I have never had much luck with drugstore lipsticks. At a point, I stopped following new drugstore launches and that was until I saw swatches of Maybelline Color Show lippies. The colors looked like the ones up my alley and Maybelline had whole array of colors from brown to pinks to purples to red to choose from. I went cray-cray and bought home 3 lippies: Choco-Latte, Violet Fusion, and Forever Mauve.

L-R: Forever Mauve, Choco-Latte, Violet Fusion

L-R: Forever Mauve, Choco-Latte, Violet Fusion

What Maybelline Claims:

Maybelline New York launches 32 new lipstick shades with the most stunning hues of red, pink, brown and mauve. They are vibrant moisture rich shades to suit all Indian skin tones. Enriched with ultra-care hydrating formula which gives your lips all day hydration. They are anti-oxidant and and heat resistant, which guarantees color integrity and does not even fade in extreme heat and humidity. Are you ready to show off your colorful sides?
Here's why you will love it:

• Enriched with ultra-care hydrating formula
• 32 vibrant moisture rich shades
• Lip color doesn’t fade in extreme heat and humidity
• Shades to suit all Indian skin tones

Packaging:

A standard black packaging. The colored band around the body of the lipstick indicates the color family. For Rs.299 ($5), the packaging is OK, nothing to write home about.

Smell:
This is one thing, that I was disappointed about. Smells of strawberries, not in a good way though, but more leaning towards tackish.

Finish:
Creamy and highly pigmented, with no tugging and pulling. The color, Violet Fusion had visible silver sparkles that makes it slightly gritty. Being creamy, the colors do transfer.

Staying Power:
4 hours, in hot and humid climate, and with eating and drinking, even less. I don't mind applying lipstick frequently, and hence is not a dealbreaker in my view

Swatches:

Choco-Latte (Brown Band): The perfect MLBB for tan girls,it can pull of pink or brown depending on your skin undertone.

                              

Forever Mauve (Violet Band): A pinky-purple, which leans more towards purple. The color screams sophistication, and is not a common color under drugstore color wheel. It can also make you look slightly older and mature.

                               

Violet Fusion (Pink Band): A semi-bright pink with visible silvery sparkle (not visible in swatch)
, that makes this lipstick look tacky. If you are in the medium-tan skin color, this is one of that hot pinks that will not clash with your skin undertone.

                              
Verdict:

PS: My mush forced me to blur out areas around my mouth. I should have taken the swatches with a base on :(

July Favorites

We are half way through August, and I was meaning to post this in the first week of August, but somehow got postpone. Better late than never right?? so here goes my favorites for the month of July:

   

                                         

LA Girl Pro.concealer: A cheaper alternative for MAC Prolongwear concealer, available in a wide range of shades, and one that wears for whole 9 hours. You can read my review here. The shade Medium Beige has been a savior the past month, I have been constantly using it under my eyes to brighten up sans-foundation.
                                              

Maybelline Colossal Liner: A girl cant have enough liners. I had Maybelline Hypersharp Liner in stock, which dried out in a month much to my dismay. I had little to no hopes for the new one, but surprisingly its been a revelation for me, this month. I can draw precise winged liner and it does dry quickly without much smudging.

Urban Decay Eyebrow Kit: I am a brow on-fleek kinda girl, I have quite thick eyebrows with bald spotting in between, I have been using this brow kit and absolutely love this stuff. Not black, but dark enough to be masked as real hair, this kit comes with a lighter shade, brow wax, and brow tool. I don't get much use of the other items, but  the shade that matches my hair, stays puts for 9 hours and looks quite natural.
                                  

Chambor Loose Powder: This was an impulsive buy, but then I quite find good use out of it. SA suggested I pick up a darker shade, but I wanted it to powder my under eye concealer. Has nice strong yellow undertone, thereby giving my under eyes a very bright effect. Contains finely milled glitter which is noticeable only on close inspection. It has all problems associated with a loose powder, but then I can pass up on those design flaws as it quantifies for being a good setting powder.

So what are you favorites for this month?

Perfect Palette Tag

I have my Gia Bath and Body Works Chocolate face mask on, hair up in a bun, relaxing in my favorite nook while writing up this post. How was your Sunday been so far? This is a tag I love watching YouTuber's do, so I decided to make a blogger version of the same:

Best Packaging : Too Faced Chocolate Bar 
The sleek packaging is a chocolate lover's dream, looks amazing, and smells even more amazing. I will have to give this to Too Faced.  The closest contender for this title was TheBalm Nude T'ude palette, but the hard casing of the Too Faced palette, that shuts tights thereby making it more travel friendly scored major brownie points for Too Faced in this category and is what ultimately gave away the title.

Best Color Payoff: Urban Decay Naked  1BAM BAM BAM intense, the color pay-off is amazing, so is the longevity. I usually wear my shadows as liner, and after even after 8 hours, they stay intact on my oily lids.

Most Versatile:  Inglot Custom palette 2
I have a crease, matte black, satin and shimmer shades in this custom palette. Having made this myself, I can quickly remove one shade to replace with another that I need based on the occasion, thereby making it versatile.

Best for Traveling: Urban Decay On The Run
Yes, the palette is bulky, but I mostly have some extra room in my luggage while traveling. I would definitely take this one with me as the palette has everything you can imagine to put up different looks together.
UD On The Run is perfect for travel as I can avoid traveling with multiple products. The palette  contains, 5 eye shadows, a blush, bronzer/contour, highlight, lip gloss, eye pencil, and mascara.

Biggest Regret: MAC BrownLuxe
Got it as a gift for my birthday, I hunted down this palette through 5 MAC stores in Bangalore. I had to make a long trip to 1MG Mall just to get my hands on this and sadly, I don't use them as my other palettes. One major factor being, the small strips are such inconvenience to pick color up from. The brush seems to touch two strips at a time. Also, the color fades unevenly. I will have to call this palette a regret solely on basis of cost per utilization. Cost around R. 2800 ( $44) but I haven't got any use out of it.

Best Color Names: TheBalm Nude'Tude
TheBalm knock it out of park when it comes to cute packaging, I had to chuck this palette out of best packaging category solely cause, they have cardboard packaging which is not very convenient. The names  are hilarious and naughty too ;)
Color Names: Sassy, Snoby, Stubborn, Stand-offish, Selfish, Sultry, Sophisticated, Seductive, Sexy, Silly, Serious, and Sleek

Least Used: Makeup Revolution Iconic 3
A dupe for UD Naked 3, sadly I don't reach upto the palette as I need to. I am not a big fan of  rose toned shades, also it's difficult for such colors to show up on my skin, unless it is pigmented like UD Naked 2. I don't want to pass it on, as I feel a palette with rose tone shades would be useful at some point in time :)

Most Used: NYX Love in Paris (Madeleines and Macaroons)
I have hit pan on one of the shades (dark chocolate), mainly cause the shade is my go-to eyebrow filler color. This is one of my first palettes which I bought from NYX US website. They have some really pretty neutral shades that I use on a regular basis.

Most Loved: Urban Decay Naked 2
I initially thought, UD Naked 1 was a better choice, as I am more of a neutral kinda girl, but turns out, I prefer UD Naked 2 as they show up on my lids as compared to UD Naked 1 shades. Though UD Naked 1 was my first Naked palette, I received UD Naked 2 as a gift from hubby, before UD Naked 1 could reach me from US.

Desert Island: Urban Decay Naked 2
For all the above reasons, I would choose Urban Decay Naked 2 as my Dessert Island Palette.

International Beauty Websites That Ship To India

Luxola: A new player in the beauty market, operating from SG, they stock some much in-demand products like TheBalm, Zoeva, Sigma and so on. Priced slightly higher, the cost includes Customs  and duty charges.

I recently bought TheBalm palette from their website, the mirror of which came broken. The Customer Care was super supportive, and they arranged for a return pick up at no extra cost.

They ship via Aramex and you can track your package. My packages usually reach India within 3-4 days.
Shipping Charges: Free above ₹3000. ₹1000 for anything below the cut-off

UPDATE: Luxola doesn't ship to India anymore :(

Beauty Bay: To be honest, I was slightly skeptical, the first time I shopped from them, as the online reviews were not so glorious. I had to trust the courier gods and shop, as UD was at  40% off. I bought the UD Naked Basics palette. I received my package in 20 days. Payment is in British Pounds. One negative point is the packaging. Though the product itself was bubble wrapped, the outer cover was torn and in poor condition.
Shipping Charges: INR 600 flat-rate for orders below INR 6000 via British Mail. Above 6000 INR, shipping is free.

UPDATE: Lost 2 packages. Had to a tough time getting the refund on the package 1, I got the refund for package 2 easily.

iHerb: I had my first tryst with international shopping on the iHerb website. They stock RT, and back in the time, they were the only source of RT brushes at affordable rates. I had to pay Customs duty the first time around ($10 for an item valued at $18). The next time, I didn't pay. The shipping is super fast, reaches India in 3 days flat and they ship via DHL. The shipping charges are close to $10. They always have some coupons that you can use so it would be a great idea if you can search online for a coupon code before making the purchase.
Shipping Charges: $10 for DHL (depends on weight)

BeautyJoint: One stop destination for US drug store products. They stock brands like NYC, ELF, Milani, LA Girl and so on. They ship via USPS, and I usually receive my packages in a month or so.
Shipping Charges: $5-6 for untracked standard shipping (depends on weight)

Makeup Geek: A favorite website to shop from, their brushes are to die for. Yes, especially, the face brush. I have shopped from their website twice, both times the items reached me in less than a month. The personalized custom message by MUG staff is a brilliant branding effort.
Shipping Charges: $8 for USPS

Real Techniques: RT products can be sourced from their mother site. The only issue is the wait time. I received my package after 1.5 months. I was scared, of all the horror stories I had heard of lost packages. I sent numerous emails to their customer care, without a reply. Finally, when I posted a complaint on their FB page, they deleted my comment !!!let's just say, I never shopped from them again.
Shipping Charges: $2 for standard shipping

Coastal Scents: I shopped from them a long time before, in 2014, during one of their sales. Took a month to receive the package via USPS. Coastal Scents sends generous samples. The shipping cost is towards the higher end, but if you can shop during the Sales, you can save money and the shipping cost doesn't tug your purse strings.
Shipping Charges: $16 for USPS standard shipping

Sleek MakeUP: I shopped from the once, only to have lost the package mysteriously. The Customer Care was extremely supportive and send in another package, and this time, a speedy one, at a different address based on my request. Kudos to them on customer service.
Shipping Charges: $3 for standard shipping

BH Cosmetics: Billed in US dollars, this website gives a lot of onus to customer satisfaction. I had ordered for a palette and a brush from them. I received the package in 20 days, but the cardboard package was empty. The contents must have slipped off from the package (talk about shoddy packaging). I send the images as proof to the customer care. They asked me if I would like a replacement. I received my replacement in again 20 days, but this time, one of the items were missing. I emailed the customer care and they were happy to refund the cost of that item.
Shipping Charges: $5 for standard shipping

Makeup Revolution: Billed in British Pounds, this is another website that gives lot of onus to customer satisfaction. I received my package in 15 days. Neatly packaged. I had to use PayPal for money transfer. Currently, they accept all credit and debit cards.
Shipping Charges: $12.30 for standard shipping

Cult Beauty: Another UK website that stocks Becca and ABH products. I purchased Becca products from them during their Anniversary promotions.  First-time customers will receive free shipping and if you complete a survey on their website, you will get a 10% off on your second purchase. I paid via PayPal and I received my products in 10 days as a registered post.
Shipping Charges: INR 600

Anastasia Beverly Hills: This famous US based brand provides 2-day priority shipping to international customers. The courier partner is FedEx and the courier reached me in 5 days. Payment is through Paypal or Credit Cards.
Shipping Charges: $18 Flat for FedEx priority shipping
Customs Duty: INR 2000 ($30) for $65 (exclusive of shipping) valued good/INR 1261 for $45 (exclusive of shipping) valued good.

Kylie Cosmetics: The 'K' brand offers shipping to India via USPS. I received my package in 15 days. Payment can be made via Paypal or Credit card.
Shipping Charges: $15 flat and free above $60.

Jeffree Star Cosmetics: Offers shipping to India through APC Postal Logistics. I received the package in 20days. When the package didn't arrive in 17 days, I send an email to info.apcpli@gmail.com requesting for information and they gladly gave me the tracking number. From there on the tracking process was easy-breezy. Wish they had given the tracking at the time of shipping itself. 
Shipping Charges: $11 and may vary based on package weight.

Colourpop: Shipping is via USPS and I received my package in 20 days. They do have free international shipping offers now and then. You can use credit card or Paypal.
Shipping Charges: For international orders below $50, the shipping cost is around $15. Above $50, the shipping is free.

Dose of Colors: Shipping is via Globegistics and I received my package in 10 days!!. You can use Paypal or credit card for the transaction.
Shipping Charges: $12 for orders below $50.

Notes

• I am not affiliated to any of the above-mentioned sites.

• The above mentioned are the international websites that I have shopped from, there may be others, like, Strawberrynet.in. I have not shopped from them personally, and hence not including them in the list.

• All international purchases are made through my credit card.

• I have not paid Customs duty on packages unless stated otherwise. For more information on Indian Customs Rules and Regulations, check out my post here.

• All experience my own.

• Packages shipped to Bangalore (India) or Kerala (India). Shipping time to other cities may vary.

• Images captured for the corresponding websites' home screen.

Other Websites that Ship to India (that I haven't shopped from)

• Tarte: Shipping is free above INR 5000, and below that value, the shipping charge is INR 1200.
• Huda Beauty: Shipping is free above $75 and below that value, the shipping charge is $20.
• Colored Raine: Shipping is around $9.