My Envy Box June 2016 Edition

Hello Everyone!

My Envy Box June 2016 arrived yesterday. In fact my annual subscription ended last month and I was wondering if I should renew it. I checked out a few other subscription boxes and i decided to renew My Envy Box.

So, was this a good decision? Lets find out.

 This month's box has a lovely floral look.

 

O3+ Aloe Derma Hydrating Gel

Product Price: INR 385/- for 50gms

Sample Size in Box: Full Size

Votre Purifying Deep Cleansing and Clearing Masque

Product Price: INR 1090/- for 100 gms

Sample Size in Box: 50 gms

L'Occitane Divine Cream

Product Price: INR 6990/- for 50 gms

Sample Size in Box: 1.5 ml x 2

Calvin Kein CK2 (EDT)

Product Price: INR 3800/- for 100 ml

Sample Size in Box: 1.2 ml

Herra Hair Care Protect Hair Perfume

Product Price: INR 2459/-

Sample Size in Box: 10 ml

This month's box is decent. One full sized product and one generously sized sample pack. And two samples from luxury brands. The Herra Hair protect perfume looks like an interesting product. The O3+   Aloe vera gel will be really good to apply after a day out in the scorching sun. The Votre Face Mask is also weather appropriate. Who can complain about the L'Occcitane Divine Cream? And i just love the little perfume vials. I keep them in my purse and spritz them on whenever the day seems too long.....

Total Value of the Box: INR 1893/- approx. Not bad when you have paid INR 850/- for this box!

My Envy Box is a subscription service which brings you 5 trial sized beauty products (typically 2ml-10ml) from the top international luxury and prestige brands delivered to your door step every month. Priced at INR 850/- for a month, it may be subscribed for 3, 6, or 12 months. You may subscribe to this service HERE

Google Tip of the Day: Google Sheet - Make the Header stand out from the Rest of the Cells!

Hey Everyone!

Have you worked with Google Sheet before? If you have worked with Google Form then you've obviously had to handle all the data thus collected, in Sheets. 

But the headers just seem to dull and hardly look different from the data in the other cells......

Want to change that? 

1. Select Row 1
2. Click on Format in the Menu Bar
3. Click on Font Size from the Drop Down
4. Click on a number to get the Font size you want
5. Click on the   Icon
6. Select your preferred colour from the grid that opens.
7. Click on  Icon
8. Select your preferred colour from the grid that opens.
9. Done!

Until next time......

Google Tip of the Day: How to add an element to all your slides in one go..

Hello All,

I'm taking this 'teaching to learn' business a bit seriously right now. So here is something I learn recently and thought of sharing with you all.

Many of you have moved to using Google Slides for your presentations from PowerPoint Presentations. And you've been making brilliant presentations! Now you want to add your school/company logo or perhaps your name in all the slides, but hate doing that one slide at a time...

So lets save some time to make space for greater creativity! We'll add, whatever it is that you want to add to the entire slide deck in one go.... I am using an image, you can do anything that strikes your fancy!

1. Open a new slide deck (or maybe an existing one), name it.
2. Choose your theme
3. Fill out your title Slide
4. Add a new Slide
5. Click on VIEW
6. Select MASTER from the drop-down menu
7. When the Master Slide Editor opens, Click on INSERT
8. Select IMAGE
9. From the Image window that opens, choose an image to upload from you computer or search online. Select whatever you like.
10. Resize the image to suit your needs and place it exactly where you want it on the master slide.
11. You are done!

Link To the Slide Presentation

More next time!

Product Review: The Nature's Co. White Tea Night Cream Atmospure

Hey Everyone!

Here's another Product Review Post for you! This time I am reviewing The Nature's Co's. White Tea Night Cream Atmospure. I received this in the FabBag May 2016. I have used this off and on through the month and I'm ready to tell you how the product has fared on me.

Product Price: INR 895/-  for 50 ml
Product Claim and List of Ingredients: 

From brand's own promotional material

My Take on the Product:

I can't comment much on the packaging of the product, except that it comes in a jar, since I only have a sample jar. On to the product itself. The product is vegan, is not tested on animals and is paraben free. These are big pluses. 

The moment you open the jar, a lovely, herby fragrance hits your olfactory senses. The cream is pale peach in colour. The texture is more like a gel cream than purely cream. It spreads easily but needs about a minute of light massage to get absorbed into the skin. In drier weather, it felt quite comfortable on my skin. But now that the weather has become more humid, I find that the application of this cream makes my face sweat more than usual. Though I definitely will get back to this cream when the weather gets drier.

The product is very moisturising and is great for normal to dry skinned beauties. However, despite having an oily skin, this product has not broken me out at all. So its good for sensitive skin too. 

As far as its anti ageing properties go, I do not have a lot of wrinkles, so I can't say whether I have any fewer wrinkles. However, when I did apply the cream at bedtime, I did wake up with softer, brighter skin in the morning.

Pros:

1. Free of parabens
2. Not tested on animals
3. Vegan product
4. Lovely, herby fragrance
5. Spreads easily
6. Absorbs well
7. Moisturises well
8. Good for normal to dry skin
9. Did not break me out
10. Woke up with softer brighter looking skin
11. Competitively priced.

Cons:

1. Can be a bit uncomfortable for oily skin in humid months. 

Overall Verdict: 4.75/5. Its quite a nice product and I'm quite happy with it. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone with sensitive skin, normal to dry skin.

What did you think of the review? Have you used this product? what are your thoughts about it? Do let me know in the comments section below...

Think and Stay Beautiful!

Make Personalised Maps with Google My Maps

Hi Readers!

I do not usually write posts on education or integrating technology in the classroom. But this is another area I feel very strongly about. I always on the look-out for new ways to engage my students in the learning of History using technology. 

I already have an up and running website for my students. But more on that later.

CBSE requires Grade 12 History students to prepare a research project. The general understanding is that the students will either in groups or as individuals make a pen and paper file of their project topics. The maximum use of technology, in most cases is using Google as a search engine, copying and pasting from Wikipedia, printing all this out, slap it into a folder and submitting it to the teacher.

I wanted to make this engagement with technology a bit deeper. So This year, I have asked my students to create a website instead of a file. 

Among other things I want my students to create their own customised historical maps, especially since images of historical maps of India are not so easily available. For this they do not need to be a tech whiz, know HTML and a whole bunch of geeky things, whose names I do not know......

Google My Maps has come to the rescue. How to use it? Here's how!

Go ahead, try it out, and tell me how it worked for you!

Product Review: Gratia Bela Shower Gel

Hey Everyone!

Hot and sticky summers are here to stay! So how do you try to stay fresh through these humid days? I for one take a lot of showers. I love shower gels since they impart a sense of freshness without drying out the skin too much.

Recently, Gratia Luxurious Bath and Body  sent me a couple of products to try out. Among them was the Bela Shower Gel. I have been using this for a some weeks now and I'm ready to review his product for you.

But before that, a brief introduction about the company:

From Brand's own promotional material

From Brand's own promotional material

From Brand's own promotional material

Now to the product:

Product Claim and Instructions for Use:

Product Price: INR 250/- for 200 ml of product

List of Ingredients:

My Take on the Product:

The product comes packed in a cardboard carton. The carton itself is textured, pink on colour with floral accents. The bottle is a clear plastic with a brown coloured cap. The product is dispensed from a pop-open nozzle.

The product itself is pale yellow in colour. It is runny, but not watery. Its not thick like gel either. I t has a lovely fragrance of  jasmine flowers. It lathers well and feels really pleasant on the skin. The shower gel leaves my skin feeling clean and fresh. It does not strip away the skin's natural moisture. The fragrance lingers for about an hour after the shower. I am really enjoying using this shower gel.

However, I have not noticed any advantage that this product has over the shower gels from other brands. But if you look at this products on its own, then it is a good product to try. I'm definitely looking forward to trying their shower gels in different fragrances!

Pros:

1. Fuss-free and leak proof packaging
2. Lovely fragrance which lingers for a while
3. Lathers well
4. Rinses off easily
5. Refreshes skin
6. Does not dry out skin
7. Competitively priced.
8. Not tested on animals
9. Is available in many fragrance variations

Cons 

1. Contains SLS
2. I did not feel this product really stands apart form any other brand in its category.

Overall Verdict: 4.5/5. The brand must try to place itself in a unique position in the overcrowded shower gel market.

Buy Online HERE. 

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me by the brand for reviewing purposes. I have not been paid any money for this review. This fact has not allowed my review to be clouded or less honest.

Cook With Me: Easy Peasy Gatte Ki Sabzi (Chickpea Ball Curry)

Hi Everyone!

I have not put up a recipe post in a long while. I tried out gatte ki sabzi the other day. It came out pretty yum. And the husband was happy! So I thought of sharing this recipe with you. Its a dish from Rajasthan. Since Rajasthan is largely a desert, many of its dishes do not incorporate a lot of vegetables. So when you find yourself short of fresh veggies, try this out.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

1. Besan or Chickpea Flour: 1 cup
2. Salt: a pinch
3. Carom seeds: a pinch, crushed between your palms to release its aroma
4. Baking soda: 1/4th tsp
5. Sour Curd: 2 tbsp
6. Water: a tsp or 2 to soften the dough

For The Gravy:

1. Grated Onion: 1 large
2. Grated Garlic: 3-4 cloves
3. Grated Ginger: Half tsp
4. Grated Tomato: 1 medium
5. Turmeric: Half tsp
6. Chilli Powder: Half tsp
7. Kasoori Methi or Dried Fenugreek leaves: 1 big pinch
8. Sour Curd: Half Cup beaten to remove all lumps
9. Salt to taste.
10. Torn Mint leaves for garnish

Method: 

1. Take ingredients 1-4 and mix the dry products. Then add the sour curd and knead the mixture into a soft dough. Add some water if needed. The feel of the dough should be like that of roti/chapati dough.

2. Rub a few drops of oil on your palms to prevent the dough from sticking to       your hands. Divide the dough into four parts.

3. Take each part and roll it out to form thick fingers, about 1/2 an inch in             diameter.

4. Cut them into half inch pieces

5. Boil about 1 litre water in a pan. When the water is boiling, drop the Chickpea     balls carefully into the water. Simmer for about 10-12 minutes.

                        

6. In the meantime, heat 2 tbsp oil in a skillet and fry the onions, ginger and         garlic till they begin to turn brown

7. Add the tomato, turmeric,  red chilli powder and salt and saute till it begins to     leave oil on the sides of the skillet.

8. Now gradually add the sour curd and keep stirring the mixture or else it will      curdle. Add the Kasoori Methi/ dried fenugreek leaves.

9. When the gravy comes to a boil,add the boiled chickpea balls into this gravy.     Simmer for 10 minutes.

10. Remove from fire, por out into a serving dish, garnish with mint leaves.

11. Serve with steamed rice or roti.

Bon Appetit!