instagram Archives • Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog

iPhoneography | Photojo Dreamscope Filter Kit for Smartphones Demo + REVIEW

Magali Vaz — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:00:00 +0000

Photojojo is definitely one of my favorite photography webstores. In 2010 I blew up my first every paycheck to buy a box of photography goodies from them, so it’s pretty safe to say that we go way back.
I aquired the Photojojo Dreamscope IRL Filter Kit ($30) late last year so I put it to the test so I could do a detailed video review.

One of the best things about this kit is that it’s very well made & compatible with most smartphones. I usually dislike shelling out too much on iPhone accessories as they will inevitable become obsolete when I upgrade two years later, so I was pleased that this won’t be the case with the dreamscope! If you’re into mobile photography at all, you might like this!

If you have any questions leave them in the comments below & I will get to them stat!

The post iPhoneography | Photojo Dreamscope Filter Kit for Smartphones Demo + REVIEW appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Maybelline Color Show Glitter Mania Swatches + #Nailfie GIVEAWAY!

Magali Vaz — Thu, 29 May 2014 04:00:00 +0000

Maybelline launched their Color Show nail polishes in India around October last year (I reviewed them here). They were very, very sucessful – I know a couple of people that decided to buy all of the shades available just because they were so good (& a bargain!)

It would be very silly of them to not expand on the range so a week ago they launched threw a very glamorous blogger bash to launch their latest addition to the Maybelline Color Show Glitter Mania polishes.

I created a very short (under two and a half minutes!) above with swatches of all of the shades, so do have a look & let me know which your favorite is? I really can’t pick one because all eight shades are gorgeous in their own way & I’ve been changing my polish to match whatever I’ve been wearing that day. I love the textured sand finish too, I’m not used to it so I keep touching my nails because it’s such a novelty.

The polishes are 8ml & cost ₹125 which is so remarkable because they easily rival OPI Liquid Sand & Zoya Pixie Dust polishes both of which cost ₹550+!!

And that’s not all, there’s a Giveaway! Maybelline has very kindly offered to give you guys hampers with their new Glitter Mania polishes! All you have to do is click a #Nailfie. Confused? All the details are here: @magali_c + @maybellineindia #nailfie contest!

You can enter on instagram or even twitter & the last date for entries is 4th June. Good luck & I can’t wait to see what you lovely folks come up with.

love,
Magali

The post Maybelline Color Show Glitter Mania Swatches + #Nailfie GIVEAWAY! appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Just a minute in August ’13

Magali Vaz — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Tea Trunk lemon green tea (picture from my instagram account // @magali_c)

The last couple of weeks have not been very nice, thanks to my Macbook Pro crashing (just a little over 13 months old, I smell a conspiracy… seriously). I still haven’t taken it in to get it accessed, but needless to say I’m terrified after what happened last time. I’ll probably go today, so please send some positive vibes my way!

Watching… Friends (for the first time). It’s got absolutely nothing on Seinfeld, but it’s still pretty good.. not to mention further fuelling my obsession with nineties New York.

Listening… Pet Shop Boy’s New Album (Electric). I’ve had Love is a Bourgeois Construct playing on repeat.

Reading… Beauty Blogs.

Cooking… Mushrooms & new salad combos.

Buying… Makeup & more makeup (somebody stop me). (x2) I’ve never really been into nail polish before but I’m really starting to like it now, & my little polish collection is growing! Hopefully this will spell the end of nail biting for me.

Looking forward to… My mac getting fixed & just generally getting back into the swing of things.

The post Just a minute in August ’13 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Just a minute in February ’13

Magali Vaz — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

photos from my instagram @magali_c

February was a quiet month, one for relaxing & just regrouping. I didn’t go out that much, that’s why all of the instagram photos above were taken at home. After the craziness of December & January I certainly needed a break.

Now my batteries are recharged & I’m ready to get more stuff done this month.

Watching… My regular TV shows. Castle had a pretty interesting two part episode around the Save Alexis theme & they were both pretty good. Parks & Recreation made me cry, I’m so emotionally invested in the characters. I finally started watching Happy Endings from the beginning & I love it.

Listening… David Bowie, Culture Club, Queen, Tears for Fears, The Bangles. How amazing is David Bowie’s new single The Stars (Are Out Tonight)? The video is so great too!

Reading… Re-reading old favorites like Frankie & discovering new ones like Motherland magazine (It’s really brilliant, can’t believe I didn’t know about it till now, thanks Ro!)

Cooking… Perfect aloo (potato) parathas at my first attempt. Also, chocolate pudding.

Buying… Kitchen things (like those pretty colanders!)

Looking forward to… India Design Forum 2013, exploring a few new places in Mumbai.

The post Just a minute in February ’13 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Just a minute in January ’13

Magali Vaz — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 04:36:00 +0000

I saw a lot of these just a minute posts featuring on blogs last year so I’ve decided to start doing it in the new year, it’s a great way to summarise the month that went by.

I brought in the new year in Goa, totally last minute. I was grouchy about going there during peak tourist season, but I had so many wonderful adventures, like watching coconuts getting plucked & seeing emus up close!

On Jan 8th I was all set to celebrate David Bowie’s birthday when I got the news that he’s recorded a new album after 10 years. It was such an amazing feeling! Welcome back, David!

I started to appreciate coffee for what it is, I drank my first cup without any sugar. I think bitter coffee + sweet donuts are a magical combination, but now I want to slowly try having more coffee.

I also attended the most intimate & lovely blogger meet organised by The Home Label, where I met & hung out with Roanna of Jupiter Skye for the first time after knowing her online for about four years!

I helped organize the monthly Birthday Party at the Home for the Aged with my mom & another lady. My mom volunteers there very regularly (she’ll complete ten years later this year!) I admire it so much – though I’ve been volunteering too since I was 11 my time spent there is dwindling of late. This year I want to get more regular, starting with at least once a month & then raising it to twice (baby steps!)

I had a lot of good mail days but the highlight of them all was receiving some things from India Circus. Not only is everything so well designed, I cannot get over how well they were packed.

Something to note: All of these photos are taken from my instagram & there will be dedicated posts about them soon, so you can regard this as a teaser of sorts.

Watching… I just found out that Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 got cancelled, I really liked the show! Also 30 Rock ended so it was not a very positive month for my favorite TV shows. I also finally watched The Emmys & Golden Globes – The Emmys had some lovely moments & the Golden Globes had the best hosts (also Jodie’s speech was amazing!)

Listening… David Bowie, Queen, George Michael, Hall & Oates, Tears for Fears. I just saw on twitter that TFF are back in the studio. Jan 2013 was the best month for my favorite music acts!

Reading… It was a month for magazines – Frankie, 91 magazine, Trendenser, TimeOut Mumbai, Outlook Traveller, Rolling Stone (US edition), NME.

Baking… Delicious brownies, BBQ Chicken Pizza etc. (all from scratch!)

Buying… Organisational stuff for my room, cute socks (some of it was gifted by mom)

Looking forward to… Cleaning, organising, crafting, repurposing, more baking! And posting some good content here throughout February. Hopefully there are productive times ahead.

January was an absolutely amazing month – full of good people, good things & positive change… basically moving forward. If the first month really sets the tone for the rest of the year, I couldn’t be more glad.

Two keywords for Life etc. in this new year are positivity & authenticity. Just because a lot of good things happened obviously doesn’t mean that nothing bad happened. I struggle with a balance of both on my posts. I don’t want to post too many negative things because everyone has them & I don’t want to weigh you down with mine. Yet I don’t want to give people the impression that my life is only full of rainbows, unicorns & sprinkles, you know? I’d love for you to share your thoughts on this matter!

I spent quite a few days this month mulling moping over the very sorry state of my personal finances. My mother bails me out a lot of times but I really, really have to somehow balance my need to own all the things with my decent yet limited income (& hopefully have some savings somewhere down the line!) That being said all of the positivity definitely overshadowed the small negative aspects & I’m grateful.

This blog is constantly evolving – it started as a personal diary sort of thing but has grown so much bigger than that (I’m grateful! I know I run the risk of sounding redundant but I really cannot say that enough). Last year it was predominantly visual. Though I enjoy taking pictures very much, I really want to put in more words. I like words. This blog was where I first formed a writing habit & I don’t want to stop. Just thinking out loud here.

Do you have any suggestions, or any specific kind of posts you’d like to see more of here?

As always, thank you for reading! Have a great morning / afternoon / evening / night, wherever you are.

love,

The post Just a minute in January ’13 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Travel | My Jaipur Trip

Magali Vaz — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 05:00:00 +0000

It’s been a while since I returned from my visit to Jaipur, Rajasthan a couple of days ago. It was my first visit to any place in Rajasthan- a unique & beautiful experience. I haven’t even begin to tackle the photos from my two serious digital cameras, so I’m going to talk about Jaipur with my instagram photos.

1 // We took a train from Mumbai Central station to Jaipur. It was very clean & nice. We usually keep to ourselves during journeys but this time we were seated near a large Punjabi family who were travelling there for their son’s wedding. They were a bit loud & overbearing but also very affectionate, they even forcibly shared their simple & delicious home-cooked Indian meals with us.

2 // My first glimpse of the hotel we stayed in.

3 // I was so taken up by the amazing bed – a large, solid four poster one with lyre-like motif & mirror panels. Again, the styling in the room (from the room furniture to the bathroom tiles & fittings!) was so stunning it totally made up for the cons (no microwave, clunky tv).

4 & 5 // Views from the top of Hawa Mahal.

6 // Buying traditional footwear! Jaipur is know for it’s lovely ethnic footwear. Both the slippers & jootis are handmade by local artisans featuring mostly camel leather & embroidery.

7 // I was very interested in trying this ‘one minute camera’ (actually a very old zeiss after reading about it here. The experience was interesting (it took 3-4 minutes altogether) but the owners turned out to be very unscrupulous, so I wouldn’t recommend it.
8 // The negative & positive images from the camera.
9 // Shopping for silver jewellery in Johari Bazaar. I finally bought silver jhumkas which had been on my wishlist for years.
10 // Mango petha from Jaipur’s famous LMB sweet shop (read more about petha on this post).
11 // The most delicious, thick lassi (curd) I’ve ever had, also from LMB.
12 // Non-veg thali from the hotel’s restaurant – delicious but very spicy & too much for two of us to finish.

13 // View from just outside our room on the first floor.
14 // Handmade leather shoes, can’t wait to wear them with a saree!
15 // One of the artistic, seasonal doors at City Palace.
16 // A corridor at Jaipur’s Albert Hall museum. Originally an industrial art museum, it’s now also known as the Jaipur Central museum – exhibits include an actual Egyptian mummy.
17 // The Aries tile at Jantar Mantar.
18 // A lovely old door also at Jantar Matar.

19 // Sign to a sourvenir shop carved in stone.
20 // Wall painting at the hotel I stayed.

I really wanted to do this post sooner, but soon after I got home from Jaipur, I found out that we had to Goa, soon! I was caught off guard (we usually plan our holidays well in advance) & I was sad that I was missing a friend’s wedding. Yesterday was very stressful, but we’re in a resort now, away from malfunctioning gadgets & bad neighbours & most important of all, I have wi-fi!

I’m currently running a giveaway for a calendar from Jaipur, do enter (it’s open to everyone!)

love,

The post Travel | My Jaipur Trip appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Last month on Instagram

Magali Vaz — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:17:00 +0000

No matter how low I’m feeling, I can always browse my instagram feed & expect it to cheer me up. So today I’m doing a post sharing all my instagram photos from the last month & a half. Many of you who follow me there might have already seen these, but there’s no harm in a little repetition, right? Besides, I like seeing these on Life etc.

#1 Russian Matrosyka (also known as Babushka) nesting dolls were on my wishlist for a while & I finally bought a set – except instead of portly Russian ladies, these have David Bowie on them! They’re handpainted & very lovely. I bought them from the etsy shop artmatroshyka, run by a bunch of Russian crafters who make all kinds of nesting dolls based on musicians/bands, TV shows (love their House M.D. set), sports teams etc.

#2 I ordered an old-school DYMO-style labelmaker (it’s hot pink!)

#3 The labelmaker made me a little crazy (in a good way) & I started to label everything, like the boombox notebook from retro journal set.

#4 I received a gorgeous pair of Lady Stardust danglers from MaMA CiTA jewelry. They so dainty & feminine, I can’t wait to wear them somewhere. Do check her etsy store for more pretty stuff like this.

#5 I’ve baked a couple of Pumpkin Pies in the last month (with a ton of help from mom, as always) to get into the whole autumn/fall spirit. They’re not hard to make considering the fact that pumpkins are pretty easy to find, locally & they taste delicious.

#6 The onset of fall/winter means a whole new skincare regimen (I don’t generally have a regimen. But you can’t keep ignoring skin as dry as the Sahara). Every year I pick one lipbalm/chapstick to overdose on, this year it’s going to be Maybelline Baby Lips.

#7 I’ve discovered sweet soda snobbery after finding these Bellot at my local grocery store. They’re produced in France, available in a variety of natural flavored (pink limonade is my favorite) & come in the prettiest vintage-style bottles.

#8 Do you remember Ricco Crafts? Well of course you do, they’re the ones who introduced washi tapes in India!. Well they sent me some sheets of satin wrap tissue. I want to do something creative with it, but I’m still not sure what. Do any crafty folks out there have any ideas?

#9 My mother gifted me a prepaid card to my favourite café.

#10 The Bowie: A Celebration zine that I ordered came in the mail.

#11 A street photo that I took of a man typing legal documents near Andheri station. It really excites me to see typewriters still being used for something other than décor/novelty purposes, though that too will probably end soon.

#12 Spotting a well-maintained vintage car close to home was such a thrill. Someone on facebook identified it as a Morris.

#13 I can never have enough prawns. Never.

#14 I ordered a beautiful new digital kitchen scale (made by Typhoon UK) from the Zansaar Vintage Pantry Collection. I really love the vintage appliance print on it.

#15 & #16 Some cute Asian stamps that I bought online finally came! The tiny cat lady stamps are really nice (though the lilac ink I used is obviously too light), but I really like the Poulain & Fotka camera stamps. The’re made of wood & designed to look like real cameras, & the stamped image looks lovely too.

What do you think of the online profiles instagram introduced a little while ago? I think they look lovely! Mine is here: @magali_c & I’d love to see yours too, do leave your instagram name in the comments.

You may have noticed something about the photos above- most of them were taken at home. I’d been advised strictly by doctors to rest for a few weeks, even after the I got the all-clear from dengue. That suited me well for a while because I felt incredibly weak, but now I’m feeling really cooped up. But I’m definitely much better & I’d like to thank all you wonderful folks for all of the kind get-well-soon messages I got on here, on twitter & instagram.

We’re currently getting into Mumbai’s version of winter. 23℃ might not seem to cold to most but it is to me. I’m really looking forward to a little winter trip I’m taking with my mom soon, all part of my mission to see more of my own country!

love,

The post Last month on Instagram appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Sickness & Health

Magali Vaz — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 11:19:00 +0000

If there is one thing that my mom has always prayed for in our family, it’s not fame or fortune but good health.

I have always been blessed with near-perfect health & never thought twice about it, because health is one of those things that if you’ve had for a while, you think you think it’s absolutely normal, that you deserve it, that you’ll always have it. One of those things that can be taken for granted so easily.

Late last week tests confirmed something I had already known for a few days- I had dengue. Dengue is spread via mosquito bite & India being a tropical country, this time of the year everyone seemed to be getting it. But it’s not something to be taken lightly because too many people have actually being dying with it, especially if they waited too long to start treatment.

Luckily we caught mine pretty early & I was on the road to recovery. I was on treatment at home, even our family doctor who said I was absolutely stable & there was nothing to worry. I was relieved.

But just the next morning I woke up & suddenly felt really horrible. My only other tryst with major illness had been typhoid about five years ago, so I knew recovery wasn’t a bed of roses but I could tell this was bad. My body felt like a stone & I couldn’t even sit up without help. On earlier days, when I felt very sick & low I could at least cry but that day not a single tear would come, I just felt weak & hopeless. I don’t think my mother took me seriously for a few hours but I finally convinced her to take me to the doctor again. This time he took one look at me, checked my blood pressure & said I should get admitted to the hospital. And that was a major moment for me, because I’d never been admitted in a hospital before that. I felt so panicked & yet completely relieved at the same time.

I still remember walking into the Emergency Room of Seven Hills Hospital an hour later, staring into the bright white ceiling while hearing an assortment of beeps. I’m glad to say that it was all uphill from there. The nurses were all lovely (so was my mother- I wouldn’t be alive without her!) & I slowly felt my appetite & energy return. I was discharged yesterday, still have a long way to go to feel like before but I feel so grateful to just be alive.

I understand how a health scare can make you feel more spiritual. To an outsider, it does sound like a very superficial thing to say but on the days I was sick my mind went to some very dark places. I like to think that I’m reasonably brave but I had suddenly turned into a snivelling, whiny coward. Then as I started to get better I felt so flooded with positivity & gratitude. I was suddenly just grateful to be given another chance at life.

And believe it or not, I also think this was a great learning experience for me. I’ll definitely cherish the three days I spent in the hospital & proudly tell everyone just how many times I had needles stuck in me (though I wouldn’t sign up for a repeat, no siree.)

Now I just want my energy & appetite levels to come back to normal, & catch up on a ton of overdue work. I hope everything is OK with you, dear readers. All I want to say is that if you’re feeling feverish, do get a blood test because the faster you catch these infections, the better.

Stay Safe!

love,

The post Sickness & Health appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Instagram | Details

Magali Vaz — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:12:00 +0000

One of the best things about online shopping is that lovely feeling of getting something just for you in the mail. And if you’ve shopped too much & the package comes without any external branding, it’s even better because you’re hurriedly ripping open the package wondering what’s inside.

Lately I’ve been having a lot of good mail days! Here are two things that came recently…

I seem to be obsessed with taking detail shots of the print on fabrics. The first one is a lovely screen printed In Loving Memory top from Bhikari Chic & the second is Free Spirited cotton tote from Diesel. I’ll be styling both pieces soon.

Both photos from my instagram, you can follow me there @magali_c

love,
Magali

BLOGLOVIN’ / FACEBOOK PAGE / TWITTER

The post Instagram | Details appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.