Mansi Shah

Writer. Editor. Content Creator. 

Beauty

3 Products That Help Make Period Cramps A Little More Bearable

Here’s a suggestion. It comes from a place from honesty. A few days before my periods make their appearance, steer clear of me. How do you tell? Oh you will know. I just get very angry, irritated and eat a lot of cheesy fried food like it’s going out of fashion. And my periods are relatively easy and pain-free I know that for a lot of women, period cramps are so painful, it’s debilitating.

Almost every month, most women snuggle up with a hot water bag, scarfing down chips and generally being ir

Aromas And Products That Help You Calm Down At Night

I know there are memes doing rounds of how we catch up with our forty winks and then some during the day because of the work from home and all, but that isn’t the case with me. And I am not just saying this because my boss is reading this. I genuinely can’t relax during the day due to work and also because I am just generally trying to shepherd the whole team to get stuff done. Which isn’t easy. So by the end of the day, despite not having done much, I am exhausted. Perhaps mentally more than ph

Customised Lipsticks Make Their India Debut. We Can't Wait!

I have often watched videos of people custom-making their lipstick at a bachelorette party and while others might be taken by the details of the decor and wine, I am always watching slack-jawed as the women choose their shades, flitting from the bright pinks to the tantalising reds and then they, with a gentle flick of a well-manicured nail, choose a customised lipstick. This is then poured into a bullet, the process of which is fascinating, as the women sit around delicately laughing over champ

Opinion Pieces

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.

How Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam Undid Toxic Masculinity

On 18th June 1999, audiences got a witness a grand spectacle in cinemas. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was playing and it was one of those films that you had to watch on the big screen. It was in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam that we got to see what Sanjay Leela Bhansali was capable of creating. The sets were grand, the textures rich, the colours vibrant, the movie was an experience, both in terms of story and in the opulence of it all.

But what stood out for me, despite being suitably gobsmacked by the shee

Editor's Desk : We Are All Loving Sex Toys Now. What A Great Start To The Weekend

The weekend is almost here. I mean, it’s about 10 butt-slogging, ass sweating hours away but hey, it’s almost here and that’s a reason to celebrate. *takes a sip of wine* What? As if you are not day drinking. Anyhoo, today is an exciting day at Hauterfly. Actually, every day is but today we are talking about sex toys and that’s just, well, sexy.

According to reports, sex toys are selling a lot more during the lockdown. Now I am not entirely sure that this is because of people who are single and

Editor's Desk: We Women Are Carrying The Burden Of All Of The Sanskaar

‘You will have to compromise.’

There are the words extensively used by Sima Taparia, who, as she says several times on the show, is a matchmaker from Mumbai. This is a woman who is done with all the demands of the people she makes matches for. But there is a pattern running through this all – that she finds women who have standards- even some basic ones, incredibly difficult to match. And she sighs every time someone with what she calls ‘unrealistic’ expectations turns up. Except for when Aksha

No Women for Lingerie: This V Day, I’m Stepping Away From the Lace

The Pointlessness of the Lingerie Game

Look, on an average day, buying lingerie of the sexy kind is already a complicated affair. Also, it’s a lot of money to spend on something which is basically like gift wrapping and has to deliver an impact in about a minute or so – after which is lays abandoned and crumpled in a corner. And not unlike gift wrapping paper, it must be used again to ensure you get a bang for your buck. *so clever*.

Let’s just talk about the elephant in the room. No, not me.

Lifestyle And Culture

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.

My Period Is Not Sustainable. Read Why Before You Come At Me

There are certain times when I will be sitting, watching the vast expanse of the blue sky and a pretty cloud will make me cry. Before you ask, yes, I did use the word vast pretty loosely given that I live in Mumbai and I have access to a mere slice of the sky between my neighbour’s bright pink chaddis on the clothesline and the large satellite dish of the other neighbour. But we digress. At this particularly trying time, things, conversations, and happenings unrelated to me can cause me to react

A DIY Guide to Hipster Restaurants

You’re done with all those hipster cafés. You know, the ones that don’t allow you to sit on your MacBook Air, as you write your post-irony, post-truth, post-colonial dystopian novel, while sipping on a tasteless cup of single-origin coffee all day long. You’re done. You’ll take your business elsewhere. In fact, you will create one such restaurant-café on your own, which will be an open space for young writers such as yourself, while doubling up as an art gallery.

Here’s how you’re gonna do it.

Dating Apps Now Offer Therapy, Vaccine Updates And More

I am old school. I mean, I have been married for 10 years, so actually I think at this point, I am just old. In my time, we didn’t have dating apps. We mostly exchange BB pins with people we knew and conversations happened, if they did. Or we met the old-fashioned way, when dating apps didn’t exist. Like friends of friends and stuff like that. But things have evolved and now chances are your soul mate is a single swipe away from you.

But despite the accessibility of dating apps in recent times,

Victoria's Secret's Ditches Lingerie Models For Real Women

It might be called Victoria’s Secret but it’s no secret that company and the brand has, for every long now, favoured only a certain type of woman. These women were called “girls” and each of them looked exactly the same. Tall or extremely tall, legs that go on for days and a body that doesn’t have even a millimetre of fat. They would strut down the runways in their diamond-encrusted bras and big wings for Victoria’s Secret. Sure, there were murmurs of the brand being sexist and that these beauty

Entertainment

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.

20 Years Of Lagaan And Gadar: Did It Ruin The Actresses' Careers?

Today, the film Lagaan completes 20 years. As people on Twitter are saying, this was a movie that won against all odds. First, it was a movie that was too long- with a 4 hour run time – trade people were not sure it would work. It was a movie about a sport. It was a period film and while they abound now, at that time, it was relatively new and nobody was sure that the audience wanted to watch a cricket match with a motley crew on screen. But Lagaan worked. The cinemas were packed, there were che

If The Aim Of Rasbhari Starring Swara Bhasker Is To Make You See The World From The Point Of View Of Hormonal Boys, It Wins

If I was ever asked what kind of superpower I would want, outside the set up of an arranged marriage, of course, I would ask that I be able to take a peek into other people’s minds. To know what they are thinking, to know their experiences is fascinating to me. Devious, perhaps, intrusive also but hey, you asked me. It would be particularly interesting if I had this ability when I was growing up, it would have saved me many a heartbreak. The thing is, growing up a girl is like being on a non-sto

Chaman Bahaar Is A Movie That Normalises Stalking And Predatory Behaviour In Men. The Actress Is Treated Like Furniture

Over the weekend and mostly out of sheer boredom, I watched Chaman Bahaar on Netflix. I understand that you have many questions but the one that’s right at the tip of your tongue, is why? I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like I’m looking for great entertainment on OTT platforms anymore, I have watched most of what there is to watch, and then some. So when I stumbled up on this, which, trust me, my viewing habits should not ideally recommend, I decided to watch it.

I shouldn’t have. And you will b

How to Get Your Film Past Censors 101: Women as Furniture, Etc

You’ve got to love Pankaj Nihalani, the man who wields power over what I will have with my popcorn, which – if it’s a Bollywood film – is the 209898th version of a romantic love story. This role obviously puts a huge responsibility on his shoulders as he must censor what he deems inappropriate for audiences because, you know how we can be! We who get easily influenced and will fling our hymen at the next guy who launches into a romantic ballad in the middle of the street. It may be harassment bu

A Kit to Prevent Sexual Harassment

March is a lovely month. In the days preceding and succeeding Women’s Day there is a certain graciousness in the air. For these few days a year, men are forced to extend women some basic courtesies such as not flashing them their penis in a public place or groping them while they go about their work in offices. As we already know, the mere existence of a vagina is an invitation to sexual harassment and abuse. I often find myself wishing I had a vanity kit of accessories that could somehow contai

The Cheat Sheet to Selling a Superhit

January 25 is a big day for Bollywood. Two big releases by two mega stars and both so refreshingly different. Hrithik Roshan plays a blind man in Kaabil, a big change from his other movies where he has played either a physically or mentally disabled character. Raees on the other hand is different because well… Shah Rukh wears kajal.

Movies have never had it so tough. If they’re not biopics of cricketers and other sportsperson, people today are demanding things like plot and a storyline and what

5 Ways in Which India can Attempt (and Fail at) Themed Weddings!

There’s this cool concept of ‘themed weddings’ in the west. What’s that, you say? Why, they have everything from their wedding invites to their party favours reflecting one overarching theme. This could be anything from ‘Fairyland’ to ‘Lord of the Rings’ to even an iPad wedding (we’re not kidding). It’s pretty awesome. Now, the question is – how would this work in India? A country where the theme of a shaadi is mostly – well, overdressing. And dancing raucously with abandon. And passing judgemen

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