Let’s Get This Party Started

The party season is slowly grinding to a halt and the late nights are starting to tell. Sluggish mornings have become par for the course and you wish you had the magic formula for springing out of bed. The good news is that solutions are abundant. The most obvious, of course, is a solid dose of caffeine. As a South Indian, my idea of waking someone up is serving up filter coffee and hoping for the best. Srimoyi Bhattacharya, managing director of boutique PR firm Peepul Consulting tends to agree. “I find that a cup of black coffee does the job when I want to feel really awake. I like coffee that takes me travelling, so my kitchen is stocked with coffee from places as diverse as Coorg and Argentina,” she divulges. But it’s not all about the beans – jasmine, Thai in particular, also awakens her senses and prepares her for an intense day, as does a spritz of fragrant rosewater.

A photographer I’ve worked with would keep the studio stocked with bags of clementines on the day of a shoot – just the scent of someone peeling one nearby was enough to refresh the room.

Some days a simple bath isn’t nearly enough to thoroughly awaken you. The mix of herbs in Neutrogena’s Rainbath shower gel reminds one of the scent of the earth after a light drizzle. For ever-freshfaced designer Anupamaa Dayal, a fantastic shower gel is a must – L’Occitane’s Pivoine Flora shower gel is her current favourite. “I use different fragrances based on my moods, but if I really want to wake up, it’s always Elizabeth Arden Green Tea that I turn to,” she says, adding that a weekly scrub makes her feel alive and tingly.

For Anurag Tyagi, the brand manager for Kiehl’s in India, it’s a spray of their Açai Damage-Protecting Toning Mist that does the trick. “I start by washing my face. And then a spritz– I just love the feeling of this mist gently settling on my face,” he says. The superberry mist is completely organic and scented with lavender extract, which just adds to the anti-oxidant goodness.

Delhi-based designer Urvashi Kaur is known to be a livewire at any given time. She begins her day with Molton Brown’s Eucalyptus Body Wash. “It’s the most incredibly refreshing thing, especially during the summer – it just leaves me zinging. I use an oil-based shower gel from the same range during winter – it’s great when you’re in a rush and don’t have enough time to moisturise,” she says. She also swears by a Moroccan eucalyptus and black olive gel that she uses as a mask on the face and with an exfoliating glove for the rest of the body. “We found it in our hotel room and it was like an instant facial the first time I used it, so I brought some back and I use it all the time now.” Urvashi gravitates towards fragrances with a strong element of rose to truly wake her up. “I especially love Chloé and Stella McCartney Rose Absolute, and Hermès’ 24 Faubourg and Jour d’Hermès,” she says.

As for things that awaken the physical rather than the physiological and emotional, you need to look only so far as your trusty kohl pencil. A dash of kajal opens up your eyes, instantly making you look alert. Mascara too instantly awakens the eyes, in fact I’m barely human till my lashes have been attended to. But if all else fails, paint your pout the brightest of reds and you’re all set to take on the world. After your steaming cup of Joe, of course.