Lotion Up. Even When You're Feeling Lazy

Last week I woke up one night at 2 AM.

I couldn't take it anymore.

It wasn't the baby next door crying.

I couldn't bear it any longer. I ran to the bathroom.

It had nothing to do with my bladder. Lord knows, the bladder works overtime what with me guzzling down over 64 oz of water a day. Not like you wanna know about it.

But yeah it wasn't my bladder. Not this time.

This time it was my skin.

My dry parched skin.

Dry parched skin spread all around my legs and body. So dry it was paining. My skin was paining and I couldn't sleep anymore. I had to run to the bathroom, and slather moisturizer all over my body. At the end of it I almost wanted to cry. I felt *so* much better. I was beating myself up for not following with my advice on moisturizing soon after shower.

Not anymore. I have gotten back to religiously applying moisturizer after my shower. If I'm feeling lazy I just think of that night and in no time I'm squeezing the bottle of lotion out.

Apart from at home lotion-ing I carry a tube of moisturizer everywhere I go. I have one stashed in the car, one in each of the two bags I carry. I carry a tube of Curel. It is one of my absolute favorite drugstore brand.


They have tubes of Curel hand creams and the lotion itself in small travel size tubes. I use them both everywhere - legs, knees, elbows, hands and face. A few years back I had a really bad episode of dry skin on my face. I tried several products including Olay, Palmers butters, The Body Shop products - nothing helped. The only thing that worked was Curel's Lavender lotion on my face. I've been a fan ever since !

Moral Of The Story

Love,
Indian Girl

NYFW SS2010 - Trend It : The Messy Wash Of Color

As the NYFW madness continues in New York, I have been working OT trying to gather inspiration from all the brilliant runway looks ! We did a lot of hair posts on AIMB covering several runway hairstyles with detailed instructions on how to do get the look in real life. You can check them all out here.

In the Trend It Series, I will be writing about several trends that were featured this year on the NYFW SS2010 ramps that could be done everyday to add some spunk to our monotonous make up routines.

The first in the series is from the Yigal Azrouë Show.

At the Yigal Azrouë Show, the models sported a clean face with messy black shadow on their eyes. Makeup for this show was by Bobbi Brown. Check out the model pictures and the face chart from the show below. The only color apart from a natural clean foundation is on the eyes.


The messy trend is here to stay. Its easy, there are no rules, edgy without being overly dramatic. I cant wait to bring out my boring gray sweaters and pair them with this messy, rebellious look. Though black will be most gorgeous, I plan on doing this with a bunch of dark shades like dark green, deep blue and purple. They all will look equally edgy.

Skin: Hydrating Face Cream ($50), Hydrating Eye Cream ($45), Foundation Stick ($40), Creamy Concealer ($22), Corrector ($22)

Eyes: Charcoal Eye Shadow ($20) smudged out and applied to lower lash line; Extreme Party Mascara ($22) applied to top and bottom lashes

Cheeks: Natural

Lips: Touch of Lip Balm SPF 15 ($17)

Brows: Clear Natural Brow Shaper ($19)

Step By Step Tutorial

1. Apply concealer all over the lids and do the brows
2. Using your ring finger dab the shadow on the lid. Stop just below the crease. Avoid inner corner. The most concentrated part of the color is just above the lashes. Fade it out using your finger o a brush as it moves towards the crease.
I used Bobbi Brown Metallic Eyeshadow - bash.
3. Using a thin angled eyeliner brush, line the lower lash line fading the color towards the inner corner.
4. Curl your lashes. Apply mascara.





Now that we've decoded the style, tell me what you think about it !


Love,
Indian Girl

Estee Lauder Sensuous Gold Collection : Review & Swatches

This is one of the few collections this year where you can exactly copy the model's look with the products from this collection. The model Hillary Rhonda does a great job at showing us how sensuous gold can be. For those of you dying to see the products, this is your lucky day !


First Thoughts :

Its All Gold !
Tres Sophisticated !
Packing is to die for and worthy of showing it off at every possible opportunity.
Nail Lacquers - not the most original shades but exceptionally creamy formula
Eye shadows - I don't want to disturb the beauty in their pattern and dual tone vanishes once you disturb the embossed pattern.
Both lip glosses and 5 Tone Shimmer Powder is a Must-Have.

Must must have.

5-Tone Shimmer Powder for Eyes, Cheeks, Face in Pink Shimmer ($ 36)

A beautiful blend of pinks with a small hint of shimmer. Gives me a uber gorgeous soft luminous finish. It can be dusted all over the face but I prefer them just on the cheeks, bridge of my nose and forehead. The texture is silky and very light. It is sheer without being too sheer. Overall, a very refined glow for all ages, all skin tones and all occasions.

I was being very serious when I said - this is a must have.

The best part, you can save up and get it later too because by September the 5 Tone Shimmer Powder will be a permanent addition to the EL line ! Good Choice, EL !


Signature Eyeshadow Quad in Rose Gold & Amethyst ($35)

The four shades in both the quads are dual toned with a pearl like finish on top. One reason why I absolutely loved the quads are the shades is the gold embossed pattern -Very different , unique and nothing you see often. They are so gorgeous that I did not want to disturb the pattern on them.With so many makeup lines out there, it is becoming exceeding rare to see something completely out of the ordinary. This to me was pretty special.

As far as the actual shades under the embossed gold EL did a good job by coming up with some exceptionally easy shades to go with this collection. Shades that anyone can wear; not weird neon ones or ultra bright metallics. I liked the Rose Gold quad much more than the Amethyst one. The amethyst shades were very grey-ish on me. However if you have cooler undertones you might like Amethyst, a lot more.





Pure Color Multi-Shimmer Gloss in Rose Gold & Rose Amethyst ($18)

The other must have from this collection. I am not a lip gloss kinda girl, more of a lipstick girl. The only thing that will get me to wear lip gloss is that it has to be non sticky and light. The only reason I've worn a sticky lip gloss before is because it had SPF 15.

Both Rose Gold and Rose Amethyst are three toned and look like lip gloss trifle. Ooh I love trifle puddings. This lip gloss - I love even more ! Rose Amethyst gives a delicate pink-bronze look while Rose Gold is a more sensuous nude pink-bronze. Both are brilliant on their own !


Signature Lipstick in Cinnamon, Terracotta, Plum Amethyst & Rose Amethyst ($19.50)

The lipsticks as always are of impeccable quality, creamy and deeply pigmented but I am not blown away by them. I have seen shades like this from EL before. I even had a lipstick very very similar to Terracotta. However I must address that fact that there is shade here for everybody. Cinnamon is a deep brown with teeny tiny flecks of gold - gorgeous on dark skinned beauties. Terracotta is a deep auburn shade that could work very well with medium - medium dark skin tones. Plum Amethyst is a versatile shade that several of us can wear. Its a purpleish plum , perfect for glamorous nights. Rose Amethyst was my least favorite shade because of how it looks on me. It is a super frosty beige nude that should look best on pale pretty ladies.






Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Rose Gold & Black Amethyst ($18)

Though you've probably seen a purple like Black Amethyst before, the creamy formula makes it worthy of the dough. Something to wear on a special date, perhaps !

Rose Gold is neither rose nor gold completely. It is silky nude shade with a hint of sparkle to it.




What were your favorite products from this collection ? I'll have a look up with the eye shadows. Hoping it'll turn out just as gorgeous as the model's eyes !

Love,
Indian Girl

Zoya Matte Velvet : Review & Swatches

Matte Nails are in this fall ! Its such a welcome break from the glossy nails. If you've been Miss Goody Two Shoes for ever, this is the time to embrace the dark matte side.

The new Matte Velvet Collection from Zoya has me feeling like the cool kid at school. I never dreamt of black polishes, let alone matte black ones. If I told my parents I wanted the black polish they probably would have thought I was going through a rebel phase and grounded me - just in case. Now at 25, I am reliving my cool kid fantasies but the world now calls it fashionable. So, hey, jump on the boat !

The Zoya Matte Velvet Collection has three shades of velvety matte goodness

Loredana (ZP498) - gunmetal gray matte shimmer

Dovima (ZP499) - black matte shimmer

Posh (ZP500) - wine matte shimmer

Blink And Its Dry !!

There is something weird about these shades. They dry at lightening speed. You apply it on finger #1 and by the time you reach finger #3 , the #1 is dry. Completely dry. So prag'matte'ic ! Zoya needs to find out what makes it dry this fast and introduce that compound into all its nail polishes. This is major news #1 if you're clumsy with nails like I am.

The other thing is - its matte. Almost feels like you took a black marker pen and colored your nails. It takes some getting used to if you've been the glamorous glossy nail girl. The polishes are a little on the thicker side. They don't flow as easily but the formula is very forgiving. A little extra here, a little less there makes no difference. This is major news #2 if you're clumsy with nails like I am.

I'm not a top coat kinda girl, so I'd say this stays on for just as long as anything else. A week, may be five days. But then they dry so fast, I don't care how long they stay ! I'll happily reapply !

Its a must try if you ask me. Just the look of the matte black on my nails has me feeling like the very fashionable Olsen Twins.

Price - $6
Purchase - Zoya.com, Ulta
Purpose - Matte Nail Polish
Position - Love,
Indian Girl