Deborah Milano hi-tech eyeshadow trio in 10 Green Rhapsody: Swatches, review and EOTD

This looks a lot like the Bourjois Smokey eye Trios but is in fact much different. I suppose these are baked too and it says you can use these wet as well. The Deborah Hi Tech eyeshadow trios come in many shades and you can create a whole eye look with each. The one I'm reviewing here Green Rhapsody is an olive green gold combo trio. These Deborah Milano hi tech eyeshadow trios retail at Rs. 495 and are available at Deborah Counters or most retail sites. I picked this up from Medplusbeauty at a discount.

The Deborah Milano Hi Tech trios are very soft despite being baked and have very good pigmentation. These are also slightly sparkly. They go on pretty smooth and blend easily but have some amount of fallout since they are so soft so you gotta be careful during application. The shade Green Rhapsody has a light yellow gold shade which can serve as a highlighter or even as an all over lid shade for a daytime look. The next shade is a medium pista green shade which again has slight shimmer and good payoff. The third and darkest shade is an olive green which is not too intense. You can create a nice daytime smokey green eye look with these as shown below or even combine with a bit of black shadow to create further depth for added intensity. You could even use these wet but I've not tried it so far coz I'm not sure how to do it..whether to just wet a brush and dig into these or scrape a bit of shadow out and then use it. Coz sometimes using a wet brush directly on the pan spoils the shadow.

Yay for:

• Can use dry or wet
• Good pigmentation
• Smooth application
• Easy to blend
• Can create a nice subtle green smokey look with this palette
• Can be used with the applicator provided or with a makeup brush

Boo for:

• Has fallout
• Needs primer underneath to prevent creasing
• Lasts 3 hours without primer
• Has slight shimmer so it may not be workplace appropriate
• The plastic casing is slightly hard to open

Overall, these are worth the price and the shades are easy to work with. However, I'm not quite impressed with the colours in this particular palette. Might look at some other colours.

My rating: ***

Bourjois Smokey eye trio in 10 Gold Smoking: swatches, review and EOTD

I have a thing for pallets... They're so cute and compact and usually contain enough stuff for a complete makeup look. Hey, everyone likes to arrange stuff in palettes. No other way to explain all the "de-potting" videos on YouTube right?
So this one from Bourjois is really cute and comes as a trio of 3 colours to create a smokey look. Bourjois is pretty well known for its baked blushes and eyeshadows and these pallets have 3 baked mineral eyeshadows in pretty colours. The Bourjois Smokey Eye Trios are prices at Rs.645 each for 4.5g and are available at Bourjois counters or a few online sites. I picked this up form Medplusbeauty.com at a discount.

The shade I have is Gold Smoking which has a dull orange-y gold shade that's not too sparkly or metallic but just right. The darker shade in this palette is Black (or is it dark dark brown?) with subtle bronze shimmer throughout. The lightest shade is a pale pale white gold shade. The shades are all average when it comes to pigmentation with the gold having the best pigmentation and the white gold having the least. The white gold isn't smooth at all and goes on patchy but makes a nice subtle highlighter! But I don't really use it so much and love the other 2 shades in this palette.
Now this is a baked shadow palette and the shades are slightly hard. You CANNOT use a brush to apply this. You won't get any product at all! You can only use the foam tip applicator that's been provided with this. This applicator is pretty good. It's not the usual sponge tipped one..this is more like foam. This doesn't get shredded like the usual sponge tipped ones in a couple of uses. I only use this applicator with this palette. You can even blend pretty well with this applicator. Surprising, I know!
The shades themselves have no fallout whatsoever and adhere really well to the skin without even a base or a primer. It's also pretty long lasting and doesn't crease even after 6 hours. I guess it's coz the shades are so hard. I'm not quite sure if I like the hardness. While it makes it adhere to the eyelid well and stay put, it also results in poor pigmentation and you really have to dig into the shadow and pile it on to get it to show. Mixed bag, really.
But the colours are gorgeous and you can create a lovely gold-black smokey look how I've shown here. I really like how the colours are so unique and have this nice sheen to them without being overly blingy or loud and bright.

Yay for:

• Beautiful, unique shades
• Nice sheen, not too blingy or bright. Just right.
• Can be worn in the daytime or at night
• Never goes on cakey
• No fallout
• Doesn't crease. Lasts 6 hours.
• Adheres well to lids even without a base or primer
• Applicator provided is pretty good. Foam tipped instead of sponge tipped.
• Easy to apply. Blends well. Beginner friendly.

Boo for:

• Very average pigmentation
• Baked shadows, so these are slightly hard. They might further harden with time.
• Applicator might be too small for comfort for some
• Cannot use makeup brushes to apply these

Overall, the Bourjois Smokey eye trios are a mixed bag really but this particular shade Gold Smoking is quite unique and definitely nice to have. You can easily create stunning smokey looks without looking OTT or too bright with this. Would definitely recommend this one to others.

My rating: ***

Maxfactor Kohl Pencil in Cobalt Blue : Review and Swatches

My love for blue eyeliner is no secret. I've got brown eyes and blues really flatter them well. I've been on the lookout for a blue kohl forever, something that I could wear on my waterline. I've got blue pencil liners form Maybelline, Faces and Colorbar but none of them are waterline safe. How do I know? I tried them on my waterline and my eyes immediately started burning and watering and I had swollen eyes the next morning. So kids, don't try that at home!
Caution: you can only use products that say kajal or kohl on your waterline.

So imagine my happiness when I saw this product listed on MedPlusBeauty.com. This retails for Rs.220 for but I bought it for Rs.187 online.
There are also other shades available: grey, black, taupe and brown. Wish there was a teal or green though.

Colour:
It's just what the name says : cobalt blue. Pretty bright and completely matte.

Quality:
It's not too creamy like the faces or Colorbar I-glide ones but not hard too. Pretty easy to get enough colour without tugging the eye. But since this is a kohl, it's not smudge proof or water proof. You rub it, it'll be gone.
Comes in a regular sharpen-able wooden pencil form. Fits in any regular sharpener. Easy to sharpen without breaking the tip.

Yay for:

• Beautiful, bright blue colour. Flatters brown or black eyes well. Bright but not garishly so.
• Waterline safe
• Quite soft. Can apply without tugging eye area.
• Not too soft that tip breaks when sharpening
• Pretty inexpensive

Boo for:

• Not smudge proof or water resistant
• Lasts for about 3-4 hours and then fades away.

You can buy this online at MedPlusBeauty here or from any Maxfactor counter.

Overall, I think it's a neat product for the price and I love wearing this on my waterline with a wash of shimmery nude shade all over the lid. The blue is subtle enough to be worn during daytime too.

Rating : ****

Bridal Makeup Look: Dance of the Peacock

Guys! This is my second entry to Pooja's fabulous Bridal Makeup Contest.
I call this look "The Dance of Peacock" and predictably this combines shimmery green and blue shades to create a bridal look.

So what do you think? Head over to IndianBeautyCentral for the look's breakdown and a photo tutorial. Do comment there if you like it. :)

Bridal Makeup Look: The Sultry bride

This is my entry for Pooja's lovely Bridal Makeup contest.
I call this the "SULTRY BRIDE".

What do you guys think?
Head over to the post at IndianBeautyCentral to see the break down and photo tutorial for this. Dont forget to comment there to help me win! :)

Animal Instinct: Artistic Eye Makeup

Guys this is my entry for Cynthia's Artistic Eye Makeup Contest. The prize is the Too Faced Natural Eye Palette and I'm in lust with it.
I've recently been obsessed with Animal print as evident here and here so its a no brainer that i chose to do it for my eye makeup too! Ok so I call my look "ANIMAL INSTINCT" and here it is, followed by a rough tutorial. The best part about this look is that even though its dramatic, its not too OTT so you could easily wear it to a party without looking ridiculous coz you'll only see the full animal print when you close your eyes. :)

Finished look- Animal Instinct

Trial on my hand

Bare eyelid

Apply primer

Blend primer and dust loose powder over it to set it

Give a wash of shimmery copper e/s all over lid

Pat some gold e/s over lid and dark shimmery brown over crease

Draw leopard spots with a black eyeliner

Fill orange e/s into the leopard spots

Create a dramatic winged look with black liner

Blend everything , touch up, clean up-done!

Rawwwwrrrrr!

Products Used:

• Beauties Factory 88 colour eyeshadow palette
• NYX HD Eyeshadow base
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in "Iced Mocha"
• LA girl Pro Primer base in Black
• Lakme eye quartets in "Peacock"
• MAC Mineralize eye shadow in "Golden Gaze"
• Chambor glitzy eyeliner in Black

Products Used

Colours from the 88 palette used in this look

So if I win I promise to work for world peace and the upliftment of women and I'll also spread AIDS awareness. No Nitya! Stop! This is not the Miss Universe Pageant. Oh Sorry.. got carried away. Ok so if I win I promise to do a lot more turorials and keep it fun. :) Please vote for me.

Oh but I'm so nervous after seeing some other entries! Soo talented these ppl are! Sigh~~~
*Fingers crossed*

And here it is- posted on Indian Vanity Case.

NYX studio liquid liner in extreme plum purple: swatches and review

Ok gonna keep this review simple coz the product deserves just that. This is a no frills decent performing liquid liner. This is from NYX's range of studio liners and is in the shade extreme plum purple. This range has metallic shades that have a sheen to them even after drying.

This shade is a dark metallic purple and shows up beautifully on the eyes. I bought this from Cosmetix.in for Rs.351. The tube is quite small though and has 5.5mL of the product.

This comes in a regular tube with a wand applicator with an extremely thin brush tip.

NYX Studio liquid liner in Extreme Plum Purple

Brush tip applicator

Swatches-immediately after application

Swatches-after drying

EOTD

EOTD

Yay for:

• Good pigmentation
• Great colour that retains sheen even on drying
• Feels comfortable after applying. In fact feels like you've applied nothing. No stretchy dryness.
• Comes off easily with plain water. In fact what I like about the removal part is that this sort of peels/flakes off when it rub over it with water and doesn't really smudge and stain the area around the eyes like some other liners do. No mess, no dark circles.
• Stays long without fading or feathering as long as you don't rub your eyes
• Inexpensive
• Cruelty free. Not tested on animals.
• Applicator tip is very very thin so you can easily draw thin lines or thick ones.

Boo for:

• Takes about 3-5mins to fully dry during which you'll have to keep your eyes shut especially if you have droopy or folded eyelids else it may transfer over the eyelid area.
• The consistency is slightly runny so you may have to dab over the line to make the colour shine.
• Can't use on waterline.

I like this liner. It's easy to apply and remove and feels comfortable. Would probably explore other shades too from this range

You can buy this here or here.

Rating: ***1/2

Faces magic liner in Blue: Review, EOTD

I lurve Blue eyeliners. I find that they really complement my medium brown eyes well. I've been on the lookout for the ideal blue liner- one that has a satin finish, is cobalt blue in colour, without any shimmer, just solid colour and of course ticks all the right boxes- non smudging, doesn't feather, doesn't irritate, long staying and (important for me) washable. But I haven't found it yet. :( The upside is that I have acquired many pretty blue liners in the process. The latest to feature in my collection is the Faces magic liner in "blue". It's a liquid liner that's a shimmery navy blue. Its a very pretty colour and looks great on brown eyes. I bought it from Cosmetix.in for Rs.245. The MRP is 300 though. This has 6ml of product.

Faces Magic Liner in Blue

The applicator

Swatch

Faces Magic Liner in blue-EOTD

Faces Magic Liner in Blue-EOTD

Yay for:

• Vibrant colour
• Stiff applicator, easy to control and to draw extended cat eye liner
• Minimal feathering, long lasting
• Doesnt smudge once dry, even if you rub your eyes lightly
• Nice glossy black packaging
• Washes easily with water. For me this is a plus point because I dont like waterproof liners as they are difficult to remove. This I can wear on a daily basis and not have to bother with makeup remover and tugging and pulling. All I need to do is wash my face with soap and water and its gone.
• Doesnt sting or burn

Boo for:

• Slightly thin consistency which means after drawing the line I have to keep dabbing over and over to pack the colour on.
• Takes a while to dry so if your eyelids are small or folded you need to keep them closed till it completely dries, else it'll transfer.
• Bottle is opaque so you wont know how much of product is left
• Cant use on waterline as this is not waterproof

Overall, this is a decent liner for the price and I really like the colour which is not in your face kinda bright blue. This has slight shimmer and not glitter particles which means I can easily wear this to office as well. Works well with bright or nude lips.

You can buy this online here or here. Also available in green, brown and plum shades.

Rating:***