I cleaned out my make up drawer... I generally do that every few months. I took the hard decision to throw away some products. I don't know the expiry so thats not the reason for throwing them out.

Here goes-

1) Body Shop Oil Free Balancing Foundation SPF 15: I was looking for the minerals foundation since I read good reviews about it but I bought this one instead. The shade does not match... but worse is that it is not waterproof. Even if I drink water and it drips on my chin... the foundation comes off. AND you can see the foundation... its horrible.

2) L'Oreal True Match Minerals Foundation: Shade is very light and I get boils/acne on my face when I apply it... so much for using minerals make up. Horrible

3) Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation: I bought this from the Parcos at the Delhi airport... I have an oily skin and like to pick up anything "matte". Very low coverage... comes off in a few hours... looks horrible

4) L'Oreal Matte Morphose: Another bad foundation from L'Oreal... such a waste of money. It makes me look white... it was so embarrassing when my colleague remarked that I am looking very "fair"... high time I threw it away



5) Calvin Klein lipstick/gloss: Ordered it from strawberrynet.com. Of course, the shade does not match... remember to check swatches online before purchasing next time. The shade is completely unwearable and I do wear bold as well as subtle shades

6) Inglot gel liner grey: This was my first grey liner... It has dried up... been less than 2 years. Strange since my L'Oreal and MAC gel liner are going strong. I have been adding duraline to use it for months now. Decided to throw it away finally.



6) Maybelline vivid and smooth pencil liners: Bought them long back... smudge like crazy... too soft... too light... don't last. Have not used them in years



7) Lord and Berry gloss in silver: Do not use silver...

8) Anna Andre lipstick: Received it in Vellvette box... horrible shade... too sheer

9) Chanel gloss: Sample pack: Transparent and weird

10) Maybelline water shine diamonds lip gloss: Not a fan of sparkly glosses

11) Maybelline lumi touch highlighting concealer: Too light for a concealer... do not need a highlighter... its too light

12) L'Oreal glam shine gloss: Another sparkly gloss... in the binC

I have taken Saturday off and will not be in office from Wednesday to Sunday. I was hoping that the Vellvette box would arrive before then 'coz I didn't want to wait till April'13 for it.

And it arrived. Anyone who has subscribed for 3/6/12 months gets an extra product. I subscribed to 3 months.. wanted to go for 6 months but forgot.

Anyway-



It contains:

- Clinique face wash

- Nyassa dry fruit soap

- NYX lip gloss

- Bonus products: Ofra acne treatment mask

Meji amino collagen

Meji amino collagen. Priced at Rs 1000 (approx), it has 7 sachets (one for each day of the week). They have to be added to any food/beverage and taken everyday. It will build collagen which help skin rejuvenate and glow. I will try it this week. If it works, I will review it. I checked reviews online and apparently it works... it is a huge deal in Japan... also, it was featured on Oprah. But it tastes yuck.







Nyassa vanilla dry fruit soap: Full size priced at Rs 400. It smells amazing. Will try it today.







Clinique foaming cleanser: Full size priced at Rs 1200. It is creamy.. a little goes a long way. It also removes make up. Last night I applied make up and removed it with this face wash... all of it was washed off conveniently. Excellent.







NYX lip gloss: I think it is a full sized pack. It is candy pink... it looks a little gaudy in the bottle (even for me) but it looks good when applied. I am happy to receive a make up product.







Ofra acne treatment mask: Another product from Ofra... last time it was a toner. All toners feel the same to me. Now, a mask can definitely be reviewed. I tried it on last night... it is very, very thick and smells of Vicks vaporub. Hate the smell. It feels heavy on my skin. A thumbs down.







On ok box, overall.... Someone received a Lush product. Why don't I get Lush ever??? When I met the Vellvette box team my suggestion was that the brands should be the same for everyone... the products can change. Someone else received a Mary Kay foundation.

I like the NXY gloss and Clinique face wash.

So, I have picked the make up that will be used this entire week.... Instead of mixing brands, I have picked everything from MAC.











Products that will be used:

- Mac prep and prime primer

- Mac prep and prime lip primer

- Studio fix foundation

- Black and grey liner

- Brown gel liner

- Lipsticks- a brown nude, pink nude, orange, pink

- Mascara

- Concealer

- Colorbar eye lash curler (cropped out)

- Oriflame eye brow pencil

After the fiasco with Colobar, I needed a remover for my eyes. I came across the new eye make up remover at Body Shop.

250 ml is priced at Rs 695... much cheaper than Colorbar. It is a white bottle which is very travel friendly. The fluid - colorless and watery, non sticky did not leak out at all while travelling.

It is camomile gentle eye make up remover- all in one lash and lid cleansing, conditioning and softening.





It does not burn my eyes- but the warning on the bottle asks you to wash if it gets into eyes.

It removes mascara and liner very easily. It does not feel oily or leave an oily residue behind. It also feels soothing to the eyes.

The only downside is that there maybe traces of kajal/liner left in lower lash. It takes too many swipes to remove most of them.

But overall, the product feels safe on the eyes. You have to be careful not to let it touch the eye balls... or enter inside. It burns a little when that happens.

Will I re-purchase? Yes.

I like Colorbar. I don't mind trying new products from them. Just last year it was a small brand and now they have boutiques in all major cities and malls.

They recently launched new make up removers for different skin types.





90 ml is priced at Rs 699. It is quite pricey. I bought the one for oily and combination skin. The packaging is plastic white. It is a little transparent with blue fluid inside. It has tea tree oil (I hate the smell of tea tree). The fluid is not sticky at all unlike other make up removers. That was the reason I bought it. I hate the oil that make up removers leave behind.

At first sight, it looks like a good product except... it burns the eyes. I cannot use it on my eyes... I faced the same issue with Inglot make up remover... while there is no such problem with Maybelline and L'Oreal make up removers.

I use it on my face only to just finish it off. I did visit the boutique again and write down the complaint.

Will I re-purchase? No.

Upcoming Reviews

- The Body Shop Camomile gentle eye make up remover

- Colorbar makeup remover for oily and combination skin

- Vaseline cocoa body lotion

- Sephora body wash

I am little tired of drawers full of make up. I am on a mission to finish them off. Not 'coz I want to buy more... but 'coz I want to buy only "good" stuff... or quality stuff... I know enough about brands and can make wiser decisions now. But more than that, I just want some of it to get over... there is too much.

This is the plan- I will pick a few products every week and use them for the entire week (foundation, compact, concealer, lipstick - 2 to 3 shades, mascara, eye liner). At the end of the week I will review it. This will help me use all the products I have... instead of using the same ones all the time. I will also be able to write more reviews.

I applied this color yesterday... after a long, long time and loving it. My routine for nail paint is Sally Hansen's base coat, nail paint, nail art on thumb and Sally Hansen quick dry top coat.





The shade is rightly named turquoise. It is a different blue and I really love it. It applies sheer in 1st coat and the 2nd coat makes it opaque. The nail paint is also quick drying (not mentioned on the bottle). I love colorbar nail paints. They are the best quality.









Price is Rs 150 (if I am not wrong) for 9 ml.

I own a Clinique chubby stick but they are quite expensive. When I heard Revlon has launched something similar for a lower price I rushed to the nearest Health and Glow to buy them.

I bought a mix of shades- 1 light and 2 dark. The chubby sticks/lip stains look best in darker shades rather than lighter. My Clinique chubby stick is a melon shade. I should have purchased a darker one.



Top to bottom- Rendezvous, Crush, Lovesick.

I love wanted different shades- I love orange... pink is obvious... a maroon is my preferred shade these days (am I getting old?)



Top to bottom- The orange is melon.. quite light. The 2nd one- pinkish maroon (and not reddish maroon) is very dark... the 3rd is a bright bubblegum pink.

They are all priced at Rs 600. They are not moisturizing but do not dry lips. They are soft and glide on easily. The packaging is same as Clinique- retractable pencil. It has a minty flavor and fragrance which is very different from a normal lipstick/gloss. I like it.

They are not sticky and feel light on the lips. There is a nice minty feeling on the lips.

Don't mind the lip pics. I do not have any make up and did not make the effort to clean my oily skin.



Wearing- Rendezvous. It is a light orange which does not show too well since I have pink lips.



Wearing Crush. It is a dark pink. The darker shades leave a stain on the lips. So, even if they wear off the color remains. I like that.



Wearing Lovesick. Looks nice, doesn't it? It is a fuchsia pink.

Will I re-purchase? No... only 'coz I have already bought all the shades I would have wanted. Love them.

Edited to add:

I wore Bubblegum all day today and the color lasts all day. It does come off when eating but thats expected with all lipsticks. It keeps the lips moisturized and even when I use a lip balm it does not come off.

My colleagues told me how fresh I look with this color. Love it.

I spotted the Kajal of Estee Lauder in some store in Delhi or Mumbai (don't remember which one). I approached the SA at Select Citywalk Mall and inquired about the product. They were extremely rude and refused to show it to me. Not kidding. On prodding further (I hate rude store staff. I am in a job with requires regular interaction with retail chains and SAs and this kind of behavior is not acceptable). They looked at me like I am mad and that no such product exists. On asking again, they said they are not "allowed" to sell it. I am not making this up.

I went to the store in Palladium Mall, Mumbai and bought it. I loved the color. It is a beautiful green. Green does not look very good on my eyes and I generally avoid it. But this is a unique green... teal.







It is described as "Creamy crayon packs intense, smoldering color impact in one single stroke. For added drama, apply on lower inner  rim of eye. Sharpener included. Ophthalmologist- tested. Fragrance free."

It costs 1400 bucks for 2.4 gm. When I paid and was given the Kajal, I realized how small it is. I assumed the tester was a used one and the original product will be double the height. It is quite expensive considering the size.





The best part is the color. When I wore it for the first time in office, everyone wanted to know which brand/product this is.





It stays on all day. Unfortunately, it smudges. And thats why I do not like it. If it is a Kajal, it should not smudge. After 2-3 hours, the smudges. It cannot be applied on the top lid due to this reason. When applied on the lower inner rim the smudging does not look all that bad.





I gently smudged it and it came off.

Will I re-purchase? No. It is also available in black. Except for the color, there is nothing good about it.

So, its a rage even in India right now. And I have many of them. Traditionally, BB creams were invented as treatment for acne scars/surgery. They basically treat skin as well as give coverage.

Indian BB creams only give coverage and some other benefits but they do not treat skin issues or repair skin over time. They are mostly tinted moisturizers. Thats why I have included Clinique tinted moisturizer also.

Left to Right- Face It BB cream, Maybelline BB stick, Maybelline BB cream, Garnier BB cream, Clinique tinted moisturizer.



Swatches- Right to left- Face It BB cream, BB Stick, Maybelline BB cream, Garnier BB cream, Clinique moisturizer.

The clinique moisturizer is slightly darker for my skin tone while all the others are much lighter. Thats one major issue with BB creams- the shades don't match and are very, very light for Indian skin tones.



Face It BB cream- I bought this from Sephora for around 1300 bucks (don't remember the exact price) when it first opened. It is quite pricey but I wanted to try it out. It is described as- with 70% moisture content, including deep sea water, a light application provides a sense of coolness and freshness the moment it touches the skin.

It has a lot of moisture content and is hydrating. It has a very light texture and spreads easily. The color is very light but since coverage is not high it doesn't matter. It mattifies the face for a few hours. I like it but will not re-purchase.


Maybelline BB stick- This is a recent launch by Maybelline. It is BB cream in a stick form. The price is Rs 250 for 10 gm. It is available in only 2 shades- Radiance and Fawn. The first is very light and the latter very dark. There needs to be an in-between. It has SPF as well as PA+++. It can easily replace a suncreen.

Since the shade is light I blend it well. It blends into the skin. The texture becomes powdery from cream on application. It mattifies skin and there is no need for compact. Unfortunately, it does not last more than 2-3 hours. I will use it only when I have to go out for 2-3 hours.

Overall, a good product and one I will surely re-purchase.







Maybelline BB cream- This is the first BB cream launched in India. It comes in 3 shades- all of them extremely light. It is priced at Rs 199 for 18 ml. The texture is slightly thicker than Face It BB cream. It is creamy and slightly difficult to blend. It does not moisturize. It does mattify and give the skin a slight glow but for a short time only. I use it as a make up base. Coverage is also low.

It is my least favorite product out of all of these.



Garnier BB cream- This is a recent launch. It is priced at Rs 99 for 18 gm. It is creamier and thicker than Maybelline BB cream and more moisturizing. I wear it as a make up base since it provides sun protection. Since coverage is low the lighter shade does not impact much.

Will I re-purchase? Yes... I find it easier to blend and wear it when going grocery shopping or something. It can replace sun screen as well.



Clinique tinted moisturizer- I read online that this product has the highest coverage among all the others. I bought it from strawberrynet.com (it is available at Clinique stores) months back. I love it. The coverage is awesome... the best. It is not foundation and yet gives good coverage. It cannot be used as a moisturizer.  The price is Rs 1600 for 30 ml but the product has lasted me almost a year. I use it atleast 3-4 times in a month.

Will I re-purchase? Yes... it is pricey but I think the coverage is awesome. There are times when I don't want to apply foundation or a BB cream... I need something in between. This product is perfect for those days.





I have not been posting about make up... 'coz I am lazy. I need to take swatches and ensure the correct shade shows up in pics. I will try and make the effort to review more make up products.

Upcoming posts

- Estee Lauder Kajal

- Revlon lip stain+Balm