The Budget Wine Lipstick

When I was running around Bangalore trying to find something to wear for a certain gig because a certain member of the band in question forgot to bring my bag of clothes that he was supposed to. He then patiently drove me to the mall to find something to wear. Needless to say I was laughed out of town by the remaining band members who don't seem to grasp the concept that good (black) clothes are a necessity. But they all intently listen when I tell them what to wear for shoots.
Jokes aside, their music is fucking good. Check them out here. </shamelesspublicitybyaproudfriend>

Anyway.

I knew I was running low on my holy grail wine lipstick - Loreal Moist Matte Lipstick in Arabian Night - and I was just going to repurchase it when I hit the Lakme counter. Now I've never really felt that Lakme do well in the longevity of their lipsticks, even though they get the shades pretty spot on for Indian skin. There was some discount too, so I was like, what the hell. I picked up what I thought would be a nice wine shade from the Enrich Satins range in number 421. Billed it.

Oh my Lord. I am OBSESSED. It lasted ALL freaking night. Through all the food and the drink. It's a brilliant creamy matte formula. I will say though, that it takes around 10 minutes to actually set into your lips properly. And when it does, it ain't going anywhere. Good job, Lakme!

Then I came home and decided to compare both.

Aside from the fact that the Loreal lipstick (below) is a tad bit more pink, I think for the girl that's in the market for a budget wine colored lipstick, this is the one you need. The Loreal is pretty well priced for the brand/quality (I am after a couple of other shades in the same line) and retails for around INR 899. The Lakme, on the other hand is a complete bargain at INR 230 (I snagged it for the righteous price of INR 180) and in my honest opinion - has pretty much the same quality.

Here is an old, slightly awkward blogpost of me reviewing Arabian Nights.

Let me know if any of you try either of these lipsticks out - I vouch for them both!

- A

Skin Saviors

In a nutshell, I feel like I'm getting old and need to start taking care of my skin.
I think post 21, you need to start taking that extra time in the morning/at night and actually do stuff like use a night moisturizer, or actually taking your make up off after that 4am night out.

These are all budget buys, I think I'll start investing more once I test the waters a little and understand how my skin reacts.
I have normal-dry skin, which suffers from the occasional zit when I'm really stressed out. Used to be on the oily side during high school, but then my skin kinda changed as I got older ( I hear this is called a skin cycle).

1. Loreal Paris Skin Perfect 20+
 One hell of a day cream. It smells like rich old lady, but also like litchi. Or coconut. I can't tell. It's very matte, not oily at all on your skin. And I've been using the smaller sized 99 INR one to test out, and I can noticeably see my skin turn a lot clearer and a lot more even toned.

2. Fab India Aloe Vera under eye gel
 So, so soothing. I use this twice a day. Has reduced the lovely bags I sometimes wake up with.

3. Lakme Clean Up Mask 
 A real budget clay mask - I'm not sure about the 'salon-like'glow' that they go on about, but my skin feels pretty smooth after use. For the price, I guess this is a good-un.

4. Garnier Pure Active Extra Strong Pimple Control Pen
Zaps those zits in two days flat. It leaves a bit of residue (kind of like a peel off mask) but you can just wipe that off once it's dried and absorbed into your skin.

So I'm not going to get any LaMer or Shiseido any time soon, but from college-routine to work-routine, I think this a big step up!