My First Ever Eyeshadow Palette: LAKME Eye Color Quartet in "SILK ROUTE"

If you are from India, I am sure there is AT LEAST one makeup item from "Lakme" in your vanity. It has been an iconic Indian makeup and skincare brand. As a child, I remember longing for the fancy lipsticks and skincare items my aunts used to bring whenever they visited us!

I have been saying that I was not much into makeup that much earlier! A few years ago, I was really busy in managing a full-time job, preparing my application to get into MS courses here in USA and saving up for sponsoring my education. An eyeliner, a kajol pencil and a lipgloss; that was all that I had in my vanity. After everything finally came together and I had my visa, ticket all ready to go, I went to the Lakme counter in my nearest mall to get some very basic beauty products. The lady actually gave me a very nice makeover and helped me get some staple products. I picked the Eye Color Quartet called "Silk Route" at that time. To be honest, the feeling was very overwhelming as it was the last time I splurged on myself before becoming a poor MS student in a completely new country! ;-) I believe I am emotionally connected to Lakme as a brand; just a tad :-)

This quad is available at INR 500 (around 9 USD) from Lakme Cosmetics for a total of 7g (0.25 oz.) of products. As per my understanding, the price may vary a little bit depending on where you get it! The best thing is; if you happen to be a reader in India, Lakme is very easily accessible in most malls and also in local beauty stores. They can also be found in online shopping sites such as nykaa, Jabong etc. I am not very sure if it was a limited edition palette as I don't see it in Lakme website anymore. My apologies for that.

Just like the signature black packaging for MAC, typical violet-purple packaging pops into my mind whenever I hear about Lakme. Same typical color scheme in a perfect square, decently thin box with a clear lid. I have to say it is a VERY sturdy packaging. I have travelled extensively carrying it along. It occupies very less space and has the strength to withstand travel travails.  There is a little applicator as well, but we all know how useful they are :-) I did use it when I first started; not anymore. There is no mirror though, which is not an issue for me as I don't use these mirrors anyway.

All the shades are shimmery; if Lorac pro shimmery shades had a little bit more shimmer to them, this is how they will turn up. These are smooth, easy to blend and don't have a lot of fallout. I have to say that I underestimated these shadows! Now that I have been dabbling on a lot of different eyeshadows I can definitely vouch for the quality of these. These shadows are fairly pigmented and give me a SOLID wear of 5-6 hrs. before starting to fade. After that, it does fade quickly. But overall I think they are good shadows and definitely make a very good "first palette".

I am not sure if the shades have individual names so I am going to name 'em myself :-) There are two neutral-hued shades along with two bolder colors.

Magnetic Magenta: This is my fav color from the quad. Looks very dark purple in the pan but transforms to a less vibrant fuchsia kind of color when blended. I love these kind of shades. These bright colors also look very beautiful with Indian outfit when mixed with some gold.

Pearlescent Pink: I am scared of light pink shadows in general. I think they look a bit ashy on my lids. However this is not that bad to carry off.  If you have a lighter skin tone than me, this will look beautiful. Texture wise this shade is a little bit rough than the other ones.

Bridal Bronze: It is a warm mid-tone brown infused with a lot of gold! This is definitely the most useful shade in the bunch. This works as a great one-lid color, especially if you work in a "very" professional environment. I love it using that way along with very thin eyeliner. I also love pairing it with bright colors like fuchsia, emerald and dark blues.

Glam Grey: This is a deep grey+silver mixed with black (I know, very weird description!). Just the color to create a lovely grey smokey eye.

Pros:

• Nice blend of everyday and adventurous kind of color.
• Easy to wear and smooth to blend.
• Offers decent wear time.
• Affordable.
• Very complimentary to Indian outfits.

Cons: 

• No matte shades hence cannot function as an independent palette.
• No mirror in the quad (this might be an issue with some of you).
• Some of the colors appear less vibrant when applied than in the pan.

I used the magenta on the outer half and and the bronze shade in the inner half, of course I needed some matte crease colors from other palettes...but I think it turned out pretty good! I would love to sport this look with some of my indian outfit :-)

This was one of the few VERY FIRST "makeup" products on which I spent my very hard-earned money. I guess because of that I have some kind of weird emotional bond with it. I love exploring the Lakme Aisle when I go home and I might (might!) pick some more of these next time I visit India.

Hope it was helpful, especially for my readers in India. 

Love,

~Arrru

Products I've Used Up/Empties Vol. 1

When I first started reading blogs, watching YouTube videos as well as writing my experiences here in my blog, I would feel weird about "Empties" article. It seems strange to me as to why I would like to know about what products somebody uses I was not able to understand the point on reading about someone's bath products :-) But now I truly understand the point of these empties posts :-) When you use a product and like it enough to use it up (especially cosmetics products...they take forever to finish) and then you feel inspired or still impressed enough to jot down your feelings regarding the product, that really makes sense. And it is a great way to find out about "really good" products :-)

So here it goes, my first ever empty products...

1. Matrix Biolage Root Nourishing Oil: This is a blend of 3 nourishing oil including coconut, almond and sunflower seed oil. It is meant for scalp as well as root-to-tip hair care. I actually got this as a gift from my hair salon back home in India when I got my hair chemically smoothened last October. But now that it's finished, I cannot find it anywhere to buy :-( I TRIED really hard to find it...but my hard luck! :-( But I thoroughly ENJOYED it when it lasted. I love me some deep massage before I wash my hair. I had been regularly using this in combination with my "Old and Faithful" coconut oil to deeply massage my hair and scalp and keep it overnight before washing it off the next day! I strongly believe it has helped me a lot in keeping my hair healthy and straight enough even after almost a year from the smoothening treatment. I just LOVED using this stuff and now only if I could find it somewhere. Please let me know if you all have any clue :-)

2.Schwarzkopf Professional Bonacure Hair Therapy (Repair Rescue) Shampoo and Conditioner: Phew...that was a long name! It was suggested to me by my hairstylist after the smoothening treatment mentined above. Both the shampoo and conditioner are very good to use. I feared that my hair will go back to its fizzy natural wavy self, but I am glad that it is still smooth and healthy enough and more importantly 'Straight' :-) 

I bought this from the same hair saloon @600 INR per bottle and then I ordered it from Beautybay.com but Ulta has recently started to carry this line..I think it costs $. I will definitely keep repurchasing it. :-)

3. Topcare nail polish Remover: Very basic and must-have product right? This is affordable (around 3$), easily available in most of the drugstores and gets the work done. I, of course, need a little more work to remove glitter polishes with this remover. But if you use the "aluminium foil" trick, it works wonders. I am definitely repurchasing it.

4. Lakme nine-to-five Intense Volume Mascara: If you are from India you know all about "Lakme" as a brand. It is an Indian brand which has been in the beauty market for a long long time now. When I was in India, Lakme was one of the relatively higher end brands that was easily available in my place (key word--> relatively, available etc.) 

This was my first ever mascara. I loved using it. The formula is really nice and "wet enough"! I never had any problem with smudging or flaking. And it stays for a long time. I love the short and simple bristles. Perfect for my small eyes :-) I also love the simple compact packaging; it takes a real tiny place in your bag or vanity. And it really lasted for a long time without drying. I will definitely repurchase it; as a matter if fact, I already have a back-up!

5. Neutregena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes: I traditionally don't completely rely ONLY on makeup remover wipes to  remove my makeup. But they definitely are very useful in removing the first layer which means less stress for my clarisonic brush head which eventually prolongs its life. I do not have experiences with many different wipes. But keeping that aside, I love these. They are effective in removing chunk of the makeup. I have stopped using wipes for my eyes at all, but when I did, it did work good enough for simple eye-looks! I am definitely going to repurchase it.

These were not a lot of products, but then again, I don't use makeup products on a day-to-day basis :-) But as I have started to really dip my toes into all sort of beauty products, I am pretty sure you will definitely see more empties in the months ahead :-) !! Thank you for stopping by and I hope it was a good read!!

Love,

~Arrru

bareMinerals: THE FIRST RESORT Bronzing Kit

Summer is finally, finally here and everybody is busy getting their tan on!! Time to bring out all of your favorite bronzers to work and also to discover new ones!

bareMinerals is one of the brands that has really impressed me with their products. I have not tried a whole lot of their products but I am happy with the few that I have tried. They are widely known for their proprietary mineral based makeup (I guess it is quite obvious from the name, ha ha!) They are dedicated to create makeup products that are also good for your skin. If you are interested in learning more about why and how "minerals" have inspired their products, click here!

I am from India and in India, "Getting tanned" is not something that is generally appreciated and adored. It is, in fact, just the opposite! The general population has a rather unhealthy obsession with "fair" skin. The cosmetics market is flooded with "Fair & Lovely" creams that claim to lighten the typical "dusky" Indian skin tone. I never have or never will use one of those creams! But I will admit, there have been few moments in my childhood when I wished I was a tad fairer in color!! Anyway, what I am trying to say here is that I was unbelievably scared of bronzers. I simply assumed that I cannot use bronzer since I already have tanned skin. I was wrong. Beautylish members encouraged me again; few dark-skinned beauties shared some of their very beautiful "bronzed" look! That inspired me, and I finally decided to try bronzer. This set was released earlier this year. When I saw it at Ulta store in April I simply fell for the packaging. And I am using this ever since. I do enjoy my Lorac Tantilizer from time to time but I am definitely giving this way more love!!

I purchased the kit in Ulta during their "21 Days of Beauty" event. I paid full price which is $35, but I did score a free mini moxie lip gloss with the purchase :-) The bronzer weighs 14 g (0.49 oz) and the gloss weighs 4.5 ml (0.15 fl oz). The brush is nicely tapered with a perfectly long handle. In short, you are getting 3 wonderful products at a very affordable price! 

The outer box is of cardboard in a nice maroon-gold color. There is a tiny paper-note with more details about the products. The best award for packaging in the whole set definitely goes to the bronzer. It's a beautiful coppery-bronze colored metallic rectangular case; VERY elegant-looking and equally sturdy! The lid has a nice big mirror and opens up to 60 degrees! The lip gloss tube is of glass and also has the same copper-bronze lid. However I doubt how well-built these are! It was loose at the top and the gloss was leaking a bit when it arrived. You can see in the pictures how I tried to salvage it using some good old "duct tape", but I am not sure how long it will hold; it's disappointing :-( !! However, Ulta did give me an eGift card (not to the amount of the full price of the gloss), but I really appreciate how promptly they responded and helped me with my "broken" gloss situation!

The set comes with 3 FULL SIZE products

• bareMinerals Ready Color Boost in the shade "The Beach is waiting".
• Marvellous Moxie Lip gloss in the shade "Party Starter".
• Light Stroke Fan Brush.

THE BEACH IS WAITING: If it is not already obvious, I would say again- "I love this bronzer". There are 3 shades. As mentioned in the packaging they included two of their popular colors of bronzer & luminizer and a brand new bronzer. The luminizer is called "The Long Weekend" and the bronzers are called "The High Dive" and "The Big Splash"; I have no idea which one is which! If you do, please share! The texture of all the shades are very smooth, easy to blend and long-lasting. The first bronzing shade is a warm-toned medium brown, looks matte on the pan at first but has a extremely subtle sheen! Then you have the golden-beige colored luminizer that acts as a perfect highlighter for my skin tone. My most favorite among these are the last golden shimmery shade. I love it! I am scared of putting anything on my face that looks that shiny on the pan (eyes are exceptions!). But when applied it gives me this BEAUTIFUL healthy-glow; the shimmer does not even show up that much; just the perfect sheen. I apply it in the shape of number 3 on both side of my face and very lightly dust on my nose as well as forehead. I love the results. You can also mix the shades to get a very pretty effect, but I particularly don't enjoy the after effect of the swirling action on the pan. The packaging tells that you can contour with it; but I am not big on contouring; specially with a bronzer!

PARTY STARTER: I love their Marvelous Moxie lip glosses! Perfect consistency; not too thick or thin. It's a tad sticky but nothing goopy like the Lorac lip glosses (reviewed here) ! It feels very even and smooth once it settles down. It is also very long wearing. It does have a minty tingling feel which I personally enjoy. This is a bright coral shade; ideal for summer and will look flattering on everybody.

Light Stroke FAN BRUSH: I did not have any fan brushes before, so I am enjoying it. Very useful when I want to wear a soft contour. I love using it to apply my highlighter as well! But I do prefer using a fluffy round brush to apply my bronzer over this. 

Pros: 

• Very good value for your money.
• Easy to use, blendable, natural looking bronzer.
• Lip gloss is very suitable with bronzed look.

Cons:

• Depending on your personal choice you may not like the minty tingly feel of the gloss.
• The packaging of the gloss seems doubtful (I might have received a bad tube)!

The kit is no more available in Ulta or Sephora; it may resurface in future though. But it's still available in bareminerals website. You can also find it in Macy's and Dilliards. 

The bronzer looks so pretty in my vanity :-) I am glad that I fell for the packaging; its a great product and I am really enjoying it! Hope it was helpful.

Love

~Arrru

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

IT Cosmetics Naturally PRETTY Vol. 1 Matte Luxe Transforming Eyeshadow Palette

First of all, how clever is that name? Every woman wants to be naturally pretty. At least, we all want to look pretty :)

This is my first ever product from IT Cosmetics which is a cruelty-free, prestige brand of cosmetics for face and body, founded by present CEO Jamie Kern in 2008. It is a relatively new product and have not yet been talked about a lot in the beauty community. I was itching to check it out ever since I heard about it. The name is really catchy :) Most of the eyeshadows I own are shimmery and I often found myself looking for matte crease colors to finish off my looks. I saw and swatched this palette in ULTA during their "21 days of Beauty, Spring 2014" event. The shadows are pigmented and felt so smooth and buttery in my hand! I admit I don't own a thousand and one eyeshadows but these colors are very very pretty and looked so unique to me. I was immediately sold!! But I did not buy it that day, as I already hoarded up a lot of stuff. I was just trying to be a good girl you know :) 

Few days later I received the 'Friends and Family - 25% off coupon' email from IT Cosmetics. They also offer free US shipping on orders of $25; obviously I could not resist the temptation. The regular price of the palette is $42. It contains 14 matte eyeshadows and a transforming pearl shade all of which gives a total of .092 oz (2.62 g) of products. For me, it is definitely worth the price. With the coupon, it costs me $31.50, such an awesome price! Basically, I am very happy that I succumbed to my makeup addiction.

In case you are wondering, that's me in the pictures with my makeup ;) 

The outer packaging is a pink cardboard. The actual palette is also made of cardboard packaging with a velvety pink-colored fabric. I like it; my only complaint is that it is not going to be easy to maintain. It has a magnetic covered-up closure, so it feels sturdy to me. You get a decent size mirror inside. The inner frame is made up of golden colored cardboard which makes the palette look luxe and elegant. I love it.

This is termed as Vol. 1, so there is a chance that they will come up with different editions. The color range is awesome. You get two light shades, few mid-tone colors and then some really darker shades. Needless to say, they are all matte in texture. I feel I have every single crease colors I may ever want! They also can be worn wet or dry. Jamie worked out with plastic surgeons to develop these anti-aging shadows infused with Peptides, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Acai, Green Tea, Silk and antioxidants! Qualitywise, they are very pigmented, smooth and extremely easy to apply as well as blend out. The dark colors have a tiny bit of fallout but nothing too crazy. They also have such awesome staying power; around 10 hrs of wear for me without any distinguishable fading. The other day I put on a smokey eye using Warmth, Midnight and Noir at around 11 am, since it was my day off, I continued with household chores without being careful about my makeup. I even took a 30-min nap wrapping myself in blanket :). The shadows did not budge, I could go out without any touch up needed. 

Let me try to describe the colors for you...

Sheer Joy: This cream color is the lightest among all. Definitely a great crease color for paler skin tones. Excellent brow bone color for me.
Soft Light: Another great crease and brow bone color. Appears as a very muted light brown/taupe color to me.
Warmth: This is a brighter brown; almost undetectable on my skin tone; perfect everyday crease color for me.
Soulful: Looks like a very well-balanced mix between brown and mauve. Extremely pretty.

Mocha: Pretty brown/taupe, however you see it ;)

Violet: Very true to its name :) Such a pretty pretty color. Definitely going to help me in finishing of a purple smokey look.
Midnight: Dark blue comes to my mind whenever I hear the word "Midnight". The color is exactly that. Definitely very useful in creating navy smokey eye looks.

Noir: Matte black. Very pigmented but it also has the most fall outs among all the colors.
Iconic: Very pretty dark purple. Pair it with a Violet for a very elegant look :)
Java: Classic brown.
All Heart: I love how IT cosmetics named these shadows, very crisp and beautiful. All Heart is a more pronounced mauve color.
Sunset: Such a lovely lovely shade. It shows up as a muted orange color, definitely resembles colors of sunset.  It is very hard to choose, but this might be my most favourite among all.
Sunrise: Hmmm, I don't know how to describe this color. A brighter orangy brown color but not too over the top.
Love: A lovely pale pink color, very apt for my brow bone.

Transforming pearl: This is the bigger color in the palette. This can be used on top of the any shades to transform it into shimmer. As in the picture, I don't see much of a difference. Plus the pearl makes the color less vibrant, not something that I enjoy. I love the palette so much that I really don't care about the pearl shade and its performance. I am still going to use it as an eyeshadow to brighten up my tear-duct.

Here are my quick takes:

Pros:

• This palette makes me happy, definitely a plus point for me :) :) :)
• Shadows are velvety, buttery and pigmented. Very easy to blend out. I am very impressed by the quality of these shadows.
• Awesome staying power.
• Very impressive range of color.
• Good value when compared to some other palettes.

Cons:

• The only con I could think of is the fallout. But, nothing too serious :)

If you are a matte eyeshadow fan, I recommend you getting this palette. You will definitely fall in love. Even if you don't LOVE mattes, this is a pretty palette to have. I realize, this has become quite a long post, but I have been really enjoying this palette so much. Hope it was helpful.

Last but not the least, I love the quote by Jamie, on the back of the packaging "You are naturally pretty, you are beautiful, you are one of a kind, you are it!". 

Love,

~Aru

P.S.: As of now the palette is avaliable in ULTA ($42), and in QVC with a double ended brush ($39.56). 

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: 5-piece Amazonian Butter Lipstick Set "kiss and makeup"

So, here is my second beauty related post. My blog is almost about everything; things that affect my daily life. Beauty and learning about makeup has been a big fat hobby for a few months now. Anyway, I wrote about it quite extensively in my first beauty post.

Today’s product is a lipstick set from Tarte. I believe this was also a holiday set. It is called the 5-piece Amazonian butter lipstick set “Kiss and makeup”. Isn’t that a fun name J? I bought this from their website directly when they were having some kind of spring sale. It had a retail value of around $45; I had a 20% off coupon and ended up paying a final of $34.80, the individual butter lipsticks retails for $16. I was also pleasantly surprised to receive a deluxe sized lights, camera, flashes™ statement mascara as a birthday gift…who does not love free cute items? The set is also available in QVC, hautelook from time to time.

Let’s go to the main product now, Tarte is a natural brand and as they mention in their website these butter lipsticks are infused with precious Amazonian butters to hydrate and smooth lips throughout the day. The product is formulated without parabens, mineral oil, phthalates, triclosan, sodium lauryl sulphate, synthetic fragrance. This set is consisting of 5 amazonian butter lipsticks in some lovely shades ranging from ultra-nude, peach to bright red and pinks. Tarte has a variety of lipstick formulation. I love the packaging of the kit (so obvious with any product I buy from them J ). It is adorned with the typical golden pattern all over the packaging. The actual tube of the lipstick is also very cute and adorable. Each one has a different base color like mint green, lavender, coral, violet and light pink with the same Tarte gold pattern. However, the cap is just cardboard and for me it does not appear to be very very sturdy. As one of my fellow blogger pointed out, there is a risk of the lipstick melting down in summer if you carry it in your bag.

The texture and formulation of the lipsticks is so very lovely. It definitely proves true to its name. It is not extremely opaque but really buttery on your lips. For me, the formulation seems to be something between a lip stain and a lipstick because of its sheerness. Personally I am a big fan of super pigmented opaque lipsticks in bold color on my lips. However, the pigmentation on these is really great but they are a bit sheer. You may build it up though. For me, it tends to accentuate the fine lines in my lips just a tiny bit. But I do not mind any of these, because these lipsticks give such a hydrating, moisturizing feel to my lips. I have not been playing a whole lot with the set. But yes, they do stay for up to 6-8 hours without much need of retouching.

Angelic nude: It is the palest of all. Not a great color on my olive/tan medium skin tone. But I do believe with a little bit of pink or peach gloss, I can carry the color without any huge difficulty. I can definitely see softer skin tone girls rocking this color.

Sweet peach: this shade has pleasantly surprised me. For the current spring season, I was looking for a soft peach color, not yet ready to dive into the whole orange color looks. I think this is the prefect peachy coral shade for me. Having said that, I will also add that the shade will look a lot more perfect for girls a little paler than me. But I just love the look on me; it’s very refreshing, very spring like.   

Merry berry: such a fun color and equally fun name. It’s a bright red berry color with blue, pink and gold micro glitters. If you ask me, quite a bold and adventurous color. But luckily I happen to look good in bold dark colors or so I have been told. I am not sure yet, if I like the sparkles. I am not a huge fan of frosty look on my lips. But I love LOVE the shade. It never hurts to have some variety in your vanity.

Pink poinsettia: Another fun name. Poinsettia is a bright red flower indigenous to Mexico and Central America, I read so in Wikipedia J. It’s a bright red-pinky color, but because the lipsticks are sheer, this shade gives me that particular brightness without appearing to be extremely bold. I love this shade.

Candy red: this is a blue-based classical red. The name has such a strong holiday spirit to it. It has not been very long ago that I have started to wear red colors, and I already have developed a weakness for red. I love to play up my lips and my entire mood with a bright red lipstick. I must admit that Candy Red is my most favorite in the bunch with Sweet peach being close second. I love how elegant and playful a look it gives me. Sure, it is not an everyday color, but the set has other everyday colors for you J

Even if I don’t reach for them every other day, I love them. They are really moisturizing on the lips. The darker colors do have a little more staying power than the rest. They do have subtle minty feel to them, but not as strong as the LipSurgence from Tarte as well.

So here are my quick takes---

Pros:

• Excellent value
• Great range of color as a set
• Very moisturizing
• Added bonus…extremely cute packaging

Cons:

• Not a very sturdy packaging for the tubes.

I know I am quite late in putting up my thoughts for a holiday kit; however I still do hope this will be helpful to at least some of you.

Love,

~Aru

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