Hair Vows!!!

Hi Beautiful Ladies....


Today I am going to talk about tips that we all already know but for some lame reason we don't follow them... So lets quickly go through our check list.

• Not Washing our hair everyday!!!! I know none of us like a bad hair day especially when you want to dress up for a special some one. Washing your hair every single day is bad for your mane is simply cause it washes away the natural oils from your scalp. also over shampooing your hair promotes oil production thus making your hair too oily!
  
• Towel Drying- Most of the women have the habit of aggressively rubbing the hair after a wash thus damaging the hair. Simply just tie a towel around your hair for a while and let it soak in all the excess water.
• Not Brushing your hair before bed! - yes you read it right.. you should brush your hair before going to bed mainly to stimulate the scalp however beware of over doing it.
• Using too many chemicals- using various hair products and sprays can make your hair look beautiful but they damage your hair at the same time if used more than often. 
• Too hot or too cold treatment- over blow drying or using too much heat on your delicate hair will damage them and carelessness can get them burnt too!!!
  
• Tying your ponytail in the same place - if you have heavy hair and place it in an excessively tight pony tail on a regular basis, this can cause too much tension on the hair especially at the front hair line. Excessive tension over a long period of time can weaken the hair around the hairline.
• A healthy diet- many of us don't realize but a healthy diet not only effects on our body but also on the health of our hair.
• A nice hair massage- oil your hair once a while and give a nice gentle massage to stimulate your scalp. However, the key is not to over do it!!!

So touch your beautiful hair and tell them.. "i do" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shubh Deepavali !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Primers Decoded #makeup #primers #forallskintypes

One of my friend asked me the other day "what are these primers? I have heard of using a primer before painting the walls but whats the hype about these primers for makeup...."

So my peeps here is primers simplified for you!

These days, it seems like primers are all over the beau­ty mar­ket. And it’s no won­der—they work! Think about it: it’s nor­mal for the skin’s sur­face to be tex­tured from pores, fine lines, and inflam­ma­tion. In other words, the com­plex­ion isn’t flat and smooth. So when you apply foun­da­tion over bare, un-primed skin, you may find it more dif­fi­cult to blend the prod­uct out. The foun­da­tion might then set­tle into every crevice, accen­tu­at­ing flaws and enlarg­ing the appear­ance of pores (espe­cial­ly with a heav­i­ly pig­ment­ed for­mu­la). Adding to the chal­lenges of foun­da­tion appli­ca­tion is your skin type—those with nor­mal, oily, and dry skin will get dif­fer­ent results.

Orig­i­nal­ly, primers were invent­ed to prime the skin for a smoother foun­da­tion appli­ca­tion, much like you’d use primer on a wall before paint­ing it. Eye­lid primers are also pop­u­lar nowa­days, meant to make eye shad­ows go on smoother and last longer. Whether mar­ket­ed for the face, the eyes, or both, the anato­my of a primer will be sim­i­lar.


CHOOSING A PRIMER:

• If you have really oily skin and your major concern is oil control and large open pores, the best option for you is Pore Minimizing Primers and Mattifiers.
• If you have excessive red/yellow tones in your skin, a color correcting primer is the best choice for you.
• If you have no major skin issues but just need something to extend the wear time of your foundation, smoothening primers are the best choice for your skin.
• If you need some extra glow or your skin is prone to dullness, an illuminating or brightening primer is the best for your skin type

APPLICATION:

Primer is typically applied as the first step of makeup after all the skin care products have been applied.

After moisturizing and applying sunscreen (if its day time), wait a few minutes for the products to sink in and then apply the primer in small dots all over the face and neck leaving out the eye and lip area.

Now you can use your fingers or a brush to blend the product.

I prefer using my fingers as it warms up the product and it sinks in better into the skin. Use soft patting and blending strokes to massage the primer into the skin till it is completely absorbed.

If you’re using a brush, moisten the brush with a few spritzes of a face mist like MAC Fix+ spray or The Body Shop Vit E spray for easier blending.

With most primers (Esp brightening ones), it takes a few minutes (8-10) for the product to sink in so wait for a few minutes before you apply your foundation. You could do your eye makeup in the meanwhile.

EYE PRIMERS:

Eye primers too work in the same work where they are applied before the eye makeup. This evens out the skin tone and makes the eye shadow last longer and accentuate the color. In the below image you can see that the eye shadow on the left side are the ones with a primer (colours illustrated are golden and black). You will notice that the primer helps to bring out the best in the color apart from making it long lasting.

The eye shadows on the left side are the ones with primer. 

KEY INGREDIENTS: SILICONE 

Primers form a film on the skin that are usu­al­ly soft, cush­iony, smooth, and silicone-based. Sil­i­cone deriv­a­tives are used in major­i­ty of primers because they pro­vide a slip­pery feel that helps foun­da­tion and cream blush­es glide like magic over any skin tex­ture rather than absorb­ing into the skin. They also help to min­i­mize the appear­ance of pores and fine lines.
There are also primers that don’t con­tain sil­i­cone; gen­er­al­ly they’re 
bet­ter for good skin that doesn’t require much cov­er­age. Silicone-free primers rely on either gelled oils, which may feel a lit­tle greasi­er on the skin than sil­i­cone (with sil­i­ca) or gelled water-based for­mu­la­tions (with acry­lates or C10-30 alkyl acry­late crosspoly­mer).

BRANDS IN INDIA:

Oriflame Beauty Perfecting face primer: Rs. 398/-
Loreal Paris Magique Base: Rs. 850/-
MAC Prep and Prime: Rs. 2,250/- (approx)
Bourjois Flower Perfection Translucent Smoothing Primer: Rs. 710/-
NYX Eye Shadow Base: Rs. 625/-

There are many more primers slowly coming into the Indian Market. Primers are also know as makeup base or eye shadow base.


















Disclaimer: Images and certain content is sourced from various websites.

A Pit Stop at Claire's

Hey gorgeous!

On my lazy weekend outing, I had been to the Phoenix Mall, and the mall had pretty much the same stores as any other mall  (no I am not gonna review the infrastructure of the mall thank goodness for that!). So after visiting all the regular stores, I visited the Claire's Store which I am supposing is specific store to Phoenix mall as its only located there and it doesn't have any stand alone stores either.

This wasn't my first visit to Claire's, I have picked up some products earlier and I like Claire's as it has certain things which are very pretty and also some quirky stuff for a fancy dress party or Halloween!  However, some things according to me are over priced! Anyhow, I ran into the cosmetic "rack" of theirs, which clearly implies that they hardly have any. The cosmetics are sold under their own brand "Claire's"

My eyes were glued to a particular thing which is the glitter eye shadow palette. It consist of 5 colors and had various permutation combinations in the palette. I ended up buying 2 of them (oh come on! I really wanted those!!! )  I know they are glitter and you might shrug your shoulder and tell me its not for an everyday use! but hey! festivities are just around the corner, so party makeup anyone?! Plus did you know that glitter eye shadow was sported at the Fashion week 2013 by Dior and many other makeup artists for various shows this season!?!

At the 2013 fashion week

PRODUCT REVIEW: Like I mentioned earlier they were available in various permutation combinations so there is something for everyone! I picked up a basic palette of silvers and black and another colour palette which has fun colours like yellow, green, blue etc. (I have christened those palettes as they have no name or number on them!)  They are high on glitter and have a creamy texture which makes it easy for application. 
The are priced at Rs. 350/- each. It includes a sponge applicator.
It has a transparent top which attracts to the 'bling'!!!!
My rating:  3/5



HOW TO: So how does one use these glitter shades, first apply a shade of your choice and then apply the glitter. Ideally, you would like to apply the same shade as the glitter. Else, for the two silvers, a dark shade at the bottom would also be great. You can sport this look for dinners, parties and dates!!!! With Navrathi season around the corner you have plenty to experiment with!!

i love the carry bag!!!!! :)

Happy colour palette (L-R) Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple

Basic Colour Palette (L-R) White with golden glitter, Silver, Violet, Fushia, Black

Thanks for reading! 

xoxoxoxox




Disclaimer: Pictures are sourced from Google and various other websites.

BEAUTY SWAP PARTY

hello beautiful ladies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Have you bought a lipstick or nail paint that you don't like any more. Its just hatching eggs in your makeup closet, cause you don't know what to do with it............That happens with most of us these are just side effects of impulsive buying!!!!  How about you get different products WITHOUT PAYING A PENNY!!!!

And how is that?????????????

well......I am hosting a "BEAUTY SWAP" party on 5th Oct. 2013.Saturday at 4 pm at Bangalore. 

You can bring with you, any beauty products that you wish to swap, eye shadows, pigments, brushes, lipsticks, nail paints etc etc... the list is endless... and you can bring in ANY brand and ANY number of products!!!!

Whats more? Apart from the delicious cakes and pastries, you can meet more makeup enthusiasts and take back home different products that you would ACTUALLY use!!!!  Plus, learn more tips and tricks from others!!!!


Be there on time cause its first come first served swap!!!!!

Watch out this space for the location!!!!



Disclaimer: Pictures are sourced from Google and various other websites.

sshhhh... The REAL Tricks!!!

Thats right I am gonna share the tips and tricks to know before buying basic makeup products. So the next time you visit the makeup store (read candy store) you wouldn't give in to impulsive shopping which we ladies are very famous for! These are the tricks which will actually work for you.



FOUNDATION: The very first thing to know is your skin type. Most of us have a oily T zone. Also, knowing the 'undertone' of your skin tone is very essential.  We Indians are mostly yellow under toned thus the foundation too should have a yellow undertone as against to the pink ones. So, those are the  basic steps to remember while buying a foundation. In certain cities, where the weather reaches extremes you may tend to have a different skin  type during the winters and a different one during summers and choose the foundation type accordingly.

 So, whenever you go to buy a foundation of any brand please do not rush into a decision. Always ask the salesperson to apply it on your face and leave it on for the rest of the day. You would also like to chose a day to try out the foundation when you are on your daily chores, which means if you sweat it also, it would still help you to decide better by the end of the day. Else, you can try it on before sunset. This will help you see yourself in the sunlight and well as the artificial light. To choose the right shade its always advisable to apply on your chin area (above your jaw). The shade should match your face AND your neck colour.  Also take a lot of pictures of yourself, as the foundation at times tends to look very 'artificial' in pictures. Be completely sure that your face isn't looking "cakey" or where everyone would instantly know that you have applied "layers" of makeup. You wouldn't want to take a chisel to chip off the makeup for your real skin!!!
 Trying it out this way will also help you identify if you skin has any break outs.
Most of the brands do let you take a wee bit of a sample to try it on yourself. Trying it yourself also means that you can test your comfort level in blending and application. So you might wanna take small empty pots to carry with you the next time.

Generally we ALL make the same mistake and realise it much later. Yes, we all like our skin to look flawless but that doesn't necessarily mean that we pick up 2 shades lighter than our actual skin tone. For a "fairer" look you can try talcum powder. The key to look great is to buy a foundation that is the SAME as your skin tone or a shade lighter IF there is not much of a shade difference. Gone are the day when people celebrated "fair" skin, the sun kissed or olive skin tone is more favorable now!
Rule of thumb:
Oily skin should go for a water base, or oil free foundation which will give you more of a matte finish.
Dry skin: go in for liquid foundation which would make your skin look supple and well moisturized.

CONCEALER: The same technique should be kept in mind while choosing a concealer. It has to be same shade or you can go to a maximum of 1 shade lighter to your skin tone even if you are choosing it for your 'oh so ugly' dark circles! Girls with dry skin should opt for liquid concealers and the ones with oily skin for a

cream base or a oil free concealer.The best method of applying the concealer under the eye is using the ring finger to blend it in. Since the skin under the eye is very delicate the ring finger helps in applying just the right amount of pressure for blending.

APPLICATION: There are many schools of thought on the techniques of applying foundation. So the best method is which you are confident about. It could be various types of brushes, sponges or just bare hands. Which ever method you are opting, 2 important things should be kept in mind. A. The brush/sponge/ hands should be clean. B The foundation should be well blended!
Another school of thought is that concealer should be applied first then the foundation followed by a compact or loose powder. Remember girls in makeup there are now rules! If you like to apply just the foundation or concealer and skip the rest of the steps then you can or apply the concealer- foundation- concealer you can.  its just about what works the best for you. 


EYESHADOW: Since we Indians do not have light coloured eyes we can choose our eyeshadows without having to worry too much about the shades which will extenuate the eye colour.  They can be selected according to the colours you like which match your skin tone and your hair colour. Since neon is the trend this season, you try out bold colours like yellow and orange with the same confidence. You can opt for a matte finish for everyday use. Other textures include pearl, glossy, satin and frost finish which can be used on different occasions. Gold, bronze, pink, mauve are a few which go well with the Indian skin tone. 'Smokey Loo'k colours not only include the traditional black but can also be done with different shades of green, blue, maroon, brown, grey etc. 

The key to get a complete look is by blending the eye shadows together especially if you are using 2 or more colours. You would want to smooth-en any harsh lines for a beautiful finish.


Coming soon the must have makeup brushes.

Disclaimer: Pictures are sourced from Google and various other websites.

My Favorite M.A.C. products!!!!

Ok so let me very honest that I soo totally, truly, madly, deeply LOVE  MAC. Its my top of the list fave brand apart from a few others. The best part of it that its easily available in India.
Lot of girls that I have spoken to believe that the MAC products are very expensive. Well.. on second thoughts, its not ALL that expensive.  If you buy L'oreal or NYX kind of  products then MAC is priced just a little bit more. So its not gonna create a very big hole in your clutch!  ;)

I am going to name a product of each type. So you could try them out when you stop at the store the next time. Also, all the MAC products are highly pigmented and a little goes a long way.

FOUNDATION: I am a big fan of liquid foundations as they are easier to work on and so according to my skin I use the Studio Sculpt. I am shade NC 40. The studio Sculpt gives a complete coverage without making me look "cakey" for all day long. A little bit of the foundation is enough for the entire face and neck since its highly pigmented.  Price: Rs. 1500/- approx





EYESHADOW: This is the toughest part, choosing my most fave eye shadow. Its no hidden secret that my weakness is eye shadows! So with  a heavy heart I am going to choose one.. Its probably one if the most famous shadows world wide and is a must have in your collection. "wood winked".

In the case it looks very different than what it really is.  I would describe it as a medium bronze with a warm orange undertone once applied.The actually is a beautiful golden color and its great for office, date, dinners or even a wedding. You can create an elegant look using just this shade or you can blend it with black or dark brown and create a beautiful soft smokey look either ways its a must have for your makeup collection. Price: Rs. 900/-

EYESHADOW PRIMER/ BASE: Its one of  the MAC paint pots, and this one which I absolutely like is in shade "painterly pot". Its a very common one too. In the pot it looks pale pink. Its great for using as a base for any eye make up. How does it work you may ask. So this pale pink shade makes your eye lid an even tone. It works as a eye primer too! Your eye shadow color would be accentuated and would last longer with out any creasing. Be sure to give a minute gap for the base to settle in before you apply the eye shadow. Price: Rs. 1100/-

(L-R) wood winked, painterly pot, wood winked with painterly pot base

Coming soon... must have eye shadow shades of MAC.

Disclaimer: Pictures are sourced from Google and various other websites.