MAC Lipstick Mehr: swatch and review!

MAC lipstick Mehr was introduced in Mickey Contractor's collection in January 2011. It was so highly appreciated that MAC decided to include it in their permanent line along with three other shades and titled them as Middle Eastern Collection. I had my eyes on Mehr when it came out during the Mickey Contractor collection and as soon as MAC made it permanent I literally jumped to grab it!

According to MAC it's a dirty blue pink. It's a very subtle soft neutral pink and has a blue tone to it and makes it very flattering for a wide variety of skin tones.

Mehr belongs to the matte finish of MAC lipstick line but it's not a drying matte. It's soft and creamy when I apply it and doesn't tug or pull at the lips.

As it is mostly matte, the color coverage is opaque and delivers smooth layer on the first go. It comes with MAC's signature vanilla scent and "that black adorable packaging"!!

It's a very wearable color and anyone can wear it to the work without looking like over done. You can pair it with smokey eyes or even a soft neutral eyes. Let me tell you, this color may look a bit ashy on some complexions (I find myself belonging to one of those complexions) and you can take care of it by dabbing just a tad bit of bright pink to your lips or by applying a layer of clear gloss or a bit bright pinkish gloss over the top of it.

It wears almost 4hours on my lips. It doesn't settle into the fine lines.

To avoid ashy looks, apart from the above mentioned points I would also like to suggest not to apply two coats of it. And if you are wearing foundation, don't ignore your lips if you're intending to wear Mehr. Pigmented lips like mine may make Mehr look more ashy but applying foundation on your lips help a lot with the pigmentation.

I have included swatches on both my wrists and lips, with and without flash here:

Here is one of my photos wearing Mehr, but as I said it looks a bit ashy on my skin so I have dabbed some MAC Girl About Town (review here) on it and applied a layer of clear gloss over the top.

I would recommend it if you're looking for a subtle everyday wear pink. As I have mentioned above, Mehr will look beautiful on a wide range of skin tones.

Let me know if you own Mehr and how you feel about it.

Love and respect,
Eeshita.

NARS Pure Matte Lipstick: Catrhage, swatch and review!

I had my eyes on Carthage since I learned to wear bold pink on my lips! Got it months ago, but as I took a long break from blogging, so I am kind of late with the review and swatch.

When I bought it from Sephora it was USD 25, but they have increased the price now so you'll have to pay USD 26 now. But in Canada, it still is at it's old price, CAD 32.

The packaging is slick and easy to carry, but can be prone to catch finger prints and dust.

As described by NARS it is a hot pink color and it really is. It adds a vibrant pop of color to my face and does justice to my teeth :D by that I mean my teeth looks whiter! :D

I have felt that NARS pure matte lipsticks are not purely matte, which is a good thing! The two lipsticks I have used, Mascate and Carhage, both tend to belong to modern matte finish. Carthage has slight sheen to it, but isn't as glossy as MAC's Girl About Town. It's not a dry matte like Ruby Woo, it rather hydrates my lips.

It is a blue based pink and it is pinker than Girl About Town and has less fuchsia in it. I have also noticed that the blue undertone isn't as stronger as Girl About Town.

The color pay off is excellent! It delivers opaque color coverage in almost one pass and blotting and re-applying ensures excellent color pay off with a vibrant pop of color!

Carthage wears on for 5-6 hours without heavy meal and when gone, leaves a beautiful pink stain on the lips! **how I love lipsticks that leave stains behind**

Again, this isn't a everyday color unless and until you love wearing bold colors everyday but to be honest, I tend to reach for Carthage more than Girl About Town since I got it!

The only problem with this and other Pure Matte Lipsticks are they are not conventional bullet type lipsticks. The top of the lipstick is tapered and you have to have precise hand if you want to apply them without any brush.

here are the swatches on my wrist and my lips. I have also included one photo of me wearing it!

 

 

Let me know how you find Carthage! and don't ever be in dilemma about picking this color! It will flatter any skin tone and any skin color!

Love and respect,
Eeshita.

Review: Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara

When it comes to buying mascara, I become super picky! My past experiences of buying whatever-I-get-handy has resulted only into loss of money, though I have also found some great products! Talking about Urban Decay's Big Fatty Mascara today, which is the second kind of mascara I have tried from this make up line. The first one was Supercurl Curling Mascara which is one of my all time favorites (review here)!

Bought two of this mascara from Urban Decay's website when it was on sale, may be last year! Retails for USD 20 at Sephora and Urban Decay's website.This is the second one, the first one I had to trash as I already used it for more than 6months.

The packaging is cute and colorful! I love colorful packaging :D

The wand is almost similar to Loreal Carbon Black Voluminous Mascara (review here). And the amount of product the wand catches is sufficient enough for one eye and not as much as the Loreal one picks. I love these kind of wands as it reaches my inner most lashes effortlessly.

The mascara is neither too dry nor too wet in texture.So it doesn't take too long to dry. But the consistency of the mascara is very thin and only two coats isn't enough for my super fine lashes! I often opt for 3 coats.

 

with two coats of mascara

The good thing about this mascara is that it doesn't drop my lashes down. I don't have to even curl my lashes prior applying this mascara. It curls the lashes itself to give my eyes an uplifting look.

 

three coats of mascara without curling prior the application

The thing I don't like about this mascara is that it is not as pigmented as Loreal Carbon Black Voluminous Mascara or UD Supercurl Curling Mascara. The blackness of this mascara isn't as black and this is what disappoints me a lot.

The wear of this mascara is really good! It stays on until I wipe it off and doesn't smudge. A thumbs up for this.

I will repurchase it if I get it on sale. Honestly I don't want to spend so much behind a mascara which I won't be able to use after 3-6 months.

Did you use Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara? Let me know how you find it!

Love and respect,
Eeshita.

Review: Korres Wild Rose Daily Brightening & Refining Buff Cleanser

I always have a thing for exfoliators and I love to experience different types. Though I wasn't planning to buy Korres Wild Rose Daily Brightening & Refining Buff Cleanser, but I got it along with the Korres Wild Rose & Vitamin C Advanced Brightening Sleep Facial during the Holiday Season. And I had to pay the price for the sleeping facial only which was USD 48. This is available at Sephora and is priced at USD 24.

What Sephora says it does:
"Uncover luminous skin with this daily dual-action, creamy, exfoliating cleanser. Natural exfoliants rice grain, cherry stone, and sugar-citrus extracts blend with wild rose oil, a natural source of vitamin C that is clinically proven to improve skin’s overall radiance and texture with daily use, to leave skin cleansed and fresh while instantly brightening your complexion. It is gentle enough for daily use, even for dry skin. "

Korres claims that:
- 97% of women saw an immediate improvement in skin’s radiance after one use.
- 97% of women saw improvement in skin smoothness after 28 days of use.

It comes in a plastic squeeze tube with 5.07oz product. Though the bottle says that you can use it daily but I don't think you should exfoliate your face daily, so you will go a long way with this product and it makes it worth the price.

This is a good exfoliator for normal to oily skin. It works gently on my skin and I don't use it too harshly. The rice grains are coarse enough and work great as exfoliator but the cherry stone might be a bit harsh if you don't use it gently.

 I wouldn't recommend it for daily use because this might be too much exfoliations for the skin. I exfoliate with this once in a week and rest of the days with Garnier Pure Active Blackheads Uprooting Scrub (review here). But if my skin looks dull then I reach out for it because I am I am one of those 97% women who see an immediate improvement in skin's radiance after one use!

Though the exfoliating particles may feel a bit rough, but the cream works fine for moisturizing and also removing impurities. 

This product comes with strong rose fragrance! Many people find it strong but I always love fragranced stuffs so the smell doesn't bother me at all! Moreover it goes away once you wash the face so there's no need to bother about the fragrance lingering over your face. 

Yes, my face immediately feels fresher and the luminosity of my skin increases whenever I wash my face with this. But remind you, I have tried using it on a regular basis, it's more effective when you use it once or twice a week rather than daily use.

I will repurchase it, yes, ofcourse! 

Did you use? How did you find it? Let me know in comments!

Love and respect, 
Eeshita.

Review: Garnier Pure Active Blackheads Uprooting Scrub

Garnier Pure Active Blackheads Uprooting Scrub
"Roots out blackheads| Prevent marks"

As I have mentioned in my review of Clean and Clear Morning Burst Shine Control Scrub, I really love this product over the Clean and Clear one!!! I have an awesome oily skin (:@ :@) prone to blackheads which are stubborn enough to stay in place even after I have a salon facial! So I always tend to look for products that claim to remove blackheads. This is how I found this "precious"! :)

The texture is creamy and the scrub has beautiful blue granules in a semi-transparent base. The menthol feels heavenly on the skin and I also love the refreshing strong minty fragrance!

It actually makes my blackheads less visible and if I do NOT forget to use it on every alternate day (which I do very frequently), it actually works on my blackheads! And my skin doesn't get oily after I use it. Such a life saver this little thing is!

This should be available in any departmental store and should be priced around 450BDT to 500BDT (for a 100gm tube).

Regarding repurchase, this is already my second tube after I discovered it in March 2012, so what do you think??? ;) :D

Love and respect,
Eeshita 

MAC Lipstick: Girl About Town; swatch and review!

I was talking about Girl About Town with my friend, where we were discussing to buy this baby as Moxie was sold out (I wasn't planning on buying Moxie, I had my eyes on NARS Carthage for ages!); and all of on a sudden I got it as a gift! Gift, gift, precious gift lol ;)

Its USD 15 and CA$ 18, both excluding tax.

Comes in the regular MAC packaging and carries MAC's traditional vanilla scent, this color is an absolute love at first sight!

MAC describes it as bright blue fuchsia, it is a very bright medium dark fuchsia pink with blue undertones. NARS Carthage is a bit lighter and slightly less blue based than this one.

Girl About Town belongs to the Amplified Creme category (like Cosmo) and I must admit that I am a huge fan of MAC's Amplified Creme finishes. They do not dry out the lips which some matte finishes like Ruby Woo can, yet delivers an opaque coverage in just one pass. So this lipstick also falls under the category of "a little goes a long way" :D

It's not a matte lipstick and has a sheen to it. Some people do not prefer shiny bright lipsticks but this problem can easily be solved by blotting the lipstick! After blotting this lipstick gives a matte finished look without changing the color.

Left swatch: without flash, Right swatch: with flash

Above: with flash, Below: without flash

Girl About Town wears for 5-6hours on  me, closely around 5hours if I take heavy meals. It leaves a lovely stain on the lips even after its gone! 

Although this is not a very wearable color for everyday (unless you are confident enough to pull it for a go to usage), you can just dab this lipstick on your lips and even it out with your fingertips or a brush to get a beautiful pink stain on your lips.

Honestly, I wasn't confident enough to try such a bright fuchsia, but this bullet boosted up my confidence and I got compliments whenever I put it on.

I absolutely love Girl About Town, and this one color, I believe, can be flattering on a wide range of skin tone, starting from very fair to rich dark.

If you still don't have this shade in your collection, then please go and grab it right now! Let me know if you have used Girl About Town and how you feel.

Love and Regards,
Eeshita.