What To Wear: To A Dinner Get Together with Friends

This is what happens when you force a beauty blogger to stop buying cosmetics... She takes up the challenge, stops buying makeup products, ends up buying new clothes and shoes with the money saved and slowly makes "space" in her beauty blog for some fashion and outfit posts... Yes I am Samyukta and I am a Shop-a-holic and of course I am guilty as charged to the phenomenon described above.

So yeah yesterday I had a happy co-incidence of buying myself a new top and then was invited to dinner. Needless to say I wore my new top to dinner and well my today's "What To Wear" post is all about it :)

Outfit
What I wore was a navy blue chiffon "bandage" top from Van Heusen and paired with Black super skinny Jeans from Lee and my suede peep-toe pumps from Enroute... I carried a dull green lizard skin clutch from Hidesign... Ideally a long gold chain necklace would have looked fabulous with the outfit but since I hate (read allergic to) wearing imitation jewellery, I skipped that part :)

Top: Van Heusen
Skinny Jeans: Lee
Peeptoe Pumps: Enroute
Green Clutch: Hidesign

MakeUp
For my makeup I made a crease with MAC Folie, then applied MAC Genuine Treasure Paint Pot on my lids and accentuated the outer-V with a dark blue eye shadow from my Sleek Bad Girl Palette :)
Then I applied a bit of bronzer to my cheeks over NYX Cream Blush "Glow".
On my lips I used Maxfactor's Lip Pencil in Shade 14 Raspberry and topped it with Chambor Silk Lipstick in Cherry.

Hair
For my hair, I teased my hair at the crown area and clipped the "pouf" thus created. Then I wore a hair band as you can see and let my hair fall in waves around my face :)

Hope you guys liked the look :)

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Trends: S/S 2012 (Part 1) -> Grazia: Neon Lips, Glowing Skin et al...

Some might think that this post is a bit too late, after all most blogs. mags and websites are done introducing us to the Spring Summer 2012 trends, but ladies and gentlemen you know how much ISLM loves to do things with a twist :) And of course you also know how much I love introducing newer features on my blog :P Yup! I am yet again starting a new feature called "Trends" where I shall do makeup, looks, EOTDs and hairstyles that depict the trends of the season :) Sounds like fun!

This first edition of the feature, I am showcasing 4 major trends of this season (2 of which are inspired by Grazia India April 2012)... 

Grazia India, APril 2012

The trends featured today are as follows:

1. Bright and Fruity Lips (Mary Katrantzou)

    Neon lips are "IN" this season and I have embraced the trend with open arms ;)

    I am wearing Sleek Lipstick in "Coral Reef".

Sleek True Color Lipstick in Coral Reef

2. 3D Glow (Michael Kors/Louis Vitton)

    The face they say this season has to be perfect and flawless with a little glow without being oily, just the way I like it :) I have used Lakme Absolute Moonlit Highlighter Duo for contouring and NYX Cream Blush in Glow, TBS Extra Virgin Minerals Foundation and COlorbar Stick concealer.

3. Metallic Eyes (Fendi)

    Well honestly? This was a spring trend but it has trickled into Summer as well and I am not complaining ;) I love glitter, golden or silver on my eyes :) Here, I am wearing MAC Paint Pot in Genuine Treasure and Maybelline Gel Liner smudged near the lashline.

4. Side braids/buns

    This trend has been doing the rounds on the runway since a while now and it sure seems to be here to stay.

I hope you enjoyed the look as much as I did and do let me know if you would like me to do a tutorial on the EOTD :)

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REVIEW: GLOW edt by JLo

I am a huge fan of Jennifer Lopez but it's a shame that I had never tried any of her perfumes. So, my boyfriend, being the best guy that he is, got me GLOW as a part of my birthday gift :) You see the irony here is that my first perfume by JLo i.e. Glow was actually JLo's first perfume of the whole range she has come out with :)

So here I go with the review:
First things first... THE PACKAGING... Well it's gorgeous! The bottle is very feminine much like JLo herself :) It's a long bottle with a very shapely bottom ;) and a pretty, blingy chain with a crystal studded JLo pendant around the neck of the bottle. It looks elegant, pretty and feminine...

THE FRAGRANCE... The official site describes it's notes to be: neroli, pink grapefruit, rose, sandalwood, amber, musk, jasmine, iris and vanilla. It was marketed to be "fresh, clean and sexy" and well it does live up to it's claims. It has a subtle smell of Jasmine and hint of Rose... It has a mostly floral smell and it is very understated and subtle but the lasting power is really high. I can smell it on me throughout the night and I honestly wake up in a better mood :) It has a very different smell from what I am usually used to smelling in these perfume selling outlets. It oozes with sophistication and elegance.
I mainly use it as a nighttime perfume, perfect for a romantic dinner for two or a cosy get together with friends in a classy restaurant.

POSITIVES
1. Extremely feminine
2. Smells elegant and sophisticated
3. Subtle yet long lasting
4. Very pretty packaging

NEGATIVES
Because of it's subtlety, it might get overpowered by someone else's not so subtle scent :(

Will I use it more? I intend to plus I have an added advantage of my boyfriend loving it as well ;)

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