'Make-up' your face - Part 2 - Eye makeup

A BIG thanks to everyone for a great response on my first make-up product review post! I wasn't sure when I penned it down how helpful or how my readers would like it reading. I was happy reading all your responses and sharing tips about your fave products. I am sorry I have been late at responding to them, but I sure hope to get to it soon. Thank you all again and so well, looks like I am gonna be continuing with this series.

For eye make-up, I am not that big into trying different eye-shadows, playing with colors or the eyeliner styles. I play it safe with just three simple looks catered to different occasions -

1. Simple kohl-lined eyes with a bit of mascara - For the everyday look - to the office, or day out in the city, brunch, lunch or that weekday date night. 

2. Eye primer, Fancy smokey eyes with lined neatly with a kohl/ kajal, and touch of mascara for the night-out partaay, or a romantic dinner-date in the city.

3. Eye primer, Fancy-shmancy bright eyeshadow, both top and bottom eyelids lined perfectly and oomph loads of mascara for special occassions like Diwali party, Christmas party or a fancy night out. 

Well, so today I was thinking of sharing my best and trusted make-up products. I have used most of these for a solid couple of years. But that doesn't mean I have liked all of them. I will be listing out the good, bad and the 'meh' ones and of course tell you why they ended up in that category.

Eyeliners:

My daily eye make up includes a Kajal/eyeliner and a mascara. I had been using the MAC technakohl liner for years now until recently when I switched to the 'eyeconic' kajal by Lakme (during my India trip). The MAC one smudged after a few hours into the day and did not stay on for the whole day. Whereas the Lakme one stays on quite crisply for 6-7 hours with no smudge. The kajal tip is quite thin to draw that perfect line to highlight the eyes.

I did buy a liquid eyeliner from MAC, but it is not something I can use when I am in a hurry (especially the morning rush times). I dont have a steady hand and need some peaceful time to draw a straight line on my eyelids. The result no doubt is glam, but again if you have shaky hands then I would ask you to skip buying it.

The NARS eyeliner is like a felt pen. I did not get a clean, dark line out of it and I don't think it is has done wonders to me. Something you can skip trying/buying. 

Mascaras: 
I have been experimenting lately, with different brands for Mascaras; after I empty one bottle I usually move on to another brand. Lately, most of the brands have come with dense brushes so the result is more all less the same. Right now I am using the NARS Mascara, and there's nothing really to complain about it. I switch to the Maybelline COLOSSAL VOLUME mascara when I am looking for a change.

Eye-shadows:
Not very experimental in this area. I stick to the Lakme's color palette with dark reds and pink for dressing up for parties and festivals. And so is the pink MAC eye shadow (I think I have had it forever......wait that's not good right?!)
Last here is the a dark-grey shimmer eyeshadow from REVLON. I found this amazing color in Target last year (when everyone, including me, was going ga-ga over the shimmer/glimmer trend..remember!). Since then it has been my trusted confidante for going the smokey-eye way.
 I just dab it on the eyelids after the primer (that I reviewed here) and then spread it with a brush to make the eyelids all sparkly and smokey. A thick-coat of mascara and kohl-lined eyes makes the perfect eye makeup for a night-out.

So that's a wrap on the eye makeup category. I m really looking forward to trying different eye-shadows or eye make-up styles. Do share your trusted products and fave tips to dress up the eyes!

'Make-up' your face - Part 1 - Face Foundations & Primers

When it comes to make-up I am not a pro but then to think about it I am not a novice either; I am somewhere in between, experimenting, trying out different looks. And now maybe I have reached a point where I know the kind of looks good and suited to the occasion/ time of the day. If I am attending an evening party or a night-out, I trust the smokey-eye-bold-red-or-pink-lip look. For everyday look, I go plain and simple considering there are time constraints; it's usually a kohl-eyes, compact powder for the face, and a bold or subtle lip color. Sometimes, if I am in the mood and I have the time, I amp it up by dabbing my eyelids with bold mascara but nothing more fancy than that.

The make products, I use everyday, are a fair mix of high-end brands and the readily-available-drugstore brands.  I prefer to use the good-quality products for things that play an important role in giving a smooth finish to the whole look. For example, liquid foundation, face powder, lipsticks.
Whereas for the everyday-use makeup products, that usually get swapped per mood swings or even changing color-preferences, I trust the drugstore brands. For example lip balms, lip colors, and even eye shadows (which I don't use that often). So in today's post, I thought of doing a makeup products reviews, list my absolute fave products and also share if a particular product didn't work out and why!

Foundation:  Here in the US, it is so damn difficult to get a foundation in the right shade . And by right shade I mean the ones that suit the Indian wheatish skin tone. I have been literally going nuts finding the perfect shades (and spent quite some $$$ there too!). The foundations always look great in the store, in the jazzy yellow lights, especially when the makeup lady applies them with care and precision. But when I try them at home, in the daylight, the foundation looks a shade lighter or cakey giving me a weird look. Well, one good thing about taking risks and trying different foundations has been that I finally (!)found the light-weight and perfect shade foundation that suits my skin tone. I have had a good streak with the Clinique Even Better makeup with SPF15.

It's priced at USD 27 for a 30 ml bottle (which is quite reasonable for the quality) and the bottle is cute one (it can easily fit in your purse). I am in the Cream Caramel shade, and it is an exact match to my skin tone with a great coverage. It blends well with my combination skin type and spreads more or so like a cream rather than a heavy foundation. Though to be true, I don't wear the foundation daily; its reserved for occasion or weekend outings only. I got it along with me on my trip to India this summer and my mom loved it so much that I kept the bottle for her :) I could definitely spot the difference when she was wearing it; her skin looked fresh and glowing. 

Well, on that topic, while shopping in India, I got a foundation from there from the Lakme ABSOLUT collection (not in the pic below). I can't review it right now since I have used it only once, but here's hoping that it turns out to be good!

I have got the special sponge set from Sephora (as seen in the picture below) to apply the foundation evenly and get a smooth finish. I have been lazy to try them out (as you can see from the full pack) but I am going to use it soon and review it here then :)

Pressed powder / compact: The pressed powder, or as some call it compact,  is something which I wear every single day. Whenever I step out of my house and I am not in my tracks then I have to dab my face with the pressed powder. I have used the  REVLON pressed powder when I lived in India. It was ok and did the job, nothing wow! Usually I have found the pressed powders to be grainy and too light-weight so they don't stay on for the complete day. The MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation brightens up the dull skin without giving the feeling of having too-much-make-up-on. It's priced at USD 27 (yeah same price as the foundation..made for each other, right? ;)) and comes in a black round container. I am in shade NC42. The compact comes with a mirror and a nice soft sponge pad to dab the powder on and it gives a full coverage with a nice matte look. 

Eye-shadow Primers: - I started using a primer - which is almost like foundation base for before applying the eye-shadow - after a recommendation from a friend. She introduced me to Too Faced primer from Sephora. It helps the eye-shadow spread evenly and also stay longer. I got the NARS primer as a gift from a friend recently and I haven't used it much yet..so guess I will review it in an another post.

Lastly, just wanted to mention that I haven't used concealers for once. I mean I have but none have matched up to my expectations or to my skin tone. So that's that. If you have any recommendations, I would absolutely love to know.  

I decided to break up the makeup review into multiple posts so that they are not too long to read in one go. Also, I thought it would be a good idea to divide the posts based on the the different makeup products. Part 2 will include reviews on the eye makeup products.

Do drop me a comment below or shoot me an email if you have any questions or comments on any of the products,
If you want maybe I can do a make-up tutorial, write-up or maybe even a youtube video. I haven't explored that area personally I am wary....but lets see. Who knows, maybe I will finally take the plunge and be able to overcome my video-blogging fears :)