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 :(

L.A Girl PRO.conceal Review

                  

How does it feel to conceal those distracting dark under-eye circle? I use MAC Moisture Select correcter and MAC Studio Fix correcter both in NC45 to offset my under-eye circles. The usual concealing videos on YouTube suggests using a concealer 1 or 2 shades lighter than ones' skin tone, where as I was using 2-3 shade darker/orangish concealer.

Orangish or salmon shade concealers are used to correct or offset the grayish tone of the under-eye circles. I did try using a lighter shade concealer, but it ended up looking ashy. If you don't have an issue with under-eye circles, and just need something to brighten up the under-eye, then a shade or two lighter concealer would work.

Now what if you need the best of both worlds?, correct and then brighten and top it off with a setting powder to avoid creasing. Warning: This would obviously make you under eye more heavy and cakey though.

My hunt for a brightening concealer was on, something that would not make my under eye ashy. I read lot of reviews and finally decided to purchase LA Girl PRO.conceal, the cheapest, but the best concealer available in drugstore category.

I bought mine from BeautyJoint for 3 dollar each and after a moth of going foundation-less, but just concealer, I have decided to write a review. I bought the shades, Medium Beige (Lighten than my skin tone), Warm Honey (My skin tone) and Fawn (Darker than my skin tone).

 Packaging: The concealer comes in a plastic tube with a brush like tip. The black cap tightly shuts the brush, and keeps it protected from dust.You have to squeeze the plastic tube, to get product out of your brush tip. You get 0.25 OZ of product for 3 dollars.
                               
                                                            

The applicator disperses product unevenly, and product dispersal is not consistent for all the tubes. Fawn had to be pressed harder to get the product out as compared to the other two. The product comes out through the side of the applicator, making it slightly messy.

                                      

                          

Product: The product applies evenly, and needs to be blended in the first 3 minutes, because after that it dries out and becomes a pain to blend. It provides, medium coverage and does not settle into fine lines if dusted with a powder. Stays for 7+ hours (humid tropical climate) on my skin (combination skin with slight shininess around the nose area).

                                      

 Application: Apply it in a triangular shape under your eye and blend it in. I use Elf concealer brush for blending. If needed, slightly powder on top.                        

                                 

Verdict: