REVIEW: GLOW edt by JLo

I am a huge fan of Jennifer Lopez but it's a shame that I had never tried any of her perfumes. So, my boyfriend, being the best guy that he is, got me GLOW as a part of my birthday gift :) You see the irony here is that my first perfume by JLo i.e. Glow was actually JLo's first perfume of the whole range she has come out with :)

So here I go with the review:
First things first... THE PACKAGING... Well it's gorgeous! The bottle is very feminine much like JLo herself :) It's a long bottle with a very shapely bottom ;) and a pretty, blingy chain with a crystal studded JLo pendant around the neck of the bottle. It looks elegant, pretty and feminine...

THE FRAGRANCE... The official site describes it's notes to be: neroli, pink grapefruit, rose, sandalwood, amber, musk, jasmine, iris and vanilla. It was marketed to be "fresh, clean and sexy" and well it does live up to it's claims. It has a subtle smell of Jasmine and hint of Rose... It has a mostly floral smell and it is very understated and subtle but the lasting power is really high. I can smell it on me throughout the night and I honestly wake up in a better mood :) It has a very different smell from what I am usually used to smelling in these perfume selling outlets. It oozes with sophistication and elegance.
I mainly use it as a nighttime perfume, perfect for a romantic dinner for two or a cosy get together with friends in a classy restaurant.

POSITIVES
1. Extremely feminine
2. Smells elegant and sophisticated
3. Subtle yet long lasting
4. Very pretty packaging

NEGATIVES
Because of it's subtlety, it might get overpowered by someone else's not so subtle scent :(

Will I use it more? I intend to plus I have an added advantage of my boyfriend loving it as well ;)

Makeup-o-holic on a budget

I love make-up and trust me when I say that I never let anything, be it the weather or my mood or anything else come between us!You see this is true love and I really wish for you to understand what I really feel for it. Of course you are all welcome to leave your comments here and let me know about your respective obsessions...

My obsession you see starts with make-up and ends with the same. So, why am I gushing so much about it you'd ask and that is because the month is coming to an end and I get to again go cosmetics shopping :D You see I have this rule that though I don't like to follow but I am forced to follow in order to keep my make-up shopping budget under control. The rule is that I am not allowed to buy more than 2 products or spend more than 1000/- a month on cosmetics (whichever is more). Well, honestly I don’t always follow it to the hilt but trust me when I say that I do really try my best. Sometimes when the temptation is too much to bear, I manage to convince people around me (read sis, mummy, bf, bff etc) to actually gift me some stuff. LOLZ... And since I never win any give-aways I am not mentioning them here!

Well anyways, the point here is what if I feel greedier than usual (for cosmetics) and my budget as well as gifts doesn’t satiate this greed of mine? Well... It's simple! I either go all out and buy stuff that's dirt cheap or literally make some stuff :D

Here's a list of a few:

1. JAI KAJAL

My colleagues tell me that it is actually pronounced as "Za-ee". Well, it's a small dibbi of extremely smooth kajal which costs about 10 bucks. It's highly smudgy but I simply love the color it imparts and the tingly-tingly sensation it gives due to the camphor it contains.

REVIEW: http://isimplylovemakeup.blogspot.com/2010/09/jai-kajal-ki-jai-ho.html

COST: Rs.10/-

2. VOV NAIL PAINTS (fake ones)

Well you see, I have heard about this Korean brand called VOV, that makes nail polishes and removers mostly. These are available in malls all across the country for Rs.45/-. Now there is a twist as well. Fake VOV nailpolishes are available as well in the market. They are generally stocked by the roadside accesorry vendors. I picked up four of them in really pretty shades for Rs.20/- each :). Now I know it's not good to use fake/cheap nail polish and hence, I picked these up for Nail Art purposes only ;)

3. Making Lip glosses

Well honestly, I came across this trick on the net somewhere, but it has fabulous results! The procedure is as follows:

Take a glob of Vaseline (yes! the petroleum jelly) and melt it in the microwave with a few choco-chips or pieces of chocolate. Yummy chocolate flaboured lip gloss is ready :) You can store it in old lip balm containers, though in summers you might need to refrigerate it :)

4. Making OAT Moisturizer

OK, this is one really awesome moisturizer and I got this recipe from the net from the following blog: http://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/beauty-tips/diy-beauty-with-kitchen- cosmetics/ . I tried it out and it worked wonders for me!

Add a handful of oats to some cold water and let it stand for say half an hour. Sieve the mix using a strainer and the milky liquid can be used as a moistirizer :) It's odorless and works wonder for your skin...

Hope you find these as helpful as they were to me :D

EYE SHADOW: the beginning...

Ever wondered why sometimes you dont get the desired results out of your eye make-up even when you follow the video instructions on youtube or other tutorial blogs to the T? Don't tell me that has never happened to you! Lolz... It has happened to me and it took me a while to realize as to why I was being cheated out of sheer make-up pleasure :) Let me share it with you guys too...

Well you see there is a concept called "types of eyes", which stresses on the fact that the eyes can be broadly categorized in the following types:

    ACCORDING TO SHAPE

    1. Almond shaped eyes

    2. Round eyes

    3. Oval shaped eyes

    4. Asian eyes

    ACCORDING TO POSITION

    1. Deep set eyes

    2. Wide set eyes

    3. Close set eyes

    4. Hooded eyes

    5. Protruding eyes

Of course the list isn't really exhaustive and there could be microscopic sub-types as well, but trust me when I say that your eyes will surely fall into one of these types :) The image might just help you decide that ;)

Also note that the type of one's eye is generally a combination of one of the shapes and one of the positions. For example I have Almond shaped eyes that are close set :) So depending on what I want to highlight in my eye make-up I decide on a trick.

Now that we have established that there are different types of eyes then pure logic says that the technique of make-up for different eyes should be different. And that's what is going to be the contents of this blog of mine...

So here we go...

DEEP SET EYES

Deep set eyes have a part of the eyelid visible at the outer corner of the eye and gets narrower towards the inner corner of the eye.

They are easy to make up since they are naturally defined. Celebrities with deep set eyes are: Megan Fox and Sandra Bullock

Make-up tricks:

The main aim while making up deep set eyes is to bring them forward and highlighting them. For this, the following pointers need to be kept in mind:

    a) Use a medium shade of eye shadow from the inner corner of your eye to the middle of your eyelid.

    b) Apply a light shadow/highlighter on your brow bone to highlight your eyes.

    c) For maximum definition, use a dark colored shadow ONLY at the outer corners of your eye.

LINER TIP: Eye liners should not be applied in the inner corners of your eyes.

WIDE SET EYES

Wide set eyes have space between the inner corners of the eyes more than the width of one eye.

Make-up tricks:

The aim here is to create an illusion of eyes that are close to each other.

Pointers:

    a) Here we generally do the opposite of what we would ve done for Close set eyes :)

    b) Use darker shadow in the inner corners of the eye

    c) Apply lighter shadow in the outer corners of the eye.

    d) Use highlighter at the outer part of the browbone only.

LINER TIP: Line the upper and lower rim of your eyes with a thicker line towards the inside, which should thin out while going outwards.

CLOSE SET EYES

Close-set eyes are less than one eye length apart.

Make-up tricks:

The aim while making up close set eyes is to create a illusion of eyes being wide apart. Pointers:

    a) Use a light shade of shadow from the inner corner to the middle of your eyelid horizontally and from lashline to browline vertically.

    b) Apply a medium shadow from the middle to the outer corner of the eyes.

    c) Use the darkest color od shadow at the outer corner of the eye only.

    d) Brush a little highlighter at the inner corner of the eye and on the browbone.

LINER TIP: Line the eyes with a liquid liner by creating a thinner line in the inner part of the eye and thickening the line as you go outwards.

HOODED EYES

Hooded eyes give an appearance that the lid is partially closed and the area between the lashes and the creae is often hidden. Many asian eyes give an appearance of this "hood".

Make-up tricks:

The aim here is to create an illusion of an eyelid. Pointers are as follows:

    a) Use a light shade of shadow over the entire lid.

    b) Apply a medium shadow from the middle to the outer corner of the eyes and also on the crease and the "hooded" area.

    c) Apply a dark contour shadow at the outer corners on the eye in an upward slant

LINER TIP: Line the upper lids of the eye only.

PROTRUDING EYES

Protruding eyes also called prominent eyes give an appearance of being "convex" in shape. They appear to be bulging out.

Make-up tricks:

The aim while making up such prominent eyes is to reduing the "bulge" and to make the eye appear to recede a bit more into the face. Pointers:

    a) The key is to apply a dark shadow all over the lid.

    b) Apply a highlighter just under the eye brow.

    c) Use a lighter shade of shadow on the brow bone.

LINER TIP: Line the entire upper lashline of the eye with an even line.

ALMOND SHAPED EYES

These types of eyes have a charateristic of an upswept outer corner.

Make-up tricks:

The aim is to create depth and intensify the eyes. Pointers:

    a) Use a neutral/light shadow on the entire eye tillt he brow bone.

    b) Apply a medium shaded shadow in the crease and blend upwards till the brow bone.

    c) Apply darker shadow at the outer corner of the eye.

LINER TIP: Line the upper lash line of the eye with a thick even line.

ROUND EYES

Round eyes are generally large and "open".

Make-up tricks:

The aim will be to elongate the eye and make it more "almond shaped". Pointers:

    a) Use a medium shadow over the entire lid.

    b) Apply a dark shadow at the outer corners in an "up-sweep" extending a little outside the eye area.

    c) Extend the dark shadow down towards the outer edge of the lower eye as well.

LINER TIP: Line only the outer 2/3 of the eye with a dark liner.

OVAL EYES

In order to give more height to oval eyes,

    a) Use a light shadow over the lids.

    b) Apply a medium shadow over the crease.

    c) Highlight under the brow.

LINER TIP: On the upper lid, start by applying a thin line that thickens towards the middle and then again thins towards the ends.

ASIAN EYES

These eyes are generally almond shaped eyes only smaller in size and with very little hood.

Make-up tricks:

The aim here is to make the eyes look larger and more prominent. Pointers:

    a) Use light shadow from the eyelid upto the brows.

    b) Apply medium shadow in the crease area.

    c) Dark shadow int he outer corner of the eye.

LINER TIP: Line thickly on the upper lid and thinly on the lower lid.

Hope these helped :)

REVIEW: TRUE RED edt by Marks and Spencer...

My first ever purchase from a Marks and Spencer store was True Red and a red satin clutch and I have regretted neither :) I had ventured into Marks and Spencer looking to find a signature scent for myself and I found True Red.
True Red by Marks and Spencer is a chypre floral fragrance for women. Top notes are orange and pineapple; middle notes are sage and jasmine; base notes are patchouli and musk. Description: Courtesy http://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Marks-and-Spencer/True-Red-3418.html
What I personally think of True Red? Well for starters the moment I took the first whiff of the tester, I was mesmerized! My mood perked up suddenly and I knew I had found what I was looking for. I first purchased it's 50ml bottle for Rs.450/- and have just been using it ever since.A lot of blog sites have described it to be a floral fragrance, but personally I have found it to be more fruity than floral. The smell of Pineapple and Orange engulfs me and keeps me smelling yummy all through my eight hours at work. But let me tell you, there is nothing subtle about it ;) It guarantees attention with its sensual and racy notes and keeps you feeling confident and powerful all day long.The fragrance as well as the contents is long lasting. A 50ml bottle keeps me busy for about 2 months, and mind you I use it extremely liberally :D The fragrance does start losing its potency (lolz) by the end of the day.
POSITIVES

1. Yummy smell

2. Long lasting fragrance

3. Attractive bottle

4. Extremely feminine

NEGATIVES

1. The fragrance starts fading by the end of 5-6 hours

2. Could be overpowering for a few people with allergies to perfumes and strong scents

Do Note that the smell is NOT SUBTLE but pretty strong and empowering
Will I use it more? I use it every day and intend doing so for a very long time :)

Fragrances...

My latest obsession with fragrances started with the realization that your makeup is not complete without you smelling your best. Hence, I started my quest to find my signature scent...

My current favorites include Oriflame's FIRE, Marks N Spencers' TRUE RED and most recently JLo's GLOW (a birthday gift from my boy friend :))...

Stay tuned for reviews of each...

My Wishlist... droooooool

Lately, I have been going through these Makeup and Beauty blogs for product reviews and have zero-ed in on quite a number of favs. I intend trying them out as soon as I can lay my hands on them and of course as soon as my pocket allows me to ;) So here goes...

MY WISHLIST :)
----------------
1. ColorBar I Glide Eye Pencil: Rs.325/-
REVIEW: http://makeupandbeauty.com/colorbar-i-glide-pencil-review/

2. Urban Decay Primer Potion: NOT AVAILABLE IN INDIA :(
REVIEW:

3. Charlie Red by Revlon [Perfume] -> Rs.350/-
REVIEW: http://makeupandbeauty.com/how-to-choose-the-right-perfume/
Very good review and for Rs.350/- I dont mind trying it ;)

4. Pond's Age Miracle Tinted Moisturizer -> Rs.215/-
REVIEW: http://www.glitterglamourgrace.com/2010/08/ponds-age-miracle-tinted-moisturiser.html

5. Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush -> Rs.180/-
REVIEW: http://www.makeupalley.com/product/showreview.asp/ItemId=65978/Dream_mousse_blush_in_soft_plum/Maybelline/Blush

6. ELF Mineral Eye Shadow Primer -> NOT SURE IF IT'S AVAILABLE IN INDIA :(
REVIEW: http://makeupandbeauty.com/elf-mineral-eye-shadow-primer-review/

7. LOTUS Herbals Hypnotica Eye Contour Definer -> Rs.199/-

The list you see is in no way exhaustive... I intend adding to it as often as I come across rave reviews about products that catch my fancy... Till then... Ta da... :D

Blush Blush...

Having been a fan of making up my eyes for effects ranging from sheer drama to pure innocence, I decided to experiment with other parts of my face... Now you see I have been gifted with really thin lips and so experimenting with them isn't really a welcoming idea to me. So I zeroed in on BLUSH. Yes yes yes blush that makes you look "oh so fresh", "oh so rosy", "have you just been pinched" pink... And it sure did turn out to be a good idea :D

I am not ashamed to say that I did try being cheap and initially used a pink eye shadow as blush. And voila! It turned out to be a success. BLUSH actually suited me! So I have finally gone ahead and have bought a propah blush for myself. It is STREET WEAR Smoothwear blush, the shade being "Pink Blossom". I bought it for Rs.190/-. It is turning out to be pretty ok, nothing very noteworthy, well what did I really expect out of Rs.190? It imparts a pink flush to my cheek and that's about it! Oh but yes, it is extremely long stay :)

The brush applicator that comes with it is now worth mentioning. It's horrible! It's a plastic flat brush which is extremely rude to my skin and so I have been forced to use a proper blush brush... I like the sound of it! The BLUSH BRUSH!

How do I apply it? Well.. All I do is make a fish face and apply the blush to my cheek bone all the way up to the corner of my face.

I plan to go blush shopping today to check if I can get my hands on some "ooh" "aah" inducing blush :)
Wish me luck! ;)

EYE SHADOW: a start...

“Your eyes are the windows to your soul” is what someone great had said. If it is true then we have got to get our eye makeup right ;) Isn't it? So here we go discussing eye shadows in this blog. Before I start... Ladies please feel free to write your comments and give me some feedback as how we could together make this blog more and more helpful for make-up junkies like us ;)

Further, in order to structure the blog such that it is easy to absorb info, I have divided the section on eye shadows in three different posts. Each post shall deal with the nitty-gritties of achieving beautiful eyes using eye shadows.

Eye shadows can make or break a look and it is very important to strike the right balance between under-dramatic and over dramatic eyes. Eye shadows not only add color to the eyes or highlight them, but they also help in changing (virtually), the shape and size of your eyes.

Before we go ahead, let us go through some rules that I swear by and most beauty and make-up blogs and articles also stress on. The rules are as follows:
1. Thou shalt not highlight the eyes AND the mouth at the same time.
2. Thou shalt not extend the smokey-eye look up to the eyebrows.
3. Thou shalt always use shadow brush and not the spongy applicators that come with the
shadow.
4. Thou shalt apply eye shadow according to the type of eye thou has been gifted with.

Jai Kajal ki Jai Ho!

On Friday I ran out of my Revlon kajal :( Just to refresh your memory, it was the one that has the perfect "jetness" of black and is extremely smooth as described in my previous post at: http://confessionsofamakeupoholic.blogspot.com/2010/08/kajal-kohl-surma.html
So anyways, now that I had run out of it, the only logical solution seemed to be was to go in search for it. And since I was travelling to Mumbai the next day, I needed it really fast. But of course you don't always get what you want and Murphy's Law struck... My "blackness" personified Revlon was not available anywhere! They were all out of stock... (Hey! Is everyone out there buying it?). And it is 9:30 in the evening with all stores shutting down!

So, out of sheer desperation I go to "Hanuman Stores". It is you know a "kirane ki dukaan" as in a General store selling groceries, cosmetics and the like. I apprehensively go and ask "Bhaiya aap kajal rakhte hain kya" (Bhaiya do you keep kajal). He says yes. Wait! what? did he just say yes? YES? Really? Oh my! My hopes soar and I ask more confidently this time "Kaunse kaunse hai?" (Which ones do you have)? He gives a curt reply "Jai Kajal". WTF! JAI KAJAL. What the hell is that? My soaring hopes dash :( But I am making myself feel better by saying that I can always buy one later...

I leave the store and tell my sister about it and she asks "Jai Kajal?". I say yes, sensing that she has more to say. I am praying for some hope and then she says "You know didi, a friend of mine uses this local kajal, which comes for 7 bucks and it is the black-est kajal I have ever seen." What? Will you please repeat it? What did you just say? All i heard was the "blackest kajal". I want it now! I am a sucker for black kajals... The blacker the better. I rush into the store and say with a smile "Bhaiya, woh Jai Kajal hi de do" (Bhaiya, gimme the Jai Kajal that you have). I buy it for 10 bucks.

I can't wait to reach home and try it! I am praying to God to be kind and to please bless me so that the blackness of Jai (no racism here!) wins me over. Once home, I hog the mirror, scrub my face. You see I have this weird logic that if your face is scrubbed the kajal looks doubly black (yeah right! whatever!). I take a matchstick and smear it with the kajal and apply it on the inner rim of my lower eye (sorry for the details!). Ok... My first reaction- it smells like camphor! Second reaction- my eyes are feeling a cooling sensation and weird.. Is it the camphor reaction? Third reaction- Dude! It's black. It's the black that God created! It's the exact color that God wanted black to be. It's heavenly! and wait does it have a "wet look" effect? Oh God! Really? Thank you God... Thank You so much for making me find this.

But wait what about the smell of Camphor? I turn the container and sure enough they have listed Camphor as the first ingredient! I am thinking "If they have so confidently mentioned camphor in the list of ingredients, it couldn't be bad... or could it?" I google it... I type "Camphor Eyes" in the Google search bar and Voila! According to AYURVEDA, camphor cools the eye and relieves traces of stress and strains. I think incredulously "Is it really good for the eye?” I have found what I was looking for, for all these years and that too for 10 friggin bucks! THERE IS A GOD!

The EYELINER

A friend of mine is getting married soon and the girls that we are, ended up having a trial make up session during one of our night outs! We wanted to try out different looks so that she ends up looking dramatically different on every occasion. We Indians you see have our weddings stretch for an average of a week with loads of functions ranging from plain boring to awesome fun to energy sapping-ly tiring... So we wanted something that was pretty as well as practical. Lolz... Like that's even possible! ;) (But you can't blame us for trying babe...) And that's when I discovered how powerful eyeliner is :)

Well in a loose sense eyeliner is anything that lines the eye, could be kohl like colored pencil, could be in a powdered form or in a liquid form. What really helped us were liquid eyeliners for drama and precision and colored eye pencils for soft definition, though I prefer a liquid liner as I live in a tropical country and colored pencils spell smudgy disaster for me :D

I have used eyeliners in the past because I have always felt that the effect of kohl is never complete without an application of liquid eyeliner. But that night opened a whole new world of opportunities for me to experiment with one's eyes and I have a newfound respect for eyeliners ever since.

So, for starters we searched Google (thank God for that!) and found some interesting links and sites explaining us the various types of do(s) we could opt for. I have compiled the most interesting and most doable ones here in this blog of mine... You guys better try it out and have FUN!

Here goes...
1. BASIC:
    This is as natural as it can get! This is for when you need your eyes emphasized without 

    looking conspicuously made up.
    This includes lining both your lids with a steady hand from the inside of your eye to the 

    outer edge.   

    I would recommend a liquid liner for the upper lid and a pencil liner for the lower lid.
    You may apply white liner in the inner rim of your lower lid to give an appearance of 

    bigger eyes.

2. BOLD and the BEAUTIFUL:
    This is essentially an evening look and you need to skip the pencil for it. Itís the liquid 

    liner all the way...
    This can be achieved by first lining the eye from the middle to the outer corner and then
    drawing a second line from the inside of the eye and joining the previous one. Make sure
    that the outer line is thicker than the inner one.

    Jewel toned colors work very well with this look!

3. CATTY:
    This is one of my favorites and results in a really dramatic look.
    Using a liquid liner line the upper lid; starting from the inside of the eye keep extending 

    the line upward towards the outer corner of the eye. For the lower lid line only the 

    outer three quarter of the eye should be lined.

    For a better finish you might want to kohl rim your eyes and then apply the liner.

Some color preferences based on my personal experience...
LIGHT EYES can be enhanced with browns, bronzes, dark golden, plums and purples.
BROWN EYES look best with greens.
GREEN EYES can be dramatized with silvers, browns and blacks.
BLUE EYES look mesmerizing with reddish browns, golden and black.
BLACK EYES are fortunate to be able to try any jewel toned colors from Emerald greens to Midnight blues to Black and Purples.

Also, I always never match the color of my eyeliner with my clothes! That spells plain AMATEUR! ;)