Rules Of Use : Substituting Foundation For Concealer

I have been a long and hard victim of the raccoon eyes for many years.You know dark circles(blue black brown ...)all around my eyes.And I never felt the need to hide them.One because I hate piling makeup on my face and second I thought it would look unnatural on me.Then one day on a whim I decided to give it a shot.Now I didn't have any concealer at hand so I used a tiny bit of foundation instead.And voila it worked.And the best part was it looked absolutely normal and natural on me.

My eyes brightened up instantly and I was amazed at the transformation it brought about.So much so that ever since I have never felt the need to purchase an exclusive concealer for my eyes and make do with foundation only.

The one that I used first was from Cover Girl's Clean Makeup range and it works well for me,though only as a concealer and not foundation.It was actually a souvenir from my aunt's trip to the US(I always insist on MU souvenir's).The color was an absolute match but it was too creamy to be used in the summers for my oily skin.So I stashed it away until the experiment where it proved to be my savior.

I did try using a couple of other foundations as an under eye concealer with various techniques but kept coming back to the original one.Not because of the brand I guess but for various other reasons which have led me to believe that a foundation can be substituted for a concealer.

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Spreading Some Blog Love And Love Of Blog

A couple of days back I got a One Lovely Blog Award from Poohkie and although the award meant a lot, her beautiful words meant more.And so I'm on the path of righteousness and spreading love.

Poohkie has a beautiful blog called Poohkie's Place which is a great mix of everything I love to read about.She has an uncanny ability to read my mind and blog about it the moment I think about it(ok the moment sometimes stretches into days).Her reviews have swayed me more than once and I have never regretted even once.I wish her and her blog loads of success.

Onto the award.I'm supposed to give this to 15 bloggers but I'd rather break rules too and give it to just 5 bloggers I've recently started following.BTW this does not exclude the bloggers I'm already following.

Asian Beautifier

Glitter Glamor Grace

Indian Makeup Ways

A Shopaholic

Makeup Makeup And Some More Makeup

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My Take : Oriflame Calming Face Cream With Blueberry & Lavender Extract

This is one of my first face creams that I bought from Oriflame and it did not come with any recommendation either.It was randomly picked by me because it was discounted.But wow oh wow did I love it or what.Although it claims to be a face cream I have used it as a hand/foot cream, massage cream an on my dry elbows.The fragrance is actually calming and it works great as a night and day cream.The consistency is between lotion and cream and is a pale lilac color and comes in a nice handy pot.

What it claims?

Moisturizing day and night cream with 100% organic blueberry & lavender extract to naturally calm and soothe skin, leaving it soft and luminous. For all skin types.

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Style Diary: It's A Man Thing !!!

For me fashion is experimentation and stretching the limits of normal boundaries.But that does not mean I love looking like a clown.I'm pretty self conscious and if people start staring at me I always tend to think the worst.And that is essentially why I experiment within the safe haven of my home.And even though I tend to keep some of my outrageous creation within wraps(a sequined black jumpsuit for instance) I do tend to test some of the milder ones in public.

I love the idea of men's fashion.It is simple, not at all in your face, less complicated and incorporating it in a gal's wardrobe is easy and free.Just nick some stuff off the males in your lives and you are set.Here are my top 5 picks/nicks :

Men's Shirt

This one's an all time classic and you can never be ridiculed for it.I loved Carrie in Mr Big's shirt and that's how my fixation with baggy shirts began.You can belt it on the waist and wear it as a shirt dress, wear tights or better still stockings underneath it, or simply wear it over a spaghetti top and jeans( a la Kristen Stewart in Twilight).These days I'm totally digging the purple and black big checked shirts and plaid ones.If you'd rather wear something a little less baggy you could buy one in a smaller size.But make sure you buy from the Men's department!!!

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Dupe It Yourself : Protein Hair Pack

Your hair is approximately 91 percent protein, and is made up of long chains of amino acids.Harsh chemical treatments, exposure to sun, pollution and lack of proper care can lead to the breaking up of these chains resulting in brittle and dull hair.

Since the hair is made up of protein it makes sense to feed it protein to revert it back to its former beauty.Salons offer a number of hair treatments and you can even purchase hair packs and masks, but honestly they are expensive for something that you can do at home yourself at one-fourth the cost.The packs available in the market are basically glorified hair conditioners having some form of protein,oil and esters apart from a host of other chemicals.

You can easily dupe the behavior of these conditioners to make your own protein hair pack treatment.......

Hey I just started contributing to one of the best Indian beauty blogs Indian Makeup And Beauty Blog and this is my first article.Do take some time out and check out the complete article.
You can read the rest of the article here:  Hair care : Do It Yourself Hair Protein Pack

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A Lazy Sunday Well Spent – Two Eye Looks

My sister and I can hardly spend more than an hour together without either getting into an argument or worse a fist fight but a lazy Sunday prevented us and actually gave us lots of bonding time over makeup.Normally since Sunday is the only holiday for us, we are mostly out, but since my sister is recuperating from a bout of viral and I was coping with a month’s worth of laundry(still am), we stayed in.

My sister is actually a novice makeup enthusiastic but a good one at that.Both of these looks were created by her and experimented on me.We used whatever we had on hands and the whole thing took about an hour with me bickering and her slapping my hands away from the mirror.You see I don’t really trust her with makeup.That is until now.

She also clicked the pictures(barefoot out in the garden with an army of ants on our case).Each look was done on either eye and finished with Jordana Blush in Sandalwood and NYX Round Lipstick in Fig.

1. Natural Day Eyes

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A Chic Messy Bun

  

First of all thank you so much Sonia for inviting me as your guest. I am truly honoured. I am sorry for being late but I wanted to do something interesting in this one. Didn’t want to do the usual product review, nail art or any post on skin care regime.So I came up with the idea of messy bun. I love doing messy bun because it looks stylish and hardly takes time. 

I wanted to post my picture with a messy bun but when I tried doing it I was not able to take a right pic of my hair from the back. Still as I was excited about the post I went ahead with it. I will try to be as simple as possible. So lets go ahead with it. Alright? 

Step 1 - To start with it I do my regular shampoo and conditioning routine and towel dry my hair. I generally avoid using any straightening hair gel but if it is once in a blue moon then I don’t mind and therefore I am mentioning it here. 

Step 2 -  Separate your fringes from rest of the hair. I think if you have fringes then messy look more amazing and probably this is the reason I so like them. 

Step 3 - Comb hair backwards and run your hands into the hair. 

Step 4 - Now the main trick is bending down so that all hair falls forward. The way boys in the school were asked to become a frog: D (if you remember but bend down your head and not the body: D)
Now collect all your hair and make a high pony tail. If you want a lower messy bun you can make a little low one. It is all up to you. 

Step 5 - Make the pony tail the way you do it regularly and use a elastic band to tie them up. Don’t make a tight pony tail and leave a little “poof”. This makes hair look more volumised and makes bun look messier. 

Step 6 - Stay in the bending position and fan out the hair in all direction so that it becomes a fountain.You have to hold the centre of the foundation and start rolling it down in a clockwise direction.Continue till you get a bun. 

Step 7 - Now use bob pins to secure the bun. 

Step 8 - To make it look messy run your finger through the hair so that it looks slightly loosened up from the elastic. 

You can pierce a hair stick also .It looks sexy ;)..It is easy try it.

Guest Post By Anamika.
For those of who don’t know Anamika (which I think is crazier than my hair in monsoons), she has an amazing blog www.wiseshe.com which deals with everything ‘she’ under the sun.She’s one of my absolute favorite bloggers and the sweetest person I have ever met virtually.

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Freshly Shopped : Earrings Galore

A few days back the weather was absolutely mind blowing and with nothing better to do I went window shopping.Although it was strictly window shopping I ended up buying earrings or rather stud earrings.This January I got my ears pierced and since I have 3 piercings cramped into one small ear each, I cannot wear big chunky earrings.I basically got by wearing small rings/round studs till the time my ears healed.And now these beauties are gonna adorn them.

I was basically moving around aimlessly at Shopper's Stop and came across the jewelery counter where Kim's was having a buy 2 get 1 free clearance offer.Mostly the stuff was ethnic but I found these three that I loved.Plus they were offering life time warranty and replacement.

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Ten Commandments For Applying Foundation

1. Identify your skin color and tone and choose an exact shade of foundation.Indian women hoodwink themselves into thinking that buying a lighter shade might make them fairer which is not true.It might make you look ghostly though.
2. Always swatch the foundation before buying and preferably in natural light.Also swatch on your face rather than your hand/arm.Better still ask the MUA to apply it on your face.This way you will know whether it suits your skin type too. 
3. Choose foundation according to the coverage you want.If you have great skin and are just looking for foundation to even out your skin use a tinted moisturizer instead.
4. Always apply on clean and moisturized face.A while back I used to mix my foundation with a bit of moisturizer and apply and it always came out splotchy and uneven .But ever since I started applying it after moisturizing my face the application was smooth and even.
5. To achieve the perfect blended look use sponge or brush.Using your fingers to apply foundation might not give you an even finish.
6. Apply only on problem areas instead of painting it onto your entire face.It gives your skin more breathing space.You could apply it all over if your looking for even coverage.
7. Dab it in and never rub or swipe.If you are using a brush then take out some foundation on your hands and dip the brush in it and press and dab onto face.If you are using a sponge dot foundation on your face and then use the wet sponge to again dab it in.You can also use your fingers for this technique. 
8. Always apply foundation with downward strokes to accommodate your the facial hair and help smother it.A male MUA actually gave me this tip.Weird huh?
9. If you want lipstick to stay longer and give a better color payoff then apply foundation on your lips too.
10. Set foundation with powder and don't use the puff that comes with the compact.Instead use a fluffy brush.This will make the application smoother and even.

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Skintillating: Gorging For Gorgeous Skin

I'm pro eating and I'm pro looking good but I have always been confused whether these two things are related or not and it is pretty difficult taking a stand because even the expert views are divided.Normally we are advised against greasy food,chocolates and blah blah blah.We decide to swear off fries and sinful bars only to read next that these are food myths and food does not make zits pop out.

The truth is actually somewhere between the middle.I'm of the opinion that what you put in your body is as important as what you put on it.This post will not tell you what not to eat but rather what to eat for beautiful skin.So ladies make notes on how to feed your skin.

1. Love Fiber

During my early teens I had a horrible bout of acne and skin problems.Though I consulted various dermatologists over time my grandmother always advised me to treat my stomach rather than my skin.It sounded silly to me but years later I understood the wisdom in her advice.Zits are basically a result of our body expelling toxins out of our skin.The more toxins we have the more skin problems we have.Various Ayurveda and homeopathic medicines treat skin problem keeping this simple fact in mind.And actually that's one of the reasons we are supposed to drink plenty of water, to flush out toxins.Fiber plays an important role in the digestion process and helps in bowel movement thereby making your stomach happy and ultimately your skin happy.Have a bowl of oats or cornflakes in the morning, stay away from refined food and try and eat veggies and fruits with their peels.

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My Take : Lakme Nine To Five Defining EyeLiner

Lakme sent this eye liner as a replacement for the atrocious eye defining pencil more than a week back (A Lakme Change Of Heart) and ever since Ive been using it regularly and thinking this baby deserves a review.

What It Claims?

A color intense formula, with beautiful soft-color effects that will not budge even in the evening. This eyeliner glides on smoothly and easily, for a well-defined look that lasts all day.

Shades Available:

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Whipped TLC : Open Pores

Open pores are a big nuisance and a universal problem.They are a result of excess production of sebum(our body's natural oil).The sebum is produced by the sebaceous glands in our hair follicle for the purpose of lubrication.So basically pores on face are the surface end of the hair follicle.The size of these hair follicles depend upon the width of hair and the amount of sebum being secreted.So oily skin especially the T-zone area is more prone to open pores.

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Chemical Peels At Home Part 3 : Salicylic Acid Peel

There has been a lot of chemistry mumbo-jumbo around the blog these days.Blame it on my obsession with research and the fact that I was horrible at the subject.Since this is the third and final part of the Chemical Peels At Home Series, hopefully the trend will stop (that is until my next obsession).

So moving onto the chemical world, in Part 1 we discussed the basic theory behind a chemical peel and how we can dupe these at home using simple every day kitchen ingredients.In Part 2 we dealt specifically with Glycolic Peels which come under the category of Alpha Hydroxy Acids.In the third part we will concentrate on Beta Hydroxy Acids and the most common of it's family the Salicylic Acid.

Salicylic Acid is naturally derived from the willow bark and is also synthetically produced.It is similar to the AHA in that it is also an excellent exfoliant and helps to destroy the glue holding the dead skin together.but it has the added advantage of also helping control acne and oil production.In fact salicylic acid is a common ingredient in over the counter acne and oil control medication.Also the AHA's work only on the surface whereas BHA's can penetrate deeper and are milder at the same time.This has led to the preference of BHA over AHA these days in chemical peel treatments.So salicylic acid not only helps in exfoliation but sebum and acne control too.

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Rules Of Use : Makeup For Round Face

Do you know that a round face shape can make you look younger by years.My sister is blessed with the perfect face shape - Oval but despite being 5 years younger to me she always ends up looking older than me.Even though this might seem a huge consolation for having a less than perfect face shape, my cherubic appearance prevents me from having those enviable chiseled cheekbones and angular lines.Recently I learned that with a few makeup tweeks and tricks it is possible to minimize the roundness of face and make it look longer.The basic idea is to detract from the roundness of the face by drawing attention to the center of the face.All of the following tricks work on this basic principle.

1. Two Tones

Instead of using a single shade of foundation, use two.One that is an exact match of your skin tone and the other which is one or two shades darker.In order to focus on the center of your face start by dotting the lighter shade in the middle of the forehead down the bridge of your nose(slightly extended on either side) and chin.Blend well.Next use the darker shade on areas you want to recede.Dot some on your temples, hollow of your cheeks and along your jawline.Blend well including the blurring line between different shades.Use concealer to camouflage any spots and blemishes.

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My Take : Oriflame Grape Antioxidant Peel-Off Mask

I know I'm a little obsessed with AHA these days but in my defense it is definately the miracle skin cure.This mask however is neither a first nor a recent purchase.I have been a huge fan of Oriflame's Grape Antioxidant line and this is my favorite outta the lot.
The mask contains organic grape seed extract, a rich source of antioxidants which help to neutralize free radicals thereby protecting from collagen loss and skin breakdown.Grapes also contain tartaric acid from the AHA family which helps in skin exfoliation and helps in fighting visible signs of aging like spots and lines.
But the reason I keep repurchasing it is because of its heavenly smell and instant results.The moment you open the tube, you are greeted with the smell of fresh grape juice which lingers while the pack is drying and my skin feels refreshed and vitalized with just a single application.

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Dupe It Yourself : Cute Shower Spa Bags

Loofah and shower gel are part of our daily shower routine.A body scrub might be a pleasant change.But these cuties will totally transform your shower routine from mundane to fun.Just replace your loofah & shower gel with these spa bags.

Hunt and collect :

1/2 cup grated soap (I prefer Dove or Pears)

1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup dried rose petals

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Chemical Peels At Home Part 2 : Glycolic Acid Peel

If you have read the 1st part of the Chemical Peels At Home (link here), you must be well versed with AHA and Glycolic Acid.In the 2nd part I'm going to discuss the benefits and uses of Glycolic Acid in Chemical Peels.

Glycolic Acid is a fruit acid from the Alpha Hydroxy Acid family.Its most common source is Sugarcane.Glycolic Acid is pretty famous for its use in cosmetics because it is a natural exfoliant and moisturizer.

It acts as an exfoliant because of its high acidity and easy solubility and works by destroying the "glue" which holds the dead skin to the surface,  resulting in smoother skin.It also helps to stimulate the skin's natural collagen and elasticity and helps in filling up the finer lines which might be a precursor to wrinkles.

It is milder than the rest of its contemporaries used in chemical peels and is readily found in nature.

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