SherSingh.com: site review and shopping experience

I saw a few ads for this site on some blogs a while ago. This site had primarily salwar suits and sarees so I promptly forgot all about it coz I don't shop for those online. I only like buying stuff that is not available locally like cute dresses or silk tops etc. And a few days back I again saw this SherSingh ad pop up everywhere- this time with Lisa Haydon wearing some very cute dresses. I was curious so I checked out the site again. And boy have they completely turned it around! Now they only have western wear- from cute linen dresses to oversized silk tops to jersey maxis and polo shirts. What the?
They have stuff for both men and women and have tops, blouses, polo t shirts and some very cute accessories as well. The clothes are very well photographed and represented. They also keep adding new stuff every week. I especially love the cute linen dresses and might pick up a few very soon.

They also have an offer of 20% off on your first purchase once you register. So I did that right away. I picked up 3 tops that I thought I'd pair with skinny jeans or jeggings and are work appropriate too. The site is very easy to navigate and I'd opted for cash on delivery option. After placing my order I immediately received a confirmation email and a confirmation call the following day and they sent another email the following evening saying my package was shipped out via BlueDart with the tracking number included. Can I saw wow! I'd placed the order on Wednesday night and received the parcel on Friday afternoon. Pretty damn cool no?

The parcel arrived in a Blue box that said Sher Singh and inside each blouse was wrapped in a tissue paper and a plastic cover and was neatly ironed and folded. Very impressive. The clothes were exactly as they were shown on the site and the sizing was pretty accurate too. They even have a return police in case the stuff doesn't for you right.

Overall, I think it's a great site for some affordable casual fashion and you should definitely check out their linen colour block dresses or oversized casual tops in silk or cotton. Also, great service and super fast delivery makes it a winning combo.

My rating: ****

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with the site nor am I being compensated for this post. Heck...they dont even know I'm doing this post. This is purely coz I found the site nice and wanna share it with others. :)

Why I have been AWOL + what all I've been buying

Guys! I know I've been missing from the scene for a while now but it's coz so much was happening. 2 cousins got married (not to each other). One of the weddings was in Bombay so had to go there. And of course I couldn't return without shopping a bit, now could I. But couldn't make it to the famed Beauty Centre. Sigh.. Next time. And another friend got married in Kerala so had to attend that too. And was travelling with the lil dude who was surprisingly well behaved on flights.

Ok now onto the fun part.. What all did I buy? Well, I only had some one hour to shop at Linkin road and couldn't buy as much as I would have wanted to but oh we'll.. C'est la vie! What? I love rasta shopping ok? Really badly wanted to go to the Kala Ghoda festival and to Colaba Causeway but really couldn't coz I was still the lil dude's only source of food and it would have gotten uncomfortable taking him along.

Also spent some time at the Pheonix High street mall where I was meeting some friends for lunch. This time I took the dude along coz Palladium has rooms where you can nurse the baby. So I didn't have much time to really shop but these powder pink skinny jeans caught my eye and I had to had to get them. Zara was on sale but I couldn't even step into the store.. Everything was in a disarray and was a total put off. Ugh. Oh btw has anyone heard of the store called MUAH? Last time I was in Bombay I picked up some very cute dresses from them for quite cheap. I remember it being in Palladium but I just couldn't locate it this time. Does anyone know what happened to it?

Oh and I did some shopping online.. I scored these items from IndianHanger just now. Have ordered for them. Will let you guys know when it arrives. Have bought 3 things- this long pearl strings chain with a Kundan brooch on the side with an emerald and diamond setting and a quirky green beads elephant pendant chain and silver kolhapuri wedges. Can't wait to get my hands on em! :)

I was just going through my wardrobe and found there are too many dresses in either black or blue. I needed more colour. Hence, this Vero Moda dress from Asos. Pretty cheap too. :)

I've also been wanting to get a nice white dress for a really long time. Something that I can wear for brunches. And I saw this Mango dress on ShopatMajorBrands and it was on incredible sale so I decided that I had to, had to get it. But....when it arrived it turned out very differently from what I'd imagined! It wasn't white, it was cream. And it wasn't a stretch jersey fabric, it's wool knit. Sigh. But it still looks good, only my search for the perfect white dress continues...

And picked up some stuff at the lifestyle sale. These 2 dresses were on 70% off and are from CODE. Dirt cheap. The printed dress can also be worn as a tunic over leggings. How could I not buy? :D

I also splurged on some makeup from FACES, MAC and Inglot from the money I made from the blog sale (thank you everyone who supported it. Muah). Picked up MAC Cosmo lipstick (which im wearing everywhere-even when i go to buy groceries), MAC paint pot in Let's skate which is a gorgeous shimmery light pink-gold one from the Glitter and Ice collection and Carbonized eyeshadow which is the perfect brown shade.
Also got a lovely duochrome pigment, a white kohl pencil and 2 rainbow eyeshadows (black+greys and browns) from Inglot.
From FACES i got a velvet matte lipstick in Jazz Berry jam which is very close to Cosmo but pinker. Beautiful shade. Full review coming up. In love with its texture, colour n everything. Also got 2 duochrome pigments- teal and white pink.

Ok I actually put in some extra money to buy all this but what the hell. :p

So that's all folks. I'm back to home base now. Oh but the lil dude isn't so little anymore and has started teething and sitting and standing up. Uff! And he's only just 6.5 months. So he's constantly moving around and pulling things so gotta keep running behind him. Which leaves me with lesser time to blog (and shop online) but will manage whenever possible. :)

VioletBag.com: Site Review and Shopping Experience

Online shopping in India is at a very nascent stage right now and is about to explode into something Huge. And another great site to fuel our beauty and personal care needs is VioletBag.com. It's been around for a while now and has had very positive feedback in the indian blogosphere. So I decided to check it out too.

Site Layout and Interface
The site layout is very neat with a pleasant violet (surprise) and white theme and has a drop down menu to select makeup stuff or personal care products, etc. You can even view products by brand or product type- lip products or eye products, etc. But what I found to be a drawback was that you can't further narrow down your search to say eyeliners or eyeshadows alone for eye products or lip liners, lip glosses or lipsticks for lip products. But you can narrow down by brand or price range which is a useful feature.

Featured Brands
VioletBag has a wide range of brands in makeup, skincare, personal care and fragrances and they keep adding new products regularly.
The best part is that most of the items are on good discounts too.

I ordered for a Revlon luxurious smokey eye crayon in Bronze smoke, a Vega professional pencil brush, a revlon colorstay lip balm and Vega eyeshadow applicators.
At first the lip balm wasn't available but they managed to hunt it down from some dealer (brownie points for this) and I received my package in 4 days. I was given a confirmation email with the tracking code as soon as they dispatched the parcel. I'd opted for COD and received it in good condition.
The package arrived in all it's violet glory with the content firmly wedged between thermocol cubes and bubble wrapping. Very pleased with the packaging.

Yay for:
Wide selection of brands
Easy to navigate site layout
Good discounts on almost all products
Free shipping on purchases over rs.250
Cash on delivery available
Friendly customer service
Quick delivery
Very good packaging

Boo for:
No sub filters available for makeup components

Overall, I'm quite pleased with this site and would recommend others to check this out. Especially recommend their makeup brushes section and fragrances.

My rating: ***1/2

Disclaimer: I was given a voucher to shop at the site but the review and experience is sincerely mine.

MakeupShades.com : Site Review and Shopping Experience

Ok I know I have been inactive for sometime but it's coz I recently moved back to my place from my mum's n it was so chaotic. Packing n unpacking n settling in n everything. Sure, my place is just 3 Kms from mum's but it still was taxing ok!
Oh btw Happy New Year guys! How rude of me to start cribbing before wishing! So what did you all do? I went to this place called Fusion9 where they had a live band playing. Oh and the female lead singer did the most awesome covers of Black Eyed Peas' songs! Brilliant.
I wore a dark blue n black lace dress with blue accessories n blue smokey eyes. Will post a pic soon. :) But I had to rush back before 12 coz I'd left the lil guy back home n he started getting cranky coz I'm his only food source right now. But it was still fun coz I got to dress up n go out with my friends after so long! Was good to see the whole gang together. :)

Ok so I discovered this site quite by accident coz they dont advertise or anything on the web I suppose. I was doing some research on the Revlon Aqua Mineral powder (yes, I'm very jobless ok) when I was directed to this site and saw the prices were pretty low! Huh? It was the site that time forgot. Well, not anymore. They've now updated their inventory and prices too. Sigh~

MakeupShades.com Homepage

This site has very limited brands- Revlon, Maybelline, Olay, Lotus, Garnier, Tips and Toes, Lakme and Colorbar. The full range isn't available in each brand too. But they have nice discounts. Or rather, they did. When I placed order the Revlon Colorburst lipsticks were Rs.341!! The MRP for these is Rs.475 and none of the other sites have any discounts on Revlon stuff. But this site only had 3 shades- Rosegold, Gold dust and Orchid. Yet I bought one. Had to! 341 you guys!!! I bought Rose Gold and I also picked up the Revlon Aqua Mineral makeup loose powder for Rs.600 (MRP is 1100). Damn cheap no?

But I think after my order they re-evaluated everything and hiked their prices and even introduced some new products. They are based in Gurgaon and have a very nice customer care service. They called me regularly to follow up and I also received free earrings and a handwritten thank you note with my purchase. <3
You can even request for a product and they would send it to you if they source it.
I'm really quite impressed with their service. The product was delivered to me in 3 days.

The site layout is also pretty neat and user friendly.

I would really like to see them expand their inventory and market themselves better coz I think they have the potential to grow really huge. :)

My second order from BeautyJoint is here! Eeeeeee! (+ party OOTD)

Guys! Remember my second order from BeautyJoint? It came in yesterday! Sooo thrilled! The first time I ordered from them I mainly bought round lipsticks but I wasn't too happy with them and this time I did a lot more research and bought stuff that I'm totally in love with.

I'd placed the order on 28 November and it was shipped out on 1 December and reached me yesterday, on 16 December. Considering this is the holiday season , this is super impressive. Last time I'd gotten it within 10 days.

BUT.. This time after I eagerly ripped open the package and stopped drooling and hyperventilating I found a couple of items were missing- the Kleancolor nail polish in black and NYX round lipstick in Lousiana which was on back credit on my last order and was included in this. I dunno if BeautyJoint forgot to put it in ( but their invoice includes these and says total no of items=20 but I got only 18) or if it was flicked at customs (can they even do that?). But this time I think my package was opened at customs coz it had cello tape around the top which wasn't there last time and the self glue on the envelope was messed with. Sooo..I dunno! But I'm not that upset coz these 2 items were the least important ones in my list and I can easily get black nail polish here too (just thought Kleancolor is such great quality at that price) and I already have many neon pinks in my stash so don't miss Lousiana lipstick too. And these together cost only $4 so around Rs.200. Not a big loss but scary nonetheless. What If a more expensive item had gone missing *gasp*.

The package- see the cellotape at top?

Ze Goodies

Ok so he's what all I got this time. Do let me know if you want me to review anything first.

Got 3 jumbo eye pencils in Yoghurt, Iced Mocha and Cottage Cheese.
Got 3 soft matte lip creams in Stockholm, San Paolo and Antwerp
Got 1 jumbo lip pencil in Soft Fuchsia
Got 2 slim lip pencils on Rose and Sand Pink
Got the Studio clear face primer
Got the highlight and contour powder compact
Got 2 Kleancolor nail paints in Chunky Holo Black and Holo Purple
Got 1 NYX nail polish in Dorothy
Got 1 round lipgloss in Real Nude
Got LA colors pro primer stick eyeshadow base in black
Got NYX colour lip balm in Xie Xie
Got the NYX dual sharpeners coz the jumbo pencils and slim pencils don't fit in the regular ones we get here

Of these my favorites so far are the highlight and contour powder (would suit all Indian skin tones. Absolute must have), soft matte lip creams in Stockholm (the perfect nude with a hint of peach so it doesn't wash you out) and Antwerp (a light coral pink) and also the NYX color lip balm which is a non waxy hydrating lip balm with nice pigmentation so it gives a soft colour too. Oh and the Kleancolor holographic glitter nail paints too! Soo mesmerizing! :)

I'd ordered these on Cyber Monday sale and got 15% off on my total order and their rates are much lower than Cherry Culture or Pork Daisy's plus fast shipping so I totally recommend BeautyJoint to everyone.

I'll leave you with a picture of what I wore to a party last night. Was my boss' wife's b'day and they throw killer parties. I wore a one shoulder powder pink ruffled linen dress with pink pumps that I got from DroppedPin and authentic Japanese fresh water colored pearls and an amethyst cocktail ring.

OOTD

NYX primer and Revlon aqua finishing powder

But the real stars of the show were the NYX studio clear primer and the Revlon colorstay aqua mineral translucent setting powder. My makeup stayed fresh even after I came home after a good 4 hours despite all the sweaty dancing too (my face was sweating too and I remember dabbing at it with a tissue). Detailed reviews to soon follow.

Glittery sandals from Shopatmajorbrands

There are a lot of weddings coming up in my family and I really badly wanted a pair of wedding heels. Oh you know- the type you can wear with saress which are nicely embellished and in shades of gold, that can be slipped off or on quite easily. Why? Coz at South Indian weddings you're required to take off your footwear if you take part in any of the religious rituals. So I cant be fumbling with buckles or straps then. Oh and I also wanted it to have a sufficiently high heel coz I'm just 5'2" and otherwise I'd feel like a midget in a saree. ;)
So after days of trolling the online shoe stores I'd shotlisted a few and when this one went on sale at ShopAtMajorBrands I immediately bought it. :D
Got these QueueUp sandals for rs.1100.

Aren't they pretty! They have these little stones on top and are in a Rose Gold shade which I think looks classier than just regular gold. They have a heel height of 3.5" but are surprisingly easy to walk in. Completely worth the 1100 I paid for these. I bought these on COD and it took about 4 days to be delivered.

You can check out other shoes from this brand here.
QueueUp store is also located at Ground Floor of Express Avenue Mall, Chennai.

My Second Order from BeautyJoint

So I just placed my second order from BeautyJoint.com last week when the CyberMonday 15% off sale was on. I was kicking myself for missing the BlackFriday one but this one I didnt wanna let go of!
These are what I've ordered this time.

Product	Model	Price	Quantity	Total
NYX Slim Lip Pencil   - Shade: SPL840 Rose	SPL	$1.75	1	$1.75
NYX Slim Lip Pencil   - Shade: SPL856 Sand Pink	SPL	$1.75	1	$1.75
NYX Color Lip Balm   - Shade: CLB04 Xie Xie	CLB	$3.99	1	$3.99
NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil   - Shade: JLP721 Soft Fuschia	JLP	$2.99	1	$2.99
LA GIRL Pro Primer Eyeshadow Stick   - Shade: GEB197 Black	GEB	$2.50	1	$2.50
KLEANCOLOR Nail Lacquer   - Shade: NP48-234 Chunky Holo Purple	NP48	$1.75	1	$1.75
KLEANCOLOR Nail Lacquer   - Shade: NP48-236 Chunky Holo Black	NP48	$1.75	1	$1.75
NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream   - Shade: SMLC08 Sao Paulo	SMLC	$4.99	1	$4.99
NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream   - Shade: SMLC05 Antwerp	SMLC	$4.99	1	$4.99
NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream   - Shade: SMLC02 Stockholm	SMLC	$4.99	1	$4.99
KLEANCOLOR Nail Lacquer   - Shade: NP48-05 Black	NP48	$1.75	1	$1.75
NYX Highlight & Contour Powder	HCP	$8.50	1	$8.50
NYX HD Studio Perfect Primer   - Shade: SPP01 Clear	SPP	$10.75	1	$10.75
NYX Girls Nail Polish   - Shade: NGP209 Dorothy	NGP	$1.99	1	$1.99
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil   - Shade: JEP608 Cottage Cheese	JEP	$2.99	1	$2.99
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil   - Shade: JEP611 Yogurt	JEP	$2.99	1	$2.99
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil   - Shade: JEP617 Iced Mocha	JEP	$2.99	1	$2.99
NYX Pencil Sharpener	SH	$3.25	1	$3.25
NYX Round Lip Gloss   - Shade: RLG34 Real Nude	RLG	$1.75	1	$1.75
			Sub-Total:	$68.41
			CYBER2011:	-$10.26
			First-Class Mail® International Package** (Estimated Time: Varies by destination):	$14.39
			Handling Fee:	$1.00
			Total:	$73.54

This time no NYX round lipsticks. I've fallen in love with the Soft Matte Lip creams, which btw I think are the best NYX product so ordered those in the remaining decent shades that I thought would work on my skin tone. :D And also a couple of Jumbo eye pencils, a lip pencil, some Holographic nail paints and make up staples like the Clear Primer and the Bronzer and Highlighter duo (both matte).
This time again my items were promptly shipped out within 2 days. I'd placed my order on Monday and it got shipped out on Wednesday. Hope they reach me within 2 weeks like last time.
With the dollar rate where it is the husband has strictly told me no more shopping from US sites. And solely because of this I've started following world economics and fervently hoping that the $$ falls against the Rupee. Sigh~ Till then I'll only be making LustLists I suppose.

HealthKart Haul

Recently HeathKart had a weekend offer going where they gave a discount of Rs.300 on purchases of 1000 and above! And me being me, couldn't just ignore it and carry on. Gah! So I went ahead and started looking around, and finally loaded up my cart with these:
Revlon lipgloss in shade "Aubergine". Why? Coz I love the applicator. Umm..yeah and the colour too. I already have Fire from this range and I love how the applicator is sponge tipped but flexible..mmmmm. Had to get another one that I could use more often. So picked this up
Faces mini nail paints in "Pink Flamenco" and "Purple Rain" coz I love a hot pink and a purple (I'm the PURPLE spirit afterall)
Lakme moonshine topcoat eyeliner. Coz it looked so pwetty and it's versatile too, right? Can be used over eyeshadows to wear them as liners or over matte liners to add shimmer.
Neutrogena lip moisturizer. Because this is fragrance and taste free and is a nice non waxy, non shiny lip balm that can be worn underneath matte lipsticks without altering the texture.
Basicare retractable blush brush. Just because I can't resist retractable brushes and I needed a blush brush to use my cream blushes with. Plus this is small enough to fit in my bag too.

The Haul

So yep, that's all. My total was 1184 but I only had to pay 884. Cool huh?
But what sucked was that their delivery was incredibly slow (compared to other Indian retail sites). I had ordered this stuff on 20th and it reached me only on the 29th! They probably had a ton of orders when they announced this weekend discount but they took a week to deliver even the last time I ordered from them.
What If I order something coz I wanna wear it to a wedding or a party over the weekend (which is mostly the case) and it doesn't reach me in time? Sigh! Fail!

Stylecraze.com: site review and shopping experience

It's the newest kid on the block but also the fastest growing one. This is the funky teenager that knows the latest trends and makes other established sites look like middle aged uncles.
This Hyderabad based online cosmetic and personal care products retail site has the best customer service out there. I placed my order on Thursday morning and received a confirmation email immediately followed by a phone call to verify the order. The order was shipped the same day and reached me on Saturday.
They stock many brands ranging from Revlon, Lakme and Lotus to Faces, Colorbar, Chambor, NYX and Bourjois amongst others. They are still in the process of expanding their inventory and right now they may not have the full range in each brand but they are definitely growing. I'm personally interested in Colorbar, Faces, Maxfactor and NYX coz these aren't very easily available in brick and mortar stores around here.

So for my first purchase I ordered 3 faces mini nail polishes- a gold glitter and a silver glitter one  (which I couldn't find anywhere else) and an aquamarine blue shade and a faces lip liner in true red. All the items were on good discounts and they arrived neatly bubble wrapped and packed and within their claim of 3 days. And I also got 2 free gifts- a small sample tube of Jovees anti acne cream and an Acnes face wash sample sachet. Don't you just love freebies!

Goodies

Freebies

Yay for:

• Good selection of brands including Revlon, Biotique, NYX, Bourjois, Maxfactor, Chambor,  Faces, Colorbar, OPI, Orly, Konad and many more.
• Good discounts on almost all items
• Excellent customer service
• Fast shipping- delivery within 3 days
• Cash on deliver option available
• Free shipping over purchase of Rs.250
• Swatches of most products are quite accurate
• Neat packaging
• Freebies

Nay for:

• Full range of cosmetics not available in most brands. But they are still expanding their inventory and adding new items everyday so this is not a major issue.
• Site layout could be made more attractive. Sure, it's functional and neat right now but a better layout with perhaps more attractive branding and colour scheme would lend it a posh, more sophisticated look.

So overall I'm very pleased with my shopping experience at StyleCraze.com and would definitely be going back for more goodies and would also recommend to all my friends. Here's hoping they retain their friendly customer service even after they grow big and that they continue to add more range in cosmetics.

My Rating: ****

UrbanTouch Haul

Ordered a few essentials and some err.. not so essentials. Hehe. UrbanTouch is fast becoming my favourite online store. Have bought from them about 6 times so far and have been very satisfied with my experience every single time.

The goodies

Freebies!

Ok so here's what all I ordered:

1. Kara makeup removing wipes-25 wipes: MRP Rs.95, UT price: 90 
2. Garnier Pure Blackhead Scrub: MRP, UT price Rs150
3. Lotus 3 in 1 matte effect sun screen SPF40- MRP 175, UT-155
4. Nivea Pearl roll on deo Rs165
5. Colorbar lip pot in Totally Toffee MRP, UT Rs.495
6. Colorbar lip pot in Warm me up MRP, UT Rs.495

And I got these things free:

1. VedicLine Honey and Fig moisturiser
2. Footbutter
3. Vit E Hand and Cuticle cream
4. Lotus matte suncreen gel sample

Yay! Cant wait to try these out. Reviews will be done soon. :)

Aztec sandals from ShopatMajorBrands

A girl can never have too many shoes right? Err... and bags, and makeup. Ok? Ok. You know what they say about shoes being the perfect "lift-me-up" for any girl coz no matter how fat or thin she is, her shoe size doesnt change. And its precisely for this reason that you can shop for shoes online without any hesitation whether or not it'll fit you. Yayie!
Sooo, I can never resist a good sale. Buying things on sale = saving money right? Yup. So ShopatMajorBrands.com has a mega footwear sale going on and I had my eye on this pair from QueueUp for a while and when this went on sale I clicked buy immediately! Marked down from Rs.2499 to Rs.700 you guys!!

I had ordered it on Sunday night and received it on Wednesday afternoon. But the sad thing is their free shipping offer is now over and they charge Rs.50 for shipping. Bummer! But since i saved so much on the shoes I didnt mind. I opted for COD, which is most convinient for me, coz I dont have a credit card and I dont wanna keep asking the husband for his.

Anyhoo, isnt the shoe a beauty? Yeah I know. Such a steal at 750! And its quite comfortable to wear too coz it wraps around the ankle snugly and provides adequate support. But I was hoping it was more orange. It turned out a copper-brown colour but this looks pretty too. I see myself wearing this with western dresses (LBDs?) and Indian outfits alike. :)
You can buy this here. Green colour also available.
Theres also a QueueUp store at Express Avenue in Chennai.

I'm eyeing this sexy thing from ALDO next. Its been marked down from Rs.5200 to Rs.4600 but its still expensive no? So Delish though. Sigh~~~