Sunday 15 July 2012

Beauty on a budget & Best Buys < INR 200.

Despite the fact that I love every single beauty product on the planet and can go berserk buying anything at any price, I am always looking for awesome inexpensive alternatives or dupes of the more pricey cosmetics. So I thought I'd share some of my best findings of the Indian market with you too.




1. Garnier Anti Dark Circles Tinted Eye Roll On

Price: Rs.199/-

This is a beautiful answer to the problem of dark circles at a beautiful price. It works as an excellent concealer if you have a medium amount of darkening around the eyes. May not give a very good coverage for severe dark circles though. 
I believe there are 2 shades available : Fair & Medium.
The tinted eye care product is dispersed from a cold metal roller ball which feels great on the under eyes and the massaging action helps reduce puffiness. The water like consistency of the product makes it very simple to blend into the skin by merely taping the product into the skin and it looks just perfect. It does not crease into the under eye wrinkles at all and manges to make the entire eye socket look just as even as the rest of the face which is great ! you might want to re-apply once more during the course of the day.
This also works for concealing any redness around the nose, chin and forehead. 
The product also claims to reduce dark circles as it is enriched with caffeine and lemon essence. I have not noticed any visible reductions in the darkening around the eyes but it continues to be a GREAT CONCEALER ! 



2. Maybelline ClearGlow Bright Benefit Cream


Price: Rs.199/-

What a hassle it is to wear layers and layers of products before you can start doing your make up. I have a hard time layering up moisturizer, sunblock, foundation and setting powder especially during the summer time. Thanks to this tinted moisturizer (that I like to call 'Pure Perfection'), I don't have to go through the ordeal of slapping one product over the other every single day. I just pat this across my face and I am done. It has SPF 21/PA+++ for sun protection and because it is tinted it gives you an even-toned complexion and hides imperfections. There, you already don't need sunblock or foundation. It gives you a nice dewy finish and claims to control sebum and shine for about 5 hours after application. All-in-all, I find this 18mL (which lasted me for more than 2 months on daily use of a pea-sized amount) to be a great purchase for just Rs. 199/-

It has a limited shade selection of 3 shades. The lightest being 03 Natural and the darkest being 01 Nude. Don't let the opposite numbering confuse you.

P.S. Did I mention that I lovvee the packaging? The only downer is that you can't really tell as to how much product is left in there as the tube is pretty opaque and reflects light. 



3. Maybelline Lip Smooth Color Bloom 


Price: Rs.99/-

I fell in love with this the day I bought it and its the one thing that is always in my bag or in my pocket. Both the colors come in gorgeously packaged sticks that are so sleek and cute that you could walk the earth with them. 
Pink Blossom gives a lot more color than the peach does. If you are looking for a very slight tint in a lip balm, then Peach Blossom is your pick. I often use these lip balms on top of nude matte shades of lipstick to brighten them up a little.
This is so much more than just a regular lip balm. Apart from keeping your lips really moist for hours, it gives UV protection. The importance of UV protection for the lips is only known to those who have had their lips burnt in the sun. So if you are looking for a lip product that protects your lips while you are out in the sun then Color Bloom is the thing for you. I feel swiping the pink shade 3-4 times gives you so much color on your lips that it could substitute for a pink lipstick. After a few hours, when the moisturizing effect from your lips is gone, you will still see a pretty pink stain on your lips. However, you may not get as much color from the product if your lips are on the darker side.



4. Maybelline Hypercurl Volum' Express Mascara

Price: Rs.175/-

I never knew that one could get a Mascara at this price. I recommend this to anyone just starting to use Mascara as it is the least expensive drugstore Mascara and is just perfect to begin with because it does not have difficult to handle dramatic kind of results. It has a very daywear and natural looking feel and does not add too much volume. The curvy wand helps to separate lashes and curl them even without using an eyelash curler and the mascara holds curl pretty well up to 5 hours or so.

It does not flake or smear and it wouldn't go anywhere till you decide to remove it. It really lives up to being waterproof which is why you must use an eye make up remover to get rid of it.


5. L'Oreal Paris Total Repair 5 Leave-In Serum


Price: Rs.199/-

Serum is your hair BFF in times of frizziness and all those unmanageable fly aways right after a wash. I feel its acts as a relaxant and calms down the hair that is going crazy after having been washed. I recommend taking a coin sized droplet and working it throughout the length of your hair. You  might want to use more for longer hair. Its best to apply serum mto towel dried hair before styling or blowdrying . L'oreal Paris Total Repair 5 proves to be an excellent purchase at this price. It adds so much shine to your hair on a dull hair day. I often apply this to styled hair that has lost all its lustre after being subjected to heat and it restores the shine and texture almost instantly or to hair that I just scrunch and leave for natural drying (and want to avoid the frizzy bizzies). However, second day hair looks a lot flatter after you've used serum on the first day and so, you may not want to use too serum if you have very thin or scanty hair growth on your scalp as this particular serum does take a little bit of the volume in exchange for a neater look. 


Disclaimer: All the views and opinions expressed in this post are my own. I am not affiliated with any of the brands mentioned above and was not sponsored to write this. These were just a few good inexpensive products that I loved and wanted to share with my readers so you can try them too.

Good luck.


Thank you for reading ! :)

No comments:

Post a Comment