EOTD - The Peacock

Hey Everyone!

I wanted to some eye looks this week as I am relatively free and really excited about trying out my eyeshadows.I decided to choose birds as my inspiration........umm I dunno why :P I like birds and when Nisha said to do an EOTD for the Faces I Shine Quad, this was what struck me :)

Today was the day for the peacock and I am using the following items:

• My Faces I-Shine Quad #04 (Reviewed Here) (You can use any 3 blue eyeshadows with shimmer)
• Coastal Scents 88 Original Eyeshadow Palette
• Assorted brushes
• Maybelline Colossal Kajal
• Rimmel Extra Wow Lash Mascara 

I will be doing this look in a horizontal gradient.  So lets get started.

Step 1: Prep and Prime your eyelids. I have skipped the primer and only used a compact underneath in order to show you the vibrancy of the quad's colors.

Step 2: Place the lightest of your blues in the inner corner in a triangular shape.

Step 3: Place a medium blue or green in the center.

Step 4: Place the darkest blue in the outer corner of the eye in a triangular shape.

Step 5: Blend where 2 colors meet.Be careful that each color can still be seen :)

Step 6: Place your black shadow in the crease and extend it so that it touches the outer corner of your eye. Blend just a leeeeeeeetle bit lower into the lid.

Step 7: Place your dark blue shade across half of your lower eyelash.

Step 8: Add the highlighter shade on your brow-bone and fill in your eyebrows.Apply eyeliner and mascara.

At this point it should look like this

Step 9: And you're all done! :)

So how do you like it? 

Blog Love Therapy Blog Hop #14

Blog Hopping is a great way to read what other people are writing around the world.Try it at
Blog Love Therapy #14 

 Don't forget to check out the blogs on there, if you are posting your own :)

Faces - I Shine Quad 04 Swatches and Review

In a recent haul I bought this quad which I had been eyeing for a long time after nisha told me about it.All those who know me, know that I cannot resist anything blue, clothes, makeup, shoes, even wallpaint :P So when I saw this in the shop, it was love at first sight.

Packaging:The eyeshadows are housed in a black plastic box (like a compact) with a transparent top to allow one to see the colors.The round pack itself comes in a flimy cardboard box.The four colors are divided into 2 halves by the space in which a double sided applicator is placed.

Applicator: The applicator is duble sided and good to use, though I wish it had a longer handle.Short applicators are a pain to use near your eye!This applicator has a narrow front part which is great to place the eyeshadow in the inner corner if the eye specially.The denser than usual foam picks up color adequately.

Colors: This quad has amazing colors, and one is quite close to the royal blue in the Rimmel HD Glam Eyeshadow Quad that I have.Each color is wearable on it own or with others.The quad doesn't have a color for highlighting but thats not something anyone would miss.

Color Payoff: Excellent!! I have no complains regarding the colors.They are vibrant and intense even without any primer.

Staying power: The staying power without any primer is about 5-6 hours without any change and even longer with primer.

Texture: OMG! This is where this quad really shines!(excuse the pun) The eyeshadows are buttery soft and so finely milled that its an actual pleasure to work with them.I have yet to find an E/s with softer texture, not even MAC ones compare.Surprisingly,the softest one is the black one, which is also a little sheer, perfect for a normal look without making it too dramatic.All 4 colors have shimmer.

Placing and Blending: They blend super easily and stay where you place them.

Fallout: There is fallout because the eyeshadows are so soft, but nothing a fan brush won't remove at the end:)

Price: It is a little expensive at MRP INR 499 but the quality and quantity you get is so amazing, it doesnt hurt at all and you are getting 4 different shades! Plus online sites are retailing it for INR 425.

Availability: Faces stores are not everywhere, yet this quad is easily available through online sites catering to far flung places, thus availability is not a problem.

This quad is for you if you:
Love blue
like great texture in eyeshadows
Have brown/Hazel eyes
Like a bit of drama to your eyes sometimes
Want to experiment with colors and looks.

This quad is NOT for you if you:
Don't like shimmer in your eyeshadows.

I give it: 4.5/5

My Blog hop for this week :)

Every week on monday we start a new blog hop on Blog Love Therapy.This allows us to widen our reading and I for one certainly love reading about what other people enjoy.I have met a lot of great friends here and these are my 5 for the week :

1.Nocturnal Beauty - http://nocturnal-beauty.blogspot.co.uk/
2.Antique Purple - http://antique-purple.blogspot.in/
3.A Thing of Beauty  - http://athingof-beauty.blogspot.in/
4.Superficial Sydney - http://superficialsydney.blogspot.com.au/
5.BEauty Confessions of a Big Girl - http://beautyconfessionsofabiggirl.blogspot.in/

These ladies have amazing stuff posted, be it beauty, DIY or just random thoughts.

Whats in my mailbox? Konad! + Haul from SN

Like any nail art junkie, I have been dreaming of trying out the Konad stamping mechanism and I finally got a chance to order it through my trusty UrbanTouch once I discovered they had the stamp M60 in stock again! So at 7 am I placed the order and received it with excitement appropriate for a 4 yr old in a candy store!
Here is what I got:

The Konad nail art pen in White
Konad stamping plates in M60 and M56
Konad stamp and scraper.

I am way beyond excited about the goodies.So excited I forgot to order the special nail paints :P so wait till I get em and we shall have some fun :)

What did I haul from my last trip to Sarojini? A couple of nail paints and eye goodies and the best part was I found the Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Papaya! Its out of stock almost everywhere and I have searching.Its a gorgeous coral-ish shade, perfect for those who don't like using lipstick all day :)

Here are the flakies:

 

Took Nisha's (http://beautyandthecheap.blogspot.in/) advice and bought this quad, gonna try it out soon!

 And Crown jewel of this haul: Revlon Coloburst Lipgloss in Papaya and Maybelline Vivid and Smooth Eyeliner in Green.

Whew glad I got this post out of the way......now I can get to swatching and using this stuff for you guys! <3 

A New Flakie by Incolor - Golden #04

A few weeks ago feeling bored, I decided to walk over to Sarojini Nagar and haunt the shops.I can spend hours in that tiny market place! There is a shop that is quickly becoming my favorite when it comes to drugstore makeup items, mainly because all other stores and malls are far away!This time I discovered a display case full of a new brand in nail paints or atleast I hadn't seen it ever (but then I was a nail paint virgin more or less till a few weeks ago) Incolor had several colors I hadn't seen before but what really got me was the flakies in the bunch and I found 2 that I just could not resist.This is the first of them.

Name: Incolor Chrome Nail Paint #04
Volume: 10 ml.
Price: INR 150

This is tiny golden glitter suspended in a clear base with larger hexagonal golden flakes. I decided to layer it over my Yellow Colorama in Amarelo Sol.

What I like:

You don't have to search for the glitter or flakes

Its a simple way of glamming up the nails

4 days and No chipping!!

The flakes are perfect sized not too big not too small

Even short nails can rock this look.

What I don't like:

Nothing! I love everything about it!

Nostalgia and Nail Art

Yep Nostalgia and Nail Art, what do they have in common you may ask.Well I have just returned from my hometown of Shimla and since its at an elevation, the weather is still spring-like and one could see lady birds everywhere! They always remind me of March when we would rejoin school after a long winter break of 3 and a half months!

The schools in Shimla close in November after final exams and the kids rejoin the next class (If the y passed :P) in March.So March meant seeing all your friends, new notebooks,new uniforms and pencil boxes.I still get excited every March (yeah I know I was a geek who loved school  :-B ) So this nail art is inspired from my trip home :)

What do you need:

1. Nail paints: Black, Red and White
2. Base coat and Top Coat (Optional)
3. Dotting tool or toothpick 

Step 1: Prep your nails by applying a base coat.

Step 2: Apply red lacquer all over the nails and wait to dry.Clean the overspill from around the nail till it dries.You can do 2 coats if you feel 1 is too sheer, here I am ok with just 1 (as a rule I dislike applying a lot of layers since they block the nail from getting oxygen and sunlight)

Step 3: Use black nail paint to colorblock the ends of the nails as shown.

Step 4: Then Draw a vertical line across the length of the nail, till all nails are done.

Step 5: Use the dotting tool/toothpick to place black dots on the red halves/body.

Step 6: Place 2 small white dots equi-distant from the vertical line to form eyes of the lady bird.

Step 7: After the color is dry, apply top coat. Admire :P

This nail art is for you if you:

• Like bold colors
• Are a fan of ManU :D
• Have medium and short nails

So how do you like this nail art? Let me know, requests for occasions and themes are also welcome :)

PS: I had to organise my nailpaints coz they were being found all over the house so I decided to put em in the Revlon gift basket mom had.Watcha think??

A New Friend and a Journey to the Edge of the World

Summers bring back memories of long lazy days when school was off and we did nothing but ride our ladybird bikes around the block, sucking on orange popsicles like there was no tomorrow.Our group of girls alone could have floated the ice-cream man's  profits for the entire year :D

The friends scattered, searching for their fortunes in greener pastures and the pink bike stands forgotten in a corner of the yard, waiting for a rider to wheel it out and rival the speed of the wind.

Now, taking a bike and setting off is one of the ways I visit my childhood and make amazing memories for the future at the same time.This summer, I would invite a new friend Kyra to hitch a backpack and climb aboard her bicycle and race to the edges of earth with me. Ladakh, a cold desert with its sharp relief and barren landscape feels untouched by the human menace of "civilization".Craggy mountains standing tall seem to dare the biting winds to topple them over.A deep stillness prevails the landscape, making one feel that they have entered a time of prehistoric opulence before the puny human was even born.This is where we would travel, biking for hours, taking in the varied hues of the rocks, the sharp contrasts of nature's blues, browns and sometimes the rare greens.Stopping at tiny seasonal cafes to sip chai, pedaling on, sharing the view while munching on trail mix, pitching our tents wherever we happened to be at night, we would pedal on, trying to take in as much as we could in the measly one month allowed us.Every morning we would slather on the SPF from gorgeous yellow tubes of Lakme Sun expert and get ready for a day of adventure.

Image Source

There is something very compulsive about braving nature by living on what you can carry, knowing that thats all you have.The priorities of life become clearer, like a muddy pool that has been left to stand so that the mud settles and one can see all the way to the bottom.Kyra and I would bond over the campfires in the evening, sharing stories and dreams, learning about each other as all new friends must do. She is a beach gal but I would show her the splendour of the mountains, a place where the land and sky meet in a forever changing duel of colors and might that has been taking place since the beginning of time, yet no two seconds are ever the same. Skimming the foothills of the majestic mountains, we would race to the shores of the mighty lakes in search of the edge of the world and only find more of it to explore.

Image Source

Just like the elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that edge would elude us and at night Kyra and I would realise that its not the pot of gold that matters but the journey across the rainbow itself.

www.facebook.com/ilovelakme

A Hippity Hoppity Hop - Blog Style!

I love blog hopping! It has introduced me to some great blogs. I find I'm reading posts on reading, on DIYs for the home, on art you name it! Nisha of Beauty and the Cheap directed my attention to the Blog Love Therapy page where the blog hops are really organised and the rules are short and simple.Its also a great way to meet bloggers and explore the blogosphere for writings on subjects other than what you write on, plus it also gives exposure to your blog! Im signing up at BLT for some BLT :D
How about you?

How Mobile Internet Changed My Life

I read about this contest just 2 days before it ends, for some reason, its notifier went to my spam folder! Yep those pesky Internet Pixies are it again! 

But despite the mixups and the delays the internet has truly revolutionised the way the world connects.

Flashback to 2007: a simple girl, about to graduate from college knows her friends will seperate to find their own destinies but worries that its going to be hard to keep in touch.

Enter: socialising websites Orkut and Facebook, Life is easy and her friends are just a click away.

2010:The girl is a successful professional woman and her network of friends has never let her down.She worries how she will stay in touch with all the business travelling she does.

Enter: Vodafone BIS and Blackberry 9000 and and life is better.She knows instantly when her friends ping her, and she has been with them through boyfriends, breakups, marriages and kids.Her life is full.

Present day: She starts blogging, sharing an interest for beauty with the people around the world.Her internet services allow her to build a growing website all on her moble phone.

That girl is none other than yours truly.My story is no different from so many others.Internet on the phone has changed the way I see the world,turning it into a village where friendships are just waiting to happen!

On my blackberry, I have organised a friend's wedding in USA all through the blackberry messenger and caught up with kindergarten friends.When I joined my last office,it took them a month to supply my laptop, in the meanwhile I had to read up tons of industry reports at work and the only way I could do that was on my blackberry.Jeez the amount of PDFs I have gone through squinting would fill the US Library of Congress!

Twitter keeps me updated on the latest and provides instant humour on grim days.Google Maps has been a loyal friend in all my journeys to places far and new.I can concentrate on having fun and not wonder how I will get back.Wikipedia's new app allows me instant gratification in all things scholarly.And then there's Baba Google Dev, who unlike any other Baba really is omnipresent and omniscient! Jai Ho!!

Yes, we get only one life, and this little box of techno-goodness loaded with internet has made my life fuller and more wonderful in every way!

If you feel like I do that mobile internet has impacted your life, then please like their vodafone page

www.vodafone.in/fun

EOTD & Tutorial - Smoky Pink Eye in Under 5 Min.

Hey Sweets! I know everyone keeps busy during the week and its often in the morning when we are trying to run around getting showered, dressed, cram breakfast that we wish we had an extra 5 minutes to work on eyes instead of just slapping on some eyeliner and hightailin it outta the home! I know I do! 

So Here is a 5 min eye routine that one can wear easily and still not be late, using the simplest shade that suits everyone, pink!

So lets get started. Here is what you need:

1. Pink Eyeshadow
2. Light eyeshadow for highlighting
3. Brown eyeliner
4. Light brown lip pencil/eyeliner
5. Mascara (Optional)
6. Eyelash Curler (Optional)

Step 1: After priming your lids, use the light brown lip pencil/eyeliner to draw a straight line from the outer corner of your eye extending towards the tip of your eyebrow, till it stops where your crease line would meet it.

Step 2: Follow the crease of the eyelid till you are about 3/4th of the way and draw along the upper lash line till at the inner edge of the iris (eye's colored part)

Step 3: Fill the brown shade in the shape of a rough C as shown (Don't worry about perfect lines)

Step 4 & 5: Apply pink eyeshadow all over the eye lid as a wash, try and keep it even but no hassles if you don't.Apply highlighter and blend it downwards.

Step 6 (optional): Fill in eyebrows with brown eyeshadow and/or shape it with eyebrow wax.

Step 7: Line the upperr lash line with brown eyeliner for a casual look  or black for a sharper look

Step 8: Apply the same on your waterline and lashes.Apply mascara if required.Thats it! You're done!

Why I love this look:

1. Its super fast - takes literally 5 minutes
2. No issues of different eyeshadows requiring time to blend
3. Pink works for all skin tones and all occasions
4. Good for a casual day or formal evening - its versatile
5. Brings beautiful shades of pink, mauve, golden and copper to your eyes if you place the C correctly :)
6. Brown base allows lighter look for eye rather than the traditional dark smoky eye (that makes eye look small) therefore good women with smaller eyes too.
7. You can vary the intensity of the smokey effect by darkening the brown C 

Hope you like my 1st effort using the Coastal Scents Palette! Please let me know if you have any requests, I love em!

NOTD - Cheetah Mani for an edgy feel

Hey Sweets!
I have a couple of days off from work, and since I wasn't able to do a nail tutorial the last weekend, I thought I would do it with you guys today! Its a super easy one but the amount of attention it gets......Whew!! You are gonna be loving your tips this week if you rock this manicure! Its a fierce look perfect for this summer!

Now let me tell about my inspiration for this nail art, or better yet let me show it to you. Tadaaaaaa.......

This top was a gift from my aunt and I don't wear it often only if I'm in the mood for some serious partying, but it does fetch me some great compliments, anyway this just came back from the dry cleaners today and it hit me that I can totally base a new art on this! So collect a few things and get set for a new mani! You will need:

• Nail paints in Black and Golden
• A dotting tool or toothpick 
• Yep Thats it! No more requirements!

Step 1:Flatten your toothpick by snipping off the point or breaking it.

Step 2: Place a small quantity of your nail paints in a plastic plate or paper plate (I used my paints palette).You can use the golden one first then pour the black one to avoid it drying while you paint with the golden nail paint.

Step 3:Use the blunt end to place irregular dots on your nails.You can cover the entire nail or just the extending from the finger like I did.Your choice :) Do it till all the 5 nails have been done the way shown below.

Step 4: Now take the black nail paint on the sharp end of the toothpick and start creating bracket like lines around each golden dot.Don't worry about being too precise.Cover all 5 nails in the same manner, add a top coat if you wish to do so.

Step 5: Rock your mani!Rawwrrrrr!

Why I love this look: 

1. Its fun and raw
2. Uses basic nail paint shades - no extra buying required
3. It allows my nails to breath
4. Takes literally 5 min :!!
5. Gets a lot of attention! :D
6. Goes perfectly with my top :)