Laura Geller Beauty : Love Me Dew Trio

Ever since I started to take advantage of the super accessible beauty stores here in USA (yes, I am talking about our beloved Ulta and Sephora :) ), I am always eager to to try out different cosmetics brands. Laura Geller Beauty is a cruelty free prestige cosmetics brand launched by its founder Laura Geller on QVC in the year 2002. I love and admire a brand that has a strong woman at its roots. You can read more about it here.

During the recent "21 Days of Beauty Steals Event" in Ulta, I got two kits from Laura Geller. I have been totally enjoying the few products that I have started using since then.

Today, let us discuss the "LOVE ME DEW TRIO" consisting of 3 moisturising lip crayons weighing 0.10 0z (2.9 g) each. Individual crayons retail for $16 in her website, as well as in Ulta. The price for this kit is $25 i.e. $8 per crayon, very very affordable for the quality you are getting. I also noticed that in their website, net weight for individual lip crayon is 0.06 oz (1.9 g), but the ones in this kit weigh 0.10 oz (2.9 g)! Almost 1 g more; isn't that is awesome? Plus, I got a free I-care Waterproof eyeliner with my purchase. More reason to be happy!

The set is housed in a very simple yet sophisticated light-weight cardboard packaging. The actual lip crayon tube is made of sleek black plastic with the lip color showing up at the bottom; that makes it very convenient. These can be twisted upwards; so there is no need of sharpening.

Laura has definitely named these lip crayons very accurately. They feel super hydrating when you first put them on and goes on very smooth. They are reasonably long wear too. They are infused in Vitamin E, and described to have a balm-like texture. I have worn them for at least 6 hrs, while continuing with all kinds of drinking, eating and talking activities. After some hours of wear, there is a drying feel, but it also leaves a very nice stain, meaning you may get away without much need of touch-up. I believe, the color and texture of these crayons will be BEST for women who work in office environments and favour bold shades. Very easy to put in your purse too.

On to the colors now! If you love bold vivid colors, you will definitely appreciate the entire set. I am a very big fan of bright lips, my olive medium skin tone also helps me in experimenting with different colors :)

Plum Freeze: This is the deepest shade in the kit. Its a very deep berry shade; ideal for fall and winter. I also found that this color is a tad bit drying than the others.

Cranberry Glaze: This is a deep blue-based red which makes my teeth look really white :) I totally love wearing red lipstick and this is definitely my favorite from the set.

Dragon Fruit Sorbet: I was really apprehensive about this shade at first. It is a very bright fuchsia color. I never thought I will be able to wear it. But surprisingly, this looks really flattering on my skin tone, it brightens up my entire look. Such a pretty pretty spring color!! I would definitely be wearing it a lot for the coming 3-4 months :)

If you are not afraid of vivid colors you can very easily wear these lip crayons no matter what your skin tone is.

Here are my quick takes

Pros:

• Very opaque, buttery in texture and very smooth in application.
• Very very affordable value. 
• Good range of colors.
• Reasonably long-wearing.

Cons:

• They are very hydrating. But, if you have super dry parched lips, these may settle in the fine lines of your lips by the end of the day.
• I roamed around in the sun for an entire day with this in my purse. The fuchsia color got a little deformed at the tip. So be careful :)

If you are interested, you can find the kit in Laura Geller website and in Ulta, it is currently a permanent part of their Laura Geller Beauty offering. I will be definitely repurchasing once I run out of it :) Hope it was helpful!

Love,

~Aru

LORAC Rockin' Red Hot Lip Gloss Collection

Before I left India, the only cosmetics brand I properly knew about was Lakme. I faintly remember hearing about Avon, Elle, Maybelline and Revlon. But I had absolutely no idea that cosmetics are widely categorized as drugstore and high-end brands. Since last Christmas, I have been binge watching thousands of beauty videos in YouTube and educating myself about so many wonderful brands. Like every other girl, I want to pamper myself and buying one or two high-end product definitely gives me that feeling.

This "Rockin' Red Hot Lip Gloss Collection" from LORAC was in fact the very first high-end product I bought for myself. LORAC is the cosmetics brand by celebrity makeup artist Carol Shaw. [Fun fact: Lorac is CAROL spelled backwards, pretty clever idea to name your own brand, if you ask me :)]. I picked this kit from Kohl's just after Black Friday. It was just $27 for 6 full-size lip glosses, I am not 100% sure about their regular price, but I can definitely tell its an awesome value kit. This kit was also available in ULTA and Kohl's for quite a few weeks after the holiday season. And I guess I have already mentioned that I love me some good value kits, definitely a very good way to try out new products. Naturally, I had to pick up this kit :)

This is a 6-piece lop gloss collection housed in a fierce red cardboard packaging , nothing special about it though! But the packaging of the actual tube is really really pretty and elegant. The cap of the tube is adorned with tiny rhino stones which definitely goes very well with the holiday feeling. Apart from the super affordable price, this cute packaging made me buy the kit.

I am however, not very impressed with the product. I like the color range it offers. It has everything from nude to coral to deep shades like fuchsia and violet. As described in the packaging, the glosses are paraben-free, definitely a good thing. The texture of the gloss is very very sticky. I really don't like my hair sticking up on the lips whenever I apply these glosses. There is a faint smell as well, but for me, its not overpowering. The staying power is also quite satisfactory, for me it stayed up to 3-4 hours on me without any drinking or eating activity. Besides all its qualities, personally the stickiness that comes with it makes me kind of unhappy about the product. If that is something that does not bother you, you will definitely enjoy these glosses. And yeah, not a big fan of the brush applicator.

Rock It: Described as a coral shade, it also has some shimmer on it. Its a lovely shade plus the shimmer comes out very very subtle once you apply it. I like that.

You Rock: It is described as plum shade with similar kind of shimmer. I really like this color, especially for everyday wear. 

Rock On: It is a pretty pink color with tiny shimmer. Nice color.

Rock n' Roll: It is described as a pink nude, but on me it appears as a very ashy nude color. It also has the same kind of shimmers.

Easy Rock: It is described as a fuchsia color, however it is not very opaque or much pigmented. Hence it shows up like a light pink color on me. And yeah, this does not have any shimmer in it.

Rock Star: Described as exclusive violet, this shade looks really deep and dark on the tube. But when I apply, I don't get as much pigmentation as I would have expected from the color. This is also shimmer less as Easy Rock.

So here are my quick takes

Pros:

• Awesome value.
• Adorable packaging of the tube.
• Good range of color.

Cons:

• Very very sticky texture.
• Does not show up as pigmented as I had hoped.
• The colors when applied, does not look much different from each other :(
• Not a fan of the brush applicator.

Despite not being overly impressed with these glosses, I have been getting quite a lot usage from them. I mostly use them on top of my not so wearable nude lipsticks, just to cancel out the ashy looks from those colors. I often pack one of these glosses whenever I am travelling for work. Great for bringing out some brightness to the lips especially if your work or study environment does not allow much use of bright colors. I also think they will be great stocking stuffers. I can also mix one of these glosses with few other beauty items and I know it will make a great gift for my cousins or friends whenever I am visiting India for my next vacation.

Hope it was helpful :)

Love,

~Arrru

Tarte: Baby It's Bold Outside The Stand Outs Limited-Edition Best-Sellers Kit

Of late, I have been into exploring the world of beauty and makeup!! Having a generous amount of spare time has been helping me in picking up new hobbies. Hobbies that were, quite friendly, very unappealing to me few years back!

Let me be extremely honest here, I have always been the geek girl. There was so much on the plate, I never had much chance to explore the “girly girl” in me. But now that I finally have a little bit of time and can spend a little bit of money on pampering myself, I am exploring the world of makeup. The high-speed internet here and few so called “You-tube Gurus” definitely helps ;)

Here is my first ever user-experience shared with you all out there. I do not prefer it to be called "review" as I am not at all an expert. It is just a few honest opinions from a simple girl who have used these products.  

Today I am going to talk about “the stand outs limited-edition best-sellers kit”, a holiday kit from Tarte. Tarte is a US based cosmetic company that is mostly known for using naturally-derived ingredients in their products. Apart from that, I just love their bright beautiful packaging; just a side-note.

Anyway, I ordered it directly from tartecosmetics.com at a $25 value, which cost me a final of $16.50 after the 40% sale going on that particular day. The kit includes

·         Full size LipSurgence lip luster in POUTY

·         Full Size Amazonian Clay waterproof liner in BRONZE

·         Full size double-ended liner brush

·         Deluxe lights, camera, lashes 4-in-1 mascara

You can already tell, it is an awesome value. Let us just consider the regular cost of the items, the lip luster sells for $24, the waterproof liner along with the brush runs for $24. The full-size mascara is $19, but the deluxe sample you get with this kit is also a very decent size.

Let me first vent out my disappointment at the beginning. I was in between move to a different state when I ordered this. I was supposed to move out of my old place after around 10 days of my placing this order. It took few days for them to ship, when they finally shipped it, the tracking page showed that the packet will reach me before I need to move out of there. But then there was some storm in the East coast and the entire delivery got postponed by few days. I contacted customer care to let them know about my problem and hoping that they will at least offer to pay for the extra payment charge that I needed to carry to deliver the items to my new place. When I wrote to them about asking them to cancel my order or pay for the extra shipping charge, I did not get any reply. But when I wrote to them writing that I fixed my problem, I got a reply just after few minutes stating that “They are glad that my problem got solved”. Being a prestige brand of cosmetics, I really hoped some more customer "care" from them. I have to say I was disappointed.

Now let’s bring in some positives. I have heard a lot of good things about the brand. After waiting for around a month, (remember I was in between moves, so my friend collected the package for me, and then he sent it to me), when I finally got these and played with them, they immediately won my heart. Great quality products!!

POUTY is a nice bright pink color with a little bit of shimmer. It is not the kind of color that I would wear. But when I wore it I felt that it really went very well with my medium/tan/olive skin tone. It also has a minty smell and feel to it which is quite refreshing to me. I really enjoy the very subtle tingling affect it has on my lips. I love that it is a retractable product, which saves me from the pain of sharpening. I also love the fact that I do not need to be careful while applying, no need of a lip liner as well. For me, it’s a great product for the days when I want to have a somewhat brighter lip, without being extra careful and time-consuming with the application.

The waterproof liner in Bronze is a nice addition to my eye products, it is a very deep brown bronzy color which seems to have a very satin finish. I am not able to achieve a very crisp liner with it yet, but I like to wear it all over my lid and just use a normal black liner. You can wear it alone on the lid or just use as a base (I have not done it though), it is also buildable. I love that I can control the depth of bronzy/brown color that I want with the layering of application. I store it upside down so as to prevent it from drying. But yeah, it seems to be a little bit dry in nature. The brush seems to work just fine, nothing extraordinary about it. I have not used the slim side yet. Hopefully it will enable me to achieve the crisp eyeliner look I am looking for.

I have heard great many things for the mascara. But because I have so many mascaras already and also because I really use a very minimal amount of make-up for my day to day activity, I really have not had a chance to use it.

Did I already tell you that I love Tarte packaging? I love how they pick unconventional patterns and colors for their packaging. This one comes in nice sea-green and golden cardboard packaging. Adorable J

By the way I got the neck-piece at $4 at Claire's; Isn't it a steal? J

So here are my quick takes

Pros:

• Awesome value
• 3 full size products
• Love everything about the LipSurgence (color, texture, application etc)

Cons:

• Somewhat disappointing experience with customer care with my very first purchase.
• The eyeliner is a tad drying.

Had that shipping issue would not have occurred, I would have loved the kit a lot more. But anyway from my personal experience I have realized that holiday kits are an amazing way to try out products at a much more affordable price. While enjoying my POUT, I will definitely look forward to these little kits from Tarte in the foreseeable future J

~Arrru