REVIEW PREVIEW/HAUL: MAC, Colorbar and Lakme Absolute

Like I promised you guys loads of reviews, I am done with my Mumbai shopping and here is a preview of upcoming reviews...
1. MAC Matte Lipstick in Chili
2. MAC Satin Eye Shadow in Club
3. MAC Eye Shadow in Mythology
4. Illamasqua Powder Blush in Morale
5. Colorbar I-Glide Pencil in Blackout
6. Colorbar Eye Shadow in Black Tie
7. Lakme Color Crush Nail Polish in 02

8. Lakme True Wear Nail Color in Vanilla

MAC Matte Lipstick in Chili

MAC Eye Shadows in Mythology and Club

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Morale

Colorbar I-Glide Pencil in Blackout

Colorbar Eye Shadow in Black Tie

Lakme True Wear and Lakme Absolute Color Crush Nail Colors

 Hope you like my haul ;) Let me know what would you like me to review first :)

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LOTD & Tutorial: Merry Christmas - Look#1

Though I am a Hindu and we don't really celebrate christmas as such, but the holiday season still never fails to cheer me up and make me hopeful for the joys to come in the coming year... Though we are still 16 days away from Christ's birthday but I am excited already :) And yup a merry christmas to every one of my readers even if it is a bit early ;)

As Christmas has such an effect on me I plan to doing a series of LOTDs that are christmas inspired and well this is the first one of the lot :) Hope you guys like it!

So here goes...

Products Used:

Products Used

Eyes:
1. Sleek Eye Shadow palette in Original
2. Oriflame Mono Eye Shadow in Espresso
3. MAC Paint Pot in Painterly
4. Maybelline Gel Liner
5. Maxfactor False Lash Effect Mascara
6. False lashes and Duo Adhesive

Lips:
1. Lakme Absolute Matte Lipstick in Classic Rose

Face:
1. Maybelline Blush in Apricot Flush
2. Lakme Absolute Moonlit Highlighter

Tutorial:
1. First, I primed my eyes with MAC Paint Pot in Painterly. Applied it all over my eye lids.

Priming my lids 

 2. Next, taking the cream highlighter shade from Sleek Eyey Shadow Palette "original", I applied it all over my lids.

Applying the lid color

3. Then taking the golden brown shade from the palette, I applied it on the outer 3/4 region of my eye.

4. Now, using a matte brown shade I blend it along the crease.

5. Finally, I apply a highlighter on my brow bone, liner on my lash line and waterline and coat my lashes with mascara!

6. An optional step is to wear some false lashes for the va-va-voom effect ;)

Hoping you guys liked my look :)

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REVIEW & EOTD: Lakme Absolute Baked Eye Shadow in Day Queen

I have always been an eye makeup person and so it was imminent that if I was to purchase stuff from the Lakme Absolute Range, one of the purchases had to be an eye-shadow. This perhaps is the first time that baked shadows have been launched in India and well it is a sign that cosmetic giants in the world are slowly recognizing us as a potentially big market :) Do you know what this means? It means we can now hope for loads of new product launches :) So, anyways coming back to baked eye shadows, I already own one from Maybelline called the Navy Narcissist. So this is my second baked eye shadow and well I am not really impressed :(

Lakme Absolute Baked Eye Shadow in Day Queen is an eye shadow duo in two tones of shimmery green shadow. As you can see, one shade is a pale green while the other is a shimmery Olive Green. As expected the Olive Green shade is more pigmented while the light green is hopeless. Yes I know baked shadows perform better when wet but trust me that didn't really help much either :( All in all this is one product that kinda disappointed me :(

Image of the Product

Lakme Absolute Baked Shadow in Day Queen

Swatches

Light Shade Dry and Wet; Dark Shade Dry and Wet

LOTD

The pigmentation could be better :(

Oooohhhsss and Aaaahhhhss!!

1. Baked shadow for the first time in India :)

2. The darker shade of the due is actually beautiful and could be used very innovatively for smokey eye looks

3. Doesn't cause allergies of reactions

4. Odorless

5. They look cute on the dresser!

Ouches!

1. Huge fallout problem

2. Doesn't stay on for long

3. Creases easily

4. Expensive for a duo

Price

It costs INR 595.00

Repurchase

Sighhhh.. My mind tell me no but I am greedy for eye shadows and I might just check out another shade ;)

Would I Recommend?

As you can see that this product has failed to impress me at all. It's very rare that I give negative reviews to any product but this one really was not worth the amount I spent on it... So no I do not recommend thsi product.

Overall Rating

6/10

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REVIEW: Lakme Absolute Moonlit Highlighter

My next in line for review from the Lakme Absolute range was the baked eye shadows but because of popular demand I am jumping to review the Moonlit Highlighter first. When I first approached the Lakme counter, I was in double minds about purchasing the highlighter or the bronzer, but once I swatched both of them I realised that buying the highlighter was a better bet than the bronzer. Why? Three reasons, one is that the darker shade in the highlighter duo is very similar to the lighter shade in the bronzer. Second, the darker shade in the bronzer is really dark for my skin-tone. I am NC35-36 and I dont think I would ever wear the darker shade in the bronzer duo. The lighter shade suits me :) Thirdly, I already own the bronzer from the Lakme Fantasy collection and well didn't want another one from the same brand :P 

So, anyways coming back to the highlighter in question, I am really very impressed with it. It instantly lights up my complexion and gives a subtle glow to my skin when applied "strategically" :D Contrary to popular belief, even though it is shimmery, it can be very comfortably work during the day. I wear it to office even! :P

As far as the texture goes, it is really soft and smooth and has really fine glitter particles. I use it on my cheekbones, bridge of my nose, on my cupid's bow and vertically on the middle part of my under chin area and it does its job like magic :) The darker shade of the highlighter duo can be used for contouring :) Sighhh I was always wanted a multitasking duo like this one :) 

Image of the Product

Lakme Absolute Moonlit Highlighter

Swatches

Swatches

LOTD

Both shades of the highlighter used to contour my face

Ooohhsss and Aaaahhhss!!

1. It is extremely soft and smooth to apply

2. The glitter that it contains is not chunky but is rather fine.

3. It gives a subtle healthy glow to the skin.

4. It comes as a duo so is perfect for contouring as well.

5. It can be used as a face highlighter as well as on the brow bone

6. It is odorless

7. It does not cause any allergies or reactions. 

Ouches!

1. It has quite a bit of fall out.

2. Rs.600/- is a bit on the higher side. 

Price

INR 600.00 

Repurchase

Definitely, if it gets over! 

Would I Recommend?

Absolutely! It gives a subtle glow to the skin without looking OTT

Overall Rating

9/10

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REVIEW & LOTD: Lakme Absolute Matte Lipstick in Classic Rose

With everyone google searching for Lakme Absolute product reviews, it becomes really critical for us beauty bloggers who have indulged ourselves and gotten ourselves some products from this much acclaimed range of cosmetics and for those beauty bloggers who have been fortunate enough to have received samples of this range from the company PRs to post reviews and help the beauty blogging brethren :) So here I am doing my bit...

It all started when I had promised myself that I was not going to purchase anything from Lakme as I did not find their product quality up to the mark. Before the Absolute range, I owned only their fantasy range bronzer. So anyways, with their listicks ranging from nudes to mostly browns, I was always put off by the "mature" lip colors that they had to offer. But when they came up with their Absolute range, I couldn't but help myself from plunging into a mini haul and I must say that my apprehensions have been put to rest and I can easily claim that I am truly in deep admiration of the range.

Let me warn you guys that the products from this range havn't really hit the stores full throttle, rather they are trickling in, in twos and threes. For example at Pune Central's Lakme counter, I couldn't find the finishing powders and foundations. And neither could I find the nail paints... I could go through only two shades of baked blushes i.e. Night Sheen and Day Sheer. The SAs said that the shade called Night Sparkle was yet to come. So I got myself stuff from whatever was available :)

Those who have been reading my blog since some time now would know that I have a penchant for matte lipsticks and though I have petite lips (yes I prefer saying petite that thin!), I still use and flaunt these matte lippies with penache :) So when I saw these matte lippies at the counter, I knew I had to have one :) I got one in "Classic Rose" and well the name doesn't really connect to the shade. When I heard the name, I expected it to be in the pink/crimson family, but this shade a pure Red with Orange undertones... But well who cares as long as the lipstick performs well :P Right? Right?

Image of the Product

Lakme Absolute Matte Lipstick in Classic Rose

Lakme Absolute Matte Lipstick in Classic Rose

Swatches

Left: Three Swipes  Right: Single Swipe

Lip Swatch

LOTD

Oooohhhss and Aaaahhss!!

1. It has some really gorgeous shades and very unlike the typical Lakme shades.

2. Highly pigmented

3. Not drying at all

4. Does not settle into or highlight fine lines on the lips

5. Does not cause any irritation or reactions

6. Has a pleasant Orange Cream biscuit odor which fades off after a couple of minutes.

Ouches!

1. Does not stay for 16 hours as is claimed! It stays for about 6 hours with a meal in between.

2. Has very limited number of shades. Waiting for more to be launched!

Price

It costs INR 395.00

Repurchase

Yes in other shades for sure.

Would I Recommend?

Oh for sure I will. They have some really classy shades to offer and finally a matte lipstick that isn't very drying :)

Overall Rating

9/10

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HAUL: Lakme Absolute and Colorbar

With the launch of Lakme Absolute range of cosmetics, the Indian Beauty Blogosphere has been buzzing with the latest in the range and reviews of products from this range have started trickling in... Well I am not gonna be left behind for sure and I am doing my bit to keep the beauty blog readers informed of all the rights and wrongs from this range... Yup! I am so noble! :P

So anyways, I went to Central today and got myself a couple of stuff from Lakme Absolute and also from Colorbar, which is still going strong as my favorite affordable brand of cosmetics :) Now ladies and gentlemen, lets please indulge in some eye-candy ;)

Lakme Absolute Baked Eye Shadows, Highlighter and Matte Lipstick

Lakme Absolute Highlighter

Lakme Absolute Baked Eye Shadow in Day Queen

Lakme Absolute Matte Lipstick in Classic Rose

Lakme with the purchase of products more than Rs.1000/- is giving this pretty jewelry box :)

A little about the products now though full reviews are gonna follow one by one. The eye shadows as you can see are baked. Lakme Absolute has introduced baked blushes as well but they seemed too glittery for my liking but you never know I might just pick one of them up :) The Lakme Absolute Nail Paints haven't yet been launched in Pune. I was sooooo looking forward to purchasing a couple of them :)
The matte lippy that I purchased is called Classic Rose and its a perfect matte lipstick in a shade of Red with a tinge of Orange to it...
Now for the prices...
1. Lakme Absolute Highlighter - INR 600.00
2. Lakme Absolute Baked Eye Shadows (Day Queen) - INR 595.00
3. Lakme Absolute Matte Lipstick in Classic Rose - INR 395.00

A look that I did with all these lakme products is this... Let me know how you guys liked it!

Baked Eye Shadow in Day Queen and Matte Lipstick in Classic Rose

Now for my Colorbar Haul :)

Got myself these beauties... A Colorbar Velvet Matte Lipstick in Creme Cup and two Nail Paints in Midnight Glam and Midnight Glitter...

Colorbar Velvet Matte Lipstick in Creme Cup 1

Colorbar Nail Paint in Midnight Glitter and Midnight Glam

And now the surprise part :) On a purchase of INR 500.00 and above Colorbar is giving away this brush kit for FREE!!!!!

Colorbar Brush Kit FREE with a purchase above INR 500.00

So all in all I had a great day and my collective haul looks something like this :)

All products have been bought from Pune Central.

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