Bobbi Brown Lip Crayons : Review & Swatches

I've been all over Lip Pencils for a while now. We saw Lipstick Queen China Town Glossy Lip Pencils, then we saw the Avon Big Color Glossy Lip Pencils and now its Bobbi Brown ! Little did I know Lip Crayons would be big this fall ! Are we the trend makers or what !


Unlike the two other pencils which were super glossy, the Bobbi Brown Lip Crayons are more matte and opaque. I dare not pull these outta my bag on a dry winter evening when I'm struggling with chapped lips. I'd rather store it and use it at its full potential on well exfoliated, smooth lip days. The shade I tried was Raisin Berry - a total Fall / Winter darling. Gosh, I love Fall / Winters. I love bundling up in coats, getting out my pretty scarves and above all not look odd, wearing dark lipsticks.

The Lip Crayons come with a sharpener and are available in six shades: Honeysuckle, Coral Pink, Raisin Berry, Posey, Dusty Nude, Wild Rose. If you are at Nordstrom any time soon, check out these crayons and let me know which shade was your favorite.

Price - $22
Purchase - Nordstrom, bobbibrowncosmetics.com
Purpose - Lip Color Pencils for a matte opaque look
Position -
Wait, that's not all. There is lot more where this came from.


This September, Bobbi Brown will be coming out with a glamorous Metallic Long Wear Cream Eye Shadow Collection ! I'm thinking this will be just the product for glossy model-esque eye lids. The shadows will be available in 8 shades: Chrome Patina, Brown Metal, Starry Night, Black Pearl, Starry Purple, Antique Gold, Goldstone and Mercury. So exciting !

“With these shadows there’s no need to choose function over style. They’re long-wearing and come in the most glamorous eye-catching shades ever.”
– Bobbi Brown

Speaking of eyes. Remember this song form the 90's ? I was making coffee this morning and suddenly the song popped in my head. Its been over a decade since I even thought of it !


Love,
Indian Girl

Where Am I Today ?

Here on AIMB of course but also on A Girl's Gotto Spa. Today I am the contributor for their guest beauty post.

Hop on over here and show the love. The product I've written about is one the most relaxing face masks I've ever tried. And it costs only $3.37 ! And its made from several several natural ingredients !

Love,
Indian Girl
PS : Thank you to everybody who hit A Girl's Gotto Spa and left an encouraging comment. Love you guys. And those didn't - I love you too. Now go check out the post !

The Body Shop Tea Tree Blemish Fade Night Lotion

For the past year I've been using a mystery product to dry up pimples and fade the blemish it might have left. One whole year. And just last week I realized the product was a Tea Tree Oil based one. Some times I'm like that. I'll make my mind up that it was made of Salicylic Acid and it will be a year before I realize its Tea Tree Oil.

T.E.A T.R.E.E O.I.L

The Tree Tree Blemish Fade Night Lotion is now available 2 for $18. Originally its retails for $18 per product. Aint that bloody brilliant ( that's my London based alter ego)


It was when I sniffed this little bottle that I realized the story behind my mystery product. Once you get past the unique smell, there is no reason to not like this lotion. Its totally non greasy. As non greasy as fries rolled in paper towel and twisted to squeeze out the oil.

The two important ingredients in it are the Lemon tea tree and Community Trade tea tree oil from Kenya which contain anti-bacterial properties that help fight blemishes and prevent new ones from forming. The other essential ingredient is Tamanu oil from Madagascar which has a soothing effect and helps to calm irritation and redness.

Thanks to some chocolate overdose from baking cookies for a friend I broke out on my right cheek. Three days of continuous application and there was a marked difference on the state on those suckers. They shriveled, sunk, weakened and drew back from fighting the almighty Tea Tree.

For $9 I am super happy with this product. Its a dream formula for gorgeous oily skinned women. For a dry skinned beauty ( hey, I called you gorgeous) like me, its still a miracle product coz it moisturizes and soothes my skin apart from putting those red suckers in its place.

Price - $18 (1.0 fl oz)
Purchase - Thebodshop-usa.com , The Body Shop stores
Purpose - Blemish Fade, Oil Free Lotion
Position - Have you tried any product from the Tea Tree Line ? If not, you must !

Love,
Indian Girl

Meals For The Heels Mask - Oatmeal For Your Feet !

Y'all know I love oatmeal , right ?

No ?

Well, I do. And if you don't, then you've got to check out my Breakfast Oatmeal Recipe here. Its a power packed super yumm breakfast !

Since this is my daily routine I usually have huge boxes of Oatmeal ready in my kitchen and am always looking for new ways to use it up. This is a tip I got recently from Skyy Hadley of As “U” Wish Nail Spa.- A Meals For The Heels Mask. Loves the name ! And, it uses my Oatmeal !

This Is What We Do

Take one cup of regular oatmeal and 1/2 cup of regular milk and heat up over the stove, stir until cooked. Add sugar to thicken the mixture, and then let it cool off a bit. When the mix is thickened, apply to your feet.

Leave the mask on for about 5 - 10 minutes.

The oatmeal soothes dry, itchy or irritated skin, while the sugar acts as an exfoliant to help get rid of dry and dead skin cells. Finish off with pure shea butter as a moisturizer and you’re all set.

I am a total slacker when it comes to feet. I wash it regularly (OCD -ly) but don't pamper it as often. Must get working on that. Plus isn't this a good addition to our Natural Week !

Love,
Indian Girl

Bad Makeup Happens To Good People : Eva Longoria - Almost Always Gets Her Makeup Right, No ?

I love Eva Longoria. The petite beauty along with gorgeous J. Lo taught me to keep it light around the eyes and relatively dark or natural on the rest of the face. It is rule that changed the way I looked in photos forever.

F.O.R.E.V.E.R

Just look her. her with the nice blow dried hair and super pretty makeup.
Blow drying only makes my hair dry and stringy.
And that smile, I cant smile that smile unless I've eaten a couple of glazed doughnuts.
Then I'll do anything.

The hair again. I hawrt it.
The blush ? Bit bright, no ?

That's more like it. Bright on the cheeks but done right.
And is that Texas on her neck ? Howdy !

Pretty updo ! Nice warm makeup. BIG earrings !
I cant wear jewelery to save my life.

Ooh very nude face makeup. The pewter eyes - very nice !
About that face shez making, yea ....not so sexy in real life.
I know, okay.

And then, it all went wrong.
Very wrong.
Very very wrong.
It became washed out and ashy. Thank God for the ultra black lashes.

But we wont talk anymore about it. Bad makeup happens to good people and that's it.

Love,
Indian Girl

Casa di Francesca Home Fragrance : Review ( No More Chinese Take Out Stink - Just A Fresh Clean Scent)

There is one downfall to being a foodie and cooking up a storm - your house soaks up the smell of everything that you lay on the stove. Be it soy sauce, oyster sauce, or super aromatic Indian spices. As much as its fun to cook I usually keep all my doors and windows open while cooking so there is no smell in the house. I absolutely loathe coming through my front door only to be greeted by the scent of what I ate last night. At this point I usually revert back to deli sandwiches which are yumm and don't make a big fuss around the house.

But, What Choice Do I Have ?

Apart from the open door policy, I use up a whole lotta fragrance to make my home feel more cozy. My favorite was to light up candles, which of course cant be used if I'm not going to be home. And if they are not lit - they don't give out any fragrance. The plug in ones are just weird to me. I don't like em. Reminds me of insect repellents. And the pot pourri - don't even get me started on them. Tres trashy - my opinion only. I promise I don't hate it if you have them in your home. I just don't like em at my place.

Reeds, Italian Reeds

It was during my search for a more effective way to 'scent' my house that I came across the Casa di Francesca Home Fragrances. Each Starter Kit includes a beautiful Italian glass diffuser bottle, a separate 200ml plastic bottle containing the fragrance and 10 reed diffuser sticks. Though it is advised to fill up half the glass bottle with the fragrance oil, I chose to fill only about a quarter of it. You then place the reeds in it . It took about an hour for the reeds to soak up the oil and to start disseminating the delicious scent into the air.


I chose to try out a clean scent - Italian Linen. One of the best decisions ! The scent is so clean, fresh, delicate and so very welcoming. Absolutely no body will ever have an issue with it. Scent apart, the glass bottle with its cute blue ribbon is a pretty addition to my home. They have over 40 fragrances to choose from. My next will be the Mediterranean Lavender / Casablanca Lily. But then I might feel all hide-y and go for English Leather. What say ?

BF loves it too !

It took a little over two weeks for the bottle to dry up. Going by this calculation I am guessing one kit will last for at least two months. I loved it so much that I instantly ordered one for my bf and had it sent to her place. My girl and her husband loved the elegant bottle and the fragrance !

I told you I was organizing the home ! This is part of the easy changes. Will write more on what else I've been doing soon !

Price - $39.50 (starter kit - 200ml)
Purchase - www.casadifrancesca.com
Purpose - Home Fragrance
Position -
Love,
Indian Girl

Dove Body Wash With NutriumMoisture™ : Review

I cant remember how young I was when I first saw Dove's ad that said their soaps had 1/4th moisturizer in it. But I remember, soon after that I convinced my mom and dad that if there was a soap my sister and I were going to use - it was Dove.


What was your first beauty purchase as a kid ? How much parental convincing did it take ?

Here are some stories from our Twitter brigade


That should establish the fact that I love Dove bar soaps. My next favorite would be Olay Oatmeal which is becoming extremely hard to find. You know what they say...out of sight, out of mind.


Dove recently introduced a Body Wash collection that contains the NutriumMoisture™ technology. This new technology can penetrate up to ten layers of skin ( I didn't know we had so many ! Dermis & epidermis is all I remember from school). Most body washes either strip out deeper layers of moisture make us feel dry or just sit on top of our skin making us feel good on the outside while the lipids and proteins on the inside, starve from lack of moisture. The New Dove Body washes promise to preserve our natural proteins and lipids by proving them adequate moisture.

Ooh I love all things scientific !

The Body washes are available in Deep Moisture, Sensitive Skin and Gentle Exfoliating formulas. I tried them all and had two clear favorites - deep moisture (DM) and sensitive skin (SS). DM, a little more than SS. Now I really cannot strip down to ten layers below and find out if they were moisturized but I can tell ya, I haven't needed a body lotion since I began with these. Both SS and DM create mad lather which the suds queen loves. They are thicker than most body washes, almost like a body lotion. But when you get out , there is no slimy greasy feeling that comes from most super moisturizing formulas. This is especially important to me, given the hot humid weather .


The exfoliating body wash was my least favorite. It is moisturizing but not really exfoliating. They call it a gentle exfoliator but I like something a lot more scrub-by. Something that will take the dirt away after a hard day at the ranch.

That's right I said ranch.

Aah, who am I kiddin.

I ain't no cow girl. But I like a good body scrub. In this one, I could hardly feel the beads. May be its good for sensitive skin ? Or for gently exfoliating right before shaving ?

Price - $9
Purchase - CVS, Walgreens, Target, Walmart
Purpose - Moisturizing Body Wash
Position


Have you tried these New Dove Body Washes ?



Love,
Indian Girl
PS : I bought the Dove Ultimate Visibly Smooth Deodorant (Fresh Scent) last week and Hallelujah !!! Its brilliant ! I promise you it was good for over 24 hours, man !! I'll write about it soon !

Zoya Hot Lips Glossy Lip Balm : Review & Swatches & Giveaway

Did you know Zoya made lip glosses too ? Yeah, they do ! They are called Hot Lips Glossy Lip Balms. Balms or gloss no matter what the name, these are slightly addictive. So beware...


The Hot Lips comes in cute 0.42 oz fat tubes. They are so tiny that you can afford to have 20 or so in your bag without adding much weight or taking too much space. I tested out six of 50 or more shades. I loved 5 of em so that's a very good ratio ! The sixth one was pretty too but too light for my pigmented lips.

Check out the shades. Arn't these super ! They are way way way less stickier than Lancome Juicy Tubes, have a good amount of color and shine, not heavy on the lips, smell slightly sweet and are very forgiving on broken lips. I'm not sure if they have BOGOF or similar sales, but if they do, I would stock up on plenty of them ! They even make cute gifts for your teenage nieces !

Price - $6 (0.42 oz)
Purchase - artofbeauty.com
Purpose - Shiny Moisturizing Lip Gloss
Position -





luvie ( a frosty milky pink) - not swathed

Hmm so you made it to the end of the post. Good Job !
Now that you did here are two ways to enter to win a set of all six glosses ! And I'm giving away two sets. So two of you stand a chance to win a complete set of these six glosses featured above !

Two Ways To Enter :

1. Answer this question.

Name at least three bands that have a color in their name. For example : Black Eyed Peas
Leave your answer in the comment section of this post along with your email id. Unfortunately if you dint leave an email id, the entry will be invalid.

or

2. If you're on twitter RT about this giveaway.
RT @Indiangirl Indian Girl is giving away two sets of Zoya Hot Lips. RT to enter !! http://tinyurl.com/mzuonu

Giveaway is open only to US residents and ends on Monday, August 31 at 11 PM C.S.T. I will randomly pick and announce the winner later that day

Have Fun !

Love,
Indian Girl

Nicole Scherzinger - Raisin Charm

It is tough not to be a teensy bit jealous of Nicole Scherrdfnjfsbdklvsknloezzzrrigzer's long beautiful hair and spotless skin. I really don't know the products behind that silky hair and skin but I sure can tell you the $5 lipstick that will give you the same lip look.

It is the Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Rum Raisin 535 . Ooh the gorgeousness that this shade is !! This is one my most favorite drugstore lipsticks ever. It is perfect fall shade but one need not be super bold to carry it off. It is a creamy raisin with a hint of brick to it that brightens up my complexion like no other. There were a couple of years in my life when I practically wore this shade every single day. I need to get me a case of this, now.

Shez got a brother - Raisin Rage. A very handsome fella !

Love,
Indian Girl

Whats On Your Nails ?

Last night I finally replaced the Estee Lauder Rose Gold shade with a barbie pink one. The EL nail polish was amazing !!! It took about two weeks for it to start chipping. If long stay is your thing pick a couple of EL nail polishes.

This barbie pink shade (#174 Lovin Lilac) on my nails is by Karma Organics. Remember the organic nail polish remover I wrote about, a while back ? Its from the same brand. The nail polishes are organic too !

They go on very easily and took two coats to get a dense, creamy even color. I am planning on getting more shades form this brand because my cuticles have become extremely sensitive and seem to e responding well to these organic nail polish remover ( I swear its the best !) and lacquers.Guess they go well with my Natural theme for next week !

The shade is uber pretty !!! I'd like to think it goes well with tanned skin !


What shade do you have on your nails ?

Love,
Indian Girl

Wanna Guess Sushmita Sen's Lipstick ?

I heart Sushmita. I think she is gorgeous, charming, super independent and has a mind of her own. I have adored since her Miss Universe days and continue to do so. I found this picture of hers at a recent event and loved the makeup ! Her trademark well groomed, arched brows, the shiny luscious dark hair, all the warmth on her cheeks and lips compliments her tan skin so very well !

If I had to take a guess at her lipstick or suggest a shade similar to hers it would be Julie Hewett Lipstick in Thandie. Its gonna be a favorite to wear this fall. Also a great shade to try out if you wanna make the jump eventually into full blown reds.


Love,
Indian Girl
Pic Source

Go Natural With Me For A Week

Starting next Monday I am planning on going natural with my skin care / beauty routine for a week. All through the week I plan on using only natural plant based products to help cleanse, moisturize my face and body.

I'd like to see if using just natural stuff makes a difference on my skin. My mom keeps saying it will, but we'll see. I wanna see if my skin will survive not being fed its daily dose of Moisturizers and lotions that come in bottles and spray cans.

So , who wants to join me in this experiment. We wont do anything fancy. No Himalayan herbs and stuff . Just regular things available in the kitchen like milk, sugar, salt, oils and other things you suggest.

It'll be super if y'all, my girlfriends join me. More than anything we'll have fun doing it and we;ll totally bond ;) Just leave a comment below if you're interested and then we can all discuss on the items we wanna use for our Natural week !

Love,
Indian Girl

Milani Infinite Liquid Eyeliner : Review & Swatches - The Eyeliner That Stays On F.O.R.E.V.E.R !!!

Ladies Ladies Ladies

If I ever said the words eyeliner tattoo before on this blog, I take that back now; For I have found something that actually is semi permanent. s.e.m.i.P.E.R.M.A.N.E.N.T !!!

And it stays on for 24 hours or forever until you take it off. 2.4.H.O.U.R.S !!!

I am really into d.o.t.t.i.n.g words

The liners come with thin brushes that can be easily manipulated to draw as thin a line as possible or thicker for a more solid bold line. But the deal is this - you better rest your hand on a steady table when you do it because once the line is drawn there ain't no going back, baby.
Water and soap make no difference on this liner. Last night after a round of swatching on my hand, I tried taking if off with soap and no amount of rubbing made it budge. All that happened was my hand turned red. But once I dried my hand and pulled out the makeup remover , it vanished in seconds.


The Infinite Liquid Eyeliners come in five bright metallic shades.

Everlast - black
Endless - metallic purple
Infinite - metallic electric blue
Forever - Golden Bronze
Eternal - Golden Green

The shades make the liner even more special ! All of them except the solid black have a metallic finish. The most sombre of the 5 is the purple shade - Endless. However, I do have a few more requests. I'd love one metallic dark brown, a pure gold, a pure silver, a navy blue, a forest green and many many more. One more thing, the liner takes a while to dry and isn't really instant. So, it is better to keep your eyes closed and do one eye at a time. Dry time. Then do the other eye. The bronze one , I thought took the longest time to dry. The black, a close second.


This one's an ideal liner to look glamorous under extreme conditions - be it 13 hours at work or if you're a sportswomen who plays under the hot sun for hours or if you garden nonstop for hours or if type endlessly on AIMB.

Price - $5.99
Purchase - CVS, Walgreens,
Purpose - Semi permanent eyeliner
Position -

What is your favorite shade ? I am totally diggin the blue !!

Love,
Indian Girl

Conceal FX Concealer By Cover FX - The Mother Of All Concealers : Review & Swatches

I know you guys loved the EOTD that I put up with the Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner Post. Though the liner worked out well, the real unsung hero was my concealer - The Cover FX Camouflage Concealer.

To show how awesome these are let me show you a pic of me without the concealer


There you go ! The things I do for the blog...
Notice the evil inner corner of my eye. Its darker than the Dating in the dark room.

I need to pay extra attention there and somehow most concealers just crack and look dry in the inner corner. Y'all know I am dead serious when it comes to concealers. Throughout a year and a half of blogging how many concealers have I recommended to you - one. Just one. Does not mean I didn't test any . I tested plenty but none were good. None worthy of my time and space on this blog. That's how serious I am about concealers.

After so long I came across another one that was great enough to be recommended to y'all.


The Cover FX Camouflage Concealer is the newest product from Cover FX. This is what Cover FX has to say about their new range of concealers - " Conceal FX Camouflage Concealer, an instant, flaw-erasing concealer cream with a lightweight velvet finish. Conceal FX is not just perfect for your skin but also great for HD film/video, seamlessly covering anything you want to hide, providing opaque, long-lasting, water-resistant coverage and can be used to instantly erase under eye circles, redness, dark spots, sun damage, blemishes, tattoos, birthmarks, fatigue or skin trauma. "

Here is a list of the shades available and the corresponding foundation shades in the range.


Conceal FX Shade	Ideal for Foundation Shade Range
X-Light	0-20
Light	20-40
Light-Medium	40-60
Medium	60-90
Deep	B0 - 25
X-Deep	B25-65

Having had a very good experience with their foundations I was so looking forward to trying out their concealers. I got in Light and it worked very well with my skin tone. The shade is very warm and has a touch of peach to it which is extremely important to cover up the bluish purple tinge that dark circles have. Another reason why peach correctors are recommended for severe dark circles.

The concealer comes in a tube with a teeny tiny hole. You need extremely little amount of the concealer and you get just that much at a time. Absolutely no wastage. The tube seems a lot more sanitary to me than pans coz I am not dipping my finger into the whole product at a time.

The Camouflage concealer has a creamy texture but isn't very creamy. Very creamy concealers tend to crease easily, disappear faster and do not provide extreme coverage. At the same time if its not creamy, the concealer remains as blobs because it becomes very difficult to apply and spread. With this concealer there is good balance in the texture so as to make it creamy enough to spread easily but opaque enough to cover up everything with very little product.

I tried the shades Light & Light to Medium. Light is bit more peachy than Light To Medium which has a little more yellow and looks lighter than the shade Light. I found that Light suited me the best and looked great in pictures so I decided to stick with it.



Word of advice : Always use a hydrating, oil free eye cream under concealers.

Price - $25 (0.5 fl oz / 15 ml)
Purchase - Sephora, Nordstrom
Purpose - Water resistant concealer for under eye circle, tattoos, birth marks
Position Love,
Indian Girl

Urban Decay Fall 2009 Lipsticks : Naked & Confession - Review & Swatches

Along with the multitude of eyeliners we saw earlier , Urban Decay also released three lipsticks as part of their Fall 2009 Collection. The three shades include Naked, Confession and Oil Slick. After checking these two out, I am beating myself over not getting Oil Slick. It is a high priority right now.


Of the two I tried, Naked won me over instantly. It has replaced Jailbait as my most favorite lipstick from UD. Over the last week I cant tell you how many time I took off the lipstick I had on and went (with) Naked. Aah, I just had to put it that way ;)

Naked is a neutral pink that goes on very very creamy. The lipstick also has a hint of gold sparkles on it that kinda play hide and seek with my eyes. Its like they are there but not there; but what I actually mean is they are not there but are there.


I don't know what UD is up to but I sure am confused.

Damn my eye doctor, I told him my left eye was blind and he says it isn't. Now, you tell me are there gold sparkles or not ?

Price - $22
Purchase - Sephora, Macy's , Ulta, Urbandecay.com
Purpose - Lipsticks
Position

Confession is a deep mysterious wine. It goes on dark on my lips but not heavy and opaque. Looks nothing like what it does in the tube, hence mysterious. Its one for cold nights, trench coats and crack-free lips.



Price - $22
Purchase - Sephora, Macy's , Ulta, Urbandecay.com
Purpose - Lipsticks
Position


What is your favorite lipstick from Urban Decay ?


Love,
Indian Girl