Drool Worthy

I am in LOVE.... I am totally crushing on the Salvatore brothers....

But then.. who in their right minds can blame me?

They are definitely a treat for sore eyes...

Shristi's Giveaway at StyleFashionEtc

http://stylefashionetc.blogspot.com/2010/09/50-followers-giveaway.html

Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B look at the Mercedes-Benz fashion week

 

The Make-up:

STEP 1 Dream Liquid Mousse: apply all over your face like you would with your moisturizer.
STEP 2 Eye Studio Quad in Give Me Gold: apply gold shade on the crease and intensify with darker one.
STEP 3 Color Sensational Lipcolor in Red Revival: apply directly from the tube for full on glamour.
TIP OF THE DAY: to create a very dramatic look contour your eyes with a black pencil and draw a cat eye.
Sources:
http://justjared.buzznet.com/photo-gallery/2480989/gwen-stefani-lamb-fashion-week-07/
 http://www.maybellinelovesfashion.com/page/main.php?page=thelook_18

DelMarTimes.net | Maybelline heiress will sign her new book

DelMarTimes.net | Maybelline heiress will sign her new book

Sharrie Williams, heir to the Maybelline cosmetics legacy, grand niece of the founder, and family steward of the vast documentation that traces Maybelline's history, is on tour to promote her new book, "The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It."

Her tour will bring her to the Earth Song bookstore in Del Mar from 1 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 2.
The Maybelline story is pure glamour and glitz and it goes like this:

In 1915, when a kitchen stove fire singed his sister Mabel's lashes and brows, Tom Lyle Williams watched in fascination as she performed a "secret of the harem," mixing petroleum jelly with coal dust and ash from a burnt cork, and applied it to her lashes and brows. Mabel's simple beauty trick ignited Tom Lyle's imagination and he started what would become a billion-dollar business and remains a viable American icon after nearly a century. He named it Maybelline in her honor and began selling mascara and brow powder.

According to press materials advancing the book, throughout the 20th century, the Maybelline Company inflated, collapsed, endured, and thrived in tandem with the nation's upheavals - as did the family that nurtured it. Setting up shop first in Chicago, Williams later, to avoid unwanted scrutiny of his private life, cloistered himself behind the gates of his Rudolph Valentino Villa and ran his empire from a distance. 

Now after nearly a century of silence, this true story celebrates the life of an American entrepreneur, a man whose vision rocketed him to success along with the woman held in his orbit, Evelyn Boecher, who became his lifelong fascination and muse.

Captivated by her "roaring charisma," he affectionately called her the "real Miss Maybelline," and based many of his advertising campaigns on the woman she represented: commandingly beautiful, hard-boiled and daring. 

Boecher masterminded a life of vanity, but would fall prey to fortune hunters and a mysterious murder that even today remains unsolved. 

The book tells it all, and includes eye-candy glamour shots of Hollywood beauties and starlets, which proves something most women already know ... a little mascara can take you a long, long way.

FunnyFace Beauty's Giveaway

http://funnyfacebeauty.blogspot.com/2010/09/300-subscribers-giveaway.html

A Review of my L’Oreal Professional hair products

One thing you have to know about me is that I’m a very lazy person. I have absolutely no patience to spend hours on fixing my hair. I had this friend of mine who’d wake up 3 hours before she had to leave the house, just to fix her hair. You would never find me doing that in a thousand years. So I look for the easiest ways to make my hair look good. Shampoo, conditioning and I should be done. On days that i wash my hair, it takes me about 30-45 minutes to fix my hair. On other days, I take less than 5 minutes.
When I straightened my hair the first time, the salon lady suggested I buy the L’Oreal Professional Liss Ultime series, i.e. their shampoo, smoothening masque and the serum. This is what I have been using for 2 years now. And I absolutely love it. I’ve suggested it to a few of my friends and they swear by it.
So here goes.

The Saga of my hair

 

I think everyone would agree with me when I say that for a woman, her hair is her most treasured asset. And so it is for me, even when I hated it. Having malayali genes in me blessed me with extremely thick and curly hair. While my hair has been getting me compliments for years (from the time I was 6 and had thigh length hair), I’ve always hated my curls. Only I know the pain and hassle of managing my hair. For this reason, I kept my hair extremely short for years. It was only when i started UG that I finally started growing my hair, and even that wasn’t until I was in my second semester. My hair was still as unmanageable as always and i had bad hair days more often than not. I would have it in a braid most of the time. When i was in my second year, my father took up the franchise of one of those beauty & fitness centres in Bangalore, something along the lines of VLCC.  This meant that I got free Unlimited beauty services for life.  That is any girl’s dream. Now they’ve had some changes in the corporate structure. So i get 75% off on any service availed at any of their centres across the country. Yea me!!

So the point of me telling you this was that this was the beginning of me starting to love my hair (and not to boast). I would go to the salon every week and get it blow dried. The stylist was a really nice lady and she would curl the ends in a very cute manner. This continued for a while till I was no longer able to go to the salon on a regular basis. The centre is quite far from my house and in Bangalore, even a 10 minute ride drives you crazy because of all the traffic. So I started looking for other slightly more permanent options. My stylist suggested that I straighten my hair. My best friend had been getting rebonding done for years and I’d always wanted to get it done myself, but with my hair, it would cost me nothing less than Rs. 7000/- and I can’t afford that kind of money. But I still wasn’t so sure about it. So I started getting my hair ironed once in while to see how I’d look with straight hair. For a girl who’s lived with scary curls all her life, it was kind of weird having straight hair. I kept imagining that I was getting weird looks in college and was very self conscious for a while. But everyone I asked told me that my hair looked really nice. I even got compliments from few of my female lecturers.

It took me a few  more months to finally take the plunge and get my hair rebonded. I have never regretted my decision. My hair feels so silky and smooth all the time. On most days, I can even manage without combing my hair. And the rebonding easily lasts for 7-8 months if you take good care of your hair.

And my hair doesn’t look flat at all. It just requires very basic skills with a hair dryer to add some volume to it. And it is definitely not true that you can’t do much with straight hair. I come up with all kinds of hair styles for my hair. I even do french braids and it hasn’t affected the straightness in any way.

I’m not trying to boast about my hair. I’m trying to say how much even one good feature of yours makes you feel so confident. It could be great skin, or a perfect nose, or doe-eyed eyes or angelina-jolie lips. One good feature is all it requires to make you feel that confidence.  I have terrible insecurities about myself. I think I’m growing fatter by the day, my skin looks horrible, I get a new pimple everyday, etc etc. But one single compliment about my hair makes me forget all about the other things, atleast for a little while. I’ve gotten compliments from complete strangers and it always makes my day.

And I return that favor by complimenting someone when I like something on them, even if it is a stranger sometimes, be it their hair, or their skin, or a handbag, or a really cute dress. Most girls have insecurities about atleast one thing about themselves and a good word said will always make them happy. I know its true for me.

Every woman is beautiful in her own way and it doesn’t hurt to be acknowledged once in while.

So, to all my readers out there, you are beautiful and have a great day.

P.S. I will be posting a review of the products I use for my post-straightening treatment next.

Maybelline ExpertWear Eyeshadow quad Time for Wine Review

 

This was requested by Poohkie. So here goes.

This is the first Maybelline quad that I bought. I had gone looking for the Chai Latte quad but ended up buying the Time for Wine one, since I thought these colors were so much more beautiful. My friend liked the quad so much on me that she scammed it off me.  But I really love this quad. So ended up buying it again yesterday.

Price: Rs. 240/-

This is the photo of my quad. It looks used cos i used it the second I brought it home.

 

I had to edit the photo a little in photoshop so that it would show the colors properly. But this is what it looks like. Though I’m sorry the brow bone color doesn’t show properly.

 

 

 

 

 

These are the swatches. 

From top-to-bottom: outer corner, crease, lid, brow-bone.

The lid color is matte light beige kind of color. The crease color is a really nice shimmery plumish color. And the outer corner color is a burgundy-brown color which is quite shimmery. The brow bone color is a very very shimmery light pink color. I never use it for highlighting.

The colors are really pigmented, though the brow bone color is really sheer. I like the beige color for the lid. The color is a few shades lighter than my skin tone and adds to the natural look.  The crease color is really pretty. For a night look, I sometimes use the crease color on the lid and the outer corner color on the crease. The brow bone color is not completely useless. I like the color, so I use the color all over my lid. It goes perfectly with my pink clothes. You do have to sweep it a few times for it show though.

The darker colors are really pigmented, so you have to use a very light hand when doing  a daily look.

You absolutely HAVE to use a primer or the colors won’t show. I use a homemade eye primer. Just mix equal amounts of your foundation and a body cream. Use a body butter or a thick cream like the Nivea body cream, otherwise your primer will be of a thin constituency like your foundation. I used a lakme foundation that i had lying around that i never use. Store it in an old lip balm jar or something similar. Keeping it in the fridge for a few hours will make it thicker. I use this and it works absolutely fine for me. I cannot afford expensive primers. You can use the NYX jumbo pencil in nude as an alternative. I tried one of my friends and it works great.

Moving on,

The GOOD:

• I love the colors. They’re all wearable.
• They’re very durable. For me, they easily last for 6-7 hours.
• The pigmentation is good and the color payoff is nice. I have a dusky complexion and the colors are quite pigmented on me.
• It blends quite easily.
• The slim packaging makes it easy to carry around.
• The foam applicators are quite usable, though i personally like using my own brushes.
• The help guide on the back is quite useful for beginners.
• The price is irresistible.
• The quad is quite versatile. You can use combinations of the colors to create different looks.

The BAD:

• The brow bone color can be a bit of a disappointment. Its too shimmery and sheer and most people don’t like that.
• The packaging is cheap plastic. So you have to be careful when you’re carrying  it around in your bag or you might crack the plastic. For the price, I can live with it though.

I wish Maybelline would come out with more of these quads in India. I’ve heard such great reviews about the Natural Smokes, Charcoal Smokes, Sunlit Bronze,  Amethyst Smokes etc quads. I would have really liked to have been able to try those out too.

I would definitely buy these again. I am sooo in love with it.

My tiny tiny haul from Lifestyle

I was meeting a girlfriend for lunch at Chandni Chowk today, not the one in Delhi, but the one in Bangalore. Anyways, I was early and she was late, so I had about an hour to kill. Instead of going to Qwiky’s and ordering a coffee like i should have, the Shopaholic demon in me  remembered the post in IMBB about the lifestyle Cosmetics fest and dragged me over to the Oasis centre Lifestyle. I swear the good ME fought and thrashed and screamed all the way there. Unfortunately, the demon in me won.  Worst part, I had my mom’s credit card with me. Not a good thing.
So, I thought i was pretty much screwed. I had a long list of Maybelline products that I wanted to try out and I thought for sure that i was gonna go home with a hefty bill today. Thankfully for the good ME, the sale was a disappointment. The offers are not at all as they said on the website. If you buy for Rs. 500/-, you get a basic plastic pouch, for 750/-, you get a nail enamel. And the Buy 2 Get 1 free Lippie offer is on selected stock, and this particular counter was out of stock on that selected stock.
I so desperately wanted to buy a black liner, but they didn’t have a single black one, not in gel, not in liquid, not even in pencil. To say i was annoyed would be an understatement. I really wanted to buy their gel liner. I’ve been hearing great reviews about it and really wanted to try it out. Can any of you kind souls please tell me where I can get the Lasting Drama gel eyeliner in Bangalore?
So, this is what I ended up buying:

I got the Whitestay UV Compact in Natural (Rs. 150/-) which is perfect shade for me.

I bought two of the Expert Wear quads (Rs. 240/-) . The Chai Latte and Time for Wine one.
    
I already had the Time for Wine one, but one of my friends took it. But since i like this quad so much, i bought it again. Its perfect for an Everyday look. The chai latte one i bought because of all the great reviews on it. I tried it and its pretty great. The colors are really nice and pigmented. But I prefer the lid color on the crease and the crease color on the lid. it gives a very nice golden eye look.


I also bought the Expert Wear blush in Apricot flush (Rs. 209/-) and the entire credit for that goes to Mehak of Peaches and Blushes fame. I really liked her review on it and it looked so nice on her that i HAD to try it.
The color looks absolutely great on me. It gives a very natural flush to the cheeks, like if you’d been standing upside down for a while and all the blood’s rushed to your face :P.



I also bought this Color Sensational lip color in the shade Nearly There (Rs. 299/-).


Its a very nice natural shade. Almost a nude color, but it does have shimmer. It’s something I could use for an everyday look.





Moving on to the freebies:
This is the so-called makeup pouch that they gave me:

Hot pink is definitely not my color, but its not completely useless. I now keep all my carry-on makeup in it and it is currently residing in my handbag. I would have preferred if it had some compartments in it, but meh.



Then they gave me this Express Finish nail color.

The shade is called venetian gold and I really hate it. They didn’t even give me the option of choosing the shade. This is apparently the chosen shade. I’ll either give it to someone else or end up using it on my toes. I hate browns on my fingernails and would have loved to pick a nice pink shade, but those people didn’t let me. Horrible horrible people.




After lunch, my friend wanted to go shopping and I ended up at Commercial Street. Thankfully, I didn’t buy much. Just a strapless top and a black shrug.

I just love those blue flowers on the side. They’re so cute. I even have a shug in that exact shade of blue which would go perfectly with the top. And that’s the black shrug i bought. I like it. Its cute.




And i will delete any comments on my love handles. I know I have them. I know I need to lose them. It will happen.. someday. But currently, I’m very very lazy.
I also finally picked up the Oriflame Rose Deco bag that I had ordered from last month’s catalogue. It costs I think about 899/-. But it was on offer in the August catalogue and I got it for 329/-. I had bought the same bag in February as a gift for a friend. I paid 450/- then. So anyways, my consultant and I were having some issues with the delivery. I wasn’t home when she’d come and she wouldn’t be home when i went over to her place. And then in between I completely forgot about my order. So today, while I was shopping, she called and I finally picked it up. This is the bag. Isn’t it pretty?

So, thats it for today. Most of what I bought are old products and have been reviewed a million times. But if anyone wants a review on any particular product, do let me know. I’d be happy to do so.
P.S. This is my first post using Windows Live Writer and it is so much more easier to use. It is so much more easier to add photos and links, etc.

My Great Wedding Obsession

I am a self-proclaimed feminist and a hypocrite at that. I advocate for equal rights, but I like it when a man opens the car door for me, or pulls back my chair for me and all that. But I always split the bill, even on a date, which has annoyed quiet a lot of my dates. But I’m also a die-hard romantic. I’ve been planning my wedding since I was 16, which, if you think about it, is really weird because I have absolutely no intentions of getting married anytime in the near future. I decided a long time back that I wouldn’t bind myself to the shackles of marriage before I was 28. I’m not opposed to marriage, but I’m too independent to let anybody else into my life. But more than being married, it’s the actual wedding day that I’m obsessed with. I used to spend a lot of time shopping online for wedding dresses, flowers, the perfect shoes, the perfect ring, etc. It was almost an obsession. My mom thinks I’m crazy. I think I plan for the future :P. Fortunately, unfortunately, college did nothing to fuel my obsession. It barely gave me time to breathe. Back when I was in school, I made this wedding scrapbook. It had cutouts of dresses, shoes, flowers, cakes, and it even had photos of eligible grooms. I was a naïve teenager. I spent most of my time dreaming. So, anyways I decided to share some of my obsession with you. Hence this post. Actually I’m just really bored and can’t come up with anything else to write about. I wanted to put up photos of my wedding scrapbook too, but its locked up somewhere.

So here it is:

I really love this one. It’s so simple and classy.

This is what I would wear if I were getting married in the summer at a beach.

Don’t you just love the bodice on this one?

I love the design of this one, even though it’s a little over the top for my taste. And look at the flowers in her hand. Aren’t they beautiful?

I love both of these rings so much.

 

And these shoes are so so so pretty.

These are THE perfect flowers..

And this cake looks so mouthwatering.... and so perfect at the same time, you wouldn't even want to cut it.

 This is just a trailer of my vast collection. My scrapbook has over 200 cutouts. Anyone who sees it thinks i'm crazy which is why it is locked away in a safe place now. 

Does anybody else share my obsession? It'd be good to know i'm not the only crazy one. 

Giveaways

 http://sweetkissmessage.blogspot.com/2010/08/200-follower-giveaway.html

Oriflame Lash Extreme Mascara

A few months back, I came back home and found an Oriflame catalogue in my mailbox. I’d heard of Oriflame, but had never bought anything from them before. The catalogue looked promising, so I called up the consultant (who’s number was on the catalogue, obviously) and placed my order. I didn’t order much. It was a new brand to me and I didn’t want to spend good money on products I might not like. So I ordered the cheaper ones. One of the things I bought was mascara. I used it once before my friend scammed it off me. That was just 150/-. I tried buying the same one, but they were out of stock. So I ended up buying another mascara from Oriflame. This was the Oriflame Lash Extreme Mascara.

According to Oriflame Beauty, the new Lash Extreme Mascara is a high-performance mascara that combines nature and science to visibly plump lashes by 600% in just one stroke. A six-edged brush from Geka Brush allows even more mascara to be deposited in a smooth, clump-free manner, traveling through the lashes one by one, according to the Swedish direct seller. Long bristles separate and lengthen the eyelashes while shorter bristles build extra depth and bold volume. Lash Extreme is formulated with Acacia gum and D-panthenol, which helps maintain moisture levels and generate sheen and luster.

They have the mascara in 3 colors: black, brown and blue.  I bought the brown one. I still haven’t experimented with different colors in mascara. I’ve always thought blue lashes would look a little extreme.

Sooo, coming back to the mascara….

Price: Rs. 329/- for 8ml.

What I think: The packaging is pretty standard. It comes in a regular tube. The mascara has a very creamy texture, like a gooey substance. It just glides on to your eyelashes when you apply it. The applicator is really nice. It allows for a very even application. I can even get to the inner corner. The creaminess does make it a little messy sometimes. When I try applying it on the lower lashes, it ends up smearing on my lower lash line.

If you’re someone who already has very nice and long lashes and just need a mascara to darken your lashes, then this is a good one. It’s more suitable for a natural look. But for the price, I think there are cheaper alternatives to a mascara that does nothing.

The tube:

The applicator:

The Texture:

Before:

After:

The Good:

·         Creamy texture.

·         Lasting Power. I used this sometimes to college and it lasted throughout the day.

·         Long Shelf Life. I’ve has this tube for about 4 months now and it has shown no signs of drying up. It is just as creamy as it was the day I bought it. This is definitely a pro since I use it rarely and it won’t end up being a waste of my money. That thing is gonna last forever.

·         Applicator. The comb’s bristles are slightly apart which helps to separate out the lashes. And the brush is thin which makes it easier to get the roots.

·         No clumping.

The Bad:

·         It doesn’t meet up to its promise of volume or length.

·         It’s not waterproof. So crying is out of the question.

·         It comes of pretty easily. I use the oriflame cleansing milk to take it off.

·         Too pricey for a product that doesn’t do what it says it will.

My verdict: It was a complete waste of my money. But since it seems it’s gonna last forever, I’m not that upset. I use it occasionally when I’m in the mood for a natural look.

P.S. I'm sorry if the pictures aren't great quality. My camera battery died and i had to take the pics on my phone.