Author Archives: Adi

Colorbar Velvet Matte Sultry Pink Lipstick Review, Swatches and LOTD

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Hi girls!

Today’s review is of a lipstick from an extremely popular range – the Colorbar Velvet Matte lipsticks. The shade I’ll be reviewing for you today is Sultry Pink. This is less of a review and more of a song of praise. You have been warned.

Price and Quantity:

Rs 250 for 4.2g. I think they’ve hiked the price to 275 now! It is available on discount at some online shopping sites.

 

My Take:

These lipsticks come in a very sleek silver packaging with a transparent lid. The lipstick also has a colored bottom so you can easily identify the shade. I really like the packaging. I think it’s a refreshing change from black and brown coloured tubes!

Coming to the texture of this lipstick, it’s quite creamy – almost velvety (see what I did there? 😀 yeah okay moving on). The shade Sultry Pink is a very deep pink. This shade would look gorgeous on fair and dusky beauties alike. The lipstick offers full coverage (the number of swipes required will depend on how pigmented your lips are.)

The ‘2-in-1 formulation that gives the lips a creamy, yet matte finish’ claim is also true because, though the lipstick is a matte finish one, it neither feels dry on the lips nor tugs on the lips.

Another notable thing about this lipstick is that it leaves a stain on the lips when it fades. The stain left is quite even and is a lovely matte pink. It doesn’t go until you remove it with a makeup remover. I think this is a huge plus point for girls with pigmented lips because even when the lipstick fades, your lips are still left looking healthy and pink. Love! 😀

LOTD:

PROS:

  • Very reasonably priced
  • Easily available
  • Universally flattering shade of pink
  • Gives full coverage
  • Smooth matte finish with slight sheen
  • Leaves a stain on fading
  • Does not feel dry on the lips
  • Does not bleed

CONS:

  • Staying power is only about 3 hours
  • Settles into fine lines a bit (this is expected since this is a matte lipstick but I’m still putting this down)

 

Rating: 4.5/5

 

Final Word: 

Sultry Pink is a lovely, extremely flattering shade of pink that will instantly light up any skin tone.  I really wish I could have given this 5 on 5 but it does have a few minor flaws. If you haven’t bought one of these lipsticks already then go now! These are absolutely brilliant in terms of coverage, texture and price. You can’t go wrong with these. I highly recommend this lipstick. 🙂

Maybelline Clear Glow All In One Fairness Compact Powder 02 Nude Beige Review, Swatches and Photos

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Hello lovelies!

Today I’ll be reviewing the Maybeline Fairness Compact powder. I have this in the shade Nude Beige. This is the first compact, and the only compact, that I have ever bought. So I don’t have a benchmark to compare this to. However I’ll review this on the basis of what it claims it’ll do and whether it actually does those things. So let’s get into the review 🙂

Price and Quantity:

Rs 175 for 9 g

 

Ingredients:

My Take:

What I really, really love about this compact is the packaging. It is just so adorable and you can tell that a lot of thought has gone into it. It is a lovely light pink rectangular case with rounded edges. It has a plastic sheet inside to avoid any powder flakes going here and there and a decently sized mirror which makes it extremely travel friendly.

A sponge blender is provided with this compact and it also has a compartment to keep the sponge, isn’t that cute 😀 (I’m sorry I just can’t get over how lovely the packaging is!!) The sponge is neither too soft nor too stiff so it’s quite easy to work with. As far as blending goes, I really love this powder. It blends like a dream. The sponge blends the powder quite well into the skin. (Just so you know, the sponge was white to begin with!) You can use your own brush to blend the powder if you so prefer.

I use this with my Maybelline BB Cream (which I have in the shade 01 – Nude) and I think they work beautifully together. I think they are supposed to be used as a combination anyway. The SA told me that if I use the shade ‘Nude’ in the BB cream then I should pick up ‘Nude Beige’ in the compact. I think that the BB cream plus compact combination is great if you don’t require heavy duty coverage. It evens out skin tone without making it look too artificial or cakey. However BB cream under this is not a must.

Instead of using it on the whole face, you can also just dab a bit of this on if you have an oily nose and it absorbs the oil quite well. This is what I do frequently. My nose is an oil factory and this powder is pretty good at dealing with shiny noses like mine 😛

(The blended powder looks a bit ashy on my skin because my hands are darker than my face. On my face it’s perfect. This is also a pointer – the wrong shade of this powder can make your skin look ashy so spend a bit of time and choose the right shade!)

PROS:

  • Beautiful packaging, mirror inside
  • Comes with a sponge applicator
  • Blends well
  • Evens out skin tone
  • Absorbs oil
  • Contains sun protection – SPF 26 and PA+++
  • Very reasonably priced

CONS:

  • Contains parabens
  • Coverage is light to medium, not full

 

Rating: 4.5/5


Final Word:

For 175 bucks, this compact is a steal. You can wear it on its own as well as over BB cream. It fulfills its claims to quite an extent and it is good for light to medium coverage. It contains SPF so you can wear this daily. I’d recommend this compact to every girl, just be sure to get the shade right 🙂 Hope you all liked the review!

ELF Liquid Eyeliner Black 4203 Review, Swatches and Photos

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Hi everyone!

I don’t know if this is just me but I am always curious about beauty products used abroad. I don’t know why, I have this fascination about what their makeup is like. So when a friend of mine gifted me this liquid eyeliner from E.L.F I was delighted!

E.L.F is short for ‘Eyes. Lips. Face’ and it’s a US based brand. It’s a drugstore brand and offers a wide range of super affordable cosmetics, sort of like Elle 18 here I guess! You can check out more of their products on their official website.

Price and Quantity: 

$1 or Rs 55 for 5 ml

 

My Take:

The eyeliner comes in a slender and sleek black plastic bottle. It is quite lightweight (well it will be if there is only 5 ml of liner but I’m talking about the packaging haha!) and the long handle of the brush makes it easy to hold.

What I really love about this eye liner is the super fine brush. Liquid liners are the trickiest to apply but this liner’s brush is AMAZING! It is a bit rigid and so it can be very easily maneuvered. It is extremely precise (see the super fine tip in the photos?!). You can use it for drawing super thin lines for a no-makeup look, thicker lines for more definition as well as cat eyed flicks for full on glamour. All three looks (and more) are equally easy to create with this brush. I’m terrible at winging out my eyeliner and you can see I’ve done a decent job with this brush. It’s one of the best eyeliner brushes I’ve ever used. Period.

This eyeliner isn’t waterproof or smudge proof though which is a bit of a problem. It starts to disappear at any sign of contact (rub your eyes once and half of it is gone :/). Another issue is the pigmentation. Initially when you apply the liner just after dipping the brush, you get an almost jet black line but it starts to lighten out very fast and you have to dip the brush again. I had to dip it in thrice to get the thinnest line shown in the photos. So it’s a bit inconvenient that way.

PROS:

  • Inexpensive
  • Very fine brush, easy to draw lines of any thickness and type
  • Good packaging
  • Detailed ingredients list given

CONS:

  • Availability is an issue
  • Not waterproof
  • Not the blackest black

 

Rating: 3.5/5

 

Final word: 

This eyeliner by E.L.F is most definitely worth a purchase and I’d rate it 4.5/5 without a second thought but availability is a problem. I believe these are sold on EBay. If you are ever abroad you should definitely check this out. This eyeliner is sharp, precise and very easy to use. It is good value for money and I’d recommend you girls to give it a shot 🙂 I hope to be picking up more shades from this range soon!