When PerkyMegs showed her beautiful Chandbalis in her Haul video, I was smitten. Normally, you would have to sell a part of your kidney to buy traditional jewelry  from stores like Goodwill (Cochites would agree). When she told that the Chandbalis just cost her, INR 799 ($11), I had my jaw on the floor. Last Sunday, I went to Lifestyle for their summer SALE, and I ran to the accessories section. I scored a ton of earrings, but sadly, none of these are on SALE :(

1. Chandbalis l INR 799 ($11)

I purchased these in turquoise shade and I believe they had one in white too. This earring is not heavy as it looks and doesn't pull your earlobes.

2. Lotus Earring l INR 499 ($7)

Lotus earrings are in trend and I see a lot of Instagram stores selling these at a hefty price tag. They had this earring in green too.

3. Green Earrings l INR 449 ($6)

If you have a round face like me, try wearing a long earring; long earrings elongates your face.

4. White Ear Cuff l INR 449 ($6)

I realised that this earring is an ear cuff only when I tried it at home, for a second I was worried cause I already have 4 piercings on my ear cartilage, nevertheless after much "adjustments", I managed to stick this onto my ear, only to fall in deep white love!

5. Golden Lotus Jhumka l INR 799 ($11)

I wanted a gold jhumka and my prayers were answered by lotus gods! It's slightly big on my face, a compromise I can make for the price tag.

Click on the video below to see how I wore these Earrings :)

EARRING by Slidely Slideshow

WEDDING

I have been missing from Blogosphere for quite some time now and the reason for which was explained in my previous post. I have millions of posts lined up, the first being posting some wedding pics.

Life has changed dramatically after May 11th. Life has taken a complete gear change. From the role of a pillion driver to one on the hot seat …….life is treating me with surprise each day. I have surpassed everyones expectation and is being met with awe. The very same people who actually doubted my caliber are munching their words. Feels good know?. 

The after effect of being a wife after 12 hours of screaming and shouting at office is LACK of time!!!. I find my hands full by the time I return and by the end of the day I am too tired and lazy to post anything up here.

So here goes, the first lot of pics

Day before

I wore a traditional davani or half saree as it's called in some parts. The blouse is similar to that of a normal saree blouse and the bottom piece is like a skirt. Then you have a shawl. As you can see the border is lined with purple velvet and decorated with golden stones, a twist in the attire I would say. The day before we had a small mehandi function at my home. I vetoed the color red/maroon from the day I started thinking about my wedding trousseau .I chanced upon this golden/red brocade davani while on a trip to Coimbatore. The price tag was really impressive and I quite liked how gold looked against my skin tone. 

The only crunching factor was the net shawl which was slightly flashy and transparent. I got my davani stitched from Paris collections in Convent junction, Cochin. As for the accessories I wore a golden jhumka, gifted to me by my in-laws and a simple golden flower necklace. For the chudis I mixed and matched golden and red ones already available at hand. I wore my hair on both sides (A big mistake which I learnt as my voluminous hair refused to be a good girl throughout the function).

Wedding

I wanted a non-traditional color for my wedding trousseau. Purple which was my 1st choice, was already worn for the engagement and hence I had no other choice other than to wear green ya blue. Pink was already taken by my in-laws as my 2nd saree. I hit Coimbatore: Ganapathy silks in hope of finding a perfect wedding saree. With just 4 hours to spare, I had to get my choices right. I asked the sales person to show me shades of blue and gave my budget, I was bowled to say the least. They showed me at least 20 sarees, all different shades of blue. I picked up a few and opted for trial. I was just strolling by and that’s when I saw a delish blue shade in the higher range saree category.

It was way over my budget and few phone calls later my dad gave into my assurance that I would pay the extra cost inquired. Finally it was between two shades and two patters and there was a clear winner. The color of the saree my friends is ELECTRIC BLUE i.e., double shade of green and blue with gorgeous peacock motif.

I have nothing to say about the accessories section which is filled with gold, except for my earrings and the first choker. I was very particular that the earring would be chosen by me and my parents were quite okay with it. My parents usually steer clear of antique collection (high making charges) and jewelery with stones (dead investment). Jumkas are in vogue right now, but I wanted to steer clear of the usual ones. In the end I picked up something from the antique collection with white pearls adorning the end of the jhumka. I invested on this pair way before I even decided on my wedding saree so, my mom was worried if the white pearls would clash with the saree. Thankfully it didn't. I must tell you that as beautiful as the earrings looked, it did cost us a bomb because the astronomically high making charges. We paid 5 times the gold price for these earrings.

As for the choker, I was almost going to bill contemporary jewelery set and that's when I saw the lakshmi mala (Goddess lakshmi's pic is engraved in each section). It was chunky, eye catching, and traditional I quickly ditched the other necklace and billed this one instead. A definite good investment.

We don’t have many options for hairdos and the traditional mallu bride is supposed to tie her hair only in a specific way. The hair and makeup was done by my mom’s favorite salon: Kumkum at Thevara. The hair was perfect with all the morga flowers and vaarmudi (fake hair). The makeup was spot on, not a shade more not a shade less. I was pretty happy with the results…..

The bride and groom:)

so finally I am married!!!

I was decked in gold yeah!!!Typical mallu bride:). Our weddings are blink and miss affair. The muhurat was between 12:00om and 12:30 pm and I hardly remember anything from the ceremony. It all happened so fast. By the time I realized I was married, we had scores of guests smiling and shaking hands with us. Lemme tell you in spite of the day being a weekday, we had the hall full. Almost everyone I mean the entire 1500 guest turned up for the wedding. Phew!!!. By 1:30 it was time to change into the second saree, the groom had given.

As per traditions, the groom gives the bride two sarees, and as norm the traditional Kerala set mundu is usually worn during lunch and the third one during vidaai. I was gifted a pink+peach geometrical design saree which was selected by me and my in-laws. Well, we were short of time as we have muhurat to enter one’s new home and for me it was 2pm. I had decided that in case of time crunch I would just wear one of the sarees and skip one. The traditional Kerala saree was the one I chose to wear as the second saree.

Second saree

I was gifted two golden necklaces by my in-laws. The first one was a thook mala (The heavy one) and the second a nagapadam (Green one). I was also gifted few other necklaces and diamonds by my in-laws (I am one lucky gal!)

The green and the third necklace gifted by inlaws:)

The wedding heels need a special mention here, I scored these golden catwalk heels from jabong.com for freaking 600 bucks. Half of the time during ceremony they were off my legs still, they are so comfy and of proper fit. Initially when I ordered it, just few days to wedding and the customer care executives told me that it would take 5 working days for the heels to reach Cochin I went into panicky mode. In worst case scenario the heels would reach me just in time. Thankfully I didn't have to go into plan B mode, the shoes arrived in 2 days:)

Reception

We had the reception the day after and were held by the guy’s family at avenue centre. Lemme tell you something beforehand, our weddings and receptions are pretty boring ….there is no naach gana nor is it colorful. My husby had arranged for a DJ for all of his B-school mates who had come from various parts of India. I wore an olive green lacha/lehanga that I bought from Delhi. I bought it for cheap, had the lehanga stitched by the shopwalaas and the got the lining changed to satin. The top I got it stitched from Paris collections. As for the accessories I didn't do any shopping. It was all done by my darling behanas Bhav n Sou from Delhi. Bhav would send me images of the stuff and I would select ones that I liked from the comforts of my home. I am so lucky to have sisters like em. So the silver statement piece, bangles, earring and shoes were brought home the day before by my uncle. The function too was a grand success among the youngsters.  I wanted light makeup, but ended up like a makeup doll.  None of my relative liked my hair or makeup. I had specific something in mind for the hair, it came out pretty close to what I had envisioned. The hair and makeup was done by Naturals Kadavantra.

Channelling Chanel!!!!

I have this thing for pretty fashion mags. I religiously buy em every fortnight, every month or even every week, turn through the pages, enjoy the colorful pic, take in the price tag with a smile, update myself on latest trends and throw them to my ever growing stack of mags. Most of the mags are hard to come by and this lady near the bus stand knowing my obsession with fashion mags stocks most of the popular ones. You should see the way her face lights up when I visit her shop. Every time I visit the book shop I return back with my hands full. My dad feels that it's a waste of time and money but, I beg to differ. These mags not just tempt you with high end labels but also publish some good articles. Mags like Marie Claire and Femina has something special for those who are least bothered about trends and fashion be it cookery, relationship advices, health advices and stories of REAL women!!!!. Even after all these I like mags to be closer to reality and that may be one reason why I am not a big fan of vogue. I know high end labels are every girls dream but a price tag of 2 lakhs for an ordinary bag is little hard to chew. One of those days when I was visiting the good old shop, I saw a black and white ad of CHANEL!!! at the back of this magz. The ad screamed classiness and I had to buy it (VOGUE) though I know that I don't have much use for this particular magazine.

This particular gold earring encrusted with semi precious stones is a gift from dad's best friend from Rajasthan. I love how royal the earring looks against the Chanel ad. It's one of my favorite pieces purely because it was gifted with so much love.

Studs, Studs and more Studs

Have been sporting the same ol same ol small ring for 2 weeks straight. Why you may ask....I feel that I don't have enough earrings in my box. Now before you roll your eyes and give me a WTH expression let me explain. I am mightily uninspired to dress up, specifically after the work wear code came into place. I have not met with any warnings as of yet for wearing danglers, that's like 2 time in whole month. There is no point in rummaging through my box to find a work wear as I know it clearly: I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH STUDS!!!!. So, today I went out with my colleague cum friend Laks, to do some earring shopping ( No nO that was just part of the agenda). We halted at my newly discovered love, this small boutique in Convent Junction. I had made it a point to shop only what's there in my list, usually I end up buying whole lot of unnecessary stuff. I bought the following studs:

A simple black stud

A white stone stud

Black stud and white stone stud

Silver stud, I remember having a similar one in my box long long ago and I abused it to an extend that silver was not silver anymore but bronzish.

Silver stud

Finally my favourite, a red rose stud

Pretty rose stud

Now, let’s move to ring section, shall we?

I have 4 piercing each on one ear and the second one is a semi-ring, I don't want it to be drowned under all those studs, so bought few rings to add some drama.

Basic silver ring

Silver ring

Basic gold ring

Gold ring

This earring ate up a major chunk of bill, pretty but costly may be cause the stones.

The costly loot

And something I bought cause I loved it, silver and gold mixed hoop. What not 2 love.

Love Love Love

 The loot inside my mini stud box.

N hey on a totally unrelated post, I saw an envelope clutch/sling in the store I shopped at. I was completely surprised...I mean, envelope clutches are in rage right now, and one cannot buy without shelling out some 1-2K. Cochin is moving fashion forward and that’s great news. This store keeper told me that the clutch costs around 500 rps. At that cost, the clutch is a complete grab. I just stood there and reasoned myself whether I have to add this to my wardrobe :The answer is simple :I may not wear it all, and like some pieces in my wardrobe, this too will lie there forgotten. Why waste 500 rps? on a second thought, should I get it? What do you guys think?.

Oye It's just WEDNESDAY :(

Back after a week long much needed vacation, only to be welcomed by WORKZILLA. I am in no mood to ramble so leaving you guys with some pictures of accessories I wore to work today.

 

More about the lovely pair of Jhumkas in my next post. 

A Finnish Gift :)

There is not even a single soul on this planet Earth who doesn't love receiving gifts. I love giving and receiving gifts and people who know me make it a point to gift what I love the most :EARRINGS:) not that I am complaining. Again most of my friends know my choice of earrings, and it makes it easier for me to receive the gifts with a beaming face.

Being my balcony mate at Amrita, Anu used to make occasional visits to my room to scavenge through my earring box. When we met last day after a year's gap, we acted like two 16  year old, sharing secrets ear to ear, giggling uncontrollably, commenting on good looking guys......She trusted a small pack into my hands and told me that it's a small gift from her. I tucked in the packet into the deepest pockets of my bag .Should have sensed it then and there what the gift was but, the excitement of meeting her after loong time occupied 3/4th of my brain. Back home as I opened my gift my jaws dropped "FEATHER EARRINGS and that too with TURQUOISE"...I wanted to own one for quite some time,and was planning to even buy one online from ASOS (All thanks to my Mastreo card I couldn't). How could she read my mind? .Well, it's one gift you guys are going to see quite a lot off. What makes my gift special is the fact that the earrings are from FINLAND. Anu was on a scholarship to Aalto university for a year. So, presenting before you my first piece of FOREIGN jewelery :).My own pair of turquoise+ silver feather earrings.

PS: The picture is misleading, the earring is just a simple feather,no layered jewelery. The pic infact shows the pair.

Introducing Malvika and her FAB earrings

Introducing Malvika Manoj who was previously featured here and here. Stylish person she is, she owns a small but enviable collection of earrings. During our usual office communicator chat, she mentioned on how she fell in love with the earrings the moment she saw em in MAX store. "You will for sure like em" she added. I immediately asked her to send me the pics and here they are.


We have a similar yet contrasting taste as far as earrings are concerned . Mostly she prefers her No-fuzz minimalistic style and I am more of a chunky-funky type. The difference in choice of "To wear" types never manages to make us disagree on the earring as a separate entity. Whether it look good on us is a different thing but, finally we end up concluding the same thing. 

The above one is a daily wear, no fuzz type and can be worn with a simple kuta-jeans or western wear. 

More of my type, beads and black. What not to love. Now, the structure of earring is different and wearing em can be tricky. The above earrings doesn't suit everyone. If you have the right pinne shape to boast of well, you don't have to worry.... just wear and let the pair do the talking.

Once upon a time

These were my favorite pair of jumkas from about 4 years back and today dug em up from my backup box after a long long time. I was quite confused about the pair of earrings I wanted to wear with my purple/black salwar suit for my colleagues wedding for tomorrow. The shawl I was supposed to pair with the suit had delicate gold thread work and that kind of screech halted my decision to wear black+silver earrings. I am a traditionalist when it comes to GOLD/SILVER pairing. I cannot seem to like the idea of pairing silver/gold earring with gold/silver toned dresses respectively. With limited purple options in my jewellery box I was contemplating the idea of buying a new earring. Well, to buy something new just for a wedding didn't seem feasible so I scrambled through my BACK-UP box for inspiration. The purple+gold earring is a perfect match for the salwar suit and I am plain excited.

Forever21

I love love love exploring the vast expansiveness, the retail world has to offer. I can spend an entire day doing nothing but, just gazing at these picture and recreating various looks up in my head. I follow a large number of fashion bloggers and I have noticed quite a few names that come up quite often in accessories section. So, I took a plunge and typed away Forever21 which opened up a bright, cheery, colorful world filled with accessories. And from what I saw up until page 30(Was too tired after that) these are few earring that I loved.


The black finish hoop, perfect for a night out with girlfriends.


Elegance and poise two words that strikes me when I see this beauty. Perfect with a log chiffon gown.

Hippie style, something that I would wear to college ( 2 years..*sigh*).

Forever21 has this whole section devoted to feathers.Personally, I am not comfortable wearing feathers in my ears.Nevertheless this edgy peacock earrings are a sure shot head turner at cocktail parties.

The feather earrings shouts elegance, something like this I would wear for a dinner date.
The fun earrings are perfect for a day-mall shopping spree. Casual and laid back.
The earrings remind me of my office, simple and perfect for those must impress power meetings.
I would wear these red beauties with a plain kurtha and let my earrings do all the talking :).
Again an Indianised earring, something as gorgeous as this should be paired with a no fuss churidhar so that the earrings will stand out.
Aah!!! last but not the least a gorgeous beaded hoop (This one steals my heart ). Wear it with a simple gold pallu saree and you are all set to rock the family function.

Do you have any ideas on how these beauties can be styled?. If so do let me know. Well, Forever21 doesn't have shipping to India (*Sob*). I have to go all the way to Delhi if I have to get my hands on these beauties which I will be in a months time :).

PS:- All the above earrings costs less than $5.00 ie, Rs.250 max which is way less than what I pay for my normal earrings.

Image courtesy: Forever21 site.

Pricess Diana meets Turquoise

Meet princess Diana meets turquoise earrings:). Turquoise is ma favorite color at the moment and I have been hoarding Turquoise earrings like there is no tomorrow. Flash the color and off I run towards the bill counter to pay the cash. The love for the color is not just restricted to earrings:) the craziness is reflected on the 5 shades of blue nailpolishes that i bought recently and innumerable wardrobe disasters in turquoise .Which color makes you happy?.Do you buy earrings just cause of it's color?. Well, I do :).

Mish mash earrings

Meet my mish mash earrings :) .Bought it few days back from a small shop and from day one I was waiting for an occasion to take this beauty out for a ride. Finally on Sunday, on a journey to my maternal ancestral home I wore them.The kurtha I wore was a perfect match to the bronzish shade of the earring. Usually my entire outfit choice revolves around my choice of earrings weird?I know well, can't help it ;). Do let me know what you guys think.If you feel the background is too green for your choice it's cause I wanted to do an outdoor post, the one that captures the beauty of the earrings under golden sunlight.Unfortunately it was drizzling that day(Well, it drizzles 9 months a year in this part of the world).I managed to capture the glory of the earrings in full galore.