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Wednesday, April 6, 2011
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Lick or lather? Beauty treats good enough to eat Page 12
WHAT’S HOT this week
Team Smartbuy Editorial Anushya Mamtora anushya@thehindu.co.in
Unleashing creativity Acer Aspire 4253
Ketaki Bhojnagarwala ketaki@thehindu.co.in
Mahananda Bohidar mahananda@thehindu.co.in
S. Muralidhar muraliswami@thehindu.co.in
Design Bryan Gaughan aqua@thehindu.co.in
Balakrishnan designkbala@thehindu.co.in
Advertising Contact R. Diwakar ramdiwakar@thehindu.co.in
Web Advertising Contact N. Amarnath amarnath@thehindu.co.in
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Designed for productivity, family entertainment and kids’ education, the Aspire 4253 notebook enriches every day computing with a better high-definition experience, greater multi-tasking capabilities and significant power savings. At the heart of these laptops is the powerful new AMD E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) and the VISION Engine from AMD, enabling stutterfree HD movies and HD Internet video streaming, enough processing power to handle even the most demanding applications, DirectX 11 capable graphics and extended battery life. Rs 25,749
Cover photo: Bourjois Paris
The new lifeline MTS Pulse This smartphone is a product of a venture between HTC and MTS. The phone comes with a 3.2-inch TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen, with 320x480 HVGA resolution. Features include a 5-meg camera with autofocus, 288 MB RAM, and memory expandable up to 32 GB. The phone runs an Android 2.1 OS, and is based on the CDMA platform. Rs 18,000
Oh so cool! Zebronics NC3000 These trendy looking laptop cooling pads from Zebronics are designed for comfortable use. It provides enough clearance for a wide-sweep, 80-mm fan to create an airflow volume to keep your machine from over-heating. The device that comes in two colours – Matt Black and Electric Red – can be used for notebooks ranging from 8–15 inches. Rs 350
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It’s foolproof! Fujitsu LifeBook LH530 This latest laptop from Fujitsu is powered by an Intel Core i3-350M processor, and runs on a Windows 7 Professional OS. The 14.1-inch SuperFine HD LED display is perfect for watching movies or gaming. The laptop comes with BIOS Lock, Hard Disk Lock, Antitheft Lock Slot and a spill resistant keyboard, which ensures the safety of all your data. Available in Shiny Black and Ruby Red. Rs 39,000
Charged up Apple MacBook Pro The new MacBook Pro range from Apple has undergone a major revamp. Equipped with quad-core Intel processors, Intel HD Graphics 3000, Thunderbold I/O technology and a FaceTime HD camera, this laptop is the ultimate performer. Add to this, the standard Apple hardware which consists of an aluminium unibody enclosure, glass Multi-Touch trackapd, LED-backlit widescreen display, illuminated full-size keyboard and up to 7 hours of battery life. Available in 13, 15 and 17-inch sizes with varying storage capacities. Rs 69,900 onwards
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Just for you HCL ME AP10 Running on a 1GHz processor, the 10-inch super-slim HCL ME tablet comes with a capacitive touchscreen that supports multitouch gestures. The tablet runs on Android 2.2 and features a 1.3meg camera. Apart from inputs like USB, Ethernet and an HDMI port, connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, built-in 3G and GPS with a high sensitivity receiver. Rs 32,990
SMARTPHONE review There are some features which are distinctly Android though. For one, you can have up to 7 customisable home screens, to which you can add shortcuts and widgets of your choice. There’s also the standard notification panel on the top which displays time, connectivity options and alerts. The phone can be locked and unlocked using the Android sweep feature. When it comes to Samsung’s part, there’s a 4-icon bar at the bottom for quick access to Call, Contacts, Messaging and Menu. These buttons have been customised, with a slightly ‘cartoony’ design, which doesn’t really suit the business-like exterior of the phone. Pressing the Menu button will bring up your standard Android menu with all your apps. Except here, you swipe left and right instead of up and down to navigate through your Menu. The icons of many apps have also been customised, Samsung style. The touch interface of the phone was outstanding, to say the least. It was extremely responsive, registering even the slightest touch. It’s safe to say that it can be put on a par with the iPhone’s screen, which should give you an idea of how good it is. It also supports multi-gesture, including pinch to zoom and double tap. In the Galaxy Ace, Samsung uses its own keyboard – we couldn’t find the option for an Android version anywhere on the phone. We found it extremely easy to type in portrait mode, since the keys were nicely spaced out. Galaxy S fans will be pleased to know that the Ace also supports Swype, which makes typing easier. Messages are displayed as threads, and you can choose from a few skins to customise the layout like, ‘Sticky Note’ or ‘Memo’.
Media
The ‘Ace’ of hearts Ketaki Bhojnagarwala amsung’s affiliation to Android seems to have done wonders for its handset sales. The phone which kick-started the revolution was undoubtedly the Samsung Galaxy S. A year down the line and many smartphone launches later, Samsung announced three new phones in the Galaxy series. This week, we get our hands on the Samsung Galaxy Ace, the most high-end smartie of the lot.
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Sizing it up At first glance, the front of the phone reminds you a lot of Samsung’s first-generation touch phones. A standard shiny black bezel encases the 3.5-inch TFT capacitive touch screen. At the bottom is a single rectangular button, which stands out quite jarringly compared to the delicately curved, chrome plated edges. Our doubts about an Applelike Home button were put to rest when we turned on the
phone, and two LED touch-sensitive buttons came to light on either side, for Menu and Return. The left side of the phone has a volume rocker switch, and on the right you’ll find the Power/Lock button and a micro SD card slot. The Power button conveniently comes within your natural grip while holding the phone. On top, you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack and a mini USB charging and transfer slot with a retractable cover. The back panel is dotted and rubberised, so you get a firm grip on the phone. A 5-meg camera with LED flash and a single speaker are the only adornments at the rear.
User Interface When you unlock the phone, you are greeted by a home screen that discretely reminds you of the bada interface. However, Samsung should be commended for taking the effort to customise the interface, so it stands out from standard Android phones.
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You get your standard smartphone media options with this phone. From Android’s side, you get the Music and Video player. We played some MPEG-4 video clips to test the quality, and we got sharp and clear results. The only factor that doesn’t work in Samsung’s favour is the speaker, which isn’t really suited to loudspeaker use. Even when we plugged in headphones we weren’t too impressed, because the volume levels remained quite low. What we did like was the fact that we could adjust volume even when the phone was locked, using the toggle switch. There’s built-in FM Radio, which automatically scans and tunes in the available FM channels. Unlike a lot of older generation phones, the Ace itself functions as an antenna, so you don’t have to plug in the Samsung headset from the box; you can just use your favourite pair and listen away. The camera gave us some good results, especially in low light. There are also a number of scene modes you can choose from, so it’s pretty advanced as far as mobile phone cameras go. We downloaded the Facebook app from the Android market, but you can also download Social Hub from Samsung Apps, which integrates all your SNS and IM clients in one place. We set up our Gmail account in one easy step. The phone supports push notifications, so you’ll get alerts for any new emails in the inbox. If you have an alternative email account, you can use the dedicated email client to set it up. Once we logged into the Android market, we also downloaded the WhatsApp messenger service, which worked without a hitch. . The phone comes pre-installed with ThinkFree Office, so you can edit Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents.
Performance The phone is powered by an 800 MHz ARM 11 processor, and although Samsung could have charged it up and gone the whole hog with a 1 GHz one, we didn’t feel like the performance was lacking in any way. To test the gaming graphics of the phone, we installed our favourite Angry Birds. Many tech geeks will tell you that Angry Birds needs at least a 1GHz processor to work without any lags, but we had no trouble with this phone. The smooth touch screen made it an even better experience The accelerometer worked smoothly, and the proximity sensor was spot on. Battery life was better than average, it gives you about a day and a half on a full charge. This includes heavy talktime usage, browsing, social networking, watching videos and listening to music.
Our Verdict The Samsung Galaxy Ace lives up to its name in every way. It’s a good fit either as a business phone or for someone who wants it for heavy media use – which makes it almost universal in that aspect. Love::Excellent touch screen, no lags in performance Hate: Unflattering design Rs 18,290 ketaki@thehindu.co.in
SPECIFICATIONS Operating system: Android 2.2 Talktime: up to 660 min (2G), 390 min (3G) Display: 3.5-inch, TFT HVGA (320x480) Camera: 5-meg, LED flash, 2x digital zoom Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, USB Dimensions (HxWxD): 112.4x59.9x11.5mm CPU: 800 MHz ARM 11 processor, Adreno Photos: R. Ravindran
200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset
Always available Pings, calls and video chats - staying connected has never been this easy. These apps across all platforms use your existing data plan or Wi-Fi connection to help you keep in touch, and like all other good things in life - they’re for free!
eBuddy is an IM service that is available on practically all mobile platforms. It integrates your Gtalk, Facebook, MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ contacts into one list. You can sign into all your accounts at once, or choose which ones you want to sign into.
Fring, available across platforms, allows you to make free video calls, voice calls and live chat to other ‘fringsters’. You can use MSN, Gtalk, AIM, ICQ, Facebook and Twitter, all through an integrated phone book.
Offering free video calls to your friends and family around the world, Tango populates the app contacts automatically from your existing mobile phonebook. The app runs on varied user interfaces, letting you switch between video to audio calls.
WhatsApp is a free messaging service that works across all platforms, using your phone’s contact list. It uses the internet plan on your phone, and allows you to send unlimited images, video and audio messages.
Nimbuzz combines your web and mobile communications into one. The live Contact list keeps you clued into who’s online, offline, busy or away, their status messages, avatar pictures and social community activity.
Connect with your Facebook and MySpace friends directly from TweetDeck by updating your status, posting photos or videos, commenting, and liking. Available only on Android as of now, it’ll soon be coming up with iPhone/iPad versions.
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SMARTPHONE review
Photos: R. Ravindran
Top knocks by a featherweight Mahananda Bohidar tepping into the handset arena in India only last year, Huawei is yet to become a household name. However, it does not stop the company from trying to get a foothold in what is currently the most popular handset segment in the country - the budget smartphone. In a genre where the first name that comes to mind is Nokia – Huawei is a company which despite some drawbacks, still manages to retain the loyalty of many. Has it played its cards right with the IDEOS, a touch-smartphone that promises to be easy on the pocket without compromising the user experience?
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Designed with a mini-candy bar form factor, the IDEOS looks spunky with its bright blue back panel. Power it on with the slim button on the top left, which also doubles up as the virtual lock, and the 2.8-inch screen comes alive. It has two thin, slat-like ‘Accept’ and ‘End’ buttons – the green and red ones to put it in simpler terms. Between these you have a circular navigation pad with a metallic rim which serves as a 5-way navigator. This would be preferable to those who might take some time getting used to a touch interface or just prefer physical buttons in the long run. Above these three physical buttons, you have a slim row of four touch-functions – Return, Settings, Menu and Search. All four prove to be useful shortcuts while using the smartphone. The Search button launches a window, where you type in whatever you are looking for – it
could be a contact, an Italian restaurant or an address - and conveniently presents both your Phone Book and Google in the same window.
Getting a feel The user interface was all that you’d expect from the green robot – neatly threaded messages, navigating via Places, the Market app and the five home screens to customise – among other things that Android 2.2 comes with. The touch (capacitive) experience was quite smooth, accurately launching functions with a press. But the virtual keyboard feels especially cramped when you type in the portrait mode, however we could avoid a lot of typo errors when we just typed in landscape. IDEOS holds in store a 3.2-meg camera which we tried out under various lighting conditions. The camera does not have a Flash but it manages to reproduce colours quite nicely both indoors and under bright sunlight. Most photographs we took were reasonably sharp although they did look slightly distorted in the low-res display (320x240). Double tap to zoom in to the image and tap on the Menu button to access options like Crop, Share or start a digital slideshow. The handset is marketed as a low-budget Android smartphone and this shows in the display and processor capabilities. However, when it comes to connectivity, IDEOS isn’t much of a compromise. It packs in a Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and can act as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot to connect other devices to with Bluetooth 2.1, apart from the
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availability of HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) that’ll let you stream or download media at decent speeds over a 3G connection. Also, as with most other budget smartphones, you get the token 512 MB internal storage but you can pick up an SD card – the handset can accommodate one with up to 32GB of external storage. With its 1200mAh battery, the IDEOS easily gave us close to two days of usage with only voice calls. However, this was obviously reduced to just a working day with Wi-Fi, GPRS and app activity. The compact handset, although with a affordable price tag, doesn’t let you down with most of its features and would be a spunky handset to show off with its Blue, Pink and Yellow rear panels. Huawei seems to have tried not to cut corners with the build quality as well – the handset does not feel flimsy and plasticky when you hold it.
We say Despite being one of the later entrants in the smartphone market in India, Huawei seems to have got a major part of its formula right in putting together a budget smartphone for the masses here. With the latest version of Android, good connectivity options, and a decent touch screen, the IDEOS seems to be a great smartphone to go for, especially due to the price tag. Love – Accurate capacitive touch screen, good connectivity options Hate – Low-res screen, disappointing camera Rs 8,499 mahananda@thehindu.co.in
LAPTOP review
On-the-go gaming: MSI GT663R
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he MSI GT663R packs in a lot of firepower and looks stunning to boot. The chunky, all black design will remind you of an exotic supercar. Those who like ‘bling’ will love the metallic red hue around the keyboard and speakers. The keyboard is great, with large, spaced out buttons and the ability to toggle the WSAD keys into arrows keys for left-handers. The separate numpad is a plus. While the touchpad is big and wide, it’s quite unresponsive and has a sandpaper-ish quality to it, which kills the experience.
Attractive package The GT663R is powered by a quad-core Intel i7 processor (Q740M @ 1.73 GHz) and has a 1.5 GB Nvidia 460M GPU. While the standard rate of 1.73 GHz won’t raise eyebrows, Turbo Boost allows it to go up to 2.93 GHz when required. The Turbo Drive Engine overclocks the GPU’s core rate from 675 MHz to 709MHz, and the shader rate from 1350 MHz to 1417 MHz. The notebook has 8 GB DDR3 RAM and two 500 GB Western Digital hard drives in RAID 0 to boost read/write speeds. The 15.6-inch display (1366x768) is great, but it’s glossy and gives off a lot of glare. The device sports four USB ports, two of which are USB 3.0, plus an eSATA port, an Express Card slot and a 5-in-1 card reader. In addition, there are HDMI and VGA outputs as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and Gigabit Ethernet. The integrated webcam can record at 720p in 30 FPS, which is really good.
Game for performance
SPECIFICATIONS
The MSI GT663R posted very impressive results in our volley of tests. It bested the ASUS G53J and G51J in synthetic and real world tests, and in games. It could play Call of Duty: Black Ops at 48 fps, and Mafia 2 at 33 fps, but in Metro 2033, the GT663R only managed 8 fps. Games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which are CPU-intensive, ran at 29 fps at maxed out graphics. The GT663R also has superb sound thanks to the two built-in Dynaudio speakers. Audio is clear, crisp and loud enough. MSI has done a good job at heat dissipation. At full load, it does get quite hot, but thanks to the large vents, the heat is pushed out well. The GT663R is quiet as it completes day-to-day tasks, but fire up a game and you will hear the fan whirring as it moves into high gear, which is a little distracting. At full charge, the battery will last you a good hour and 10 minutes of intensive gaming, and over 3 hours under low load. The MSI GT663R tears through almost anything you throw at it. At Rs 1,49,999, it does provide the performance it promises and is a great option for gaming on the go. The bad touchpad and its 3.5 kg weight are downers, but that is a small price to pay for this kind of horsepower. Love - Striking looks, superb performance, packed with features. Hate - Bad touchpad, noisy at full load. Rs 1,49,999
Sound Bytes Dynaudio, the Danish sound specialists, were one of the first high-end speaker manufacturers to integrate their technology in a notebook. They endowed MSI’s earliest gaming notebook, GT660, with true-to-life acoustics. Other notebooks with integrated high-end audio systems are ASUS NX90 (Bang & Olufsen), select Toshiba Satellite models (Harman Kardon) and the recently launched 3D-enabled Dell Alienware M17X that sports Klipsch audio.
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Processor - Intel Core i7 Operating System - Windows 7 Memory - DDR3-1333 MHz up to 12 GB Display - 15.6-inch Full HD or HD LED backlight (16:9) Graphics - Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M -1.5GB Video Output - 1x HDMI, 1x VGA Hard Disk Drive - 500GB/640GB RAID 0/1TB RAID 0 Optical Disk Drive - DVD Super Multi/ Blu-ray Interfaces - 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x eSATA, 1 x Express Card, 5-in-1 card reader Sound - 2.1 ch speakers sound by Dynaudio, DTS surround sensation UltraPC Communication - 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, 1 x Gigabit LAN Webcam - HD (30fps@720p) Battery - 9-Cell Li-Ion Dimensions - 395 x 267 x 55mm Weight - 3.5 kg (with Battery) CHIP
AUTO focus
Photos: Bloomberg
Sprucing up the Dark Knight’s ride! Jason H. Harper his is every kid’s dream. I’m sitting in the Batmobile, a gonzo fantasy car with parachutes and fins so big they look like wings. I’ve arrived at a custom-car garage in North Hollywood to meet two automotive legends - the original car from the 1960s Batman TV show (“Pow!” “Zap!” “Kaboom!”) and its creator, 85-year-old George Barris. I’ve even been promised a drive in the Caped Crusader’s cruiser... if only it will stop raining. Barris calls himself the ‘King of the Kustomisers.’ He’s behind innumerable TV and movie cars, including the ‘Back to the Future’ DeLorean, ‘The A-Team’ van and KITT Trans Am. His most famous car will always be the Batmobile, fashioned in 1966. Most were built at Barris’s Riverside Drive garage, where I arrive in a deluge - hardly typical LA weather. The Batmobile has no roof, which signals trouble. In a car world populated with big kids who’ve simply graduated to bigger toys, Barris is Peter Pan. A small man with white hair haloing his skull and funky 1970s-style gold-rimmed glasses, he’s a live wire who constantly tells stories about former clients from Elvis and Michael Jackson to Clint Eastwood.
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was going to turn into such a big thing.” ABC Studios gave him less than three weeks to conceptualise and build it. “The only idea they had was to cut out a bat face and stick it on the front of a Lincoln. Ridiculous!” Barris had a long-standing relationship with Ford and owned a concept car called the Lincoln Futura - an outlandishly long, bubble-windowed coupe hand-built in Italy. It became the base. Almost 20 feet long, it’s too big to take in at a single glance. Barris’s team fashioned wings that start from the middle of the doors and rise over the beltline, coming to a sharp rake in the rear. There’s a fake jet exhaust in the back (actually a painted 10-gallon bucket), and two packed parachutes that actually work, used to effect a “Bat turn.”
Bat wingspan “I wasn’t really aware of Batman before making the car,” he says. “I knew the comic books, I guess, but had no idea it
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“I popped them once on the Hollywood Freeway and got pulled over,” Barris says. “The officer asked, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ I told him, ‘Just checking the Bat chutes out before you and me go out to catch the Riddler.’ ‘Now I’ve heard it all!’ he said.”
Bat phone Fashioned from steel, the car doors are incredibly heavy. I slip into the black-leather bucket seats where Adam West once perched (“He’s a good driver,” says Barris). The large steering wheel has a tachometer in the centre (an original concept-car detail), and controls for various James Bondlike gadgets on the dash. They include oil slicks, an ejector, rockets, nails and an anti-theft system, all helpfully labelled - and all very imaginary. The oil-slick nozzles on the front of the car are actually sprinkler heads. There’s a radar screen and, rather inexplicably, a large plastic bubble-encased compass mounted on top of the vinyl dash. To my right is the Bat phone, a clunky hunk of red plastic attached to a coiled phone cord. A pretty revolutionary idea for its time. Instead of a roof, there’s just a Plexiglass half bubble front and rear which make up the windscreens. A Ford badge adorns each side. While the car runs and has a 500-horsepower engine, Barris prefers not to drive it often.
“I wouldn’t sell it for the world,” he says. “It’s for my kids.”
No ‘bat’ turn During the TV show, which ran from 1966 to 1968, moulds were made from the original and some half dozen fibreglass replicas were created for stunt work and promotional events. In 2007, one sold at auction for $233,000. Car No. 2, the first reproduction, is also here and Barris fires it up. It’s loud and rough-sounding. “As soon as it
stops raining...” he says pointedly. I look outside. Buckets of rain. As we wait, Barris shows me around. “This is my Batcave,” he says of a room brimming with Batman toys in their original packages. I contemplate their worth on eBay. Every inch of wall space is covered with movie posters and promotional photos of shows Barris has worked on. He’s currently a judge on Speed channel’s “Car Warriors,” where two teams compete to customise cars. “It’s awe-
some what these guys do,” he says breezily. Still, he complains that cars used on retreads of TV shows like “Knight Rider” and the movie “Green Hornet” aren’t as cool as the versions he worked on. “They use computer effects. Our cars actually had to do all that stuff.” One last look outside. The rain has gotten even worse. Foiled! No Bat turns today. ( The author writes about autos for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
AUTO news
Spot on without the top on I
t is a bit of an odd time to be launching a convertible, what with the sweltering Indian summer just around the corner. But, there really isn’t an Indian season that is exactly the most conducive for a car in that class. Possibly, that is good enough reason for buying a convertible. After all, the ability to transform the car, with the flick of a button, to handle the weather’s unpredictability is the USP of a convertible. BMW launched the new 650i – the 6 Series convertible – and that, along with the increasing maturity of the Indian luxury car buyer, are clearly the reasons for the confidence exuded by Dr Andreas Schaaf, President of BMW India. “The convertible is not too popular in India, but like in the other markets and countries in Asia, here too the change in consumer preferences will happen”, he said.Called the Dream Car for many aspiring luxury car buyers, the BMW 650i is accentuated by sophisticated styling and aesthetic proportions, elegant lines and the classic BMW kidney grille. Internal specs include an eight-speed sports automatic transmission with gear shift paddles on the steering wheel. It also features Drive Dynamic Control, which allows drivers to vary the car’s characteristics and comfort by choosing the desired suspension settings (Normal, Sports and Sports+). The new BMW 6 Series Convertible conceals class-
leading power beneath the hood, combining instantaneous power generation, high torque and outstanding smoothness. A 4.4-litre V8 engine with BMW TwinPower Turbo Technology and direct injection develops a maximum output of 300 kW/407 hp between 5,500 and 6,400 rpm as well as maximum torque of 600 Nm all the way from 1,750 to 4,500 rpm. The car accelerates to 100 km/h in just 5 seconds with a top speed of 250 kmph. BMW EfficientDynamics has innovative technologies such as Intelligent Lightweight Design, Electronic Power Steering, TwinPower Turbo Technology and Brake Ener-
gy Regeneration. It is part of the comprehensive technology package for the reduction of fuel consumption and emissions in the 650i. The 650i will be available in Alpine White as nonmetallic paintwork and in a range of metallic colours – Orion Silver, Titanium Silver, Black Sapphire, Havanna, Space Grey, Deep Sea Blue and Vermillion Red.Dakota leather is the standard upholstery and is available in Black, Ivory White and Cinnamon Brown. It will be available at an all-India ex-showroom price of Rs 95 lakh.
A new Accent on the way
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yundai Motor India Ltd has announced the launch of the Accent 2011 edition with a dash of premiumness and elegant styling. The exteriors of the Accent get a new look with a chrome finish front grille and chrome inserts in the body coloured waistline molding. The wooden finish interiors, leather-wrapped gear knob and steering wheel, rear de-fogger and front and rear power windows come as part of the standard package in the Accent. It is also available with alternate fuel options such as CNG and LPG. The Accent 2011 edition will be available at a special price of Rs 5,01,900 (ex-showroom, New Delhi).
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MELANGE luxury redefined
Homme special This is for all the men who stress over their tress. Kerastase has launched its new daily haircare range for men which includes shampoos, boosting sprays, styling gels, modelling pastes and more. Available at its salons. Rs 1,350 to Rs 8,970
Spring flutter Chambor’s secret to gorgeous eyes this summer is its range of eye shadow, eyeliner, kohl and mascara in shades of gold, peach, brown and pink. Available at select lifestyle stores. Rs 375 to Rs 525
Meow! Don these acetate matt black cat-eye frames from John Galliano in blue and pink retro shades and designer-stamp details, and you’re sure to be a head turner. Available at select opticians. Rs 18,700
Let’s twist again!
Free spirit With minimal overlays that allow for a much wider range of motion, Nike’s Free+2 shoe for runners is very flexible and can bend completely. Available at Nike outlets in blue and orange for men and black and purple for women. Rs 4,995 to Rs 5,200
Giving the stilettos and your feet a much needed break, Ozel has come up with this colourful Butterfly twists. These lightweight ballet pumps can twist and slip into a pouch and can be stashed away into the bag when you want to replace them with sky-high pumps. Available at Ozel, New Delhi. Rs 1,250 to Rs 1,500
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SKINCARE
trends
Wear the mask and eat it too Tasty, aromatic, organic, GMO-free and pH-balanced -the beauty industry’s new found additives sound more like ingredients from your favourite recipe! ANUSHYA MAMTORA gives you the lowdown on the latest trends which are bound to make you look lip-smackingly good Kérastase
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he fragrance is intoxicating and the texture smooth as silk. As you generously slather it on, your skin takes on a natural-looking tan, just like the warm caramel colour of the self-tanning
cream. What makes this skincare product from Clarins a delicious addition to your beauty kit is its use of cocoa bean extract, which soothes and prevents skin-ageing. Cocoa unsaponifiables penetrate deeper to help to moisturise and nourish the skin. When the entire beauty industry is competing against nature to make our skin and hair look gorgeous for a little while longer, new ingredients and fun combinations are being experimented with. So now, what’s on your plate is literally on your face!
A cuppa in your cream The refreshing cup of tea you sip in the morning has found its way to skincare products. While green tea is the most popular of the lot, white, black and chamomile tea extracts
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are blended with other active ingredients and fragrances for a nourishing skin cream. Two brands that have added some healthy teas to their collection are L’Occitane and Elizabeth Arden. The former wins hearts with its Tea collection that blends Bergamot from Calabria and black tea leaves to bring out a refreshing range of body milk mist, hand cream and perfumes. Arden’s Green Tea Honey Drops body cream has a fragrance to flip for. Green tea as an ingredient works well in unisex products.
Berry-licious From tarts to packs, delicious berries are a popular ingredient, especially for anti-ageing formulas and radiance products. Rich in antioxidants and vitamins, they are used in masques, cleansers, peels and lotions. Some popular berries that find their way into the ingredient list include blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and acai berries to name a few. Acai berries, in fact, are a fairly recent hit and
are said to be rich in flavonoids, amino and fatty acids that help fight inflammation and regenerate skin cells. Eminence Organics has quite a few products with the goodness of berries, blended with other organic ingredients.
Fruit punch While orange, banana and apple have been used in different permutations and combinations by skincare brands, grape seed and pomegranate extracts are the most spotted ingredients in the new set of products. Pomegranate is filled with antioxidants and works well in stimulating the skin’s collagen production and counters the ageing effect due to exposure to sun and pollution. The extract finds mention in anti-aging creams and anti-wrinkle potions. Grape seed on the other hand is high in vitamin E, linoleic acids and flavonoids, and is a natural antioxidant and protects skin cells. Its extracts are also used in creams that help you look young and radiant. The Body Shop uses both grape seed oil as well as pomegranate in its select range of products. Its Naturlift kit is a hit with pomegranate seed oil and includes day and night cream, toner and cleanser.
Getting exotic Then of course is the thrill of dabbling with unusual, absolutely exclusive ingredients. Luxury skincare brands go out of the way to hunt for some rare plant or unknown mineral to stand apart from the rest. Some exceptional ones are Dior’s L’Or De Vie range of products based on the vines of Yquem, ‘an exceptional vineyard that has the gift of regenerating and improving itself year after year’. L’Occitane has developed exclusive active ingredients from organic Red Rice from Camargue into a whole range of products. The range, which includes cleanser, toner, mask, exfoliating powder and face fluid, meets specific needs of combination and oily skin, mattifies and restores balance. But taking exclusiveness to a whole new level is Kérastase with its hair care product developed with mimetic caviar concentrate. The Chronologiste collection is an innovative formula of pearls (immersed in sea-water to mimic the structure of caviar) and velvety cream. This is one helluva beauty platter! Slurpp! anushya@thehindu.co.in
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TASTER’S choice
Photo: Bloomberg
Rejoicing in the revival of Beaujolais John Mariani emember those 1970s Beaujolais Nouveau parties held in November at the release of the wine’s harvest? Fortunately, that fad quickly faded and really died in the following decades. Ever since, Beaujolais’s reputation has been so damaged by those unfinished, unaged wines that even wine lovers give relatively little thought to well-made, well-aged non-Nouveau Beaujolais. Because of poor sales, after the 2001 vintage, more than 1.1 million cases of Beaujolais (mostly Nouveau) were destroyed or distilled into alcohol. Since then, there have been almost yearly scandals about Beaujolais being adulterated with other wines or sugar. All of which is really too bad, because in a good year, a carefully aged Beaujolais can be sheer delight. Made from the deep purple gamay noir grape, Beaujolais is produced on hundreds of small-to-medium-sized properties over 50,000 acres in southern Burgundy. Most of it is sold through distributors called negociants. The best Beaujolais come from 10 village crus, whose wines are a couple of degrees higher in alcohol (13 percent and a little higher) than basic Beaujolais or Beaujolais Superieur. These are Brouilly, Chenas, Chiroubles, Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie, Julienas, Moulin-a-Vent, Morgon, SaintAmour, and Regnie - none of which is made as Nouveau Beaujolais. All represent very good value, usually costing between $10 and $15 a bottle.
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King Georges The largest negociant, sometimes called the “King of Beaujolais” for his marketing efforts in the 1970s and 1980s, is Georges DuBoeuf, 77, who still ships 2.5 million cases annually. He himself has not escaped scandal, as when he was charged in 2005 and found guilty of mixing low-grade wines into the weak 2004 harvest. Since then some US wine stores have been tentative about buying Beaujolais, and one retailer I spoke with said he was offered a special deal on DuBoeuf wines but turned it down for a general lack of interest . Nevertheless, a recent tasting of the well-regarded 2009 DuBoeuf crus showed me that Beaujolais can still be among the most charming wines at the dinner table.
‘Gamine’ Gamy The six I sampled were purchased from New York’s Sherry-Lehmann and were labelled “specially selected by Georges DuBoeuf” for the wine store. All had been blind tasted when in barrel by the Concours des Vins du Maconnais et du Beaujolais and awarded the Medaille d’Or. “The ‘09 vintage was so good that even the sale of Nouveau was a great success,” said Chris Adams, chief executive officer of Sherry-Lehmann Inc. in a phone interview. There were definite distinctions among the crus I tasted that showcased why these village wines generally rise above the rest. The Saint-Amour ($13.49) and the Chenas ($12.49) were very feminine compared to the heft of a
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Chiroubles ($12.49) and Julienas ($12.95). Attending a tasting dinner, I scribbled “gamine” on the Saint-Amour label, the very well-fruited cherry-like soul of Gamay at its best, a wine that could be served with anything from pork to roast chicken, which was stuffed under the skin with herb butter. The Chenas - supposedly Louis XIII’s favourite wine was more complex than one might think about Beaujolais, with plenty of the village’s ripe fruit atop spicy, green flavours.
Crowd Pleaser Another night my dinner was seared and roasted veal chops and with this the Morgon ($11.95) stood out for its bold Beaujolais spirit and its ability to age well, still with soft tannins and creamy fruit flavours. A Chiroubles was the driest of my sampling, showing the minerality of its 400-meter hillside altitude and granite soil and the richness of even some mightier Burgundian pinot noirs. I wasn’t very fond of the Julienas, whose unimpressive, flat bouquet was followed by a one-dimensional metallic flavour I don’t think would be a match for many foods above the hamburger level. Brouilly ($12.95) is almost always a crowd pleaser, with good body, plenty of flower scents in the nose, and an earthy vibrancy of fruit that knits it all into good balance. I think it’s an ideal wine to go with grilled salmon - much better than most white wines would - as well as a terrine of foie gras on toasted country bread. (John Mariani writes on wine for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
BLING corner
Striking pendant Precious entangle
Cultured pearls on natural gemstone combined with round brilliant cut diamonds make this a neat piece to wrap around your neck. Available at C. Krishniah Chetty & Sons, Bengaluru Price: On request
‘Tubes with balls’ from Forevermark is enchanting in its white gold and 3,918 round brilliant cut diamonds which take form in this exquisite neckpiece. Price: On request
Dazzling yellow This bright yellow citrine ring with diamonds set in 18k white gold is the sunshine of Minawala’s Kyra collection. Head to Minawala outlets at New Delhi,Mumbai and Bengaluru Price: Rs 35,000 (approx)
A bid to remember On auction at Saffronart this spring are these two gorgeous pieces. One a traditional diamond and enamel ‘kada’ and the other, a pair of keshi pearls, diamond and ruby ear clip. Available at Saffronart’s Spring Online Auction of Fine Jewels and Watches Price: 3.75 lakh to Rs 4.75 lakh (kada) and Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh (ear clip) – Estimates
Bridal sparkle From pendants to necklaces, bangles to earrings, Asmi gives us a gold and diamond look in its new wedding range. Available at Asmi stores. Price on request
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