Archive for December 2011

Good day, Ladies :)
Today I am reviewing Lakme Radiance Compact. I was in Chennai last month and had been to the Lifestyle outlet at one of their huge malls. I had ventured into Westside first as they had a bigger cosmetic array with many local brands but I had to literally run away. Why? As you enter Westside, before you can even check in your bags, you are hounded by all the cosmetic counter assistants screeching at the top of their lungs to get your attention,"Mam! Would you like to try Colorbar lipstick? Madam!!! Would you like to try out latest Streetwear shade? MAAAAAM! Please come here, I will show you beautiful white skin from Lakme. Mam! Lotus has launched........" My intention was to go check out the Lotus lippies but just seeing these hair pulling sales assistants, made me just walk right out the store and I pretended like I had stumbled in there by mistake. How frigthening and unprofessional. They looked like they had been let loose by the jungle squad. aieeee! I prefer the Westside at the City Centre mall here in Mangalore. Though they don't boast of so many gorgeous brands, they don't tear your hair when you try to look at something remotely cosmetic-related. Phew! I am so glad I got out of there alive.

Long story short, never venture there unless you are adept at shopping in a cosmetic jungle with hyenas and baboons. I can't remember the name of the mall, it's the biggest that Chennai has....it's a gorgeous mall but just this store put me off totally. Never again! I think it's called Express Avenue mall....yep, that is it. If at all I want to go there again, I would cautiously put one foot in and then only the next, just to see if the screeching starts.

Finally, as I made my way out, I entered Life Style which seemed remarkably more tame. I headed to the Lakme counter. There I wanted to get the Perfect Radiance Compact Powder that retails for Rs.150 that everyone's gushing about. But the sales girl there said it was all sold out but there was this other one that was equally good. I doubted her. Me and my luck with cosmetics out here...sheesh! I asked her a couple of questions on why this one was priced lower and if it was any good. She gave me complete assurance that this was a great shade match for me, that the only difference between the two compacts was that the former had sun protection factor and this did not, so it was cheaper. I really wanted a compact and she tried it on me, I liked it. It did not give a cakey finish. She used a foundation brush to apply it. It was a nice smooth, matte look and took away the shine from my T-zone.

When I went to pay the bill, I noticed this sly Lakme girl quickly wipe the tester she tried on me and wipe the compact's mirror and pack it up. I went over fuming as it was with the day's toil and ordered her to not sell a tester she has tested on countless other customers to a paying customer. How mean! What is with these weird sales ladies? Are they not trained in decency, what ever happened to being polite and trustworthy? Geez!

I was still not sure if this compact was good after all the drama of the day. I came back home and have used it on several occasions and really liked it. It wears for two hours and after that the T-zone does get oily and needs touch ups or blotting paper. Otherwise it's a good product. I am not a fan of the Maybelline compact as it makes my skin cakey and once in a while I break into a rash when I use it. This did not have any problems in that sense.

I did not think that Natural Pearl would go well with my skin tone, I tend to tan but it just disappeared into my skin. So yaay for me! It says what it does. The only thing I don't like is the puff, it's so ordinary use-and-throw kinds.
Hole in your pocket: Rs.99 for 9g

It's affordable and good, easy to carry in the wallet and for on the go touch ups.

Published by coralcrue

While checking out the paper today I saw an ad about the expo on products and services, cosmetics, wellness, hospitality, Kitchenware, fitness and Beauty Parlour products.

I thought awesome and packed my wallet with a stash of green and hopped along with my camera to get pictures for you guys.
It was held at the TMA Pai Convention Centre, Mangalore. It's a beautiful Convention Hall which holds ceremonies, conferences and exhibitions. They even have facilities to host other big events like marriages. It's a beautiful building and located centrally.

Exhibition is for only 3 days, tomorrow being the last.

Timings are from 10am to 8pm.
I wondered why it closes so early but got to know when I arrived at the venue.

Did you guys check out the moon today?? It was awesome, Lunar eclipse!! It got over by 9:30pm.

There is no entry fee. As soon as you enter, you are asked to sign the visitor's register with your name, mobile number and email id. I did so.

I was curious to see all the stalls but was a bit disappointed to note that there were few stalls and mostly they were not all well stocked, there were fewer cosmetic and beauty counters.

One stall sold Jovees products ranging from face washes, skin lotions, creams etc but I did not recognize most of the other products.

A local beauty parlour had put up their stall, they just had pictures of the looks they create and services they render. It was good to know anyway.

There were stalls selling insurance stuff and electronics like air coolers and portable air conditioners. I liked the Sharp portable ac. neat, huh? 29,000Rs. gulp! hehe

Win Sports had their sports equipment on sale- treadmill, cycles etc on sale. Some uncles and aunties were busy running on them like they had come to the gym. Fun to watch. lol

There were more fitness stalls than anything else, there was one stall selling Yoga books. I took their brochure to go through since they offer yoga classes as well. I haven't been able to find a good yoga instructor in mangalore yet. So let's keep fingers crossed there.

Jewelry for the ladies but most traditional wear, no fashion jewelry.

This stall below caught my interest but I didn't require anything from here- mostly beauty tools and some more unheard of cosmetic face creams.They even sold fake adorned hair which you can probably spot on the extreme right of the pic if you look hard.

So that was my Saturday. I picked my niece and nephew up right after and we went out to dinner at Pentagon's Royal Touch restaurant which still serves good food but is so deserted and depressing to eat there. Time they re-vamped the entire place for a fresh new look.
Oooh! I also spotted Mainland China which is coming up soon at the Inland Galore complex by the Kankanady bypass. So that's really something to really look forward to. Authentic Chinese cuisine. Hao ming will still be close to my heart since it's been there even before I arrived in Mangalore.*sigh* I like their Thai Crunchy Chicken and the Chinese Chop Suey.Yum Yum.

I hope you all are having a lovely Saturday.

Published by coralcrue

Hi there!

It has been a hard few days. A really good friend of mine called me up after a very long time and said she needed help. Her mother was not well and we ran some tests and it's turned out to be cancer. She loves her mom a lot and it's a painful process having to deal with the disease, getting used to it and then having to think about the best treatment options. I am glad I am able to help them out, helping someone is the only thing one can do which gives real meaning to life. It's hard but you have to do it without thinking about it. I hope I can continue rendering them useful support in some form or the other. I don't know if I am doing right or wrong but I pray that it helps them in whatever little way possible.

The biggest thing you can offer someone is support and hope. Even in the face or harsh realities, you have to learn to smile and be together. After all that is being human.

Getting back to my review, while I was at the hospital with them, I had to stay overnight, I took along my newly bought Yardley English Rose Perfumed Talc along.
In a hospital, you get attuned to mostly sterile smells and the longer you stay there, the more you want to be reminded of the comfort of home, the outside world, normalcy and people. This helped them alot. Aunty loves the smell of roses and is an avid gardener, so she was very fond of my Yardley Tin and pampered herself with it whenever she wanted to feel good.
I agree.
It's a very mild rose smell , very soft and very feminine. It's not for people who like strong perfumes.
The smell stays with you for quite a while and then you get a faint hint of it even after several hours of wear. It wears for 5-6 hours for sure.

The ingredients as you can see above are not as potent as a deodorant. My family prefers using less chemical based products as possible so they discourage me from buying deodorants. Instead I get perfumed talcs and this is a good option.

Go for it!

Hole in your pocket:- Rs.100 for 200g.
I have seen smaller cans for their other variants like jasmine but not yet spotted a smaller can of the same, wish they had one, would love to carry it around in my purse. :)

Published by coralcrue

I bought this face wash from Saibeen complex in Mangalore. There is an old supermarket there by the name of Joofry's which is quite popular among the old mangalore crowd. It's quite well stocked and I like to visit the place once in a month.
While on one such visit, I came across some variants of No Marks Face Wash. I had used their anti-acne creams before and had also tried their soap but this was new. So I had to get it for myself. I bought this blue one, a green one and a yellow coloured tube of the same brand.
Here I shall review the 25+ which is indicative of the age group that they have made this face wash for.
It claims superior cleansing with sun protection. I did not find the cleansing up to the mark with this one, it did not leave my face squeaky clean. It also had a chemical smell, almost medicinal perhaps. I was not very happy with that and will not be purchasing this again because I kept worrying if it would do some damage to my skin. I did not see any damage with use nor did I have any breakouts or problems upon using this product.
It does not lighten your skin tone as per claims.
I like all the ingredients that they have listed out such as carrot, lemon, wheat germ and aloe vera. But what is that awful chemical smell? No, it is not the camphor that is included in the product, I just can't put a finger on it.
It's not a remarkable product and I can easily skip it.
I felt a layer form on my face after each wash, maybe it had something to do with the sun protection factor which may have been added to this wash.
The product is gel based with tiny blue beads which you can see in the photograph. The beads are not harsh at all.
The one great thing about this product is that it comes in travel sizes, it's so easy to slip into your pocket or purse and carry it around, so thumbs up to that feature. I wish every other face wash brand in the market would consider manufacturing travel size or pocket sized face washes so we could carry our favourite products with us to office, travel or wherever we have to be.