The Body Shop Color Crush Lipsticks

All brands seem to be coming out with these super creamy, super pigmented lipsticks that hydrate and give a satiny to high shine. Maybelline with their color sensational line, revlon with the color burst line to name a couple. This range from The Body Shop is along those lines.

The are packed in sleek silver tubes with a plastic lid depicting the color family they belong to and there are three: the pinks, the reds and the nudes. I was very curious to see if they pulled it off because my past experience with their lipsticks was not too good, one went off very soon and the other always needed a good amount of lip balm before applying.

Guerlain L'OR Radiance Concentrate with Pure Gold Makeup Base

Who would have thought it? Gold in makeup...as if gold jewelry wasn't enough, they take the lure of this precious metal and put it in a makeup base claiming that it enhances the look of the skin and tightens fine lines. Does the gold really do anything? Keep reading to find out what my thoughts are on this product.

Guerlain L'or Makeup Base

Guerlain is a super luxury makeup brand that is most famous for its range of bronzers, its meteorite powder (that comes in little multi colored balls) and its meteorites primer. It is more slightly more expensive than other luxury brands like Lancome or Illamasqua. 

The Color Wheel in Makeup 101 and How You Can Use it in Your Makeup Routine

There is often confusion when it comes to terms like color tones and color correction and under tones. Makeup, like all other forms of art, is made according to the artist's personal preferences and style and there are no limitations to what you can do. Extreme forms of makeup can be seen in on the ramps but the truth is that those looks are pretty darn difficult to pull off in real life. But if you can then hats of to you. But for a more wearable style, the makeup wheel can aide you in deciding optimum colors and provide best options for your particular set of features.

This is the color wheel: We all know that in makeup we often use the two words- cool and warm colors.

General colors falling in the warm and cool categories

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

With the super success of the first palette, Urban Decay hit the jack pot again with the launch of their Naked 2 palette. There is a lot of chatter about owning both palettes, if you have one, do you need the other? In my personal opinion I think both palettes are very different. There is a shade common to both called 'Half Baked' and shades that give similar vibes, but overall the first palette is more warm toned and bronzy whereas the second palette is mostly neutral to cool toned. And so if you like neutral shadows and like Urban Decay then yes, this one is also a nice one to own in addition to the first one.

For an in depth review of the first palette just click this link.

The Naked 2 Palette also has a shade common to the Naked Basics Palette called 'Foxy'. For the review click this the link.

The Naked Basics Palette has a shade each from the first and second palettes called 'Virgin' and 'Foxy' respectively.

12 taupy mostly neutral to cool shades

My Perfect Shade of Fuchsia

With Spring right around the corner, I was looking around my lip colors looking to upgrade accordingly. I had done my perfect shade of red earlier, but red is a classic color, ideal all year round. For spring you look to more bright vibrant colors depicting the awakening of mother nature from her winter slumber. Flower buds breaking though and the sun that begins to reveal its true self from behind the murky clouds.

Keeping that festive mood in mind, I remembered this particular lip color that was just waiting to be pulled out from the makeup bag and put into plain sight to be used. It was a recent buy, but it got tucked away during the winter, and though it of course it would be nice with a subdued eye makeup in winter (which I actually do like), in spring, pairing it with pastels or colorful liner would be interesting too. I should mention I am a big fan of this entire range.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate in 02 

Sleek Eyeshadow Palette in Storm

Sleek has really made its name in the makeup industry as a budget friendly yet surprisingly excellent quality quality cosmetic makers. I find that their blushes and eyeshadow palettes surpass the likes of MAC and Nars easily. And the selection of the colors is to die for...each and every shade is deeply pigmented and transference is phenomenal.

After a lot of deliberation I decided to get this particular palette in i-Divine Storm. It was a close call between the au Natural one and the one I ended up getting. I felt this one will give me the most options, indeed it is a universal palette with all your eyeshadow needs all packed up neat and tidy in a 'sleek' palette.

Prestige Waterproof Lipliner in 47 Spice

Already being recognized as one of the best lip liner makers out there, I can not praise their lipliner in the shade Spice enough. It's affordable and excellent money's worth of product. If its the one thing I can never get myself to do is splurge on higher end lip liners...I think its outrageous...at least I have that little bit of sanity.

And here is a little jewel that is just so universal its just a must have in your makeup bag.

Maybelline 24 Hour Color Tattoos

I am wondering why powder eyeshadow palettes are still so much in demand. The minute we see a nice one, we want it...regardless whether we buy it or not. The reason I ponder is because with the cosmetic stores overflowing with cream based eyeshadows, why would you need powder eyeshadows, I mean come on...not only are they true to color, extremely pigmented, blendable (depending on brand) and long lasting...they also come in the convenient forms of pencils and pots as opposed to powders that can get pretty messy. And these days eyeshadows are almost always layered over some cream product to make it pop.

Ahh the vanity of a woman!! Still can't ditch coveting lovely new powder eyeshadows, but I digress...

The color tattoos, who has not heard of these. Pioneer of cream eyeshadows, Maybelline came out with these few years back and well, the rest is history.

I'll do 3 at a time...

How I Cover my Under Eye Circles

Just like so many women out there, I suffer from extreme darkness under my eyes. Reasons range from lack of sleep to sinusitis to plain old genetics.

Literally no amount of used tea bags,  potato and cucumber slices, huge array of under eye creams or any other magical concoction has done jack to alleviate the issue.

The only thing to do then is to take help from concealers, but not simply concealers but correctors to be more precise.

Its pretty simple really:

Barry M Eyeshadow Palette in 303

 I made a resolution to use brighter and bolder colors and I even have this gorgeous palette tucked away in my makeup bag. Ummm confession: haven't done it yet. The intention is there and no doubt I'll get around to doing it soon but until then let me tell you a little about it.

Palette 303

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzing Base

Chanel's cult bronzer...one of the most expensive luxury products I own...but worth every penny. In all fairness, the price is close to economical compared to other brands because you get a whole 30 grams of product which is equal to most foundation bottles compared to 8-12 grams you get otherwise. So let's just get on with it....

The famous Chanel logo..

Essentially Natural Foundation by No.7

This one I bought on a whim. Being winter, my skin was dry and even after washing with simple water it tended to get that dreaded stretchy feeling. I was looking for a hydrating formula, nothing heavy duty and something easily won on a day to day basis. Its pretty much what I did get....

Shade Cool Ivory

MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish Highlighter in Superb

Yesterday I talked about a rosegold blush, but today, I want to talk about a highlighter from MAC that has a rosy champagne color to it. It was released as a limited edition item from the Extra Dimension Collection along with two other shades but this one is the most universally wearable one. I think they re-released it once after as well due to huge demand. This was a actually in response to the Estee Lauder Gelee Powder which was also limited edition but both brands are owned by the same company and both products were essentially the same except for the price tag. I had to snatch this one up before it sold out. These items get prebooked and sold even before they hit the stores. I guess I was one lucky gal...

Half of the product has a swirly pattern, and the other half has MAC embossed on it.

The back

Sleek Blush in Rose Gold

A total cheek product type of person, I'm always on the look out for a nice, different/unique blush shade...every girl has that pink and peach but what if you find something that is so unique that it becomes a holy grail item?

Everybody, introducing the Sleek Blush in Rose Gold:

Its a British brand that's famous for its eyeshadow palettes and blushes, super quality, super pigmentation and as the name suggests, sleek packaging making their products travel friendly.

Clinique Chubby Stick - 05 Chunky Cherry

There was such a hype around these, that they were hydrating and soothed chapped lips and kept them moist and healthy looking on cold dry days...and well the packaging is so appealing...all of the hyped pulled me in one day as I finally gave in while the display called to me. Since my lips are pretty pigmented and light colors hardly show up, I opted for something bright and festive, hoping that I could kill two birds with one stone: get color pay off, get healthy smooth lips.

Chubby Stick in 05 Chunky Cherry

Guest Post: Urban Decay Naked Palette- The First One

Today I have a guest post again by a fellow makeup junkie MA, and as with all makeup junkies she is head over heels in love with....you guess it, the UD Naked Palette. So without further delay, let's just get right down to business:

Urban Decay Naked Palette

A friend of mine aptly said that no blog is complete without a mention of naked palette.  So here I am bringing you a review on my absolute favourite and one of the most coveted and hyped about product in the beauty world, the Urban Decay Naked Palette.

The packaging is made up of cardboard covered with a velvety/ suede material which sadly is a dust and lint magnet. The palette itself is very compact, sturdy and travel friendly with a magnetic closure. A downside though is the small mirror inside which is of no use.

Modelco Face Base Skin Primer

My first primer ever. I can't forget while looking through a magazine, I saw this primer featured in and ad spread, further more a Modelco outlet was opening in Mall of the Emirates and they said things would be on a limited time offer sale.

The feature also said that this was the secret to the flawless skin you always saw on models but just could not recreate yourself (hello photoshop?) So this is the stuff that makes the magic I thought...I had not yet dipped my toes into the waters of primers...

But boy did I take the plunge...this is really amazing.

NYX Mosaic Powders- A Review

You know how I mentioned one of these a couple of posts ago (click here), well I've been thinking to do an in depth review of a couple of more I have. They are just what I look for in an easy to use blush, if its not a matte thing I'm looking for...these are what I really enjoy.

So lets dive right in:

The 3 powders I have from this line are:

From the left: Rosey 06, Dare 12, Plummy 03

My Favorite Mascara of the Moment

My relationship with mascaras is fickle. They don't last long and a new one enters the picture after a few weeks. Also pointedly, I am not a big fan of splurging on higher end mascaras. I think these days drugstore mascaras are really rocking it. Especially the ones from Maybelline and Rimmel.

So recently, I've been loving the Scandaleyes Mascara by Rimmel. The whole range of the Scandaleyes products are very good generally. I have reviewed the pencil liner in this range here. So anyway, I initially got the non waterproof version so that I could easily wash it off for washing my face before prayers and this did come off easily with water and eye makeup remover but I liked it so much I picked up the waterproof one for times when I would need it to wear for a long period of time. Also generally speaking, waterproof versions hold the curl better than its counterpart.

Behind: Waterproof

In front: Non waterproof

Higher End Makeup Product Regret and a better Dupe

I went into the department store one day hoping to treat myself and splurge on a higher end face product, a blush most probably. My gaze fell onto a blush by Dior. I loved the color and it looked amazing under those lights...yeah you know what I'm talking about. Matters moved swiftly on when the sales lady sang all its praises. At any rate, long story short I ended up with the

Came in a cute velvet cover, mines is full of fluff because it has just been sitting there in my drawer.

The shade: 839 Rose Vintage

Some Really Great Drugstore Highlighters

2013 was the year of the Highlighters. Right and left, brands were coming out with powders, creams, liquids, and some in between. There were strips of different shades, swirls and pretty patterns, different tones, funky packaging. It was and still is quite the rage to be highlighting the high planes of your face, namely on top of cheek bones, on the bridge of the nose, on the cupids bow and the brow bone.

Here I have some easy to get drugstore highlighters in an assortment of tones and types, and they are all at least half if not one third or less the cost of department store brands like Dior or Chanel.

The Body Shop Highlighting Beads, Prestige Skin Loving Mineral Bronzer, Essence I Love Runway Highlighting Pen, No.7 Skin Illuminating Beauty Fluid in Peach, The Body Shop Highlighter in Glow Enhancer, Palladio Shimmer Strips, Essence Vampire's Love Shimmer Powder 

The Essence Products are Limited Edition but with every collection they have some sort of highlighter and they are all very nice.

theBalm Jovi Palette

I recently got one palette that I was and am so excited about. I had heard all good things about it, from the packaging to the names of the products to the actual product itself.

I am telling you that this did not disappoint. Its one of those things that are hyped up about but when you finally get it, the item actually does live up to the hype. That doesn't happen very often in my experience, but in this case I will go so far as to say that it went further than my expectations.

So let's just get into it.

The front

As with all theBalm palettes, an identical cardboard slip cover is provided. Notice the line on the palette inside, that is the flap cover, one opens upward, the other opens downward.

The back shows the product names and ingredients.

What's in my Makeup Bag - Updated

This is a bag from Clinique that I got as a free gift with some skin products inside. Its so cute and pretty and the colors are so bright and perk me up. Its also a good size though it may not look it. You'll be amazed at the amount of stuff that's in here. The only thing I haven't added is a daily moisturizer. I just usually use a cream once in the day so I did not put it in the bag but I am thinking one should still have a good moisturizer on hand. 

So this is a look at it in another angle:

YSL Glossy Stain no. 4

These are so exclusive and unique. If its the one product that has no dupe out there yet, its this particular product. It's a huge big splurge but its so different from other lip products that this splurge is rather justified.
Now I only have one (will probably always own one...) but here's why I think they are just wonderful.

Revlon Colorstay Foundation for Combination to Oily Skin.

Before starting be warned this is more a rant than a rave. This foundation did not impress me even though contradictory to my above statement, I actually had been using it for years. But in my defense, it was in the days before I found Clinique or Lancome or even Rimmel or Bourjois. I know this foundation has a huge cult following and it is often stated to be a dupe of Makeup Forever HD foundation which I have never tried. But if it is then I'm not inclined to try it.

Shade 180 Sand Beige

 Let’s see about the pros:

1. It has good coverage. I still need concealer for blemishes and under eye circles.
2. Its smell is not unpleasant, though its not entirely pleasant either, I don’t have an issue with it. To me its like a bit soapy sort of and it stays on for quite some time.
3. It is also long lasting, easily lasts the day. But I do notice some oil breaking through after a few hours.
4. It has soft flex, which is supposed to be something good for the skin I am guessing and an SPF of 6.
5. It comes in a wide variety of shades from pale to very dark. 

So it seems to be pretty good right? But…

NYX Dupes for some well known MAC Products

I was looking at awe at the new MAC outlet at my local mall, but I knew it was just going to break the bank going inside. Which got me to thinking. NYX makeup is so close to the quality to MAC if not even better in some cases. I had already heard of plenty of dupes for their range and so I thought to scour the net and compile a few more well know dupes for famous MAC makeup shades in the blush, eyeshadow and lipstick categories.

A dupe means a shade that is quite similar in color and finish to the original product, maybe with the slightest difference...sometimes you get something that is exactly the same. However with the product being 1/3 the price, what's the harm in a say, 5 % difference which is hardly noticeable once applied?

So then here goes: