mondial. t2 caught up with the duo for a chat:
What is Intercoiffure Mondial (ICD)?
Blossom Kochhar: It’s a world body organisation, spread across 82 countries, and the most influential hairdressing community. (Blossom is the president of ICD India)
Samantha Kochhar: What’s good is that it’s not dominated by a particular company. Hairdressers may be endorsing different brands in their salons but when they come to the ICD, it’s free of that.
The trends predicted for this season are...
Blossom: Braids that are carefully careless. Also hair that’s quite short — like an asymmetrical, textured blunt cut. Textured bangs are in too. Colours are ombre and reds.
NATURAL SKINCARE FOR SUMMER
1.Keep your skin moisturised. Seek consultation to determine your skin type and then get a suitable moisturiser.
2.Sunscreen is very important. For this city I highly recommend a sunscreen gel — like one with aloe vera in it. Also, a sunscreen spray is a good investment. Just spray it on top of your make-up. Holidaying at a beach, wear a creamy SPF 30+ sunscreen. For a normal day, use a gel or a sunscreen spray because it is lighter.
3.Remember to remove make-up with a cleansing lotion. Facewash alone doesn’t work effectively. After you clean your skin, apply a few drops of aromatherapy oil along with your moisturiser (or a gel if you have oily skin).
4.Fruits are good for your skin. For combination skin, use watermelon with a little milk powder and a touch of jasmine essential oil. For oily skin, use papaya with lemon and an oil like rose or tea tree. For dry skin, I recommend banana and honey with neroli or sandalwood oil.
5. A good hair moisturiser should typically include oils like coconut or even mustard, which is so popular in Calcutta. Also, if you perspire then there’s no harm in shampooing daily. It’s only recommended that you make sure the product you are using is SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate) and SLES (Sodium Laureth Sulphate) free, which are indicants of more lather.
— Blossom
1) One beauty trend you dislike?
Blossom: Whitening creams. Your natural colour is here to stay, so take steps towards keeping your skin healthy and glowing instead.
Samantha: This fad of lying to consumers about sunscreen with high SPF. If you medically research, 30 and 50 and above, are the same SPF. It’s just how many times you reapply.
2) A Bollywood actress who has good skin?
Blossom: Priyanka Chopra
Samantha: Jacqueline Fernandez and Deepika Padukone. Also Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
3) And the actresses with good hair?
Blossom: I liked Priyanka Chopra’s hair when it was long.
Samantha: Bollywood girls are supposed to have big hair. While I like Katrina Kaif’s hair, Dimple Kapadia has always stunned me with her mane.
4) The worst thing one could do to their skin?
Blossom: That undoubtedly would be not cleaning skin well before going to sleep!
5) Your answer to those who say cosmetics are bad for the skin?
Samantha: It’s not the cosmetics, it is the aftercare that you fail to do, giving cosmetics a bad name!
SUMMER COSMETICS
1.Sunscreen prevents you from ageing. A lot of make-up products have the SPF factor inbuilt, but if the product you’re using doesn’t, mix your foundation with a gel-based sunscreen and then apply. Also, foundation acts like a barrier between the pollution and your face.
2.Souffle make-up combats humidity. The moisture from the atmosphere and the heat that is generated from the body makes it look good.
3.Gel eyeliners are a better option in this climate because it doesn’t melt and smudge. Also, women should remember to use under-eye gels or creams — doing make-up around your delicate eye area results in wrinkles. Also, choose a gel for the under-eye because it looks lighter.
4.Irrespective of what the trends say, since Calcutta is a humid city, make do without too much gloss on your face. Foundations, lipstick or whatever you use should be as light as possible.
— Samantha
Text: Riddhima Khanna
