Late-night partying. A tipple or two. Maybe, gasp, a smoke now and then. And, of course, exposure to sun, pollution, processed food. Hands up, those not guilty of one of these skin sins.

None. Hmm. we thought as much. That’s why our Trendy Tester tried out the Algodermia range of products. This Italian brand, available for the first time in India at Bare Body Essentials, uses deep-sea extracts and oils with natural antioxidants to promise luminous, firm skin. With all-natural principal ingredients, Algodermia has something for everyone.

Oily T-zone? Large pores? Try the Puralgae range. The creams and seawater mask help normalise sebaceous secretions.

Dry, dehydrated derm? The Visalgue range has cleansers, nourishers — the Hydracomfort night cream is a dream — and toners. The Acticomplex is a power-packed skin regenerator.

For ageing skins — and that includes everyone over 25 — the brand has Algavital. Seaweed with other active elements go into its cleansers, Revital Cream and Serum and Regeneration Fluid for the eye contours. Our Trendy Tester now swears by the ginseng-loaded Anti-Ageing Serum: She says it takes care of her laugh lines as nothing else does.

Because age shouldn’t curb the smiles.

Algodermia at Bare Body Essentials, HM Tower, Brigade Road, Bangalore 25. Tel: 25553961. Prices: Rs 1500-3500. In-parlour skin treatments also available, from Rs 1000.

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Maganlal’s Chikki and Cooper’s Fudge. Lonavala, the mid-way mark on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, has a few unmissable staples, and an eminently forgettable food scene.

But there’s hope for the quirky-at-heart who like their food like their holidays — authentic, freewheeling and fun. Our Trendy Traveller spotted a funky orange shack en route to Bushi Dam and Amby Valley, which made her heart sing. Rainmaker’s, a little outpost in the midst of the hills, serving Continental fare and named after a Chilean musical instrument, is part-psychedelic hippie chic and part-Wild West-biker-stop.

Glam chef-owner Dhanya a.k.a. Danny, originally from Fort Kochi, whips up toothsome home-style treats in the butterfly sticker-encrusted open kitchen. Pancakes, grilled chicken, sausage sandwiches, penne in a zesty olive-and-cheese sauce — it’s like manna in the desert. Ad-man Mathew, her comrade-in-arms (he hates to be called ‘hubby’), makes guests feel at home. There’s lots of eye-candy: a guitar on a fuchsia wall, a cute dog called Devil who naps under their ancient Italian Fiat, Tibetan prayer flags, batik ceiling hangs, beautiful framed pics of Lonavala taken by Mathew, and an eclectic clientele.

Edgy as they come, this shack welcomes hookah-aficionados, biker couples and eccentric foodies. Ease into a deck chair facing the vast landscape, let DJ Ma Faiza’s tunes overtake you (she often visits, as does Jackie Shroff) and feel the vibe.

Groovy, baby.

Rainmaker’s Shack: Bushi Gaon, INS Shivaji Road, en route to Amby Valley, 4 kms from Lonavala town; Tel: 93731-24213 (Stanley, GM) or 98603-88804 (Mathew, owner); Prices: A meal for two without drinks would cost between Rs 400 and Rs 600. Free, if your pictures of Rainmaker’s make it to the photo wall, and discounts if you’re a biker couple or take part in one of their zany contests. If you wield a good skillet, you could even earn some moolah by playing guest chef!

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Remember those nights you spent jiving at Djinns? Ever since Delhi’s iconic discs closed down for renovation, there’s been a drought of places which take their dancing seriously.

Not any more. Dust those stilettos, squeeze into your ultra tight low-waists, and waltz into 6 Month Story, the latest night spot from Dhiraj Arora, the man behind Shalom and Glo. Aqua-blue columns of light and a sprawling dance floor. A glass strip which lets you gaze at the night sky. A wall-sized screen beaming funky visuals. And the hippest acts from across India and abroad — Midival Punditz, Jalebee Cartel and Aliva — at the stage-sized deejay console.

Food’s strictly fuel. No distracting menus. Just waitstaff, clad in psychedelic uniforms designed by Manish Arora, rattling off a short list of quick bites: chicken, fish and potato strips, cottage cheese and kebab rolls, and cheese toasts. Wrestle your way to the crowded counter for a beer or fizzy cocktail. A glass of sparkling wine, or an aged single-malt, on the candle-lit deck outside, lets you come up for air. And then it’s back to the floor.

This one looks all set to sail past the six month mark, Arora’s tongue-in-cheek reference to blink-and-they’re-gone places.

Beat it.

6 Month Story, Chattarpur Road (beyond Tivoli Garden), Mehrauli, New Delhi. Open only on Friday and Saturday, post 10 pm. Tel: 9910169745, 9810148084.

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She relaxed against him with a sigh as he carried her up the stairs to his room.

You browsed blurbs at superspeed at the pavement-wide swathe of second-hand sells. You sneaked dog-eared copies with rose-badged spines into your schoolbag. Hiding behind advanced trigonometry tomes, you studied human chemistry.

You still break away sometimes from Shakespeare, Sartre and Seth — and wander down your public library’s giggly aisles after a couple of M&Bs. Though you’ve long exchanged rose-tinted glasses for ‘the-tough-get-going’ lenses, amour never went out of fashion.

Mills & Boon, your fave romantic read, turns a hundred in 2008. Proof, if any was needed, that true love is timeless.

A marriage of convenience was contracted with HarperCollins India this Christmas season. Printed-in-India M&Bs have been slipping — steaming hot — off presses since December, to bolster your fantasies. And an India website, born early this month, lets you purchase your fix in privacy, besides flirting with a new love: e-novels. And gifts you twice-weekly free online reads.

Psst. A little Cupid shot our Trendy M&B addict this secret message — erotic encounters are going to get ethnic, with desi heroines’ hearts coming to the fore.

Spurn the knight in shining armour cause he’s never on time. Embrace the romantic raja on a white ghodi.

Website: www.millsandboonindia.com. Price: Rs 99 each.

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Forget Bhuleshwar-like stalls or Colaba Causeway-esque bargains. The new bazaar is all buzz and bling in tony surroundings.

Like Mystique’s new monthly bazaar day, when they exhibit an Ali Baba’s cave of treasures from vendors that you can’t usually find in the home decor store. Our Trendy Shopaholic peeked in while they were setting up their wares and reported back with the lowdown on the luxe on offer.

Remember the Hoglund glass art and the 3-D hand casts that she scouted out for you earlier? They’re here, as are couture and accessories by Gayatri Narang and children’s furniture from Big Red Bus, the store owned by singer Shaan’s better half, Radhika Mukherjee.

And Curio Cottage’s silver and gemstone jewellery with unusual additions like coral, wooden beads and even ribbons. These pieces face stiff competition from Kkiona’s costume jewellery made from silver, terracotta, wood and semi-precious stones, and Pinky Saraf’s funky baubles fashioned from natural stones and metallic pieces. And our Trendy Shopaholic is coming back for one of Pinky Saraf’s handbags with onyx-and-silver accoutrements. Pure I-candy, she calls it.

If only you had more time to browse and binge.

Mystique’s Bazaar Day is on Jan 23, 2007 from 4-6:30pm, at Keshavrao Khadye Marg, Near Jacob Circle, Opposite Planet Godrej, Mumbai; Tel: 99204-10464, 23082037; Price starts at Rs 150 and can go on past five-digits.

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A potted plant inside the door. An aquarium in the balcony. And fresh flowers on the desk, always. A little bit of the outside makes a world of difference inside.

Each of the 27 paintings in leading contemporary artist S G Vasudev’s new collection speaks in the same tongue as trees, plants, nature. Titled ‘She’, it gives her own space to the mystical woman who has been gracing Vasu’s works, albeit from the sidelines, for almost 15 years.

Inspired by Indian miniatures and the eternal woman of the Ajanta paintings, Vasu’s woman merges almost seamlessly with his other oft-used symbol, the Tree of Life. Her hair morphs into the branches and twigs of the tree; her myriad boughs reach out to the heavens like arms raised in prayer.

Each oil-on-canvas demands its dedicated gaze-time. The works possess a meditative quality that is at once joyous and tender. Discover your own resemblances — doesn’t the woman look like someone you know? — and your own meanings. The artist’s strokes are subtle, moody, thoughtful.

Just like She.

She, a collection of 27 oils on canvas by S G Vasudev. Till February 7 at The Hatworks Boulevard, 32 Cunningham Road, Bangalore. Tel: 65379223. Paintings start at Rs 1 lakh and go up to Rs 15 lakh.

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You watch FTV’s Hair & Beauty shows without blinking. Those models look so gorgeously put together. You wish you could be backstage with a make-up pro working on your face.

Now you can, at the MAC (the make-up brand top international and Indian stylists swear by) stores in Delhi and Gurgaon, done up like a fashion runway venue, with lights and mirrors and makeup chairs. The floating mirror block, in the centre of the Saket store, is the first of its kind in any MAC store worldwide.

Trained make-up artists help create a look for you. Or you can DIY from the MAC trend charts. Spend happy hours playing with the products on display.

Vimi Joshi, veteran of Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks, gave our Trendy Tester a fresh daytime look from the latest MAC Matte Squared collection. MAC Eye Shadow in Poison Pen, a purple grey shade, topped with Liquidlast Liner in navy blue Inky, wonderfully defined the eyes. MAC Lip Glass in Bubblegum, a bright pink hue, completed the look.

The new range has sixteen long-lasting bright eye shadows in aqua, green, pearly brown, purple and grey; and five deep hued eyeliners in navy, green, black and brown, to bring out dark Indian eyes.

Sashay in for some of your own runway moves.

MAC, Select City Walk, Saket, New Delhi .Ph: 9313650722. MAC, Ground Floor, Ambi Mall, Ambience Island, NH-8, Gurgaon. Prices: Rs 750 onwards.

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Picture yourself as Lara Croft. Sassy, sexy and strong. You know the jungles of Cambodia like the back of your hand. The enemy team is trying to steal a priceless artefact. And only you can stop them.

Sound like your thing? Action Force PaintBall is an invitation. Provided you are a sport. You have open space before you. You have protection that makes you look like an amateur astronaut, and a propellant (read gun) loaded with paint-filled gelatin pellets! The artefact is a flag, in this case. You’ve got 30 minutes. Get moving now.

Chetan Hansraj, actor, adventurer and winner of Fear Factor in 2006, businessman Jujhar Kochhar and adventure entrepreneur Kiran Soans (whose company Mercureal Adventures first brought Paintball to India in 2005) have conspired to bring it back to Mumbai.

The occasion could be your birthday, your brother’s bachelor bash or your best friend’s hen party. Or just a reason to stop peering at your screen and get your girlfriends together. Our Trendy Adventuress rates this as one of the most innovative, stress-busting fun workouts in town. Worried about those immaculate nails and hair being ruined by this hip version of Holi? Don’t. It’s all washable.

Besides, if you’re super fast, no one gets you.

Action Force PaintBall sessions every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Khar Gymkhana grounds, Khar, Mumbai, between 7 pm and 10.30 pm; Tel: 99870-28393; Website: www.actionforcepaintball.com; Price: A round of 35 pellets costs Rs 750 and 50 for Rs 1050.

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Cobbled streets. Potent espressos. And, everywhere in the a.m., the aroma of freshly baked bread. Ah Paris, mon amour!

Boulevards and bistros, alas, are a ticket away. But with Breadworks, Bangalore’s first ever boulangerie, crusty baguettes, hand-braided challahs and Italian ciabattas have come home. Baked fresh everyday according to the specifics of English master baker Maurice Chaplais, they overturn the old theory that woman can’t live by bread alone.

Begin the day with a hunk of apple walnut loaf and a shaving of tangy parmesan. For lunch, partner a bowl of chilled pumpkin soup with a warm, buttery garlic roll. Mop up the sauces at dinner with hearty multigrain bread, speckled with fennel and caraway seeds.

Our Trendy Foodie recommends the Danish pastry with your evening cuppa. Or a crimson, gooey strawberry slice to tickle your sweet tooth. Get half-way to heaven as you sink your teeth into a crumbly blueberry muffin.

Perfectly portioned — grand sizes for big hands and petit ones for littler ones — they are bliss, a bite away.

Breadworks. T10, 3rd floor, Esteem Mall, Bellary Road, Bangalore 24. Tel: 23621318 and S-24, Ground Floor, Raheja Arcade, Koramangala Industrial Layout, Bangalore 95. Coming soon at 37, 7 th Cross, Lavelle Road, Bangalore 1; Samrathi Super Market, Adarsha Palm Meadows, Whitefield Road, Bangalore 66. Prices: Rs 35 onward.

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You’ve got the goss on the latest shows to hit the circuit before word gets out. You ‘get’ modern art, can expound effortlessly on what abstracts signify and know all the different periods of your favourite artists. Your art portfolio is worth its weight in gold.

That inner wish that you could drape yourself in a painting is now made possible by Satya Paul’s Pop Art Collection. Our Trendy Fashionista got you a sneak peek into designer Puneet Nanda’s collection of pop-art inspired saris, salwar-suits and dresses, embellished with ’50s style imagery that uses just about anything — advertising, packaging, celebrities and comic book art.

Revel in yards of lush fabric in vibrant, juicy colours, printed with barcodes, money, lips and even Bollywood icons such as a starkly black-and-white Madhuri Dixit. Play an ethnic princess in a purple polka-dotted churidar kurta with graphic, Andy Warholesque prints. Don a flirty corset dress with the words Satya Paul printed all over.

Guaranteed to make you the art and soul of the party.

Available at select Satya Paul boutiques across the country in two months.
Mumbai: New #30B, High Tide, Near Emerald Hotel, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai; Tel: (022) 26609891/32948002.
Delhi: #1 M.G. Road, Near S.B. Public School, Mehrauli; Tel: (011) 26804176 and #9 Mahalaxmi Market, Bhagirath Place, Near Ghansham Plastic, Delhi G.P.O; Tel: (011) 23860202.
Bangalore: #5, Vittal Mallya Road; Tel: (080) 22218142.
Price: Rs 10,000 onwards.

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