MAC Lipstick Instigator Swatch and look on NC45

Hello girls,

I am so happy to be able to write posts again, I was extremely busy and slowly resuming my old writing pace.

I am starting with the shade Instigator from my recent swatches. It's a 'Deep Blackened Plum' color; this is how MAC describes it. The first look of the lipstick from tube gives a scary feeling phew I might not wear this , Who would wear this? Nooooooooooo. Trust me, it's a beautiful shade when applied on a single swipe. The color intensity can be built with multiple swipes which I do not prefer.

The formula is Matte and has a long staying power. It might be dry on dry chapped lips do wear lip balm underneath if you have dry lips.

I bought this for $16 and currently MAC has increased it by a dollar and selling it for $17 in US, not sure about India Price.

This shade looks well on all skin tone. Olive / dusky skin tone girls can go for it. Everyone should have one dark color lipstick in their collection. Hope you like the post.

MAC Matte Lipstick Collection 2015 - Swatches on NC45 - Olive Skintone

Hello Girls,

I am back with a backlogged post, which I should have posted months ago. This time it's MAC's raved new Matte lipsticks during this spring. Lovely shades and I liked most of them but picked four out of it. They are priced at $17 and have their signature Vanilla fragrance out of tube.

All the shades I picked would work very well with Medium to deep Indian Skin tone. I am like NC45 olive skintone.

MAC All Fired Up - It's retro matte (very dry) and described as Bright Fuchsia which is right but pink/red mixture a pretty color for all skin colors although the outcome would vary from person to person.

MAC D for Danger is a Red lipstick with tint of orange to it. It's matte but not too dry like All fired up. Picture soon....

Flat out fabulous is another favorite of mine, it's retro matte, bright plum+fuchsia mix a cool color. Good summer wear.

MAC describes this as deep blackened plum with a mix of wine/burgundy on it. Don't be afraid of the color from the tube, the actual color pay off on lips are good. It would look different on different skin tone. On me it looked nice and people at work even complimented me. Pictures coming soon.

Finally here are the swatches.

My New MAC Lipstick Collection Spring 2015

Hello Friends,

It's been a while since I last posted something, I just got busy with travel and work. I am posting some of the lipstick I bought here in US in the last couple of months all from their new collection for this spring. I will post separate post on the items from Fall collection. This really excites me.

I will share the swatches with you, and soon post pictures of me wearing them. I have to transfer the pictures and write details of it, can't wait to do it....will follow soon.

2 of them belong to Cremesheen Pearl family and other 2 belong to Veluxe Pearlfusion Trios Collection.

Cremesheen Pearl Lipsticks - Pickled Plum, Sweet Sakura
Veluxe Pearlfusion Trios - Flowerscope, Quelle Surprise

Each of them costed me $17.00

I loved these shades, and have some amazing pictures. Will post soon. I looks good on my medium dark / olive skin tone.

MAC Pickled Plum Lipstick for Indian skin tone.

MAC Flowerscope Lipstick on Indian Skintone

MAC Sweet Sakura Lipstick

MAC Quelle Surprise Lipstick on Indian skintone

Here are the swatches. From l - r ; Quelle Surprise, Sweet Sakura, Flowerscope, Pickled Plum

Homemade lemon zest body scrub

This is a aromatic body scrub made from citrus fruit Lemon. We would use both lemon zest and juice in this scrub.

I grated the zest from 5 whole lemon then squeezed juice off them. Additionally you would some essential oil such as lemon or Bergamot or orange as these belong to citrus family. You could also use orange zest to enhance the citric fragrance. You would smell lemon if your bathroom after a shower.

Our main ingredients would be Lemon juice, Zest, 2 tb spn honey, Sugar, Oil.

1. In a large bowl Add sugar, all citrus zest mix well.
2. Add Lemon juice, honey  mix well
3. Add few drops of each essential oils and mix
4. Time to add little olive oil or sweet almond oil or virgin coconut oil, as preferred. I used sweet almond oil.
5. Ensure the consistency is not too thick or liquid. Sugar would dissolve a bit but you should still have the crystals for exfoliating skin.

Nail Art Designs with glitter top coats

I simply applied each glitter colors on my nail as swatch in each finger. Five types of glitter top coats on 5 fingers. The result wasn't bad so I wore it for a week.

Most of glitter top coats looks nice on black nail polish. For one top coat L'Oreal Paris Jackie Tweed, I did it on top of a beige color.

Thumb to Pinky finger: Color Bar - Retro Pink , Loreal Paris Disco Ball, Gold Leaf, Jackie Tweed, Lyn - Gold and the Beautiful

Nail art design on Dull Color Nail Polish

I had some mint green color from Faces which was dull on my skin tone, and I didn't want to waste it. Tried my hands on the nail art paints and brush for the first time. I wouldn't say this is great but you could get an idea around it and useful for experts.

I tried to do streaks with white and campaign with silver in between.

Revlon Color Stay - Nail Polish - Rain Forest (220) Swatch & Review

This nail polish from Revlon is one of their glitter nail polish other than their Sun and Moon Candy Collection. This is a nice color wearable by almost all Indian skintone.

It's priced at Rs 350 for 11.7 ml. Available in all major online stores.

Color is a dark bottle green kind like thick woods with light green shimmers, exactly as the name says. It's very opaque, and lasting power is good too. I had it on for 4 - 5 days, after which started to chip from edges.

Essence Nail Hardening Nail Polish Remover Strawberry & Passion Fruit - Review

With the current trend of nail art and different type of nail polishes coming into the market every fortnight, we tend to change nail paints so often. Especially people like me who love nail designs might change nail paints every week or even in less than a week. Buying a nail polish remover of 30ml does not help much.

I thought of giving a try with Essence. I bought this from eBay. It comes in a plastic bottle. Quantity 150 ml priced Rs. 249/-

It's very good, has the mild smell of the fruits does not make your skin white. Takes off nail polish easily. Like I said before I change my nail colors twice a week, also do nail swatches, color trials, including glitter polishes. It lasted for more than 1.5 months but less than 2 months. It got over today. I am so happy with this product.

For people interested in Ingredients:
Ethly Acetate, Alcohol Denat, Isopropyl Alcohol, Castor Seed Oil, Caprylic Triglyceride, Isopropyl Myristate, Parfum (Fragrance), CI 14700 (Red 4)

This is an imported product, made in Astria as per the label.

How to remove glitter nail polish without making a mess

Many of you would have thought removing glitter type nail polish or top coats would be a pain or difficult. I had the same problems, I use to rub remover over it multiple times to take it off, it just doesn't come off like nail polish.

Once The glitters were everywhere on both hands, making a big mess. Then I learnt this technique. There were several but I have tried this and worked perfectly.

Simply use cotton soak in remover and wrap a cellotape around. Wait for 3 - 5 minutes and take it off with slight rub and pull, as shown in pictures. No need to unwrap. This cleans it all. I tried wrapping with rubber band instead of cellotape it resulted in finger swell. Good to use to cellotape around or aluminium foil.

Later apply any vitamin E oil or almond oil or nail cream as the nail polish remover would have been on the finger and nails for a long time.

Happy Manicure!!!!

Ada Designer Chikan Studio - adachikan.com - Online Shopping Experience and Review

All Indians love wearing the famous Lucknow Chikan hand embroidery work Kurtis and Churidars. The first one I wore was in early 2000 during my college days in Delhi light Lemon yellow color Cotton Salwar Kameez. I still miss that set. I do not remember the cost though but it was cheap LOL yes. After that the second one I bought was in Bangalore a un-stitched cotton material which costed me over 1000 bucks. It lasted for several years. I could not find good genuine ones in Kerala and buying one from a boutique would cost you more.

 During my search I stumbled across an article that I am linking here - click here. This is a general guide. You would find authentic chikan kari dress in many reputed stores such as West side, Fab India, Soch etc. I myself has bought but they are expensive. I found some stuffs on many popular websites too but pricey.

About the Website:

I thought to give some try with Ada Studio. Spend an day looking through, I had a chat with their Rep through their website. They were very helpful in answering my queries.

I finally picked my products and placed an order. They also got the pieces altered based on shoulder, sleeve length and bust measurement. Isn;t that fantastic. Chikan kari kurti's come in large sizes and you would only find one piece with certain design and one size beginning from 36. The materials are in cotton or Faux Georgette or Net or Tussar etc. Cotton and Georgette are good enough for this summer season. They have plenty of short tops to wear with salwars or Jeans. Browsing through the website is very easy, you can also add items to wish list.

I would rate 5/5

Product Shipping & Packaging:

They were prompt, responsive in updating you. The Rep called and confirmed my alteration and shipment dispatch. The package arrived on time and was well packed. See the pictures below.

Again - 5 stars.

Cloth packing underneath items were neatly wrapped in double layered polythene.

All the items fitted like dream. White cotton was so soft and felt good. Perfect product for this summer here in South India.

Will I buy again, definitely. I am thinking of buying few for my US friends as they simply love these embroidery work clothes.