HAUL: Colorbar and Maybelline

What better way to celebrate a new salary than to go shopping for something you love so dearly and are so passionate about? And yes I sure did celebrate my new
and went shopping! Yay! Honestly? I went to Colorbar to get myself their newly launched Lip Pot but got disappointed when they told me that they haven't yet got
them in stock :( So, in order to do away with my disappointment I "had to" buy some other stuff and so in the process got myself this haul :)


Here's a sneak peak at them and well you can also get an idea about the upcoming reviews now ;)
So here's a list...
1. Colorbar Blush in PLUM BROWN
2. Colorbar Eye Shadow in SPICY BROWN (review here)
3. Colorbar Velvet Matte Lipstick in SMOKY ROSE
4. Colorbar I-Glide Pencil in SILVER HUE
5. Maybelline Express Finish Nail Polish in PEARLY PASTEL
6. Maybelline Colorsensational Lip Gloss in HOOKED ON PINK


I had always wanted to get myself a Colorbar Blush (had heard such rave reviews bout it) and when I realised that I owned only Pink and Peach blushes which were
totally unappropriate for office, I got an excuse got myself this blush in a shade called Plum Brown :) Reviews later. I promise!Also, I had been itching to do a golden-copper smoky eye especially after seeing my really good friend Saumya's fab EOTD on her blog at
http://www.thevanitybagdiaries.blogspot.com and so I got myself this Colorbar Eye-shadow in Spicy Brown... EOTD? Yup! Coming right up!The rest you see are all side-effects of getting tempted...


The swatches for the lipstick, lipgloss, eye-shadow and I-Glide pencil are as follows:
Oh! And on a purchase of Colorbar cosmetics worth Rs.700/- I got the following bath set FREE! :DLet me know what you guys think of my haul and do tell me as to what product reviews would you like to see first...

REVIEW & LOTD: MAC Peacocky Collection Mega Metal Eyeshadow in Ego

When I first started blogging, I was totally swamped by the effect that MAC had or rather has on all beauty bloggers. 99.9% of them drooled and lusted over 99.9% of the MAC products and well I must say, I at the least was intrigued! I scoffed thinking on how was it even possible that MAC was a bonding force for beauty bloggers all over the world. So, not to be left out, I grudgingly walked into the only MAC counter in Pune, which actually is a pop-up store and bought myself my first MAC product... An eyeshadow called NOT Ego but Beauty Marked (well yes that's another story :P)... So anyways coming back to the present, after similar restricted and stupidly cautious purchases, now I can say that I have now upped the statistics of MAC lovers from 99.9% to 99.9009% :D Yay!

Let me say it... I AM IN LOVE WITH MAC... And listen to this... Last night while lying in bed, I told the guy (who else?) that I simply loved MAC. He actually sat up and exclaimed "babe me too"... A lot of thoughts rushed through my mind... Is the guy I married gay? (no offense really!), does he actually use cosmetics behind my back? Has he lost it? So I asked him gently "baby what makes you love MAC so much?"... And what does he reply... "Babe have you any idea about the capabilities of the MAC OS X?"... I need not say no more... But at least we as a couple bonded over MAC even though it is based on a misunderstanding... Sighhh!!! The torments in life I tell you :P (Ikya, this is especially for you)...

So anyways, coming back to the review :) My latest acquisition in MAC eye-shadows is EGO from the Peacocky Collection's Mega Metal Eye-shadows range. It is a mossy forest-green shade with fine shimmer that gives not glitter but a delicate and sophisticated sheen to the eyeshadow when applied :) Wow! I can actually wax lyrical about this particular product.

Before I go any further with my review, let me inform you all that from this review on I am introducing a new template for all my review posts so as to make it easy for all my gorgeous readers (yes you!) to make your decisions and get a clear view of my review (ok that sounded odd)...

So here goes...

Image of the productSwatchesLOTDOooohs and Aahhhs!

1. MAC doesn't require introductions, but still one word... AWESOME

2. The shade is gorgeous

3. Subtle and beautiful color pay-off without any base and a deep and mesmerizing color pay-off with MAC Painterly Paint Pot as base.

4. Negligible fall-out and I mean NEGLIGIBLE

5. No creasing.

6. Stays on like forever. I put it on at around 7:00 pm, then cleaned the house, cooked dinner, went for a movie, had dinner, went off to sleep w/o removing my make-up (bad girl Suma!) and then woke up in the morning at 8:30 am and it was still there INTACT! I rest my case.

7. No reactions but then you already know that! ;)

8. Bigger and more product in this eye shadow range than the permanent collection ones.

Ouches!

1. Expensive? Yes!

Price

It costed me INR 1350/-

Repurchase?

If it gets over then YES but that has a chance of 1 in a zillion :P

Would I recommend?

Are you kidding me? Yes of course!

Overall Rating:
9/10

Let me know if you have tried this eyeshadow? If yes, I would love it for you guys to share your LOTDs or EOTDs with me and I'll post it here with of course due gratitude and recognition :) How PR"y" I sound here!

Mixing Lipsticks to get new Lipsticks!

Today for a change, when I was craving for some new makeup, instead of buying some I actually MADE some! OMFG you heard it right! I MADE SOME NEW MAKEUP! LOL! :D Ok trust it wasn't really rocket science and it's not something I invented myself! The recipe to mix and make new lipsticks has been doing the rounds of the blogosphere for quite some time now. It's just that I finally got around doing something constructive... Well yes it partly because of the fact that it is the end of month and I am desperately waiting for my new paycheck to go out shopping :P Ah! the struggles in life I tell you! ;)
So anyways, what did I mix and how did I mix and what did I finally get? OK! first I sorted out the required and not required lipsticks that I have been stashing since quite sometime now and that's exactly how I came across the two likely candidates ripe for my experiment ;) Ta da... Ladies and gentlemen please meet MAYBELLINE Colorsensational in ICED ORCHID and Oriflame SEDUCTIVE NUDE. As the names might suggest, one is a bright pink-Purplish shade (I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it) and the other is a glittery Nude shade... So I mixed them both and got myself a new shade, which I call "Seductive Orchid" (How original right!) *sarcasm* :DSo what did I do?
Well I just chopped off some lipsticks from both the sticks and put them on a steel spoon. Then I heated the spoon by keeping a candle below. Once the whole thing was melted, I poured it into a tiny tub like conainer, stick it int he freezer for exactly 3 mins and VOILA my new shade was ready to use :)





















Let me know what you guys think about it...

My New Random Wishlist...

I suddenly get these urges to go and indulge myself in some retail therapy... But then everything cannot always be bought now...

1. Slimmer me :P (Well that is something I need all year through)

2. Boyfriend Blazer (I dont have a BF anymore just a husband so I'll need to go and buy myself a blazer now :P ha ha!)

3. A sequin crop top

4. Some silk scraves

5. A hot red skirt (random)

6. Nude Pumps

7. MAC Eye Shadow in "Jealousy Wakes"

8. A perfect Nude Lipstick

9. A Birkin Bag (well a girl can dream, can't she?)

10. NARS Blush in Orgasm!

Any one would like to suggest any more additions? :P I am always open to adding to my wishlist! LOL!

P.S. This is a test post that I am posting via email... Testing Testing 123...

Taking a break

Sorry girls but I'll be taking a break for a while (again, I know) as I have just found out some upsetting but personal news. I'll hopefully be back sooner rather then later though!

Life according to me...

If anyone is interested, I also have another more personal blog! I started this blog when me and the ex first broke up, taking a very humorous approach to things whilst writing things out was helping me get my head around things. I originally planned to keep it personal, but those who have seen it have complimented me saying how funny it is! I guess it's your sort of average life-transformation-after-a-break-up blog but do have a look if you like. I am aware that a lot of people like to use their blog to update about their personal life, and I do to a certain extent with posting up photos and letting readers know what I'm up to, but this blog is a little off topic so I've posted it on a separate blog. So if you'd like to read an honest account of somebody going through a break up, please check it out!

http://life-according-to-lou.blogspot.com

In case you are not quite sure what type of things you can expect, I have posted a little taster below.

The Second Day - Friday



Friday was the kind of 'ooh maybe this is really it, but it probably isn't' day. We hang out for a bit, insisting 'just as friends'. Oooh those were the days, I remember when we first got together and went out for a romantic meal 'just as friends'. We spent the whole time talking about how great it is to be 'just friends' and how we'd be fine, until it came to splitting the bill. I then asked him, outright and in these exact words 'So do you want to go back and have sex?' to which he said yes, to which we did. We worked in mysterious ways being 'just friends' back then!

Anyway, we watched a movie 'just as friends'. A weakness occurred by both of us this evening. He tries to tempt/seduce me by flashing me (smooth move, thanks for that flashing of your willy, lets call of the whole breakup because I've seen your downstairs and make babies, shall we?!), and me - using a much more classy approach - donning matching underwear and giving myself big hair and nice makeup to watch the movie together. (Girls are always more classy when it comes to seduction, a boy will flash you, while the girl will always leave some to the imagination).

It almost worked. Again, he asked me to sleep downstairs and I almost did, but went upstairs to my own room in the end. I think that was more the fact that I wasn't tired and wanted to stay up for a bit, whilst he had to sleep as he had work the next morning.

Oh, and the dreaded 'swapping of the items' happened today too! It wasn't half as bad as it was with my last ex (he dropped my stuff off in a plastic bag while his Mum waited in the car with the promise to call me. He didn't.) as we didn't really have much to give back. Our stuff ends up in each others rooms all the time until we get frustrated with the mess, give it back to each other and bans the other from coming into the room for a week. I gave him a random 'love' teddy back, and a meerkat toy he won me in an arcade. The next day I took the teddy back because it looked daft in his room, and I took the meerkat toy back because I like meerkats.

Read more here!

Pictures From The Present ; Snapshots of how I've spent this week

Week of 18th - 24th July 2011

Rainbow Cake!

Mmmm yummy! If you follow me on twitter then you'll know the week before last I was declaring myself a domestic goddess for making a rainbow birthday cake. Thing is, my mum helped, and we didn't have many colours so it wasn't really a rainbow cake. Nonetheless, this was the end result! It was very yummy and I got loads of compliments about it.

Winner!

I won this gorgeous Soap & Glory set from Rachel Marie as part of a giveaway. I'm so pleased, I never win anything and I adore everything Soap & Glory! So thank you so much Rachel!

Graduate!

As you are aware, I recently graduated from uni! This is me on the day, looking very proud!

This is me and my family, who all drove 6 hours to see me graduate and celebrate with me! It was such a lovely day! The only person missing from this picture is the ex who also celebrated with me, but there is a group photo with him in as well somewhere!

 

Finally, this is me and my sister (looking a bit shiny faced) drinking cocktails. We all went out for a really nice dinner afterwards and had some drinks. It was such a laugh and the cocktails were so yummy!

OOTD & LOTD: Love for the Nautical

Off late, I have been obsessed with all things Navy... Be it Nautical stripes or sailor collars or actually anything blue :) I did this look for the weekend when my guy took me out for a spin on his Royal Enfield 500cc... Oooohhh, the pleasures of life I tell you :P

The top is from Mango, denim shorts from Levi's and Osho flip-flops :)
For the make-up, I just put on some blue gel liner from INGLOT (83) and Maybelline Colorsensational 'Warm Me Up' Lipstick...

Be Inspired

P.S Visit http://inspire-mag.tumblr.com for more (fashion) inspiring photos!

Some Great Giveaways

I would definitely suggest entering each and every one of these giveaways!

Tinks Tales Giveaway

Enter this giveaway to win £50 to spend at Itsocks.co.uk! 

Giveaway closes on 1st August  at 6pm

Enter Prettymakings great giveaway by clicking the picture above!

Giveaway closes on 14th August

The real ins and outs of planning a wedding ; Shopping for Bridesmaids Dresses

By our guest blogger Laura Lowe

If I’m honest, this was the part of the planning I was really looking forward to... bridesmaid dress shopping with my best mate, plenty of coffee and cake stops, and a chinwag. I have spoken a little about Laura before, but words don’t really do her justice... she’ll hate me for this, but I’ll put a picture up so you can see for yourself...

It is probably worthy to note here, my fellow Brides, that my plan of attack was – in hindsight – probably not the best way of going about the choosing of dresses. Due to my highly organised professional life, I think I’m starting to take after my mother and be totally the opposite at home. See below.

10.07am: 7 minutes late (due to *ahem* unpredictable traffic). Pick Laura up, have a gossip with her and her mum (who I’ve known for years) and put the world to rights.

11am: Arrive in town. It’s packed... saturday shoppers, mothers and their damn pushchairs, schoolkids. Nightmare.  Decide it’s too much to handle, go for coffee and midmorning snack (Starbucks cappuccino and double choc chip cookie). Note to self: STOP EATING!

11.30: Feeling refreshed.  Take one look at queue in Debenhams, head to M+S. Try on some ballgowns in a lurid green colour. Hate them. Move on.

11.50: Fight through the crowd at Beatties and try on some hugely expensive dresses. Looks lovely – but then, Laura would look good in most things, lucky cow! Decide it’s too expensive. Definitely move on!

12.13: Debenhams. Lovely dresses. Great style. Fit beautifully. Wrong colour. Move on.

12.25: Head out of town towards the independent wedding shops. Get sidetracked at Frankie and Benny’s.  Drink wine and eat pizza. Not to self: STOP EATING!

13.15: Independent wedding shop in Telford. Ask to try something on, get a snotty reply about booking an appointment. I point out that there’s no one in the shop. Get a withering look. Try on some dresses. Love them. Laura loves them. Send pic to Rob, he loves them. Get presented with a booklet of 150 colour combinations and lengths. Get very confused.

14.00: Still in the wedding shop. Annoy the assistants with our indecisiveness so take the booklet without ordering anything. Get more snotty looks.

14.15: Head to another shop. Discover that you really do need an appointment. Leave without booking an appointment. Note to self: MAKE AN APPOINTMENT!

So, our day of dress hunting, out of wedding season and with no organisation, wasn’t very fruitful. However, I’m sure you’ll all agree that catching up with your best mate is always a winner and we had a fabulous day! 

The real ins and outs of planning a wedding by the future Mrs Burke

Hair Tutorial: Velcro Rollers

My latest hair tutorial on SWalkerMakeup shows you how to create big voluminous curls using one of my must have beauty products: Velcro rollers! Yes, it is a little old-school but I love the effect they give and nothing else gives me a much bouncy volume for a night out or special occasion!

Product's used:

TRESemme Curling Iron (half inch?)

Schwarzkopf Guardian Angel Heat Protection 

Velcro Rollers (available at any drugstore/supermarket/beauty supply store)

L'Oreal Elnett Satin Very Volume Hair Spray

Vo5 Miracle Concentrate Serum

The Result:

Here is the video tutorial showing you how to put in the rollers, how to remove them and, how to style the final look. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Enjoy the video...

Graduation!

I'd just like to do a quick post on this because I am absolutely ecstatic that as of yesterday, I have now graduated! It's been a long, tough three years and I think my degree was touch and go for a while but I still got to graduate yesterday and it was an amazing feeling!

If any of my friends or family are reading this, I just want to give a big thank you to all of you that have supported me over the past three years!

Me and my brother! I'm clearly too cool to wear the hat properly!

I've decided to put together a few tips for anyone who is starting/thinking about going to/studying at uni - mostly tips I wish I'd knew over the years!

• Don't get into a relationship before starting uni. If you've been with your bloke for a long time and you are in a stable relationship then ignore this! But there's really no point trying to be serious with anyone when you start uni - you will want to have fun at freshers. I don't mean that in any specific way, but yes you may want a couple of cheeky snogs or hook ups and you certainly don't want to worry about putting time aside for your boyfriend when its freshers and you're going out meeting new people, really having no worries. If you do have a boyfriend though, do consider his feelings - if you've moved away and you're out getting drunk and clubbing and meeting new people every night then it's no surprise he's going to worry a bit. So if you are in a relationship, try and see things from his point of view, reassure him that you're relationship is stable and maybe agree to always have one or two nights a week to skype with each other or something. It's not worth having boyfriend worries when it comes to your second year because you'll have enough stress as it is!
• Really put yourself out there. After uni a lot will change so essentially this will be one of your last chances to have a bit of fun. Do go out all night on the cheapest, busiest night of the week - even if you have a 9am lecture the next day. The following week just put your uni priorities first. What I mean is try to have a good balance - but take chances too. You don't want to look back and regret not getting a good grade because you didn't buckle down - but at the same time you don't want to look back and regret not having as much fun when you were still at that age.
• Be safe! This one is self explanatory but be as safe as you can. Never get taxis alone (especially when drunk), always keep a spare tenner in your shoe/bra aka away from your other money so if you spend it all on drink you've got that last bit of cash to get home etc. Also, register with a doctor and dentist immediately and look around to see what the uni has to offer. My uni did free condoms (lol!) and they also had a scheme with the local taxi rank - if you couldn't afford to pay your fare then you gave the taximan your student card and simply paid the taxi fare within the uni to have your card returned to you! Also, don't listen to what other people think! If you are single, there's nothing wrong with having fun, as long as you are safe and you are not hurting anyone/cheating in the first place!
• When it comes to living arrangements ALWAYS make a rota and lay out some ground rules. It sounds boring - but get it done ASAP and you can always do it whilst pre-drinking or whatever. I never did with my two flatmates and at the end of the year everything escalated into massive arguments. By the end of the second year they were bullying me and by the third year we weren't even talking. So a simple thing by not setting out ground rules (i.e who takes out rubbish on what day, even things like checking to see who has early starts and when or who has to revise for exams so you know not to come in late being loud and such) can lead to something as serious as bullying which will most definitely effect your work.
• Money save all the time. Moneysavingexpert.com is useful, as is using cashback websites. Don't forget if you're running low on supplies, mum will always be happy to post up/bring up some resources! And look around too, you can get a travelcard which is useful if you travel back home by train, and loads of shops offer student discount.
• Finally, have fun. It will be hard and it will get on top of you (which is usually about the time you ring mum!) but it will also be one of the best times of your life. Keep your head down, but also go out and party. Celebrate big, or drown your sorrows big too if you fail an exam. Hook up (safely), make lots of friends, and take lots and lots of photographs!

Sorry...!

Sorry about the lack of updates this week! Sunday and Monday I was sorting out my room, trying to make space for when I move and baking a birthday cake, then Tuesday was spent traveling back up to Sunderland! Wednesday was my ex's birthday so his family were around and we went for a walk down to Barnes Park, and Thursday was probably the most stressful and dramatic filled day of my life! Then Thursday evening I was packing..Friday I graduated! Friday was absolutely lovely, all my family came up and the ex (god I don't even know what to call him, technically he's an ex but he's still a close friend and between posts we're constantly on and off!), all came to the graduation then we had a lovely meal afterwards! And cocktails! And finally today I have travelled all the way home again. So its been a long week. I'd love to do some pictures of my week but they're all on different people's cameras, so maybe I'll put them up next week.

Just a random LOTD :)

Hello all my gorgeous readers :) I am back with an LOTD (yes the background process of trying out MAC fluidline is on and no I haven't forgotten bout my reviewing it :P)...
Well as the title suggests it to be just a random LOTD but well if truth be told this wasn't any random LOTD but a well thought out look that I wanted to do for a special occasion :) Well you see 12th was our 1 month wedding anniversary and we went out for sizzlers :D Yum yum yum :)

So cutting short to the chase, this is how I looked...

My make-up breakup (LOL) is as follows:
1. MAC Paint Pot in Indian Wood
2. Eye shadow from Coastal Scents 88 original palette
3. MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick in Craving
4. A random lip palette from Oriflame used as a blush :)

Ok and what was I wearing? Well you see in all the excitement I forgot to take any pics of my outfit but I shall still describe it to you guys :)
Black skirt from Mango
Peach crochetted lace top from Forever New
Black open stilettos from Inc.5

Let me know how you liked my make-up :)
And yes the Gel Liners War will culminate next :P

18 Day Photo Challenge

Day 18 - a picture of one of the best times of your life

One of the best times of my life was when I met Shia LaBeouf!

...

...

...

...

...

...just kidding! (Unfortunately :( ). This is just me harassing a guy that REALLY looked like him. I tried to get this lads number, but he had a girlfriend :( 

..actually one of the best times of my life was the summer that this photo was taken! At least I think this photo was taken in that summer. These are two of my best friends and I spent most of this summer with Sarah who is the girl in the middle. We basically spent the whole summer listening to really good music, going to gigs, drinking underage in this awesome pub that EVERYONE went to, hooking up with hot emo boys, dressing up as emos ourselves (as a joke obviously, I mean it's not like it actually suited us or anything...), going on double dates up the downs under the stars at night and annoying people on webcam. It was lots of fun and definitely one of the best summers ever.

Although I still wish that first photo was actually of me and Shia LaBeouf, I'm not entirely sure it would have topped this summer!

And there you have it, my 18 Day Photo Challenge! I hope you all enjoyed this little insight into my life, I definitely did, let me know what you think!

18 Day Photo Challenge