Monsoon Top Tips

I love monsoons.. or do I? Err.. so as a kid, I absolutely used to love rains. I remember this one time as a child when I was in school and it didn’t rain till mid-August and when it did ultimately, we all ran away from the class to play in rain.. even the class teacher didn’t stop us!! And now when it rains, you begin to think of options since getting out of the house is like going to a party where only vehicles were invited!! So its good bye to those long drives in rains 😦

Nonetheless..I continue to adore rains and the earthy fragrance of rains, and here are my top picks for the season so that you can enjoy the monsoons to the without worries:

1. Waterproof Eyeliner/ Kajal: Rains bring humid and moist weather, making your eye makeup spread all over. Girls, panda eyes look cute only on those little cuties, so spare yourself and get smudge proof & waterproof eye liners or kohls.

MUB Recommends: MAC Powerpoint Pencil, Maybelline Colossal

2. Avoid Heavy Makeup: Less is more this season! Heavy makeup can clog pores of facial skin making way for skin conditions like pimples. So ditch the foundation till the weather becomes less humid, and give your skin breathing space. Use a translucent face powder if you must during the day!
3. Hair Serum/ Smoothening Cream: Unmanageable,frizzy, lifeless, weighed down… We all go through these hair issues during the monsoons. You also may see yourself washing hair more often than normal days since no one likes rain washed hair. What you need is a goodsmoothening cream or hair serum to fix your hair woes, and keep the natural bounce and shine intact without weighing them down.
   

   MUB Recommends: Bed Head After Party Smoothening Cream

4. Blotting Paper: so these I were introduced to me by my sister, I had to take her word since she lives in the super humid land of Singapore.. These are the ultimate saviors in case you want to take the excessive oils off your face while wearing makeup. They ensure the makeup doesn’t budge and leave face with a matte finish.

Got these from Thailand, work pretty well

1. Colorful Eye Pencils: Use them in vibrant hues to brighten your day! Since you are not wearing much makeup, these were make you stand out from the crowd                                                            
2. Water based Moisturizer: DO NOT skip moisturizer, it helps retain the natural elasticity of the skin. Use an oil free, matt-ifying moisturizer to ward of excessive oil

MUB Recommends: Nuetrogena Oil Free Moisture

7. Tinted Balms: I am smitten by how pretty tinted lippies look while providing the goodness of balms! Go ahead and choose your favourite!

And most importantly.. go out, have fun in the rain or sit by the window and see the droplets by the window.. Let rain not dampen your spirit!!

Summer Trends to Watch Out For

Palazzo Pants: The most simple yet chic trend to watch out for. Floral prints or solid hues, both look great. What more, they look super elegant with shirts, crop tops, Indian wear etc etc.. The list goes on

Sunglasses: An absolute must have in the scorching summer heat. I am in love with wayfarers, what’s your pick?

Shorts: Cottons or distressed denims, team them up with funky belts. The uber comfy shorts complete your summer wardrobe

Flat Sandals: Ensure your feet get all the necessary ventilation, instead of locking them into closed shoes pamper them with a pair of flat sandals.

Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Black

Raise your hands if you can’t get your liquid liner right in one go! I’ll raise both my hands considering I am a mess when it comes to applying liquid liners.. Mostly, I use colored eye pencil since they are the easiest to use( no  points for guessing :D), but on sunny days like these my super oily eye area leave me raccoon eyed after using pencil liners. I have taken the option of applying liquid liners off my list completely, since I start with uneven lines and end up drawing thick lines to match the symmetry of both eyes. In fact, I got myself the Lakme liquid liner only as part of my wedding makeup trousseau, only to never use it since it is so runny and chips off unevenly!

So should I say goodbye to beautiful looking eyes in summers? Not at all, to the rescue of girls-with-messy-hands here comes the Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner!! I got a deal which had a complimentary Color Show Nail paint in Fiesty Fuschia  from Purplle.com, hurray to freebies 🙂 🙂

The liner comes in a classy yet sturdy tab packaging along with a brush for application. The brush is long enough to be held properly with soft bristles for accurate application.

On the pigmentation department the product scores a perfect ten. It is super black and stays on for long duration without any smudge. Though Maybelline claims it to stay for 36 hours, I have tried wearing it for  a maximum of 10 hours straight and by the end, there was minimal smudging considering I have very oily zone around my eyes.

Application brush

 

          

Smudge Test- Wet and Dry

 

I am impressed by the intensity and richness of the color, it really helps to create dramatic eyes with this liner. The brush is very convenient to use, and you can play around with the thickness of the liner as per your liking, since it is very easy to draw a thin line using the brush. The liner is indeed waterproof, making it ideal to wear in tropical weather. I wore it on both upper & lower lash line, and did not  feel any irritation or uneasiness.

Thin lining one the upper lash line

Makeup Crush Tip: Try drawing a thin line as closes as possible to your lashes to make eyes appear bigger naturally

Price: INR 475 ( I got it for INR 380 along with a nail paint from Purplle.com)

Overall Verdict: A+

A winner in true sense, it is a complete value for money product.  I know a few MUAs who use this liner along with other high end products, so I guess it is a hit with all!

The Goods:

• Excellent Pigmentation
• Affordable
• Easily available
• Smudge proof and waterproof
• Good staying power on oily lids
• Contact lens safe
• Hygienic tub packaging

The Not so Goods:

• I just wish the brush was a tab bit better

NARS blush in Orgasm

Believe me or not, the second most awaited reason for me to visit Paris( first obviously being Eiffel Tower, duh) was to get an Orgasm.. Wait, before you get me wrong I am talking about one of the most renowned blushes in the world of makeup, the NARS Orgasm. Since NARS products are not available in Indian stores and online delivery comes with a huge shipping cost, I had been long awaiting to visit a store selling NARS products and try them out. So does this blush live up to all the hype? Let’s find out..

The blush comes packaged in a very elegant rectangular black kit, which speaks of luxury from the word go. The kit has a mirror build on one side, making it easier for touch ups.

   

Coming to the color, it is a lovely peachy pink color with extremely fine golden shimmer particles milled into it. It’s a powder blush which is extremely soft in terms to texture. Usually I am a little apprehensive when it comes to shimmery products, but the shimmer particles are so minute in Orgasm that thankfully then don’t turn you into a shiny disco ball.. Instead they work as a highlighter to your cheek bones, nicely enhancing your features if applied properly.

Lovely color with small shimmer particles

The color payoff is good and the blush lasted on my combination skin for 4-5 hours without fading. On the pigmentation department, it was a slight let down for my medium-fair skin tone as it wasn’t visible too much to make a difference, apart from acting as a highlighter with a feign pink tinge. It most definitely would look much prettier on fair people by adding a natural flush on cheeks, but I would suggest beauties with medium to dark skin tones to let this one go..

Didn’t show much even after heavy swatching

I was surprised to know that NARS blushes cost more than their Bobby Brown counterparts! By the way, I got this product from a Sephora store in Paris and it was amusing to see how we grown-ups get lost in these stores like kids do in candy store! Does it happens with you as well?

Price: 30 Euros/ Approx. INR 2144

 

Overal Verdict: B+

It’s a lovely blush to own and flaunt in case you fall in the spectrum of light skinned people. The blush looked AWESOME on the sales representative, who by the way was a European middle aged lady. The shimmer particles impart a radiant natural looking glow to the face, making it look very attractive

 

The Goods:

• Beautiful Shade for light complexioned ladies
• Works well with sensitive skin (Hey, it’s a big plus considering how many products I have to give away because they don’t suit me)
• Doesn’t need a highlighter with it
• Elegant packaging

The Not So Goods:

• Price Points
• Availability is an issue with you are in India
• Shade is suitable for limited complexions

Benefit They’re Real! Mascara

Howdy people, are you all enjoying the festivities in air? Wedding season is at its peak and so are the traffic jams! I sometimes wonder why most of the wedding venues are within each others’ vicinity, attributing to traffic snarls? Even the wisest men on Earth wont be able to answer this!

Today I will be reviewing one of the most talked about products in the makeup blogging world, the Benefit They’re Real! Mascara. I love the innovation with which Benefit names its products, and the entire They’re Real! line is supposed to be received with open arms by makeup entusiasts. Lets find out if all the hype is worth!

The Benefit They’re Real! Mascara comes in a very sleek packaging. The brush is sturdy, and has short spikes

  

The mascara scores very well in the application department; from the very first coat you can see the difference it brings to your lashes in terms of thickening & lengthening effect. I have thin lashes, and like to apply multiple coats to get a good coverage. I am quite impressed by the volume it brings to the lashes, and even after applying 3 coats there was no clumping at all.  The staying power is good and it does not flake and fall on the under eye area as tiny powdery particles even after hours of application.

It can be easily removed with a makeup remover; I use olive oil and had no issues while taking it off.

Price: INR 1760

 The Goods:

• Good Coverage
• Does not clump at all
• Easy to remove

The Not So Goods:

• Price Factor!!!
• Limited Availability, currently available at Sephora stores

Overall Rating: A-

Big thumbs up to the excellent product that it is, the price factor may not work for a lot of us, since mascaras come with a very limited shelf life.

Break Ke Baad ( After a break)

Helow peeps, I am back from a self-imposed break from the blogging world…  The break was a resultant of my hectic work schedules from the very start of the year. Erratic work hours, travelling and tight project deadlines made me put my interest for blogging to a back seat. I got the opportunity to travel to Paris & other European countries as part of work, and got to witness how fashionable these places are! Of course I also got to stock up on some makeup as well from these places which is not available back home in India, but that deserves another post!

So hoping that I’ll be more manageable in terms of time from now, I am back to my first crush, MakeupCrush

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion

      

  Forever in life I had been using a sunscreen as a moisturizer, even in the night. Except during winters when my skin behaves extra dry, and I had to use thick cold creams to counter the dryness. To deal with dryness and in turn patchiness, I had tried almond oil, olive oil etc., but nothing really worked and instead gave me tiny acne. So you get the drift, my face used to become like the girls they show in chapped lips/dry skin commercials.

This all changed when I switched to the Clinique moisturizer a few months back. I had used Clinique foundation, face powder and quick liner in the past but not tried any “skin care” product from their range. So when I entered the Clinique store, their SA got me to answer a few questions on his iPad to analyze my skin type, and then came up with a skin care routine I should follow. The entire process looked pretty scientific, and the way Clinique SAs are dressed in lab coats made me wonder how they sell makeup!! Anyhooo coming back, as I was pretty happy with my current face wash & toner, I chose to try only the moisturizer to know if the products suit my skin type.

 The Dramatically different range from Clinique follows a 3 –Step skin care process, the moisturizing lotion being the last step. The lotion comes in a hygienic pump packaging and is suitable for very dry to dry combination skin( I believe there are other variants as well, this one just suited my skin type). It’s a light weight lotion and gets absorbed in the skin very quickly. I was surprised how it kept my face hydrated throughout the day in extreme winters without leaving it oily or greasy. A little comes out from the pump at once, which is sufficient for application on the face and neck.  It is non-comedogenic & odorless and claims to be dermatologically tested. I have very sensitive skin which feels tad bit softer after the application of this moisturizer.

Ingredient List

Swatch-before

Swatch -after

 Price: INR 3650 for 125ml

Overall Verdict: A+

I am very happy with the product and definitely am going to buy it again. Its comes with a heavy price tag, but for the sort of quality this product offers a lot of us will be ready to go ahead and get this.

NYX Color Lip Balm in Asante

If I had to list down 2 makeup essentials that can be found in my bag at any given time, they would be lip balm and kohl. In fact these 2 are so important to me, that I can’t even consider them as makeup.. and whats better if your lip balm not only moisturizes, but also provides a nice tint! So presenting to you.. the Nyx Color Lip balms!

Honestly, this is my first purchase from NYX. Hail Sephora, for bringing the amazing brands closer home to India.. else we had to wait for the NRI auntyji to get us these goodies 🙂

This colored lip balm is rose pink with mauve undertones, more suited for fair to medium complexion. Its thick and hydrating, and a single swipe leaves behind a nice sheen. It does good work to hide  lip pigmentation, and those who don’t mind lighter coverage can swap this for a lipstick.

The lip balm contains beeswax and shea butter known for their hydrating properties, however I have noticed that the balm if used on extremely dry lips  doesn’t work too well and accentuate chapped-ness of the lips. I am big fan of the twist up styled balms and think they are much easier and are pretty hygienic(unless you are sharing them)

I have no clue why the swatch looks shimmery!

 

Price: INR 340 for 4gm

Overall Verdict: A-

Big plus on the pigmentation department, I will repurchase but maybe in some other shade. The NYX colored lip balms come in 10 shades, have you tried them yet?

The Versatile Blogger Award

Howdy people!!

I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger award by Preethy from Prettykooll and Myfashionandbeautytales .. Do checkout the blogs of these fab ladies, I admire their writing & makeup skills 🙂

I think the Versatile Blogger nomination is an excellent platform to know and connect with fellow bloggers. I have reached some amazing people though this nomimation, hope you do too!! Here are the rules for the award(drum-rolls please) :

1. Show the award on your blog.
2. Thank the person who nominated you.
3. Share seven facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 blogs.
5. Link your nominee’s blogs & let them know.

So here it goes, 7 facts about me:

1. I have naturally brown hair which is somewhat unusual for Indian women. A lot of people(including my hairdresser) are under the impression that I color them until they ask me
2. My most favorite drink is Lemon flavored ice tea.. I can literally survive on this drink
3. I hate gymmying, yoga or mostly all forms of exercise except for ZUMBA… love it and consider it fun rather than workout
4. I love travelling and my dream destination is Disney Land. I wanted to honeymoon at Disneyland 🙂
5. I love eating out, Italian being my favorite cuisine
6. I married my college sweetheart after dating him for good 8 years
7. I don’t wear makeup on a daily basis except for kohl and lip balm

I nominate the following blogs for the Versatile Blogger award!

1. Planetbeauties
2. Cestyoli
3. Thepinktrends
4. A More Beyoutiful You
5. Child ofthe Universe Beauty
6. With all my Affection
7. Glossy Morning
8. The Glasgow Girl
9. Stephieestie
10. Fresh Face Beauty
11. Fionas Wonderland
12. Polkadotsparkles
13. Glitter and Glosss
14. Leahpereyra
15. Sweaters and Creme

Hope you have a good time reading the lovely blogs mentioned above!!

New Year New Look

Happy New Year peeps!! Hope 2015 is filled with positivity & goodness and it brings loadssss of great things for all of us:)

With the new year, the blog too has a new look. Do drop by and let me know what you think about it!!

Cheers, Swati