My product review !

This is a review on the products I used and use ! I hope you like it!


BIOTIQUE:
There are many advantages like they are ayurvedic with late expiry of 5 years and worthy your hard-earned. Nourishing lotion i.e. Morning Nectar smells wow with mild fragrance like kasturi flower and non-sticky. Foaming cleanser i.e. Honey gel is soft on face and leaves a pleasant fragrance around. Sun block in Red sandalwood is a bit strong, but great. I use Biokajal as it is herbal and does not smudge unless we meddle up. Biotique papaya scrub gives good results, but not recommended on a daily basis. Mine is a combination skin and very sensitive. So, I use it only once a week. To be honest, this is an expensive high-end herbal brand, but worthy enough to give a try.

TIP:
Sun block works at its best when applied 15-30 minutes before you peep out. Those who feel you are wasting your expensive foundations can try using a little bit of foundation with moisturizer /sun block even on hands and legs. Try and find the change.

LOTUS:
I tried their lip therapy in Cocoa and Vanilla flavours. I liked the Vanilla one much better as it is not heavy on lips and glides smooth when applied. Cocoa one is good, but I found it waxy and heavy for some unknown reasons.

LAKME:
I have Jewel Sindoor in Maroon and I think I am in love with it. For Hindu women, sindoor on forehead is a symbol of status elevation. Gone are the days of women with sindoor on their foreheads, but I really appreciate Lakme as it might boost up the thought of sindoor once again because of the contemporary touch. It's really worth a try, especially for occasions as it has shimmer in it with gold/silver undertone. 3 more new colours are coral, gold and pearl, but for the traditional touch, maroon is the one.

I would like to talk about Lakme Starlight face highlighter. A little bit of it makes wonders on your lovely cheeks. You don’t even need a mirror to apply that as the lid itself shines like a mirror in and out. It also has a porous separator inside to control the flow of highlighter on to the puff.

Lakme Strawberry face wash is another lovely product which gives you a fresh feel. I used Lakme liquid eyeliner, but it kind of got clumpy after a while and I had to choose the one with felt tip.

TIP:
Felt tip is great for those who are trying to use eyeliner for the first time as you have the control, mostly.

STREETWEAR:
I use S/W nail polish remover, which is big enough for 40/- and lasts longer. Their lip glosses are good like the colour in the tube is sure to be the same colour on your lips. They are not too pricey. Their nail polish range is very wide and it is a bit tough to choose colours as you find variety of shades in a particular family of colour.

REVLON:
Famous for their nail colours, Revlon has great range of colour cosmetics. Nail polish and lip gloss are my choice. Revlon super lustrous lip gloss # Cherries in Glow is the best shade ever. Women out there looking for the best gloss; try this and you will definitely not regret buying this. It is a promise! Price must be around 250 – 350/-.

This looks good in all seasons and on all skin tones. Its sheer texture makes your lips look plump at least, what I observed. You can find them for a great deal in malls like Brand Factory.

MAYBELLINE:
I am not born with it, but I got addicted to this, especially their lippie range is too difficult to choose. They have great colours and wide choice.

Their shiny-licious gloss tubes are great with a precise tip, which makes it easier to apply as you can get a generous amount of gloss on your lips for a glossy look. They are non-sticky with a delicious fragrance.

Maybelline Shine seduction glossy range is awesome with click-through pen. Maybelline has Wet Shine and Water Shine ranges, but I felt they have less staying power comparatively.

MAX FACTOR:
I am not sure of colour cosmetics, but their mineral foundation appears to suit Indian tones with shades like Warm Almond. The eye shadows are light and have a sheer texture. The mascara I use is Lash Lift for volume and lifting up lashes, but I found it clumping on my lashes. I have eye shadow palette, which I have to apply with much effort to make the colour show up on me.

L’OREAL:
I tried a lipstick in L’Oreal Colour Riche Star Secret Aishwarya Beige # 708. Can someone please tell me if you found this colour pigmented on lips? It is supposed to be a nude shade, but I found it looked pigmented on Aish. God only knows why, but still this seems to be a great nude on medium and fair tones.

In their lip gloss range, I would like to talk about what I use; Glam shine 6H, which did not stay for 6 hours; Natural Glow range, which has shimmer with silver undertone and Holographic range; which is sheer shimmer and can be applied alone or on your favourite lip colour.

New range i.e. Glam shine Blush has come up with pretty good colours with and without shimmer. I personally do not like L’Oreal not-so-good fragrance, but otherwise they are recommendable for glossy lips.

TIP:
For good results, first apply your favourite lip balm and then apply the gloss of your choice.

BLISTEX:
Blistex is another raved product, especially their lip balms. Once, they launched a limited edition called Glitter and Shine i.e. it is a lip balm with shimmer silver undertone. I got it for 10 pence each!

SALLY HANSEN:
Their nail strengthening range is recommendable for weaker nails. I tried 18 hour lip treatment in # Clear Nude, which seems to be giving the desired result on a continuous basis.

CLINIQUE:
Here comes the queen of moisturizers, the most raved product, at least according to others. Their moisturizer seems to launch 1000 ships. It is a pale yellow colour liquid in a container with/without pump, as you choose. It is available in both lotion and gel forms. Gel seems to be good for combination skin.

Their most sought-after product is Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. I heard that there were many colours in Almost Lipstick range, but I found only Black Honey. It looks purple-black in the container, but when you apply it, it shows as if you just ate a cherry. I am not sure if it is available in India, but in UK, it is for 12 pounds and in US, it is for 14 dollars.

Currently, I am using Clinique high impact mascara, which is giving my eyes the desired look, even to the lower lid lashes. I do not regret buying this.

SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER:
Genetically, I am blessed with wavy-soft and more-than-medium length hair, which never let me down. So, I never felt the necessity to make my hair extra soft. As it is a review, let me tell you few things I noticed.

I always felt there might not be shampoos that make miracles overnight, but still I find L’Oreal to work wonders on damaged hair on continuous usage. I am a fan of L’Oreal range of shampoos. All hair products I tried never troubled me, but I had hair fall with Lakme range. I lost so much of hair, thank god, my hair grows faster.

Till date, I tried Lakme range, Revlon Flex conditioner, Garnier Ultra Doux range and L’Oreal Elvive Nutri-gloss range in pink pack, Elvive Nutrilium in yellow pack and anti-dandruff range in blue pack. L’Oreal products leave a pleasant fragrance.

Currently, I am using Tresemme conditioner and it really makes my hair ultra-soft and bouncy. I have not yet tried their shampoo range, but now my hair really feels good. When I was a kid, my mother always made a pony tail with my hair and used to watch my hair bounce as I played. I always thought great bouncy hair made a woman more confident and now, I personally feel that with Tresemme conditioner.

ZIT CONTROL:I use Garnier Pure pimple control Pen, which I must say worked wonders on my skin. I rarely break out, but it really saves my face and I trust this. My cousin always applies ice on her skin for a healthy look, but I never tried that because of my tolerance level.

P.S:
Please feel free to comment on my review. This is purely my personal opinion on the products I use. Each and every product shows a unique result on everybody and some might not meet your expectations. I thank you, each and every one personally, who has taken enough pains to read my reviews.

Hi banu,

very good information for beauty lovers........ i really appreciate your sense of beauty.
iam going to give a try to lakme jewel sindoor, srawberry facewash and streetwear lipgloss. i would be happy if you let me know about their prices also. thanks for sharing.

regards,

Banu

That is really a good one on various products.
It will surely be a reference for the friends who want to test different ones.
I can only comment on one stuff which I used - Lakme Strawberry Face Wash. :)
I liked it.

Hello Sadhana,

Thanq very much.

Would you mind me asking what prices you are interested in?

If its regarding Lakme Jewel sindoor, that was for about 50/- a year and half bacak. Then, there were only 2 colours available like the maroon and red.

Now, it is priced at very nominal 200/-. How I wish they could have launched all those shades the same year I bought my maroon one. In fact, jewel sindhoor was launched somewhere around as a part of 2003 winter collection.

Lucky me, at least I could get one for 50/-. Once I will be back in India, I will definitely see to it that I buy the gold colour sindhoor as gold coordinates with many shades.

Do let me know your interest!

Keep posting, Sadhana!

Hello Bujji,

Thanq very much.

Yes, Lakme Strawberry face wash definitely captures the hearts, at least those who gave it a try. Seriously, no second thoughts on face wash other than Lakme.

Keep posting!

Good day!

Today's product is Mini Bourjois tinted lip balm. I am an ardent fan of Bourjois products, especially their lippie range.

Mini Bourjois line is pocket-sized makeup convenient for carrying around. They are really cute, you will definitely want to take them everywhere. The best part is they are economic and you can splurge on them, especially when you go for mix-and-match.

Mini Bourjois came up with Baume a Levres, a lip balm in tin package. Great in its own way, it is supposed to have shea butter, castor oil and vanilla essence, though contents are not in print. But, you can sense the smell of vanilla in that for sure.

They come in six shades i.e. #01 Purple Plum, #02 Orange Apricot, 03# Pure Red, #04 Pink Beige and finally, #06 Pearly Light Pink. The shades look easily wearable, though not the most exciting.

Let me speak about #01, Purple Plum. On swatch test, I fell for the colour my hand reflected. It gave out a bit lighter shade than it appeared in the tin, might be because of the quantity I swatched.

They are supposed to be moisturizing, but I dont see any hint of moisturizer in it. If you really love the just-bitten lip look, I definitely recommend this product. A little bit of tint is more than enough for full coverage. But, I personally did not experience any kind of moisturized feel in that. If applied alone, lips tend to dry for me.

TIP:
To get the best of it, apply your favourite lip balm on your lips. Stroke a little amount of Bourjois tinted lip balm onto your middle or fourth finger (whatever is comfortable) and apply on your lips.

Watch out for more!

P.S:
Feel free to comment.

Hi banu,

i bought lakme stby facewash ----- its verygood compared to everyuth and garnier one,
then , lakme liquid eyeliner ------ i use this also for bindi making.
but could not get jewel sindoor even at health & glow shop.
currently iam in search of a good shampoo. i tried no of it like matrix , garnier , ultra doux , head & shouldres , vatika , meera , sunsilk , vivel , pantene etc. but no brand gave me the required satisfaction. any suggestions for a good shampoo from you? mine is long , soft and silky, normal , straight hair and i dont use a conditioner. is dove serum effective? and can you tell me what is a protein serum? and how to apply it? and which brand?
BTW, your next post is also very informative. i do a very light and mild make-up. i prefer to use lipsticks more in winters and lipgloss in summer nights. is this right? i think you are the right person to clarify all my doubts bcoz you have got the wonderful product knowledge and have done a great research in it and i want to congrats you sincerely for this. bye yaar!

admiring,

Dear Banuabida,

I want a product review about the best fairness/whitening cream available in chennai.

I used Biotique Dandelion face vitaliser and Iam satisfied with the product.Currently Iam using Oriflame fairness cream too.

Let me know your view about Oriflame products too.

Thanks in advance.

Dear Banuabida,

Thanks for all the information... I have a clarification.. I once saw my aunt using an eyeliner which didnt want me to keep my eyes closed even for a second.. I hope it was not a liquid liner.. .Could you please tell me have you ever come across that kind of (dry) liner, that doesnt smudge if we sweat....

Thanks in advance,
Vidyaa

Hi Sadhana,

Thanq very much for the motivation. How do you do? I like your name (one of my favourites).

Sadhana, find out the nearest Lakme Salon and you should get jewel sindoor there. I bought mine at Lakme Salon, too.

Shampoo......as said earlier, each product shows a unique result and that differs from person to person. I too used Garnier, H&S, Pantene, Sunsilk, Flex Revlon etc, but each one had a different impact on my hair. Dove reviews were/are good, but I cannot say that it works on your hair, too. I too used Dove and I liked it. You can give it a try. Personally, I did not use Dove serum. I used only Dove shampoo range, but not conditioners.

I always recommend conditioner for hair, as I do that without fail. Your hair is exposed to all sorts of factors like smoke, pollution, sun, rain etc. So, it tends to break easily and please, as I can see you are blessed with such lovely locks like Rapunzel. Atleast, once in a week, try using a conditioner.

If you are new to conditioner, you experience a bit hairfall, which is not serious, so dont worry. To avoid hairfall during shampoo & conditioning, try to remove the knots in your hair and comb well before you take head bath. As simple as that.

Serum is designed to give hair a radiant, shiny and healthy appearance. It also helps maintaining tangle-free and smooth hair. Basically, protein supplement taken through food helps in hair growth. Hair being a waste product in human body, grows fast. In order to avoid an oily scalp when using a serum, make sure to apply the serum to the ends or mid-lengths of your hair. If hair serum is applied to the roots of your hair or your scalp, then hair will have a weighted down, greasy appearance.

Hair serum should not be used on fine hair because it makes hair appear oily. It is also important to remember to use hair serum on wet hair. Apply serum that has body, curl or wave to wet hair in very small dollops. Then blow-dry, style and brush your hair so that the serum becomes evenly distributed. This will give hair a natural and healthy appearance. Hair serum protects hair from becoming dry or damaged through the use of heated styling tools. If Dove has one, try that.

Great choice using lipsticks in winter and gloss during summer. I heard that from many people, too. But, I go according to my choice in products I use. I use gloss year-wise. It is so comfortable and makes you feel sexy, you know. I cannot insist or inculcate my likes and dislikes on you, Sadhana. So, if you are comfortable with what you do, please follow and you dont have to turn back. If you want my opinion, a strict no-no to lipstick and go for gloss.

Thanq very much for the wishes and I hope to see more from you.

Keep posting, friend.