Candles, Cucumbers, and Mango Chutney with Kulfi Beauty Founder Priyanka Ganjoo
Anyone else feel absolutely insane?
Happy Friday! Six planets are in retrograde! We’re just here trying to live our little human lives and nothing is easy! So, let’s kick the weekend off with some much-needed frivolity.
Part I: Candles and Karmic Retribution
TG: Did anyone else’s last weeks of summer feel vaguely threatening? I’ve had a bunch of weird shit cross my path that makes me not want to even leave my apartment in a Final Destination-y kind of way. I’ve been Googling what cosmic event could possibly have thrown my shit this far into disarray to no avail. After a hotel room flood, a wasp attack, a broken down car on a bridge in New Jersey shore traffic, and a birding in the face on the way to kickboxing a few weeks ago — as in an avian dive-bomb that knocked me into the bike lane and gave a street full of people a fun story to tell over dinner — I decided the rest of August would be dedicated to chilling out and getting my shit together.
But now it’s September, and I’ve emerged to the reappearance of penicillins on cocktail menus, the occasional cool breeze that makes the Delancey F stop slightly less dank, and the sweet smell of all the fall perfumes and home fragrances passing through the beauty closet. Below, some of my favorites of the bunch so far, which will hopefully ward off whatever demon is following me around:
Ellis Brooklyn Vanilla Milk EDP: EBK has a couple fragrances I’ve got in my regular rotation: Apres was my winter go-to last year, and I quickly drained my bottle of the body oil infused with their Salt scent. This brand new launch smells like a vanilla cookie, but in an adult way. Two types of vanilla, milk accord, and upcycled cocoa shells give it creaminess creaminess while frangipani and sandalwood make it feel mature. If you wore Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar as a teen, this is its 30-flirty-and-thriving equivalent.
Andrea Maack Craft EDP: Not all autumnal scents have to be warm and spicy — sometimes, it’s just as seasonal to embrace the cool breeze. The brand describes this scent as a “6 am cold winter morning when the only sound around you is the motor of your warming up car,” and it really does smell chilly somehow. It’s metallic, with some cedar that grounds it with a little green. Honestly, it’s just flat-out cool.
Otherland Homestead Collection Berkshires Granola Candle: Some of the more hardcore dessert candles tend to show up around October (those apple pie-inspired scents kind of drive me nuts) and they’re just too sweet for some of us. This just-launched candle hits the spot, though, with a creamy baked good throw that never skews too sugary. If you’re in Manhattan, their store is also super cute to shop.
Le Labo Vanille 44 EDP: This splurge-y option isn’t new, but it is only widely available in September. Typically only for sale in the brand’s Paris boutique, this potent perfume is my platonic ideal of a vanilla scent: sexy, a bit salty, and somehow just a little dirty. Rub a vanilla bean on the rim of a scotch served neat, and that’s what you've got bottled.
Part II: Remedial gardening or, A few things I’ve learned from the dirt
CC: I used to think that gardening was a pleasant, if unstimulating, activity for retirees or those who lived so far away from civilization that their only option was amusing themselves in the dirt.
TBH, when I moved to Vermont in 2018, I did at first feel like I was so far away from civilization that my only option was amusing myself in the dirt. My boyfriend found a community garden program and I thought, “When in (the opposite of) Rome!”
It’s now our fourth year, and gardening has become one of the best things about my life here. It grounds me in my body. It’s a partnership with the dirt and sunshine and pollinators. It’s slow, meditative work with disproportionate rewards.
While there’s nothing like plucking that first scarlet tomato off the vine, the whole process is a delight and an education. Here are a few things I’ve learned from my garden.
Have faith in endings
It was July 2020. We’d successfully grown a cucumber plant, and had been enjoying crisp, forest-green cucumbers for a few weeks.
Then, the plant started wilting. The leaves started to get a little crispy. Our hard work was decaying before our eyes.
I was alarmed. Did it need more water? Had those fucking cucumber beetles finally killed it? What had we done wrong?
Turns out, nothing. The average cucumber plant lasts about 70 days, starting from the day it was planted. Our beloved little plant was on day 63 or so and it was time for it to wilt, die, and go into the compost pile.
As humans steeped in capitalism, we tend to approach endings with sadness, trepidation, and/or shame. If we’d hustled a little harder, maybe we’d still have that job. If we’d read more Brené Brown, maybe we’d still be in that relationship. If we’d given it more water or fertilizer, maybe that houseplant wouldn’t have died.
Or, maybe we could have done all of those things and it wouldn’t have changed a thing.
I’m not saying we should ignore or try to numb our sadness when something we love comes to an end. But, I wish we wouldn’t feel shame about it. Everything has a lifespan, and it reaching that lifespan does not mean it’s failed or that we’ve failed. Cucumber plants dying makes space for arugula or carrots or late-season zinnias. The garden slows down and then dies back in the fall so the ground can renew itself throughout the winter. Then, in spring, we start again. In the words of adrienne maree brown,
Everything dies, but that’s kind of good. It makes for a very rich world. All the richness, all that fecundity, all that beautiful miracle of life, it happens because we live in cycles, not perpetuity.
Plant more tomatoes than you think you need
Self-explanatory
Beauty is not frivolous
Growing flowers in a small community plot felt a little silly at first. We have limited space and we eat a lot of tomatoes. Why not scrap the flowers and grow more food?
The short answer is: I didn’t want to.
Even if that were it, by the way, I don’t think that would be frivolous. In the year of our lord 2022/in the face of climate change and parasitic capitalism and all the other messes we find ourselves in, anything that makes us happy to be alive is a big deal.
But, turns out, my delight is not all there is to it. This year, I went all in on the flowers. We still did the cucumbers and tomatoes and peppers and tomatillos and other essential-to-us edibles, but I have eight non-edible flower plants as well—mostly dahlias, but also poppies, zinnias, and cosmos.
And, it’s become a goddamn pollinator oasis in there. There are bumble bees, honey bees, moths, wasps, butterflies, and more. They luxuriate on my dahlias, then buzz over to the other dahlias, then buzz over to the edible plants. It’s been our most successful garden year yet. It’s not just the flowers making that happen (we’ve also become more skilled at gardening), but they certainly don’t hurt.
Plant the flowers, folks. Trust your joy.
Part III: Mangoes and Kajal with Kulfi Beauty founder Priyanka Ganjoo
TG: If there’s one makeup product I tend to hoard, it’s eyeliner: liquids, crayons, gel pencils, whatever. One of my favorite liners of all time (as well as seemingly every other beauty editor I know) is Kulfi Beauty’s Kajal Eyeliner. All five shades, which were created with South Asian skin tones in mind, offer a creamy, perfectly sooty glide that stays put all day. It was the South Asian-owned brand’s sole product until last month, when founder Priyanka Ganjoo announced Kulfi’s long-awaited second sku: the Main Match Concealer. I chatted with Ganjoo about the magic of kajal, self-care in the South Asian community, and comfort food from New Delhi summers past.
On developing Kulfi’s new concealer:
We heard from our community, many of whom are South Asian, that they struggled with finding complexion shades that matched their skin tone and undertones. Concealers in the market made their skin look orange or grey, so we created shades with an olive-gold undertone that are missing in the market. The warmth helps color correct and conceal in one step for concerns like dark circles and hyperpigmentation. The formula is also lightweight, giving you a skin-like finish, but still provides coverage. Ours is medium coverage and you can keep building without any cakiness.
On kajal’s importance:
There's obviously the physical attributes to kajal, and then there's the cultural and spiritual meaning that it holds for me. In terms of physical, it’s what I grew up using for that really creamy texture and high color payoff. It gives you that one swipe application that you would not get with a gel eyeliner. It’s also about the ingredients. Traditionally, it’s still homemade in India and in other parts of South Asia. At home, you would burn almond, and you would mix that with castor oil or ghee, or you would add aloe to it, which you'd grow in your garden. The idea is that it's supposed to be good for your eyes, so having all of those ingredients was important. We added aloe and vitamin E to Kulfi’s kajal, as a nod to that.
In terms of the spiritual and cultural connection, I think it’s important for the community. We would wear kajal as a way to ward off the evil eye, and that's what we spoke to in our [Kulfi] campaign as well. It was [important] really from the moment you were born: I have a photo of me as a baby where I've been dotted with black kajal. It's supposed to protect you, and I think it's a symbol of love for me. That essence gets lost when you have [some brands] come up with a kajal. You may not really know why we use it and kind of our cultural significance behind it. I hope with our storytelling, we can break out more of that.
On the power of tightlining:
A classic way that you have to try is the waterline application. I know people are doing siren eyes and all these [TikTok] trends, but just sliding it on the waterline especially with blue with brown eyes, just gives you that mysterious look that I love. One thing that people don't recognize the power of is tightlining. I think that's very underrated. My favorite Kulfi shade is Tiger Queen. It’s a really fun neutral. I know people are my God, orange, why would we have orange eyeliner? But it actually looks really beautiful on skin. Oh, I also love the name Tiger Queen. I manifest myself to be that.
On using kitchen ingredients for beauty:
We would always do turmeric and yogurt masks for the face on the weekends. We’d use besan, or chick chickpea flour, that’s very often used for exfoliation for the full body depending on the season. It’s mixed with sesame oil in the winter to use for massages, and then, in the summer, you would use mustard oil instead for its cooling and heating properties.
On normalizing mental health in the South Asian community:
I don't know if the narrative is shifting enough. Actually even with our initiative, it's been really hard to grow that community and space because there aren't really organizations that are really dedicated to that. I do think there are people out there who are doing great things. Brown Girl Therapy is a great account to follow; I love it and the person behind it. But it’s hard to find institutions, programs, and organizations that we can support at scale that are engaging with mental health challenges for young people in the community.
In a time where I feel like all of us are hurting and we all need healing, we all need to talk about [mental health] more. We started with the blog, which was great for community conversations. We've been bringing that to TikTok, and how we engage with the community on video. We've been trying to bring those conversations in a more relatable format, but I would say there's still a lot of work to be done.
On self-care:
The biggest thing for me with self-care is that it is a community activity, and by that I don't mean large groups of people. What helps me and heals me a lot is reaching out, whether that's spending time with my partner, my friends, or my family. That recharges me a lot because it anchors me to what's important. In terms of rituals, I love taking candlelit baths with a bath bomb; I like lavender scents.
On her brand’s sweet name:
Kulfi, obviously, is South Asian ice cream, and we used to have it at all celebrations. I remember looking forward to that moment of having kulfi on a hot summer day. It has such a positive association for me, and that's how I want my association with makeup to be: positive and joyful. [Ed note: The brand’s new concealer’s shade names are just as joyful: Lychee Licks, Glossy Guave, Mango Drop? Too cute.]
On mangoes:
Food is everything for me. Even now, if you look at our Instagram, you'll see we keep posting mango videos. That's because it's mango season in India right now, and that was a big part of my memories from summer in India. We actually had a mango tree in our backyard that we would wait for the mangoes to ripen every summer. The ones that we got from the tree wouldn't fully ripen to the level that you get in the market, so we’d make a mango chutney out or turn it into pickle, or achar. it. The chutney was really easy — my mom did it, but I remember watching her. It was a sweet sour combination of that not fully ripened mango and masala you could eat with roti or rice. Just so freaking delicious.
Priyanka’s Mom’s Mango Chutney
Ingredients:
2 unripe mangoes
½ teaspoon red pepper powder
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
¾ cup jaggery or sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
Directions:
Wash, peel, and slice mangoes into small pieces. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add mangoes and the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Note: Don’t add water.) Once the mangoes are soft, the chutney is ready to serve.