Colorbar Kiss-Proof Lipstain in 006 Mauve Dusk - Review

Hi Everyone,

My friend P calls me 'Makeup Matte-y'... she means to say 'Maatey' ;-) but that's okay; the points we lose for bad jokes, we make up for... in our Love for each other ;-) So when she uses my fav lipstick formula for the pun, you know this kid knows me from wayyy back lol. And if you follow the blog for some time now, you too might know that I prefer Matte lipsticks over creamy ones. Not that I don't like creamy formulas, but here are some simple (& obvious!) reasons why Matte formulas rock my world -

1. Mattes last longer
2. I feel I look better with Matte lipsticks.
3. Wearing a matte lipstick means being able to kiss my loved ones without having to worry about staining their faces...I love them a lot, but I don't need to 'Paint my Love' geddit? lol sorry I think only I found that funny!! P, my friend, I need a membership for LJA - Lame Jokes Anonymous.

Anni-wayyy...read on to know why the Colorbar Kiss-Proof Lipstain intrigued me :-)

Price: Rs.900/- This was a serious ouchie! but I saved up & got myself this one. Being a budget product junkie, this is one of the more expensive lipsticks I own!!

Shade: 'Mauve Dusk'...I love how this product is named. Not a bright Mauve but a dusky one. True to its name, its a beautiful, deeper mauve that brightens up your face, without screaming for attention. This is a very pretty shade that can be sported by all skin tones :-)

Hand swatches:

Swatch freshly applied 

Swatch after drying for around 2mins

Texture & Formula: This is a lipstain, but works like a liquid lipstick. It has a very creamy, easy-to-work with' texture & glides on smoothly on the lips. You will see some shine in the beginning & will definitely need to give it about a minute or two, to dry out & set to a matte finish. This isn't an 'on-the-go' lipstick than one can quickly slap on without a mirror; while working with a liquid lipstick, you must be willing to spend a few moments on precision :-)

Once this baby sets to matte finish, there's no way this would budge. After drying to a matte finish, the lipstick is extremely & I mean extremely comfortable to wear. I'd say it's almost 95% transfer-proof (or 'Kiss-proof, like they'd like to call it!), with only the slightest bit of transfer; otherwise, this doesn't leave your side like a true BFF!!

Pigmentation: The formula is deeply pigmented. One swipe deposits true colour on to your lips, however I like to wait for the first coat to dry (around 2 mins) & then wear a 2nd coat to extend the wear-time further.

Wear-time: The Colorbar Kiss-Proof Lipstain stays on my lips for about 4-5 hrs straight with 1 coat & 2 coats last on me for about 5-6hrs, which I'm very impressed with!! Meals & drinks might result in slight fading, but that's the case with any liquid lipstick, as they tend to fade/transfer when they come into contact with any beverage & food.

Overall experience: I'm really impressed with this 'lipstain' as it tends to give me a great 'matte finish' without drying out the lips. I also like the flexible doe-foot applicator on this one, as it makes going over the borders of the lips so easy! The applicator is designed well as it tends to pick up the correct amount of product required for one full application. The packaging is totally travel-friendly which makes this one a staple in my handbag.

I like to usually pair this up with any Purple-toned Kurti or simply make it stand out with a 'one-toned' outfit. In the pics, I have paired it with a deep-green kurta :-) I like to keep the overall makeup simple when I want to let this lipstain take center-stage. So let's recap -

Pros:

• Beautiful matte finish 
• Extremely comfortable on the lips
• Gorgeous mauve shade
• Long-wearing formula
• VVIPoint - The lipstick totally rocked the 'Kiss-Proof' test .. it absolutely DID NOT BUDGE! Lol before you get any ideas, I'm talking about my lil baby boy. And don't worry I didnt just 'TEST' it out on my baby, I happen to be a very 'constant pecks on forehead' kinda Mommy anyway.

Cons:

• Price :-( 900/- is slightly expensive & I'm glad I got the shade I liked; no scope for experimenting with other colours.

Hope you liked this review! Have your tried any Colorbar Kiss-Proof Lipstains? Colorbar also has Velvet Matte Lipsticks, have you tried out those? Which is your current favourite lipstick & always travels in your handbag? Let me know in the comments section below :-)

Until the next post, Ciao!!!

STREETWEAR Color Rich Ultramoist Lipsticks - Review

Hello Everyone!

Budget-friendly beauty essentials are everyone’s favourite but when I started following beauty blogs, a couple of years ago, I always wondered why they weren’t showcased as much. I thought to myself that if I ever have a beauty blog of my own, I’d definitely keep it focused on good quality Budget beauty products, while occasionally showcasing high-end brands (cuz who doesn’t love those? Ahem!)

Today I will be reviewing a couple of great Budget lipsticks that can easily compete with other Indian brands in many more ways, than just their price-points. Girls, Ladies, Fellow Makeup lovers, I present (well, actually Revlon presents..) 

STREETWEAR COLOR RICH Ultramoist Lipsticks.

Photo-bombed by my lil munchkin

Let's look at the shades I own and absolutely adore...

• Mystic Mauve no.7 (Alluring Aisha range) –

Mystic Mauve No.7

A muted Mauve shade well suited for daily wear. This shade would work great for office-goers who wish to wear something subtle yet pretty. This shade is pretty sheer and needs to be layered on for true pigmentation. I mostly use this when I’m going for a dramatic eye look, so that it gives colour to the lips without taking away attention from the eye makeup.

• Very Vampire No.2 (Flirty Susie range) –

Very Vampire No.2

A bright, coral Red that’s so deeply pigmented that it needs to be swiped only once to show its true color. A great young shade of Red if you wish to stay away from the more deep, mature Reds. Use it as a stain for the day-time look and layer it on for the ‘Va-Va-Voom’ look in the evenings. On paler, fairer skin tones, this sometimes tends to come up as an Orangey-Red. PS - If you are very fair/pale and want to use this to it full colour, I'd recommend wearing a light blush or bronzer - some sort of colour to warm up your skin, or else you'll really look 'Very Vampire'!! lol

• Pink Passion No.3 (Alluring Aisha range) –

Pink Passion No.3

A vibrant blue-based fuchsia Pink which perks up your complexion; Hell, this one perks up your MOOD on a dull day!! It’s a beautiful bright pink that screams ‘Achtung Baby!!’ (German for Attention Baby!!) I love this one so much that I don’t dare to wear anything but a simple liner and a kajal in my eyes along with it.

There are a lot of lovely shades in the range but I own only these many. Let's take a quick look at the swatches...

Hand Swatches - 

Outdoors in Natural Light
(L-R) Very Vampire, Pink Passion & Mystic Mauve

Indoor Lighting

(L-R) Very Vampire, Pink Passion & Mystic Mauve

Lip Swatches -

Mystic Mauve No.7

Pink Passion No.3

Very Vampire No.2

Pros –

1. Abso-freaking-lutely easy on the pocket - They went from being 180/- to 220/- very recently..It's a bummer, I wonder why they went over the Rs.200 mark? Lol anyway, still budget-friendly!

2. Great shade range - Reds, Corals, Pinks, Purples or Browns – take your pick

3. Availability – A very popular brand from the house of Revlon, which has revamped its quality as well as packaging to suit the needs of the Indian market.

      4. Creamy formula which has good staying power for the price – The lipsticks last upto 4hrs with slight fading. Having said that, they don’t last through a meal, they need to be touched up after a meal or drinks.

Cons –

     1. Not all the shades are equally pigmented – Some of the lighter, muted colours like Mystic Mauve are sheer and need to be layered on. The deeper shades have much better pigmentation.

     2. Ultra-moist claim – Let’s get real.. they’re creamy, yes..but they aren’t hydrating or moisturizing on your lips. You’ll need to have exfoliated, moisturized lips before you apply them or they might not look good. Being creamy textured, they might accentuate the dry, flaky skin on your lips (#Personalexperience, #lipsticklifelesson).

     3. Flimsy packaging – (Aarrgh! I’m so picky) The packaging could have been a little more stronger overall . Also, the actual lipstick bullet doesn’t twist back fully; it keeps sticking out of the lipstick case even after you twist the end completely, which might mean accidental nicks and dents to the lipstick, while fixing the cap.

Hope you liked this review! Do try out these lipsticks, they're really nice. If you already own some of them, I'd love to know your views on them. Leave me comments below to connect with me! 

My Experiments with Makeup - Lipgloss / EyePrimer

I am a Mom, Wife, Entrepreneur and a Home-maker. I would like to believe that I juggle all my roles to the best of my abilities. I multi-task and expect my makeup to do that too! LOL So I experiment to see what other roles makeup can play, other than the one it is supposed to. Sometimes I fail, other times – JACKPOT!!!

This little guy – Lakme Absolute Plump and Shine upto 6HR 3D Gloss - was a gift. I loved the classy packaging overall but thought the colour would be a tad bit light on my lips. I tried using it over lipstick but then the tacky texture of the lip-gloss put me off. 

Recently I got myself an eye-shadow, which was a gorgeous shade but was pretty sheer. I knew I had to pack it on to get the true colour and also that with my oily lids, it would crease badly on me in about 1-2 hrs.  I didn't have an eye primer at hand (read – I'm too stingy to buy one!!) BRAINWAVE – Why don’t I try using my 'long forgotten' lip gloss on the lids as eye primer? RESULT –

EUREKA!! The above picture was taken after about 2 hrs after application of the gloss and eye-shadow.

How I used it –

1.       I took the tiniest…I repeat …tiniest blob of the gloss and applied it over my eyelid.

2.       After a few seconds, I dabbed my eyelid with a bit of baby powder to take off excess shine and stickiness from the gloss.

3.       Applied eye-shadow as I normally would. 

Gosh, it not only stuck on, but also showed up true to colour. The gloss itself was acting as a pale coloured base. I didn’t need to pack on the shadow and it didn’t crease on me for the entire time I was wearing it. I applied this makeup as an experiment in the afternoon, while my baby was sleeping. After he woke up, we went for a house party and came back post mid-night. There you go!! More than 9 hrs of great wear!! I am so happy that this little experiment of mine was successful. Try it out for yourself with the glosses that you use. If it works, then 'By God ki Kaasam', you’ll never have to buy an eye-primer ever again!!

Disclaimer – Your eyes are sensitive. Please be careful and use your discretion while experimenting with makeup.