An Indian's Makeup Blog

Smashbox has plenty of gifts you can - wish for . But not like you are going to get em.

Sorry that's just me being mean.

What I meant is though the wonderful folks at Smashbox say Wish for these....what they actually mean is - these are available for sale, they are a great value just like you wished for....


But is this a value pack ?
Leave that to Detective IG to figure out. She is a self proclaimed Lipgloss Math Guru.

2 full size glosses (.20 fl oz) - $18 x 2 = $36
4 travel size glosses (.14 fl oz) - $12.60 x 4 = $50.40
Total = $86.40

( but they say $96. Am I wrong ? Darn it, I should have checked before self proclaiming anything. But you forgive me, dontcha.)
Just For You Price = $ 29

I guess that's a deal !

The Bobbi Brown full size glosses are $20 for 0.14 fl oz which is Smashbox's travel size - Just another Lip gloss trivia I like to throw around.

Shades : (their description vs. mine)

POUT - baby doll pink or a milky pink with a hint of lavender (the color)
LUSTER - sheer golden pink or a champagne with smallest hint of pink
TEASE - juicy raspberry or a sheer deep pink
CANDY - cotton candy pink - Spot on, Mr. !
AURA - shimmery pink nude - Again, well done !
RADIANT - shimmery pink plum - You're getting the hang of this, arntcha !

L to R : Pout, Luster, Tease, Aura, Candy, Radiant

They are all mostly sheer shades except Radiant & Tease. There are degrees of sheerness and generally every color is extremely wearable making it a good choice for almost anybody. As with all Smashbox glosses I've tried they are not totally non sticky.

Buy the whole kit and gift it or rip it apart and tie a pretty bow around each gloss and use it as a stocking stuffer. Anything works in this house ! What happens in yours ?

Love,
Indian Girl

Beauty Junkies everywhere have wanted a product that does it all.

Beauty Junkies everywhere have wanted a product that does it all and costs a single digit.

(No not your finger ! Digit as in a single digit number. Good Lord !)

Beauty Junkies Everywhere need to hear this story.

The Ellin Lavar Nourishing Oil that costs $8 and is safely placed in the hair care aisle of your local CVS is what beauty junkies everywhere have longed for. It really does it all !


I have used it as a night time eye and face moisturizer. It is a dry oil; so on a regular dry face day I could totally do it during the day as well ! After rubbing it all over my face, I rub the rest onto my rock hard cuticles. I spray it onto certain dry spots on my scalp. And after I do a heavy eye look on one of my eyes (just for the blog), I take it all off with a squirt of this oil.

I still haven't tested the theory but I get the feeling it will polish tiles and sparkle sinks as well !

That stick figure is me. I plan to be that size by New Year's with regular workouts of once a week and eating carbs only three times a day.

The product is sold solely as oil for the scalp. Now why would they do that ! It does so much more !!! I wrote to the folks at Ellin Lavar and they confirmed its innate abilities to be a super oil. Take my expert non-expert opinion on this, it really does all of the above.

That being said, before I engage in the process of pumping the oil out I take in a long breath and let it out slowly with the words " Om....." You really need all that clarity of mind to gather the patience to get the pump working.

Its called pumping science. You place the bottle horizontally and pump a couple of times. Then place the nozzle against your palm at a 45 degree angle and continue pumping until the oil oozes out. I hope Ellin Lavar gets this taken care of. I don't have many Om's left in me.

Love,
Indian Girl

How : Log onto Jergens.com to enter and post your videos on how you keep your skin looking beautiful and winter less no matter what the weather.

Process : One Winner could receive a $5,000 talent contract to film winterless weather forecasts for online broadcast, and a luxury trip for two to New York City for a VIP behind-the-scenes tour of the show Wake Up With Al! along with $1,000 cash. The winner’s forecasts may even be featured online at Jergens.com.

More Info : http://www.pwrnewmedia.com/2009/jergens91103/index.html

I think its a kool idea ! If you are already into youtube this should be a breeze for ya ! You can enter at www.youtube.com/jergens
For the less courageous like me, the prize could be a stimulator ;)

Love,
Indian Girl

As promised this is the post on the step by step picture tutorial for this Olive Green Eye Look. Gather up some patience - this is a long one !

Eye Shadows

These are the powder shadows I used for the look. All are by Julie Hewett.

L to R : Vita, Silk, Zen, Olive

Brushes

I have listed the brushes I used, as well. Some brushes I used were from Smashbox. A couple were from an unknown brand I picked up at Big Lots long long ago. But I have substituted with a similar brush from Smashbox simply because it makes it easier for a reader to stop at a brand and get a look at all the brushes instead of jumping from brand to brand.

Step By Step Tutorial

1. Start off with clean moisturized eyes. apply concealer all over eyes and under the eyes hiding dark circles.
Product : Cover Fx Conceal Fx - Light
Brush : Smashbox Concealer Brush #12

2. Set the concealer with translucent powder.
Product : Cover Fx Translucent Powder - Light
Brush : Smashbox Crease Brush #10 ( I used the nameless brand one)

3. Pat a thin layer of cream / gel eyeliner or shadow in black all over the lid. Skip the inner corner.
Product : Estee Lauder Gel Eyeliner - Black
Brush : Smashbox Concealer Brush #4 ( I used the nameless brand one)


4. Using dabbing motions apply a thick layer of olive green shadow over the gel eyeliner.
Product : Julie Hewett Eyeliner - Olive
Brush : Smashbox Blending Brush #3 ( I used Prescriptives Eyeshadow Brush)


5. Blend a pistachio green color with the olive green, moving upwards and outwards along the crease.
Product : Julie Hewett Eyeshadow - Zen
Brush : Smashbox Crease Brush #10


6. Apply highlighter under the brow, along the brow bone.
Product : Julie Hewett Eye Shadow : Silk
Brush : Smashbox Blending Brush # 3 ( I used the nameless brand one)


7. Apply a green / black, gel / creme eyeliner along upper liner and lower lash line
Product : Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Eyeliner - Forest Shimmer Ink
Brush : Smashbox Eyeliner Brush #8

8. Line the waterline with a dark green or black eyeliner pencil.
Product : Rimmel London Spark It Up Gleaming Eye Darkening Liner - Peridot


9. Do your brows, apply mascara.
Product : Julie Hewett Eye Shadow : Vita
Brush : Smashbox Angle Brow Brush #12
Product : Julie Hewett Rose Mascara

That's it ! In less that ten steps we have a pretty pretty olive green eye look !

Finished Look :



Custom Palettes :

Over at Julie Hewet they have a new system where you can make your own custom palettes by choosing shades you love to fit into the palette of your choice. Its just like build your own burger except its not edible.

Very few things that are not edible interest me. So, listen up !

The palettes are the gorgeous black and white magnetic ones. So much cuter than the regular all black palettes that everybody else makes.

There are three kinds of palettes available : single pan, 2 pan and four pan. In my two pan palette I plan on adding Silk - a bone colored shade with a tiny hint of gold shimmer. Its the best highlighter shade ever and Vita - a brown taupe shade that makes my eyebrows look happy ! I can then drop it into my purse and have gorgeous highlighted brows all day long !



Ooooofffffffff...its over ! Its all over ! You can go ahead lose that patience now !
I just did.

Love,
Indian Girl

Tippi Shorter, Pantene Celebrity Stylist, styled Alicia Key’s hair last night for the American Music Awards. Alicia dominated the stage, performing her and Jay-Z’s smash hit “Empire State of Mind” while also rocking it solo with her new song “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart.”

Here’s how Tippi gave Alicia her red carpet ‘do:

Gosh, I love the blues on Alicia Keys !

Alicia recently got her hair colored a few shades lighter with Clairol, so Tippi started off by washing her hair with the Pantene Pro-V Color Revival Shampoo & Conditioner to keep her color looking healthy and vibrant for the camera. Since Alicia performed twice on stage on top of walking the red carpet, Tippi came up with a fun updo that transformed effortlessly throughout the night. Alicia has always been well known for her braids, so Tippi decided to incorporate a creative twist that involved light, romantic braiding.


After Alicia’s hair was washed, Tippi sprayed the Pantene Pro-V Detangling Light Conditioning Spray to condition and protect her hair before heat styling. The detangler helped smooth her hair while Tippi blow-dried with a Mason Pearson brush. Tippi wanted to recreate the backward Mohawk braid that she did for Alicia’s most recent music video, so she sectioned the hair into three sections front to back. Then, she gathered the two outermost sections and secured the in ponytail using Ojon Animated Styling Cream. With the center section, Tippi started a braid from the nape all the way to the front, making it a little off center. She tucked the end of the braid underneath the main braid and secured with bobby pins. To finish the look with strong hold, Tippi used Ojon Tunu Elastik Hairspray and Bed Head Headrush Shine Spray.

I'm all over updos and braids these days. I also found an awesome website that has the cutest hairstyles. I first found them with the snake braid but didn't go back until recently to realize they have a whole blog full of hair styling ideas ! Check them out here

Love,
Indian Girl

A step by step picture tutorial for this look is coming up soon. Its 2 AM and I've been watching documentary after documentary ! They are addictive.

I went from

Jaguars to
Whales to
Cults to
Wolves of Yellow Stone ( five stars - the best !) to
Lions...

Also in between were Diamonds of Africa and Vampires...didn't finish them . Horrible narration.
Overall a good evening ! How was your weekend ? Do anything fun ?



Love,
Indian Girl
PS : My neighbor ( well, his balcony faces my balcony...) has put up a huge freaky looking Santa Bear !! Super Freaky ! Will see if I can sneek in a pic for ya. As long as you promise it will be between us.

Guys !

They wrote an article on AIMB at Mumbai Mirror !! Mumbai Mirror is a Mumbai based daily newspaper.

Wow , right !!

They were kind enough not to mention my list of fears or put a picture of my acne spots. Its all good things ! Double Wow ! Read the article here

And...and...the article is in the website area of the tech section ! Oh I feel so brainy !

Thank you Mumbai Mirror ! Thank you Mihir Patkar ( the author of the article) !

Do we have any readers from Mumbai ?


Love,
Indian Girl