Avon Solutions Oil Free Complete Balance Gel Crème - Review, Photos

During winter, I slather moisturizer like there’s no tomorrow, like its gonna be winter for the rest of the year (I wish!). More than compulsion, it’s the feeling of spreading creams, lotions and other potions on your body and slowly massaging it in.. it feels so relaxing and lazy, just like a winter day! Its important to moisturize you skin and face all year, but no season demands it more than winter!

This winter I tried a new face moisturizer for night time – Avon Solutions Oil Free Complete Balance Gel Crème. Its meant for oily combination skin. My skin is combination type but it becomes normal during winters.

Cost: Rs. 469 (available for lesser during discounts)

Qty: 50gm

My Experience:

The packaging:

This moisturizer comes in a glass jar with a mirror finish cap, it quite attractive. The mirror finish of the cap is excellent and though it is prone to catching a little dust, its nice to have a handy mirror. The glass jar is bulky and not travel friendly, but then, 50gm of a product isn’t something you travel around with. 

Given the finish of the crème, I feel that it could easily be housed in a tube or a pump-bottle packing, rather than a jar which requires you to dip your fingers every time you need some product. Its not hygienic. Also, no stopper has been provided.

Sleek Makeup Haul ~ If you thought online shopping was easy, think again!

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

I hope that through this post I can spread a little hope to any of you who are waiting since a while for your package from overseas to be delivered. When I placed an order with Sleek Makeup last year(in October) I came quite close to losing my money because the package didn’t reach me. Luckily, thanks to the cooperation of the company, though quite belated, I managed to receive the items I ordered. There are alot of dates and emails involved, and I think the best way to relate my experience, if you genuinely want to know how much effort it takes from both ends, is a timeline. If you just want to see what I purchased then scroll downwards.  Also, my home is in Mumbai, so I ordered the package to be sent there 

First I’d like to give you  a little introduction about Sleek Makeup, if you don’t already know them:
With over 20 years in the beauty industry, Sleek MakeUP has built a loyal following.  As one of the fastest growing brands on the high street, we create innovative, superior performance makeup, with strong pigmentation and high quality at the heart of everything they do.

Sleek MakeUP understands skin tone, catering from fair to dark and everyone in between. We know the importance of looking and feeling good in your own skin, so we deliver prestige products at an affordable price.

Forging an iconic following among makeup professionals and beauty enthusiasts worldwide, with products that aim to make the latest beauty trends truly accessible, there’s something to suit each unique style with Sleek MakeUP.

The url: http://www.sleekmakeup.com/

All beauty blogs I read RAVE about Sleek Makeup products; apparently they are cheap, but high quality products, so basically any makeup addicts dream! 

My experience:

Before we begin, I need to warn you that if your one of those lucky ones who has never lost a parcel, you may find this section boring! It contains lots of dates and snapshots of many emails exchanged between with Sleek Makeup customer services. So continue to read at your own risk ! Also, in the emails, time seems to be wrong at many places, probably because of the time difference between India and U.K

14^th Oct ’13: I placed my order on this date. Since it was my first time shopping from Sleek Makeup, I decided to order just 2 products.

My Bill:

(Sleek Makeup has increased the prices of their products at the start of 2014)

I choose the untracked shipping method, which takes 15-20 days and costed me an addional $3.64.

(One of my most coveted...) Carmex Moisturizing Lip Balm in Strawberry- Review, Swatch, Photos

Carmex lip balms are one of the most coveted lip balms in the beauty world! Thanks to ASOS, I was able to lay my hands on them. If you haven’t read it yet, check out my ASOS hauland shopping experience. After taking a zillion pictures of this tiny beauty, I started to use it right away.

Cost:- £2.55 from here.

Available at Flipkart

Company Claims & Directions of use (taken from the packaging)

Carmex Strawberry lip balm is clear, when put on the lips it provides a cooling effect, like that of plumping lip glosses. It also makes lips look glossy but that tones down soon to a slightly balmy look. The cool feeling takes a while to pass. In spite of the high SPF 15, it doesn’t have a bitter taste. It does have a minty and slightly medicinal scent. Also, its very lightweight on the lips.

In a lip balm, the main thing to look for is whether it moisturizes or hydrates, or does both. Though Carmex Strawberry lip balm claims to just moisturize, I find it hydrating as well. Its one of those healing type of lip balms; once this is off your lips, you’ll realise your lips aren’t chapped anymore. Other lip balms, for example the MNY Baby Lips just protect the lips, they don’t heal already chapped lips.

If it were not for the cooling sensation, I would have absolutely loved to use this lip balm during winters as well. If your living in a place that tends to get really cold, the cooling sensation will tend to make you feel more cold (Brrr!) and might even have the opposite effect-making your lips chapped, or maybe that’s just me :(

Overall Verdict:- 4.5/5

I’m looking forward to enjoying that cooling sensation in the sultry weather. I’ve always felt the colder the winters are, the hotter the summers will be!

Whats trending in beauty? + A Small Haul

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

Its been way too long since I last did a post on my blog. I took a month long break, it wasn’t intentional at first, but life just got in the way and then I decided to take a break from blogging. I’m not fed up of beauty blogging, oh god no! I love it ! But sometimes taking a break from things can give you some great perspective and also rejuvenate you. And the most important thing, I realized that I didn't want to stop blogging about makeup and skincare and other girly things, its now a part of me that I love to share. I’m a person that likes to do things right, and properly, giving one hundred percent effort into anything I put my mind to, though life does get in the way, especially if your studying engineering and therefore the number of posts on my blog will be less, but they are fully researched and reliable opinions.

I wish all brands keep two lines of products: one expensive range and one affordable range. Like the Lakme 9to5 and Eyeconic range is pretty affordable while their Absolute range falls on the higher side, and recently, L’Oreal has released some lovely budget friendly lip products-Glamshine Balms, Shine Caresse Lipcolors and Rouge Caresse lipsticks! I didn’t expect L’Oreal to release such lovely products at such affordable prices, I consider it to be more of a luxury than a budget brand, and I really hope L’Oreal continues this!

Coming to a brand that I’ve begun to love –Maybelline. Maybelline NY completed 100 years this year, and the brand is on a roll! It releases new products every month, and the best part- they are pocket friendly and good quality. I hope MNY launches some of their face range in India soon, I’m waiting for their Master Drama, Fit Me and the 24hr(foundations, lipstains etc.) range of products!

Recent beauty trends that you could not have missed because they are EvErYwHeRe…seriously! :

• Pantone announced “Radiant Orchid” as the color of the year and since then I’ve seen all kinds of purple, lavender, orchid looks and tutorials all over the web. I'm super happy about this. Purple, a shade in the same family, is my favorite color!
• Lipstick-Lipgloss Hybrids- Last year nearly every brand launched chubby lip pencils, but Rimmel was the first one in India to launch the lipstick-lipgloss hybrid ie their Apocalips range, followed by MNY launching lip polishes, and L’Oreal joined the coup with their Shine Caresse lip colors. And these are so pocket-friendly, unlike the expensive chubby lip pencils.
  
• Graphic eyeliner is something I don’t see myself wearing during daytime, but maybe at night..if I dare to.
• White eyeliner on the inner corner and brow bone, one of the simplest makeup tricks. White tends to look garish on indian skintones though, but if you want to give this one a try you can check out Lakme’s Eyeconic White eyeliner!

• Electric orange lips, is one trend I’m shy of trying. I’m afraid I’ll look like I’ve just finished an orange gola(popsicle)! The MNY Bold Matte range has one lovely orange shade, MAT3 if I'm not mistaken, and L'Oreal Shine Caresse Lip Color in Faye is a lovely orange too.

 A few things I hauled recently...

- Revlon Colorstay Concealer in Medium Deep – Rs 735 ~ I’ve been searching for a budget friendly liquid concealer for a while now, and sadly at its price, this is one of the cheapest ones available.
- L’Oreal Shine Caresse Lip Color in Milady (603) & Bella (604) –Rs.499 each ~ Two bright colors to welcome spring. These lipcolors are so amazing! A review will be up soon.
- L’Oreal Color Riche le Vernis in Blue Reef(613) was free with the purchase of 2 Shine Caresse lipcolors

- Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat Textured Nail Color in Fuzz-Sea – Rs540 ~ A bright nail color! I’ve waited for months for the Fuzzy Coat range to reach Mumbai, and finally its here. It’s a one time launch, so if you like it, keep your eyes away from the price tag and buy.
- Sally Hansen Kwik-Off Moisturizing Nail Color Remover – Rs.385. ~ A quick way to remove nail color, and its cheaper compared to similar ones offered by Colorbar and Bourjois.

A Sleek Makeup package that I had ordered a long while back reached my house in mid-January:

 - i-Divine Palette in Oh So Special – $9.99 (now raised to $11.99)
 - Blush in Antique - $5.99 (This was a LE but its still available on the website for $7.99)

Have A Nice Day!

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

Online Shopping Experience, Review & Haul - Slassy.com

A few weeks ago when I was in college, (this was before I came home for New Year’s) I needed some things-make up products to be precise-urgently. I couldn’t help myself, and despite my feelings about online shopping I placed an order for them.  The online store that had most of the products I needed was Slassy.com, it was the only website that had the Maybelline Color Show nail polish  in the shade Porcelain Party which is a plain white shade.

Their url: www.slassy.com

 So I placed an order with them on 20^th December and paid the money online.  Even after 5 days of placing the order, I had not received any notification about whether my order had been shipped, and when I checked online they had not yet shipped my order. I kept calling their number but I always got the message that the office hours were over. Finally on 26, I got a call from them informing me that Porcelain Party was not in stock and that’s why order had been stalled. I choose Coral Craze instead and they shipped my order on 27^th and I received it on 28^th. So overall the delivery was fast but they delayed it by a week which was obviously very frustrating for me. They should have informed me at the start, rather than at the end that they were waiting for the product. And why isn’t the number that they list on their website working?

I’ve previously ordered from Slassy.com, way back in July’13 and I didn’t face any such problems then. That time I was in Mumbai and the delivery time was 2 days. On both occasions they shipped through Aramex.

this is the box they sent...

the invoice

You can see that they sent everything in that rectangular cardboard box. An invoice was tapped on the back of the box and there was one more inside the box. I really didn’t like that they put those thermocol pieces inside the box rather than bubble wrapping everything.

What I ordered:

•  Maybelline Hypercurl Volum Express Waterproof Mascara
• Maybelline Color Show nail polishes in Coral Craze and Nude Skin
• Vega Cuticle Trimmer and Pusher.

 Only the MNY Color Show nail polishes were bubble wrapped. :-(

Currently, Slassy.com is offering free shipping on orders worth Rs.499, which is lowest, comparing it to other online shopping websites.

Overall I liked the fast delivery and they just need to work on customer care and on updating their website. I always prefer DTDC courier service so if they add that also it would be a better experience for me.

Have you ever placed an order from Slassy.com? If yes, how did you find it? If you haven’t yet,do you plan to haul from them?

<<I know the pics are bad, I blame the weather!!>>

Hope you found this review helpful ! 

Do check out:
Online Shopping Experience with ASOS
Online Shopping Experience with L'occitane 
Online Shopping Experience with Major Brands
Online Shopping Experience with Jabong
Online Shopping Experience with Nykaa

Just A Picture #1

Avon Clearskin Blemish Clearing 2-in-1 Solution & Hydrator - Review

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

Its been a while since I did a post on skin care here. Its easier to do make up reviews because, relatively speaking, not all the products require a long time to be tested(unless it’s a base product). But skincare takes time to evaluate. Its important to test it under as many different conditions as possible, to give a full rounded review. There are some products that don’t work in some seasons and work in others, then there are some which work the same way every season. Avon Clearskin blemish clearing 2-in-1 Solution & Hydrator falls in the latter category for me.

Cost: Rs.249 (Available for less during discounts)

Qty: 30ml

Company claims & Instructions:

Hauls! ~ First Haul of 2014

So I’m leaving for college today. The vacations are officially over for me, and I have to go back and start a new semester. I’m really sad about this, for the first time I’m not at all looking forward to college. But I’m not here to weep, I’m here to make you and myself happy. We know all ladies love to shop, and love to see what others have got! Well yesterday I went and brought myself some absolutely necessary things, I wanted to splurge as well but a lot of products that I wanted weren't in stock. Also these are the first products I purchased this year, 2014, so first haul of the year. 

Here’s what I got:

Makeup...

• Maybelline Clear Glow BB Stick in Fawn. Rs.250                                                    You know I love my Garnier BB cream and for me it was going to be the last BB cream that I tried. I actually wanted to buy a foundation but none of the shades at the Lakme, Maybelline and Loreal counters were a perfect match for me. Then I swatched this one and it was perfect, an exact match, so I HAD to get it.
• Revlon Touch and Glow Moisturizing Powder in Ivory Matte. Rs.415                  I’m so sick of cheap compacts. I have two, Rimmel Stay Matte and Maybelline Clear Smooth and the powders of both broke when they were dropped just one damn time. The Maybelline one is still usable, but the entire Stay Matte powder came off the case and was all over the floor. That was it for me, no more budget compacts. Only pricey  reasonably expensive ones. I might buy the Lakme Absolute one next, its packaging is so pretty.
• Lakme Color Crush Nail Polish in 08. Rs.150                                                               It’s a plain white color. You know I wouldn’t need to spend double a white nail polish if MNY Color Show’s Porcelain Party was easily available. But its sold out everywhere, online and offline too.
• Lakme Eyeconic Brown. Rs.250                                                                                       Yes! You read right, brown and all other shades are officially available now! The counter had 3 Eyeconic Whites but only 1 Brown which I was lucky enough to grab before it disappeared.

Skin care...

• Creamy Coconut Shower gel. Rs.249                                                                    Brought from Marks & Spencer, it has the most divine smell, like a cookie with slight hints of coconut. I actually wanted to buy the new Blueberry Shower gel from The Body Shop but it was OOS, so off I strode with vengeance, to M & S. Just look at the pristine white tube with black coconut sketches, such a clean and pretty design
• Nivea Total Face Cleanup. Rs.99                                                                                  You know the face pack and scrub routine that I mentioned here? This is an all-in-one product~ cleanser,scrub & mask. So I don't need to carry 3 different tubes with me. I’m excited to try it out. I’ve used only one product from Nivea before(apart from their lip balm), it was a face wash from Singapore and it was quite impressive.
• Loreal Paris Fall Repair 3x Shampoo.                                                                         I use this shampoo regularly, but this bottle is thinner, has Loreal reduced quantities? I will have to check with the old bottle in my hostel.

So you see, all necessary stuff. I also wanted to buy Lakme Absolute Baked Blush in the shade Day Blushes but its OOS everywhere! Has Lakme stopped manufacturing it?

And the last thing, actually falls in the Fashion category. 

You know the Vero Moda-Only-Jack n Jones stores? At first I used to like their stuff a lot, then I got over it, though my sis still loves their stuff. The material sucked and everything became ridiculously expensive every season. I was walking past their store when I noticed the sale signs. Now Vero Moda is absolutely crazy during sales, and this was the first day of the sale. I walked in just to see if there was something interesting and also to report to my sis because she was working at her job then. And then I found this skirt from Only. I was just lazily sorting through the tops on the table when this skirt just came into my hand. It was so cute, a deep blue color with white hearts and spots. And it was my size, something that’s a rare find during sales. I tried it on and voila! Perfect fit. So I had to buy it, its actually a gift from my aunt to me. 

Later I went to Vero Moda with my sis and we shopped for her till 10pm. By then, they had shut the exits and only 1 was half open, for us. ;-)

Hope you liked the stuff, will review them sooner…or later :-P

Rimmel 1000 Kisses Lip Tint + Balm in 130 Don't Stop Blushing - Review, Swatches, Photos

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

Are you ready for the first review of 2014? 

I thought I’d start the makeup reviews by reviewing of one of the most popular styles of lipstick last year, aka the crayon style. While this lipstick isn’t a crayon, it’s unique in itself too. It’s a felt tip style, I’ve seen a similar product in Maxfactor, but nowhere else. I think its quite novel but of course, such a product has a fair share of drawbacks too. The product I’m talking about today is the Rimmel Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses Transferproof Lip Tint + Balm. I have the shade 130 Don’t Stop Blushing. So sit back and relax, and let this review help you decide if you need such a lipstick in your vanity.. or not.

Cost: Rs.555.

Qty: 2.3gm.

Shelf Life: 12 months.

Buy online from Nykaa

See my shopping experience with Nykaa HERE 

Instructions(printed on the crayon/pen):

Step 1:Apply the color on clean bare lips for all day color

Step 2: Apply balm to add moisture and shine once the color is dry.

Usage advice: If the tip does not work correctly, wipe with a clean dry tissue.

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

My take on the product:

PACKAGING ~  You know what this reminds me of? A marker. The kind my school and high school teachers used, to write on a whiteboard. It has a felt tip which releases the product on your lips, you know, like the felt tip in markers. On one side you have the felt tip which releases color and on the other side you have a balm. 

The cap of the balm side is tricky, you can easily break off the entire balm while pulling off the cap, which is why I’ve used the balm only once. The balm has shimmer in it. None of the testers at the Rimmel counter had the balm part and my guess is because of the tricky cap, if not the cap, its because the balm itself can easily break, like any normal lip balm stick.

Last look for 2013 | Happy New Year!!!

So 2014 finally came, I’m so happy I was at home to welcome it and not at my college hostel. Actually I am bunking the first week of college so that I can be at home. I hope all of you had a wonderful night and bestest wishes for 2014. May this year be prosperous for all of us!

Some fun facts about 2013:

1. 2013 is composed of four different digits, and is the first such year since 1987.
2. 2013 is composed of four sequential digits, although obviously not in order. The last such year was nearly 600 years ago, back in 1432. But the next such year is only 18 years away.
3. More than 16 billion photos have been uploaded to Instagram
4. There are over 1 billion unique monthly visitors on YouTube
5. The Oxford Dictionaries word of the year 2013 is “selfie”. selfie noun, informal (also selfy; plural selfies) a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website. The frequency of the word selfie in the English language has increased by 17,000% since this time last year.

 I had an indoors party, so here’s the look I did for the night. I first used a white kajal pencil on my eye lids as a base. Then I used cranberry, pink and silvery pink e/s from a Faces quad and a dark color from another Faces palette. I used Lakme Eyeconic kajal in black, drew a line and smudged it, also used on waterline and to tightline. Then I lined my eyes with Maybelline Hypersharp Eyeliner. These pictures are before I put mascara. I used Maybelline’s gloss in Mirrored Mauve and Inglot blush refill #58. So all in all, very pink look. 

Sources: Fact 1 & 2 from Here, Fact 3 & 4 from Here, Fact 5 from Here.

How did you bring in the new year?