Review: Lotus Herbals Pure Color Lipstick in Mod Mauve

I am a major lipstick fan. I can go without anything but a lipcolour on my face. And since I favour lipsticks to glosses, I do collect them like crazy.

Lotus was always a skincare brand for me. I did not even know they were into makeup till I read some of the awesome reviews on beauty blogs. I had to give these a shot. I picked Mod Mauve from the Pure Colors range.

What Lotus Herbals Claims
Lotus Herbals website calls this Moisturising Lip Color.

What I Think
I differ on the moisture claim. I would call this a non drying lip colour. This is definitely not moisturizing. I do need a balm under this. That apart, I have no complaints with this little beauty. I am in love with this nudish mauve colour. What you see on the swatch is a single swipe. It can be build to a darker mauve with 2-3 swipes. It has a sheen that eliminates need for a gloss and can lasts for a good four hours on me. It fades evenly, without a tint.

Among all the Lotus lipsticks, I like the packaging of these the most. The pale gold tube with the lotus motif is quite nice in my opinion.

It has a sweet almond smell that I don't mind but others might. Think Rogan Badam Shirin! The smell lasts for quite a while after application.

What It Costs
These are available at counters for INR 245 a pop. Lotus counters are slowly making appearances in Big Bazaars, Pantaloons, Spencers etc. You can also checkout the local beauty stores. A few of them carry Lotus colours. If you can't find them close to your place, turn to the internet. Lotus is available on Healthkart, VioletBag, GoodLife etc. More often than not, there are discounts and vouchers available on these sites.

The Good

1. Pretty nude mauve colour that will suit a lot of skin tones from fair to dusky
2. Non drying
3. Decent lasting power of 4 hours
4. At INR 245, it is amongst the least cost lipsticks

The Bad

1. Not moisturizing
2. Not creamy and tends to harden a bit in cooler weathers
3. The packaging does not indicate the colour. You have to read the tiny label at the bottom if you have a few of them

The Ugly

Non of its cons make it to Ugly. Availability was one, before they were not so easily available on the internet

Final Rating

8/10

Simple Day Party Makeup

I had a small get together for my daughter's birthday back in September. We had a crazy time coz we were moving to a new city within two weeks. So my look, like the party was quite simple:

The blush is overdone on purpose for this picture! As always, this pic was taken after all the festivities were done :) A close up of the eye makeup. Klutzy old me is particularly proud of the fine straight line here :)

Face:

• MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation in NC41
• MAC Fix+ (I sprayed this on a powder brush and swirled it all over the powder foundation. The effect is similar to a liquid foundation)
• Faces Mineral Blush in Pink Topaz
• Maybelline Blush in Apricot Flush (my goto blush. Am so thankful to Mehak who recommended this on her blog)

Eyes:

• Avon Glimmersticks in Jade Green on upper lashline and outer corner of lowerlashline
• Lakme Black Satin kajal
• Oriflame Visions Mascara

Lips:

• MAC Cosmo (It got its first wear here!)

 I was quite happy with my makeup that day. I think it was the birthday happiness that rubbed off on me...!

FOTD with Hooked on Pink

I wanted to sport a festive yet simple look when we went Pandal hopping in Kolkata during Durga Puja. A bright lip was the best route to go. I had just bought Maybelline Coloursensational in Hooken on Pink and this seemed the perfect excuse to wear it and sport a goofy happy expression!

Face:

• Lotus 3 in 1 sunblock (at night, yes! Not because I thought the light would have UV radiation, but because it is quite mattifying. The pic was taken after three hours of walking around in sultry Kolkata weather. I would be an oil slick without a mattifier)
• Oriflame pressed powder
• Lakme Rose Blush (Discountinued, i think. It is a lovely shade but the formula calls for a lot of improvement)

Eyes:

• Colorbar I-Glide in Blackout
• Elle 18 Kajal (This is one of the blackest Kajals I have worn and lasts almost as long as my Lotus one)

Lips:

• Maybelline Colorsensational in Hooked On Pink (I now know why so many beauty bloggers love it)

Sunblock, compact, blush, liner, kajal and lipstick is my general routine. On special occasions, I add foundation, concealor, highlighter and eye shadow. What's your daily makeup like?

Shimmery Evening Look

A couple of months back I visited Singapore. It was Singapore National Day and I had a house party to attend. Decided to sport red clothes and a shimmery evening makeup.

I went overboard with the shimmer because the flash made my face look like a disco ball... lol...Trust me, that was not the effect I was going after.

Face:

• MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation in NC 41
• MAC Fix +
• Colorbar Radiant Glow Highlighter Pen
• Maybelline Powder Blush in Apricot Flush

Eyes:

• Colorbar I-Glide pencil in Cocobar
• Lotus Herbals Kajal
• Maybelline Colossal Volume Mascara
• Maybelline Chai Latte quad's dark brown e/s to fill the brows
• Vega Lash Curler

Lips:

• MAC lip liner in Spice
• ULTA Lipgloss (Nameless, Numberless)

What do you think?

Why does my lipstick leave a white line?

I have observed that many drugstore lipsticks and lipbalms leave a line of yucky white stuff on prolonged wear. Any idea what can I do to prevent it?

Rekha's Giveaway

Guys, check out Rekha's giveaway at http://makeupnbeautyreview.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-first-giveaway.html

Coffee Body Scrub - Thank you Rads

Now we all agree that fabulous skincare secrets lurk on our kitchen shelves, it takes some God-sent soul to remind us and then some motivation to haul our lazy asses to kitchen and use them. One such God-sent soul is Rads from My Weekend Ramblings. If you haven't been to her blog, just head over there and see her awesome photography right now! She has a great sense of humor, loves all things Chanel and has some great skincare posts on her blog. One such post is about the divine Coffee Scrub (she makes that look like chocolate ice cream and mine looks like... well, never mind that)

Whenever I have used this scrub, my skin has felt luxuriously soft. I feel like wearing flirty feminine clothes and floating about like a pampered queen! You get the drift. Right? It is the best body scrub ever. Try it!

Casual Dinner Look

Hello girls, how often have you been caught in a situation where you have almost no makeup on you and you need to head out? This happened to me on a recent business trip to Bangalore. I was carrying the basic compact, kajal and a few neutral lippies for day wear. Turned out bro had other plans. He took me out thrice and each time, I kicked myself for not packing in extra stuff. Since I had to make do with whatever was available, here is what I did on day 1

Face:

• Lotus 3 in 1 Sunblock
• Oriflame pressed powder

Eyes:

• Lotus Kajal applied on upper lashline, lower lashline (smudged) and waterline

Lips:

• Oriflame Visions lipstick in Almond Brown

This was an almost no makeup look that can be easily worn in the day time as well. I'd replace the kajal with Colorbar I-Glide in blackout. I went heavy on the kajal and smudged it on the lower lashline because I wanted some makeup to show. What do you think of this effort?

Beauty Tip - Using Scrubs

Hiya ladies, this is a fantastic tip I picked up blog hopping long time back. I have shared it with a lot of ppl and all have loved it. So trying to spread some love on the blog too...

When you use a cream based scrub for exfoliation, allow it to sit on your face like a mask. When the scrub is semi dry, wet your hands and massage your face. This will allow the creams to penetrate deeper and give you much better results.

Image Source: http://www.rainbowremotehealing.com

Try it and let me know if it worked for you. Or share your own exfoliation tip.