Clinique Liquid Facial Soap Mild: Review

Posted on September 27, 2016 by admin

My resolution to introduce new brands to the blog is going pretty well and I have to give some credit to my little sister for gifting me so much makeup and skin care stuff from her recent trip to US. She also got me this kit from Clinique which has a cleanser, toner and moisturizer in it. I have been using it for a while now so I am ready to share my views about it starting with the Clinique Liquid Facial Soap Mild Cleanser.

Price: Rs 1550 for 200 ml

The Clinique Liquid Facial Soap comes in a transparent green plastic packaging with a pump dispenser. I like the transparent bottle because I know exactly the amount of product left and the pump dispenser is so hygienic and user-friendly.

The cleanser has a runny transparent gel like consistency with a little bit of an alcoholic fragrance. It lathers up well so a little quantity goes a very long way. The cleanser is really effective in removing dirt and even makeup, not very heavy makeup but it works well on day-to-day light products.

The product is meant for combination-dry skin type but I am not sure if the product would work for it because the cleanser does clean out excessive oil from my skin effectively so as far as I can see, it can prove to be a little too drying for a combination-dry skin. Even though the product removes excessive oil, it doesn’t leave my skin stretchy or dry.

Overall, I really like the cleanser and it works well for my skin. The face soap lathers really well so the bottle will last me a while. My only concern is that it is definitely not meant for the type of skin mentioned on the packaging and it is an alcohol based product.

bareMineral Mineral Veil Loose Powder: Review

Posted on September 26, 2016 by admin

I have been on the lookout for a loose powder for a while now. I had mentioned the same to my sister before her trip to the US and she came through by getting me the bareMineral Mineral Veil Loose Powder. I was pretty happy because bareMineral is such a well-known brand and as usual unavailable in India so to get a chance to try it and feature on the blog was quite exciting.

Price: $22 for 9 gms.

The packaging of the bareMinerals Mineral Veil Loose Powder comes in a very minimalistic packaging of a clear jar with a black lid and sifter. The packaging is very compact so it is quite travel friendly. The sifter also has a cover which prevents the product from coming out of the holes thus avoiding any kind of wastage or mess.

The powder is smooth but the a little grainy than the other loose powders I have used before. Application is not an issue but as the powder is a little grainy, it takes a little time to blend. I was kind of uncomfortable when I applied this because even after blending it well, the powder just appears to be sitting on my skin. The coverage on the other hand is low but the staying power is 5-6 hours during which it does keep my t-zone oil free.

My final verdict about the product is quite opposite to my reaction when I saw it first. I have tried using the loose powder in many ways including for baking my makeup but I just can’t seen to get used to the texture and how it feels on my skin. The powder does make my face looks brighter, it keeps my skin matte and there is no patchy finish but I can just feel the powder sitting on my skin which trust me is not a fun feeling. Basically, not something I see myself using or buying again and would definitely not recommend it.

MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush Dollymix: Review, Swatches and FOTD

Posted on September 25, 2016 by admin

I have always been a little scared of bright pink blushes because I am always afraid that they are going to make me look like a clown from some horror movie. I had similar feelings when I saw the MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in the shade Dollymix in this cute little gift bag I got from MAC as a wedding gift. To be honest, it was lying around completely ignored till I decided to give it atleast one shot.

Price: Rs 1500 for 6 gms

MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush comes in a standard MAC blush packaging which is basically a black pan with a transparent top. The packaging is pretty decent and easy to travel with so overall no issues with the packaging at all.

As I mentioned, Dollymix looks pretty scary in the pan but the color tones down on the skin. It is a beautiful bright pink that looks a little plummy on the skin. The texture is very smooth and fine so application and blending is pretty easy. The color is pretty bright and the blush has shimmer so it is recommended to use a light hand during application. The blush is really pigmented which is another reason to follow the less is more philosophy.

The finish is very dewy and even though the shimmers are pretty visible in the pan, they are micro shimmers so on the cheeks, it gives a very natural flush. The staying power is impressive to and the blush doesn’t budge for a good 5-6 hours.

Overall, the blush turned from that little scary thing sitting in my vanity to this gorgeous makeup product that gave me this natural glow. I have been using this product for months and even then I haven’t even made a dent in the surface. The best part is that this pretty little baby is a part of MAC’s permanent range so if you are looking to add a pop of color to your blush collection, do take a look at Dollymix

Lime Crime True Love Set: Review, Swatches and FOTD

Posted on September 24, 2016 by admin

After having restricted myself from buying any makeup for quite a while, I finally decided to splurge a little around my birthday. Coincidentally, Lachicwick decided to give a little discount on Lime Crime products so I decided to gift myself the Lime Crime True Love Set. I was dying to get my hands on the lime crime velvetines for a while , the set had three shades and that to full size tubes so it pretty much looked liked an amazing bargain.

Price: $44

Lime Crime True Love set review comes in a cardboard box. This set has 3 liquid lipsticks Cupid, True Love and Saint. The lipsticks come in a plastic tube with screw on cap that has the applicator attached to it. Unlike most tubes, the Velvetine packaging has a frosted plastic body which looks pretty attractive. The lipsticks have a doe shaped applicator which has the perfect size to pick up the appropriate amount of product and get an even application.

Texture wise, these liquid lipsticks have a really creamy and smooth wet texture. The texture changes as the lipstick dries down and the finish changes from creamy to beautiful matte within a few seconds. Once the lipsticks dry, they are pretty much impossible to mess up. They don’t budge or smudge and there is absolutely no bleeding or feathering.

As I mentioned, the set has three shades so lets talk about each one in a little detail:

Cupid: This is a really soft petal pink shade and even though it looks darker in the tube, on my lips it is definitely the lightest pink I own. The color is really pretty but it is a bit to light and does wash me out a bit. I have tried to work with this shade but I have to say I am not really fond of it and it is definitely not a shade that medium to dusky skin tones.

True Love: This shade is more up my alley and a really beautiful one at that. True Love is really bright pink shade with very light red undertones. The shade is definitely more suitable for most Indian skin tones and something that works with the simplest to the most edgy look.

Saint: This was a definitely a shade that surprised me because I was expecting a crimson red just like the website described but shade turned out to be more brown than red. It is not really a shade that I own but I am so in love with it these days though I do feel it is definitely a shade that will work well in the winters but I am finding myself picking it up more often that I though even now.

The lipsticks do not disappoint you in the pigmentation department and even a light shade like Cupid is super pigmented. Staying power is equally impressive and the lipsticks do not budge for a good 6-7 hours. A major concern I have with liquid lipsticks is that sometimes they tend to become flaky after meals which is not a pleasant sight but the formula of the velvetines doesn’t do that. The only problem with these liquid lipsticks is that because of the matte finish, you need to prep your lips well before application otherwise these lipsticks will accentuate the dryness.

Overall, I am pretty happy with these lipsticks and I am so glad I bought the kit. Apart from Cupid, the two other shades are absolutely gorgeous, the texture and quality is amazing, pigmentation and staying power is really impressive and the finish makes the matte lover in me super happy. I just wish they were available in India but in case you guys want to try Lime Crime or any other international brands that are available here, the Lachicwick shop on Instagram is a good and reliable place to do that and no they did not pay me to say that, just suggesting out of my own experience.

Sleek Face Contour Kit in Light: Review, Swatches and FOTD

Posted on September 23, 2016 by admin

Contouring is something I never used to do until one fine day I stumbled upon a video that simplified the way to do it and that was it. I remember looking on for hours trying to find a contouring product but until recently, the Indian market did not have to many options. One product I had been eyeing as soon as I discovered the magic of contouring was the Sleek Faces Contour Kit.

Price: € 8.5 for 14 gms

This Sleek face contour kit comes in a matte black plastic case. The kit has the contouring powder and highlighter and the base and there is a mirror attached to the lid. I like how sleek and effective the packaging is and well the mirror proves to be pretty handy when you are travelling with it.

The shade Light as the name suggest is the lightest shade in the range but it works well for my skin tone ( NC 40). The contouring powder is warm brown matte powder and the highlighting powder is a beautiful beige highlighter with fine glitter particles in it. As the glitter particles are not too chunky so the highlighter doesn’t look over the top on the skin so it gives a very natural glow. The contouring powder turned out to be the perfect shade for me and I can make my face look pretty chiseled without the contour showing up separately.

Both the contouring powder as well as the highlighter are quite fine so they blend in without any effort. I like my contour to look very natural but sometimes contouring powder tend to vanish when you try to blend them in but to my delight nothing of that sort happened with the sleek kit. Both the powders are quite pigmented so less is more when you are using them. Staying power is pretty decent as well and even on my combination oily skin, the powder sticks around for a good 4-5 hours.

Overall, I absolutely love the Sleek Face Contour Kit and it has become such an indispensable part of my makeup routine. I love how sturdy and user-friendly the packaging is and the quality of the product itself is really good. The only thing I would change about the product is that I would add a brush because it doesn’t come with one so I have to carry a separate contouring brush. Having said that, I did not find anything that would stop me from recommending it to you so if you are looking for a good contouring kit, keep an eye out on the Sleek Makeup website for free international delivery and get your hands on this beauty.

Maybelline Colorsensational Velvet Matte Lipsticks in Mat 11: Review & Swatches

Posted on September 22, 2016 by admin

As I mentioned in my previous post about the Maybelline Colorsensational Velvet Matte Lipstick review, I had picked a couple of shades when they were launched. I have already reviewed the MAT 4 which a beautiful Coral lip color a few days back and today I am going to tell you all about MAT 11.

Price: Rs 475 for 5 ml

The Maybelline Colorsensational Velvet Matte Mat 11 comes in a rectangular transparent tube packaging with matte black screw on cap. The cap has a small leaf shaped applicator attached to it. I honestly love the packaging of this range and thee small size ensures that you can carry it around in your purse without the product taking up to much space.

The texture of these velvet matte lipsticks is pretty creamy, almost gel like and they glide on the lips without any tugging or pulling. The product is pretty moisturizing on its own so I do not use a lip balm directly under this. The finish is more glossy than matte even after you give it time to settle.

The shade of Maybelline Colorsensational Velvet Matte Mat 11 is a beautiful red with maroon undertone. MAT 11 is one of the most gorgeous reds I own and it is pretty pigmented so 2 coats leads to a nice rich coat of the classic red lips. The color is very flattering to most Indian complexions and the maroon undertones ensure that it is not the in your face kind of red.

The color stays for a good 3-4 hours, transfers a little due to the creamy texture but there is no feathering or bleeding. Due to the heavy pigmentation, the lipstick does tend to leave behind a nice red tint after fading so even after it wears off, you have a pretty tint on your lips.

All in all, it is a good product even though it doesn’t give me my favorite matte finish. I like how light it feels on my lips and that I do not have to worried about prepping my lips before I wear it. The color is obviously another factor that makes me happy and I would totally recommend it of you are looking for a nice red to add to your vanity.

Vendor Review: Nempal Singh Wedding Decorator

Posted on September 21, 2016 by admin

I am pretty stoked to introduce you to the next wedding vendor on the blog and again he is a wedding vendor I hired for my own wedding to handle the decor. I had most of the wedding functions at home because the pre-wedding rituals were a family affair and I wanted them to happen at my house so we never hired a decorator for anything else apart from the wedding function so I obviously wanted the decor to be nothing less than perfect.

We met Mr. Nempal after he was recommended by our venue manager. A couple of meetings later he completely understood our vision and the quality we wanted. To be honest, I can’t stop appreciating the work he did. I am a very picky bride and had a vision for everything but he was really patient and took care of every little detail that we requested.

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The thing I liked most about working with our decorator was that he gave us time to go through his presentation, understood what we liked and then gave suggestions. I wanted my wedding decor to be traditional but with a modern twist and that is exactly what I got. He gave us the suggestion of using beautiful orange marigolds for our centerpieces and even though I hadn’t imagined in my wildest dreams to use puny old ( ordinary if I may add) marigolds as the main flowers for my wedding but after looking at the work he did with them, I am so glad we took a chance and said yes. Another little gesture that I really appreciated was him adding this gorgeous flower chandelier at the entrance as he felt our guest should get wowed the moment they entered the venue and well our guest were more than wowed.

As I mentioned before, I was a very picky bride but I couldn’t single thing in the decor that I did not like. He delivered everything he promised and more so needless to say he pretty much made the vision I had for my wedding come to life. Mr Nempal is on the panel of some of the most gorgeous venues in Gurgaon and Delhi so incase any of you are interested to hire him, drop me a note and I will share his contact details.

Disclaimer: I have not reimbursed by the vendor in any manner for this review. I am just sharing the personal experience I had with them 🙂

Colorbar Stay The Day Finishing Mist: Review

Posted on September 20, 2016 by admin

Even though the weather is supposed to be all pleasant in Delhi, right now the temperature is still touching mid thirties with crazy humidity which is adamant on melting every ounce of makeup I dare to wear on any given day. As I hate the feeling of not wearing any makeup when I step out of the house (yup…I am pretty vain actually more like shamelessly vain) so I take help from a few extra items in my vanity and a good makeup setting spray does top the list. I was randomly walking by the Colorbar outlet in a mall when I saw The Colorbar Stay The Day Finishing Mist and even though I had a quite a bit of my MAC Fix+ left with me, I decided to buy it anyways on the name of having a backup in my trousseau :p. This turned out to be a good decision because sister dearest decided she wanted to keep some makeup ( and by some I mean read everything that had MAC written over it) so in the end I was left with the so-called backup. I will not bore you with my stories much longer and quickly start telling you about the product now.

Price: Rs 850 for 100 ml

The Colorbar Stay The Day Finishing Mist comes in a translucent white bottle plastic packaging. It has a silver cap and a spray nozzle to dispense the product. The cap needs a little bit of extra attention because it will end up coming off if you don’t close it properly but overall I found the packaging is to be very simple, user-friendly and safe to travel with.

The mist is true to its name when it comes to the texture and almost feels like water. It doesn’t have a strong fragrance, is very light on the skin and dries in a matter of seconds without making your makeup look patchy.

According to the brand, to use the product I need to close my eyes and spray the product on my whole face. The nozzle dispenses a decent quantity so two sprays are more than enough to cover the whole face.

A few other ways I like to use the product is to spray the mist all over my face after moisturizing it and before applying any of my base products. This not only ensured that my makeup lasts longer but I also noticed that the application was much smoother.

I also use it to wet my brushes when I am applying any glitter based eye shadows or in general any eye shadows that have a tendency to have alot of fallouts. My eye shadows look more pigmented, the fallouts decrease and well the staying power is an added bonus.

The staying power of makeup definitely increases by a good 2-3 hours when I apply the finishing mist. I also found my t- zone to be less oily so I was saving on the effort of doing touch ups every two hours or so. I have to say that the Colorbar Stay The Day Finishing Mist turned out to quite a savior for my skin and makeup in this crazy weather. I would totally recommend it if you are looking for a good setting spray.

Book Review: The DEViant by Shankar S.Padmanaban

Posted on September 19, 2016 by admin

I am finally able to get through the huge and ever-growing pile of books at my bedside so you can expect lots of book reviews in the next few days. The book I am going to talk about is The DEViant by Shankar S.Padmanaban and it is not going to be a very long review.

The DEViant is the story of Sam, an engineering student and his life shuttling between the beautiful cities of Chennai, Tiruppur, Coimbatore and Bengaluru. The story talks all about Sam’s unlikely and unparalleled friendships, board and entrance examination struggles, innocent times of uncomplicated crushes that feel like the most honest kind of love and heart breaks.

I really enjoyed the first few chapters of the book because they were like a walk down the memory lane. The description of the protagonist’s life during and after school left me reminiscing about my own school and college experiences. Unfortunately, the “I really like this book” feeling did not last very long as the story became very predictable and repetitive. Also, I was pretty surprised to find that the character of Dev on whose name the title is based on, doesn’t appear anywhere in almost 3/4th part of the book and when he does make appearance, the focus suddenly completely shifts on to him.

The narration is decent but character development is pretty weak and to be honest after a point of time, Sam became a very annoying character who just kept whining. Alot of different aspects of a young adult’s life has been touched by the story but they seem disconnected as the plot moves forward. Finally, the end seemed pretty hasty and I just couldn’t relate to it so much so that it became a struggle to complete the last few chapters.

overall, the story began at a good pace but the author just lost me after the first 100 pages. I can see alot of influence of the author’s life in the writing but the book is filled with unnecessary details and incidents that do not connect with each other. Overall, it is a good first book and I am hoping that the author will work on the flaws in his upcoming publications.

Faces Long Wear Eye Pencil in Navy Blue: Review and Swatches

Posted on September 18, 2016 by admin

I love my kajals and well love doesn’t even begin to cover what I feel for colored kajals. For me colored liners/kajals are the best way to dress up your eyes with minimum effort. One brand that I absolutely love for delivering quality products at a price that doesn’t pinch my pocket is Faces Cosmetics so it was no-brainer for me to pick up Faces Long Wear Eye Pencil in the shade Navy Blue.

Price: Rs 349 for 1.2 gms

Faces Long Wear Eye Pencils come in a black plastic pencil packaging with a colored end and a colored cap that are of the same shade as the eye pencil. I like the packaging because for someone like me who can feature on hoarders when it comes to makeup, needs clever packaging that makes it easy for me to locate the shade I want. The only thing I do not like about the packaging is that it is a pencil packaging so I need to sharpen it after a couple of uses which is both cumbersome as well as leads to product wastage.

Texture wise, the pencil is really creamy and smooth which ensures application without any tugging or pulling but also means that you have to be careful during application because the tip tends to crumble into pieces if too much pressure is applied.

The eye pencils do not disappoint in the pigmentation department and a single swipe gives you a rich layer of color. The product doesn’t budge, smudge or fade after application which is not something I can say for a lot of liners I have thanks to my oily eye lids. The liner works well near the waterline and did not cause any irritation for me but I would suggest testing it in case you have sensitive eyes. Staying power is pretty great and the liner doesn’t budge for a good 5 hours.

The shade navy blue, is a beautiful deep warm navy blue color. I am particularly fond of this pencil because it has that shiny jewel tone look without the presence of any shimmer particles. It is a gorgeous shade that just lifts up my eyes the moment I apply it and is perfect if you want a subtle hint of color.

Overall, I love the product and the shade. The quality of the eye pencil is really good, it stays on without smudging or fading and the shade would complement most skin tones and eye colors. The only thing I would change about it is that I would make it a roll up liner instead one but apart from that I have no complains from it whatsoever. If you are into colored liners particularly blue ones then you need to take a look at this eye pencil.