Collection of ‘Things’ from February 2025

favourite read

The Henna Artist: Alka Joshi

I was absolutely blown away by the writing. The storytelling is superlative, and the way Joshi describes the world makes you actually feel like you are living in it. You can feel yourself in the perspective, and actually in their shoes. This book also brought up a lot of excellent nuances on class, status, perception and human emotions. The most relatable part of the entire book was the theme of ‘letting go’, as in letting go of previous expectations, dreams, hopes, and burning it all down to start anew.

TOPIC obsession

work / Office setups

I have the 12-part series on this starting next Sunday.

The first part is about choosing your Desk of course. I really did start on this journey after I researched into standing desks and how best to work from home without being hunched over a laptop for 8+ hours.

I have been making small but significant changes lately, and it is surprising how much it has affected my mental health in terms of beautifying your work space. Visual changes seem very minor and superficial, but they help immensely.

FAVOURITE WATCH

Your Monster (2024)

It is a very dark comedy, so don’t be surprised. If that is your thing (or even if it isn’t because I am not into horror either), this whole movie made me feel all the feels, from laughing to love, heartbreak and of course, REVENGE.

OOTD INSPO

rule of “Threes”

I see a lot of outfits all the time, but this one from last month really stayed on my mind. Going from layering neutrals in subtle ways has been a mainstay of fashion of course. It really drives home the idea of THIRDS, how home design, decor, style and making things look ‘right’ always comes in threes.

She starts with the crisp white Oxford button-up (#1), but if you just paired it with camel pants and a belt, it looks very Banana Republic corporate Barbie, no? She makes it interesting by layering another neutral – a striped Oxford button-up shirt (#2) but this time using it like a mini jacket of sorts.

It is tucked in the back just so, and has the front bits hanging out a bit, peeking out from underneath her jacket which is of course her #3 layer. It adds interest without bulk, or being too much.

Her jacket also isn’t boring and has subtle blue and white outer stitching running around the edges to tie the white + striped blue & white theme together, bringing it full circle.

To keep it from looking messy, she tucked it ALL in, and the jacket hits perfectly at the waist where it is finished with a smooth dark brown, almost black leather buckle. Kind of like a period at the end of a sentence, to define the waist, and to hold in all of this artful tucking and twisting.

Of course, the pants match the jacket, and the jewellery doesn’t take up too much interest, but it isn’t a simple dainty chain or anything. My twist on the look would have been to layer a bunch of necklaces together, one on top of another, pop another button on the white shirt, and let it all cascade down, on top of a lacy bralette.

surprising purchase

replacing ugly black cables

Native Union weighted cables are functional, aesthetically pleasing and PRACTICAL. They are high-speed data transfer cables, and look freaking great on my desk.

I even replaced my Anker cube charging station (it is ugly but still the most practical charging station) cable (a hideous black number) with one of these weighted beauties, and I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner.

K-Beauty holy Grail

Purito Releaf Centella Trio

This trio is incredible:

• Centella toner
• Centalla serum
• Centella cream

For all the hype about tiger grass and so on, I have to say, this trio is incredible. My skin is sloughing off, I can feel it tingle a little here and there, and my pimples/bumps have gone down when I have kept up on the routine.

My skin is also glowing. HOLY GRAIL indeed.