You succumb to the fad of the moment, and pick up the latest make-up items, only to stash them away in the recesses of your dresser. Then there are those that refuse to go away. Timeless, like beloved family heirlooms.

Our Trendy Tester brings you these ever-fresh beautifiers in a two-part series.

Chanel No 5, Rs. 5,700: (1921) Coco Chanel chose the floral mix — neroli, rose, jasmine, sandalwood, vanilla, and vetiver — in test tube number 5. And created the ultimate benchmark of femininity.

Olay Original Active Hydrating Beauty Fluid, Rs. 850: (1949) The invention of South African chemist Graham Wulf, who wrought magic with lanolin to create what was then called Oil Of Olay. Grandma and mom loved it; so do we.

Elizabeth Arden Eight-Hour Cream, Rs. 2,400: (1930) The ultimate skin plumper is a combo of petroleum, beta-hydroxy acid and vitamin E. Elizabeth Arden used the apricot-coloured cream to soothe her skin and her horse’s legs, too!

YSL Touche Eclat, Rs. 1,790: (1990). The formula of YSL’s concealer was tweaked by Terry Ze Gunzberg, then director of makeup, to reflect light and make skin super-radiant. A trend was blazed, that no one else has been able to copy.

Chanel: Delhi: Chanel boutique, The Imperial, 1 Janpath, New Delhi. Telephone: 51116840.
Mumbai: La Galleria, Landmark Building, Bandra (W), Mumbai. Telephone: 55033691.

YSL: Delhi : Shoppers Stop, Ansal Plaza, Khelgaon Marg, New Delhi . Telephone: 26258866.
Mumbai: Shoppers Stop, Dynamix Mall, JVPD Scheme, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai. Telephone: 26256271.
Bangalore: Shoppers Stop, Commerce @ Mantri, Ground Floor, N.S. Palaya, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore. Telephone: 5121 5681. Shoppers Stop, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road, Ashok Nagar, Bangalore 5600025. Telephone: 25548224.

Tomorrow: Four more of our fave beauty classics.

For the third of our four-Friday series, Trendy spirits you away from dust and heat, deadlines and gridlocks, up and away for great weekend getaways.

Mussoorie and Manali are packed to the gills. And Kufri and Kasauli are no better.

Our Trendy Traveller has discovered a little jewel in Uttarakhand. Bypass crowded Nainital and reach Sonapani, to a small cluster of cottages built over 20 acres by young couple Ashish and Deepa, who’ve fled the city to live in a 100-year-old wood-and-mud house, surrounded with trees laden with apricots, peaches and pears.

The fruits of their labour of love are for sharing — just step out of your one-bedroom cottage, and pluck them off the branches. Eat them fresh or trek up to the dining hall to relish the chutneys and jams made by the excellent chef. Try out the unusual combos — apricots and peaches with hints of lavender or tamarind.

You’ll like everything — the food, the pine-freshened air, the quiet, and the warm hospitality of the hosts. Explore the green paths, watch the rhododendron and oak leaves dance in the wind, sit by the bonfire when it gets nippy.

Do nothing else.

Sonapani (literally: gold water, after a natural spring located nearby) is about an 8-hour drive from Delhi, past Nainital, Bhowali, Ramgarh and Nathuakhan. Tariff: Rs. 1,500 per day per person on twin sharing basis. Visit www.himalayanvillage.com for more information or contact Ashish at (+91)9719005900, 9810633350 or ashish@himalayanvillage.com. Carry light woollies.

And click here for The Hills Have Ayes Part I in Kanatal and Part II in Giri Camp.

Half a frantic hour at the local gym. Fifteen minutes in the shower. And monthly scrub-a-dubs at the ‘parlour’ down the road. Just so you can face the world.

If your grooming sked sounds similar, take a deep breath. And turn yourself over to the pros at the all-new f.chisel. Spread across 16,000 sq ft, this Fashion TV spin-off combines a fitness centre with a spa and a salon.

Walk in. And get an exercise regimen sculpted to your requirements. That means you lose those inches if you want to. Or put on a few pounds at the right places. The trainers are CPR-certified; there’s also a physiotherapist and a dietician on call. And fitness assessment software that’s more accurate than human estimates.

Getting too hot and sweaty? Head to the spa. Book one of the eight pristine white rooms for a Thai, Japanese, Balinese, Swiss or Shiatsu treatment.

Complete the good-as-new feeling with a sign-off session at the salon.

And embrace the world.

f.chisel, 915, 80 ft Road, 6th Block, opp IBP petrol bunk, Koramangla, Bangalore. Telephone: 41288524-6. Fitness centre rates range from Rs. 1,800-4,000 per month or Rs. 15,000-30,000 per annum. Spa treatments cost Rs. 1,500-6,000. Salon services to be introduced soon.

For the third of our four-Friday series, Trendy spirits you away from dust and heat, deadlines and gridlocks, up and away for great weekend getaways.

You’re the original Queen of Mush. The one with the Mills & Boon stash and the penchant for Prince Charmings on white stallions. No wonder monsoon for you is not about getting your toes wet. It’s the romance of the rains that you want to experience. Lush foliage, dancing peacocks, comfort food.

This weekend, why not fly off to a fairytale land? One where you never stop getting pampered. Since the service at the Oberoi Udaivilas, a luxury resort in Udaipur, has been rated highest amongst all the hotels in the world by Condé Nast Traveller last year, you can be sure to expect only the best mollycoddling ever.

A stretch limo fetches you from the airport and you drive through to the Oberoi jetty to the strains of Bach. A turbaned guide pilots you across Lake Pichola as you dab daintily at your face with fragrant hot towels and sip on Evian. Your personal valet welcomes you to your suite — complete with private bougainvilleaed courtyard and mini-pool.

It’ll be tough to leave the open-to-sky claw-foot bathtub and the peacocks fanning their tails outside your window, but do. The Trendy Traveller gives the thumbs up to their canapé cruise on the lake, the spa run by Banyan Tree and the infinity pool.

Prince Charming not included.

The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, Rajasthan. Call 1800-11-2030 tollfree. Now offering the Oberoi Unforgettable Experience package: Rs. 29,500 for two nights, including breakfast, transfers, discounts on spa treatments, plus taxes. Upgrade to Lake View rooms for Rs. 3,500. Premier Suite regular prices: Rs. 26,750 a night, double occupancy. Two-hour flights from Mumbai on Indian Airlines and Jet Air start at Rs. 3,000.

And click here for our previous Friday getaways to Goa and Kerala.

Pink satin Mary Janes were your dainty school shoe. Doc Martens announced your striding college presence. Gamine slides get you fashion points at the work water cooler.

Now up the ante because Jimmy Choo will soon make Mumbai the Mecca for every Indian woman with a shoe fetish. (Watch this space for more on when and where you can get your hands on his heels!)

Our Trendy Fashionista can’t stop gushing about the Autumn Winter 2007 collection after last week’s celeb-studded preview at South Mumbai’s Prive lounge.

Choose a chiseled-heel Basquiat stiletto, or set the dance floor on fire with the Disco sandal in anthracite crystal and cross-strapped water snake and kid skin. Play the urban prima donna in low cut pumps with a 120 mm stud-encrusted frame in jet and anthracite crystals. Or cut a cool space gal silhouette in lace-up silver mirrored leather boots.

But why draw all the attention downwards? The breathtaking bags are seriously elegant with understated hardware, subtle tonal mixes of leather and suede, weave and matte. From practical perfect day bags to super-wide clutches, and hide travel bags.

Need more temptation to join international stars and choose Choos? A woman made him famous: British socialite, ex-Vogue accessories editor, and Jimmy Choo company founder, Tamara Mellon.

Dominate the conversation. Or let your Choos do the talking.

Jimmy Choo stores are coming soon to Mumbai.

If you’re looking to ramp up your blah life, here’s the perfect pick me up. A visit to the HAS juice bar.

A cheer-upper like no other, the energy of this place acts even before the upbeat music seeps in and you sample the juice. Lime beanbags and plum and white walls. Glowing-with-health juice enthusiasts. And the freshest fruit and vegetable juices with no additives — sure to bring you halfway to happyland.

Our Trendy Taster is head-over-heels for the wheatgrass and lemon shots. The juices are also a treat in solo-fruit or eccentric combos. Low-fat Smoothies for dieters and Breakies — fruit, low-fat milk and muesli combos — for those with appetite. Try the Chic-Go Wild smoothie blend of chickoo, apple, banana, low-fat milk and yogurt. And after a wild night, there’s Hangover Relief — carrot, apple, orange, ginger and celery — to put the pep back into your step.

No, HAS isn’t an acronym for Happy As Sin. It’s short for Harsh-Avinash-Siddharth, the Bharwani brothers, of whom A started this juice bar that has it all.

HAS Juice Bar, Near Gold’s Gym, Pali Naka, Bandra, Mumbai. Telephone: 65176427, 65103427. Open 7.30 am-midnight. Prices: From Rs. 15-200.

Coffee? Naah. You are a tea person. You like your Darjeeling weak, your Assam strong, and your icy peach with just a hint of mint.

Now don’t just drink it. At Noida’s only spa, marinate yourself in mellow tea-tree oil after a blissful hour of massage. Our Trendy spa addict’s fave summer spa pick is their super relaxing green tea oil treatment. The light, sweet-smelling oil melts into the pores, and acts as aromatherapy simultaneously. Fifteen minutes in the sauna (part of the deal), and you’re fresher than a just-plucked tea leaf.

There’s more to do at Espace. Banish dead and dull skin with a twin-pronged dead sea mineral scrub: salts to polish, and oil to soften. Opt for a rose facial with an invigorating pack of fresh flower petals and wild honey extracts. And the sole therapy that targets reflex points in your feet is more soul therapy: in thirty minutes, discover how playing footsie can work miracles with your mood.

And then, simply soak in the lavender smells of your woody, private treatment-chalet by the poolside.

You’ll be edible after.

Espace Spa & Fitness Centre, Radisson MBD Hotel,Sector 18, Noida. Telephone: 95120-4303080. Treatments start at Rs. 900, Green tea oil massage at Rs. 2,500.

7 am. Brrrrinnnng goes the alarm. Ouch goes you. 8 am. Hop into the car. Curse the traffic. 8:05 am. Curse the traffic. 8:15 am. Curse the traffic. 8:30 am. Curse the traffic. 9 am. Curse the traffic. 10:05 am. Oops, late to work again.

Now wouldn’t it be nice if we had fewer tins-on-wheels on the road, especially during peak hours? Commute Easy has just the solution: Car-pooling, the organized way. All you need to do is get those manicured fingers on the keyboard, log on to their chirpy website and choose a bunch from your side o’ town to the other side o’ work. Yes, you do have the option of choosing all-girl pools. That means shop-talk all the way to work. And back!

On a more save-this-city note, Commute Easy is building a community of pool-minded people to cut back on pollution. It also means fewer cars on the road, fatter wallets, stress-free commutes and more friends.

What’s really cute though is the little sticker given to members. Promises to go well with that ’80s look you’re carrying around. And, of course, that gang of loud girls listening to Bangalore’s favourite radio station, all yodelling their way to work.

So go on and jump in. And get ahead of the traffic madness.

Jump into a pool at www.commuteeasy.com.

Cloudy skies. Splashes of rain. A little watery sunshine. And cool, cool, cool. Sometimes you wish you were a peacock, so you could celebrate the season by unfurling your glorious plumage.

There’s no reason why you can’t. Celebrate the season, we mean, in the colours of India’s national bird. Blues, greens and every fine shade in between make up Plum Tree’s seasonal line of nature-inspired footwear. Eyes of dark blue, surrounded by the nameless colour of the peacock’s neck and circled by blue-green sequins. Leaf-green motifs, embellished with threadwork in turquoise. Or simple mules, with shades that echo your heart’s, and sandals that tie up like vines around your ankles.

Take it a step further. Lace and tissue for the feet. Even denim, in exquisitely styled, equestrian-detailed flats that kick up a storm.

To complement the tootsies, check out the clutch purses. Pearls, sequins, shells, beads, stones — nothing is too precious or too prosaic, when used imaginatively.

That’s the key word. Imagination — to take you to a place where you are one with the sky and the clouds. Right down to your feet.

Plum Tree shoes. At Rain Tree, 4, Sankey Road , Bangalore 560002. Telephone: 32723251, and Kashmir Handicrafts, B-11, Leela Galleria. Telephone: 41255412. Prices start at Rs. 1,500.

Like your green curry hot, your restaurant haute-r? Did you despair when the capital’s hippest Oriental eatery had to shut shop at the picturesque Ambawatta complex? We’ve got news. Thai Wok is back.

The new three-floor version, dressed up by British interior design guru Mike Knowles in cool whites and fiery reds, is roomier, and as attractive as the original. It also has the nuttiest Pad Thai noodles, the spiciest lamb Penang, and the creamiest strawberry cheesecake in town.

Order their tangerine margarita, a new addition to the cocktail menu. Juicy tangerines are flown in from a Nagpur farm, especially for this concoction. Follow that up with a first-rate Tom Kha soup. And then dive into the large selection of Thai curries paired with red meats, chicken, prawn, and the freshest of veggies. Our Trendy Taster couldn’t get enough of the crispy red snapper with pineapple.

End your meal with fruity, chocolate-y soufflés and cakes. And a puff of a flavoured cigarillo.

The only thing missing is the Qutub Minar. Everything else is supremely the same.

Thai Wok West, Road no 31, Punjabi Bagh Extn (near Punjabi Bagh Club), New Delhi. Telephone: 25223469, 9810119127. Meal for two: Rs. 800 (doesn’t include alcohol).