ASUS ZenFone 2 - Beyond The Good Looks

Remember Mr ZenFone who was a guest on the blog a few months back. Well recently he has had a good looking cousin enter the market of drool worthy phones that don't cut your pocket!

I am talking about the ASUS ZenFone 2 that has recently hit the stores - its like a new actor with the paparazzi going crazily clickety click!

ASUS ZenFone 2 - Beyond The Good Looks

There are many reasons why you should go check out this phone but here are mine.

Top 5 Reasone Why I Want The ASUS ZenFone 2

1. Looks, craftsmanship - ok so the title of the post says 'beyond the good looks' but you can't miss noticing them when they stare at you right in the face! This beauty has a sleek body with an ergonomic curved design. The edges are extremely thin at 3.9 mm. It fits perfectly in the hand without compromising on the screen size that you get.

ASUS ZenFone 2 - Beyond The Good Looks

The design is unique with a rear physical button that makes clicking selfies, or adjusting the volume very easy. Taking selfies is like a daily routine when you are a beauty blogger so this feature is on top of my list for why I want this phone. Whether you are right-handed or left-handed this feature is going to make using the phone a breeze. 

2. Larger screen size - I do a lot of reading on the go and having a larger screen is very important. But as you know holding a larger device is something totally avoidable. Here comes another great fact about the ASUS ZenFone 2. With the total phone size similar to any 5-inch device, it gives more screen space with 72% screen to body ration. Now checking emails or reading my favorite blog posts on the go is surely made easy!

ASUS ZenFone 2 - Beyond The Good Looks

3. Good camera - yes, as I mentioned earlier a blogger has to have a good camera and a lot of times I want to capture unplanned images. This makes having a good camera on my phone a must feature. And for all those who have tried to shoot images in the evenings or worst at night - the ASUS ZenFone 2 promises better night time photography with its 13 MP rear camera that has an aperture of f/2.0, and a special night time mode that can capture 400% better pictures in low light. (My hands are itching to try this out now!)

ASUS ZenFone 2 - Beyond The Good Looks

4. Faster battery charging - gone are the days when it would take hours to charge your phone. ASUS ZenFone 2 allows charging your phone to 60% capacity within 39 minutes. Why is this important? Well when you have your phone on 3G or wifi all the time it drains out real fast - add to that the multiple pictures you click (if its nail art photography I can easily end up clicking 100 photos to get just that one perfect shot!) - the ability to quickly charge back up without too much downtime is essential - it has become a necessity not just a good to have feature.

How To Manage a Blog with a Full Time Job

A lot of times I get asked on how I manage to blog with a full time job. And my answer is that I struggle everyday to try and manage it. Put point blank - it is not easy. Blogging requires you to not only write about what you have to say but also requires you to click pictures, edit them and then once a post is up you need to make sure it reaches the right audience.

I love clicking pictures so for me shooting the products is my favorite part. At times I feel like just sharing what I clicked instead of a full write-up and that is where Instagram steps in.

How To Manage a Blog with a Full Time Job

The above picture was actually taken while I was discussing something related to a blog post in the winter month of December. My phone makes a huge difference in the way I work now, there are so many things I can take care of while on the move.

So here are a few pointers on how you can manage your blog along with a full time job. And by job I don't mean just an office job. If you are a home maker then your entire day is already choc-a-block with household chores. The only difference is that you don't have to stick to a tight schedule. I do hope these tips help you whether you have an office job or whether you are a homemaker.

How To Manage a Blog with a Full Time Job

1. Set up a frequency that works for you. Start with say one post a week and then based on time availability you can increase this frequency. Chose a predefined day when your post would go live so that your audience knows when to expect a post from you.

2. Irrespective of when you can actually write your posts can follow a schedule using features of blogger that help you pre-schedule your posts. So let's say one day you had 2 hours to blog instead of the usual 1, so you can write up two posts and while one of them goes live immediately you can schedule the other to go live the next week. This way you have already started a pipeline of posts. This is super helpful as it makes sure your post frequency is not disturbed in case there are times when you can't sit and write. 

3. Try and click pictures of products at one go. This way you can manage your camera and editing of pictures together. Then when you come down to actually writing up the post it will take less time and you will always have half the work done for your future posts. I try and click all photos on weekends in natural light. This gives me better pictures that need less editing.

4. If you want to engage with your audience on facebook, make use of networkedblogs that allow you to auto-sync your posts to your facebook page. So now you don't have to worry to share the links manually.

5. Use features in your phone that allow you to quickly edit as well as share on instagram, facebook and other social media. This will help you create a buzz around what products you are going to feature in your coming posts. Asus Zenfone is android based and it can come in very handy using nifty photo editing softwares along with the default camera options on the phone. Click, beautify and post. (And don't forget to listen to your favorite music; music always eases out any tensions that work may bring)

How To Manage a Blog with a Full Time Job - MyAsusZenFone At Work

5 Tips On How To Style A Bright Sweater For Work

Hello everyone! I have been trying to add lots of color to my winter wardrobe. I am in love with corals and picks and reds. And this year I also decided to wear my favorite formal suit to work. There is no dress code at office so I did not want to make it look too formal so I decided to merge my love for color with the somberness of a formal suit.

Let me show you how I combined my current favorite bright coral sweater with my formal blazer.

5 Tips On How To Style A Bright Sweater For Work

Coral looks really pretty with a deep navy blue suit. Instead of wearing the complete suit I chose to wear my navy denims (not in the pic). For the feet I chose to wear my current favorite small heeled boots in black swede. I painted my nails with Ella+Mila Sunkissed which is a lovely soft coral polish.

If you zoom into the pic I tried to capture my tiny golden swirl studs that I wore with it. Also captured in the pic above is my blogging partner Mr Zenfone (you can read about how he's been helping me out in a post HERE). This phone is such a darling, a stunner in terms of looks and I just discovered this cool mode where you can make the touch on Asus Zenfone 5 work even if you are wearing gloves. So helpful when you have hands that are freezing in the cold. There is also a golden version of #MyAsusZenFone phone that is super classy (check it out HERE). My phone accompanies me 24 hours of the day so having one that looks good is surely a fashion hit.

If you are trying to add bright colors to your work wardrobe here are a few pointers that will help you out.

1. Make sure the colored piece is the only bright piece in the outfit.
2. If its a bright sweater or a bright shirt try and keep it plain in terms of pattern. A mixture of very bright colors can be tricky.

Asus Zenfone 5 - Worth Every Penny!

"Chota packet bada dhamaal" - as they say in Hindi, a small sized wonder that packs in a lot of punch - and the saying is so apt for my new friend. I am talking about a new phone that joined Our External World as a guest for a few days.

When I first held the Asus Zenfone 5 in my hands I wasn't aware that it had won a lot of awards in 2014 for packing in a lot of features at a super affordable price. And my first reaction was that I was holding a phone that felt surprisingly light. I love my existing smart phone but I never realised it was actually heavy until Asus Zenfone 5 came along.

The Zenfone was put to work right from the first day. It looked gorgeous but as they say, looks can only get you so far; your true aptitude is what takes you far in life. And so Mr Zenfone had to prove his mettle by becoming my blogging partner. I had a nail art planned out on the day Mr Zenfone came along. And so I put it to work to search for a nail art theme. I chose a peacock theme and picked out my polishes. Mr Zenfone helped me click the initial pictures and I was impressed with the 8MP camera that took nice indoor pictures. I liked the control of exposure and ISO in the camera.
Mr Zenfone passed its first test with flying colors.

Asus Zenfone 5 - Worth Every Penny!

I will soon share the nail art I did with the polishes you see above. I still need to sort and edit them out. Another thing that was pleasantly surprising was the touch - Mr Zenfone is a smooth operator! I mean the touch is very smooth.

Currently Asus Zenfone 5 comes at a price of Rs 9999 (for the 16GB variant)- at this price point it is a splendid phone indeed. You can purchase it on flipkart or amazon (at a discount offered).

The next day I had to try out a makeup look, as it happens each day I only get time to try these things out in the evening after work. And so the pictures were again to be clicked in artificial light. A makeup look was done and Mr Zenfone helped click some pretty pictures.