Krutika Puntambekar

Hourglass Ambient Light Correcting Primer

April 26th, 2016

I really wanted to get a second post out there, as these newly released products are probably what everyone is looking to get a review on!

As you all know, I am a HUGE fan of Hourglass. Their products to me are the epitome of classy, chic, sophistacted, and simple. I have never not been impressed with any of the products that I have tried. So naturally, when they released new primers and a new contouring trio for the Summer, I had to buy them (review for the palette coming soon).

They released three shades of the primers in Luminous, Dim, and Mood light. Now, from my understanding these have a very similar effect to what the powders do in their corresponding shades. I ordered the shade Luminous light.. Naturaly since I love glow-y skin. 🙂

First of all, lets talk about the packaging. I LOVE it. I esepcially like that the tube has a matte finish and the cap is this beautiful bronze/brown shade. And the contrast of the finishes is just.. beautiful.

Now, this retails for $44 for 1oz tube. Now like all of Hourglass’ products this is is pretty high end for a primer. But, it’s not as expensive actually as their other two primers.

Plus, I do think you get what you pay for with Hourglass.

Now, the product itself. This shade is a very champagne-y shade with a beautiful sheen. And, when you wear it on your face it just sort of melts in. So, on my tan skin, it was like I really didn’t apply anything. I think this is a good thing. Sometimes, primers tend to just sit on the face and you feel like you are putting on multiple layers (which, technically you are), but at the end of it you can definitely feel the makeup sitting on the skin. But this primer just does something to your skin, yet you can’t tell exactly what it is.

It has a similar effect as the powders. It’s like you know you put it on. Except you can’t tell what’s making your face look that extra something. My face just looks like there is a sort of light shining through my makeup. The consistency is quite nice. Not too thick and not too runny. On my olive skin tone, this turned to be a light champagne color.

It has a slight, slight fragrance to it. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it dissaptes completely after putting it on! But knowing that all Hourglass products are exceptionally good for sensitive skins, I highly doubt this would break anyone out!

All in all, I actually want to try Dim light and am looking foward to purchasing it. I would any day, recommend any Hourglass product. And, I am sure you will not be disappointed.

And no, this is not a sponsored post. I just love the brand and would gladly any day support them. I purchased this prodcut myself and will continue to shell a huge amount of money on this brand, as the quality is amazing.

You can order the new products off of Sephora.com or Hourglasscosmetics.com

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

-K
Algenist REVEAL Color Correcting Radiant Primer

April 26th, 2016

Hi Everyone!

Hope you had a lovely weekend! I had not bought a new primer in a Long time, and since summer is coming and everyyyone wants that dewy/radiant glow.. I thought why not. let’s try out a radiant primer. AND, when I found out Algenist was a doing a skincare hybrid primer that was also color correcting.. I mean what doesn’t sound appealing about that.

So this retails for $36 for a 1oz tube. It comes in a matte black packaging that is absolutely gorgeous! I mean ya know me.. I am all about that matte black look. Now, this claims that it is a color correcting primer with a radiant finish. I am really not sure if this actually corrected anything in terms of color correcting. The primer comes out white and it has these fine micro beads that adjust to your skin tone.

And, it doesn’t have an extremely dewy finish. Yes, it does make your face come to life– but this primer is nothing like the Cover FX illuminating primer or the Becca Backlight Filter.

But, I have to say that my makeup stayed on much longer. For my skin type it has more of a matte finish but my makeup just wore much better.

I think oilier skin types will have much better luck with this palette. In fact, a lot of the raving reviews on Sephora.com for this product haev all come from more oilier skin types! So, if you do tend to have more problems with makeup staying on, or your skin is oily but you want a radiant finish without it being a oil slick– this might be your go to primer! Go check it out and let me know what you think!

-K
bareMinerals Meet the Nudes Palette

April 21st, 2016

I was supper excited when I saw that this palette was coming out! Its only sold at Ulta right now. But, bareMinerals’ Ready eyeshadows have probably one of the best formulas out there possible. The shadows are always very pigmented and the payoff is excellent. This palette comes with 20 different eyeshadows which retails for $42. Not too bad right? I am very weary when you can get these many eyeshadows for that kind of a low price tag. Normally the Ready shadows cost $40 for 8 shadows and the pans are typically a lot smaller.

The first thing I noticed was that this palette, even though it houses a lot of neutrals,leans very cool. Now, I have a warm skin tone. I wear cool toned shadows, but I find that warmer tones definitely look better on me. The mattes in this palette are not really really matte. They have maybe a 10% satin texture to it. I didn’t really like the color spectrum as well. The shadows looked quite taupey on me, and after a while blended out to be the same shade. The lighter shades which had some shimmer to them, had some glitter fall out. This typically does not happen with bareMinerals’ eyeshadows.

Hence, this palette went back. I didn’t like the cardboard packaging as well. Granted, it makes travelling a whole lot easier, it didn’t make the cut for me.

If you have never tried this formula before, or you want a whole lot of value for your money, or you just like cool toned neutrals, then don’t miss out on this!

I kept this for about 3 weeks and I just wasn’t motivated enought to keep this palette. Hence, it went back!

Hope this helps!

-K
HG Eyeliner- Smashbox Photoangle Pure Pigment Gel Eyeliner

April 20th, 2016

Ok Ladies,

That’s it. My search for my perfect eyeliner has ended. I have been testing out this eyeliner for a month now and I can delightfully say it has surpassed every single one of my expectations.

I also realized the primers that I had been using were never the issue. It as the eyeliner. If your eyeliner does not have the staying power that is required then, it can seriously mess up any eyshadow look you have no matter what.

I had walked into Sephora one day, and one of the sweet asian ladies that works there said, you might want to give the Smashbox eyeliner a go. It’s one that is highly underrated and no one really talks about. I went and looked up the reviews and they were all pretty bad, so being a wing liner kinda gal, I have had practice for about 3-4 years so I decided to just give it a go. The beauty advisor said it worked for her, so I said, why not.

And, from day 1, it never has smudged, or flaked, or run, or smeared. And, its a gel black matte color. Now, the shape of the nib is very, very similar to Benefit’s. But the application and product, I found are different. This one does not clump up and is extremely smooth. Plus, it has a beautiful matte finish. So,. what more could a girl want? 🙂

It does have a learning curve to using it, I admit. If you are a newbie to wing liner then you may not liking using this pen at all. The key is to not click too much product at one go. But, the hassles of having a separate brush and cleaner have all gone. Granted, Smashbox was the last brand I thought I would find my HG liner in. Well, sometimes what doesn’t work for others works for you!

This eyeliner retails for $24 for just .03 oz. So, it is a bit expensive. But given that I do not have to buy two different eyeliners now.. I stocked up during the VIB sale.

You can find this at Sephora or Sephora.com

If you like it tell me how it is! If you didn’t tell me what you didn’t like about it.

-K
KJAER WEIS FOUNDATION

March 24th, 2016

Hello Lovlies!

I have been trying out a ton of foundations lately. Stay tuned for more.. 🙂 But, I wanted to clean out my beauty stash and reincorporate some good for you products.

I had heard of Kjaer Weis before and was stunned with the packaging and the fact that its a high end organic brand. BUT, I was hesitant to shell out $68 for a foundation.

Well, fast forward two years and I bought it in January and have been testing it out since then.

The thing that drew me towards this brand is less is more. And all the models’ skin looks beautiful and just like skin. Even when you listen to Kjaer Weis herself speak and observe her makeup, she truly does a fantastic job at just bringing out the natural glow from the skin with incorporating some very good ingredients in her makeup.

The foundation comes in a heavyweight compact, that is refillable. Neat idea right?

When I wore this, I felt like I was wearing nothing. In fact, while I applied it with a brush, I couldn’t even tell if I was actually doing something, but my skin looked good. The foundation is made with completely organic ingredients like coconut oil, almond oil, etc.

It sets to a semi-matte finish in my opinion and does not look fake at all. I would highly recommend trying this one out. Our skin absorbs a lot of what we put on it, which is what drew me to try this out!

It looks a bit dirty, I apologize But, you can tell that its been getting a lot of love. So go ahead and try it and let me know what you think!

You can find this product at thedetoxmarket.com, the Kjaer Weis website, and Citrine Beauty.

-K
The best green juice

March 17th, 2016

I have been wanting to incorporate a green juice into my routine, with a lot of nutrients and not a lot of fat.

I wanted it to be clean. Hence, I began searching for recipes and came across one from the blog called Nutrition Stripped.

But, I tweaked it a little. I first thought, I probably need to take out my juicer every time I need to make a juice like this as the pulp collects. But, if you add enough water/coconut water/any sort of liquid to your Vitamix first, it turns out just as good.

I have been using:

1/4 of an apple

1/4 of a banana

1/2 a cucumber

A strip of Kale

A handful of spinach

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 of a cup fresh orange juice

1 scoop of protein powder

A dash of cinnamon and turmeric.

And boom.

I can’t really say much for the results as I only started drinking this juice this week. One thing to be weary of is that kale does not suit every body type.

Due to the high content of fiber, it can be very hard to digest in some cases. And it inhibits the absorption of Thyroxin– so people with Thyroid should definitely be careful.

I just pour everything into a blender bottle and store it for the night so its good to go the next day. The metal ball inside of it does a good job and shaking up the contents. Really pleased with that purchase!

Enjoy!

-K
Take a deep breath

March 14th, 2016

I never really understood the power of taking deep breaths calming one down until about 3 days ago.

Last Tuesday– apparently it was a full moon. And, since that day I have been actually feeling a bit uneasy, and anxious. I was spending some time trying to “figure out life” and got caught up in this frenzy.

I do not like getting into this rut. It makes me unbalanced and agitated and annoyed. So I made a conscious decision to do a yoga practice and practice a breathing mediation for 5 minutes after that.

I did this for two days after that as well.. Lo and behold, its amazing how much the power of deep breathing has. You feel more balanced, centered, and grounded and safe.

I realized, through the practice that every change– whether good or bad (in our eyes) is a stepping stone for building ourselves, to make ourselves stronger, and improve upon something.

But even that so called “bad” change happens for our benefit as there is something better out there.

My body and mind, wanted me to slow down. And this is really hard for me. But patience and surrender are the two things that I strongly believe I need to work on in this lifetime. As they take you across this ocean of life.

So, here is to practicing and getting down on the mat everyday, and being mindful.

Apparently that full moon was the beginning for my zodiac sign to really focus on releasing past patterns and traumas. Thought that was an interesting coincidence. The only reason I call it a coincidence is because I don’t really believe in astrology, so hence I labeled it that way.

So, take a deep breath. We tend to build things up in our heads, and all the thoughts are generated from a place of imagination.

Love,

K. 🙂
Beauty Blender Liner Designer

February 25th, 2016

Hello Everyone!

Beauty Blender came out with a new tool called the Liner Designer which is perfect for create those perfect winged liner looks.

This little tool looks like a guitar pick and is made up of silicone. It costs $16 and can be found on Sephora.com

So, I think that it’s a pretty nifty tool as its reusable and you do not have to go through the hassle of positioning tape and peeling it off. It has different shaped edges for different effects.

I think that the price is a bit high for this type of tool so that’s only thing I would take a star off for. But, otherwise its nice that you can clean it up and use it again. And, it comes housed in a nice little compact with a mirror!

So check it out and see what you think!

-Krutika
Tata Harper Illuminator

February 23rd, 2016

Summer is coming around the corner and everyone wants that glowing skin!

So as soon as I saw this illuminator I jumped on it and bought it.

It comes in a little green jar and is white in color with iridescent specks. Now, there is no glitter at all. But, when you put it on it just glides on and just gives you a very dewy and highlighted effect without it being obvious. People would be able to look at you, and notice that your skin looks brighter, and more glow-y but they wouldn’t be able to tell that its makeup.

There are days when I have just worn this over my moisturizer without using any foundation and my skin always, always ends up looking very healthy and hydrated.

The size– now this is not big at all. Its a tiny jar– but just like with all Tata’s products the ingredients speak for themselves. So I do not might paying the hefty price tag that comes with it.

Again, the smell is on the strong sides– but it goes away after applying the product. Mine jar smells like turmeric? I cannot place the smell but I got use to it and like I said it does not linger.

This highlighter is really perfect for those no makeup, makeup looks.

You can find this on Sephora.com or on tataharper.com and it retails for $40 for .15oz.

-Krutika
Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick (Molasses)

February 19th, 2016

Hello Everyone!

Happy Friday! Bite Beauty launched a new line of lipsticks called Amuse Bouche to replace their Luminous Creme collection. They upped the price by $2 but.. I think his new formula is better.

I ordered one color to test out and it’s called Molasses. They describe it as a toffee color and they are pretty much right. On me, it wears as a perfect nude. Literally. Its warm toned and they wear time is much longer. I have worn mine for 4 hours right now and I have not had to touch up. And, the finish is more like a satin matte, which I prefer on me.

The packaging and everything is still the same, but I am so looking forward to trying out more colors! I don’t think a lipstick color has ever excited me this much. I always have to mix in a warm brown color to either tone up the color or add more warmth. But this nude is PERFECT.

The formula just glides on without any tugging and is very comfortable to wear despite of the finish.

I really recommend for you all to try it out and let me know what you think!

Packaging is so cute!

Molasses

You can find these on Sephora.com as of now, but I am sure they will be in stores very, very shortly!

-Krutika