Maybelline Alia's Secrets Contest - Winners Announced!

Hiya beautiful people. Thank you so much for your enthusiastic participation in the Maybelline India Alia' Secrets contest. Really appreciate the support :D.

As expected, all of you got the answers right so I had to take the help of 'Random Baba' to come up with the winners of the Maybelline hampers. A lot of you took the trouble to tag your friends and share on Twitter and while I appreciate your efforts that was not a rule so cannot give any extra points there. Everyone to me was equal :).

No more blabbering from my end. Lets get down to business and announce the winners. A big congratulations to:

1. Manasi Thosar
2. Seema Rastogi
3. Saachi Garg
4. Sunita Solanki
5. Wajiha Ahmed

Please mail me your contact details at poutpretty@gmail.com within 48 hrs. If I do not receive the details by that time, I will choose new winners. Please note that I am only responsible to host the contest and not send out the prizes. I will pass on your details to the Maybelline India team who will send the prizes directly to your address and needless to say, they will only send to Indian addresses. My responsibility ends after passing on your details to Maybelline :)

Congratulations to the winners again. Those who did not win, do not lose heart. Another contest is coming up tonight where you can again win hampers :D. Watch this space for more...

The Luxe Café - Website Review

The world of luxury goods and fine living is now just a click away thanks to www.theluxecafe.com, India’s very own b2c focused e-platform with curated content, dedicated to global luxury and fine living. The Luxe Café, aims to bring India’s growing numbers of brand-conscious buyers and luxury-enthusiasts in close touch with all that is happening. “Uniquely designed and featuring a selection of engaging, informative and exciting stories, reviews, experientials and tips, The Luxe Cafe` is more than just a website. It is your very own quick gateway to a world of luxurious, enriching, premium lifestyle”

Answer questions about Alia Bhatt & Win Maybelline Hampers - Contest ends 7th September

Hiya ladies hope you all are having a super weekend. Well, I'm here to make it even sweeter :D. Presenting a super easy contest in collaboration with Maybelline India. All you need to do is answer a few questions correctly and five of you stand a chance to win Maybelline hampers. Super right?

Maybelline India recently organised a Google Hangout with Alia Bhatt and her fans from Mumbai and Delhi. Here's a video where she is sharing some of her secrets.

Now that you have seen the video, it is time to answer some very easy questions. Five of you who get all five questions right, will win the hampers. Here are the questions. 

1. Who is Alia's favorite? Varun Dhawan or Siddharth Malhotra?
2. What are two things Alia does to take care of her skin?
3. What is that one quality Alia looks for in a guy?
4. Which is Alia's favorite movie of her dad?
5. What is Alia's favorite Color Show nail polish?

Before you write down your answers in the comments below, you have to follow some mandatory rules.

1. Like my Facebook page 

2. Follow the blog via GFC (Google Friend Connect) - the widget is to your right. Click on Join this site.

3. Follow @PoutPretty on Twitter 

4. With your answers, add your Fb name, Twitter handle, the name with which you are following the blog and your email id in the comments below. 

The contest begins 31st August and ends 7th September. Those who answer all questions correctly and follows all rules stand a chance to win and if multiple people get the questions right, winners will be chosen at random. I am only responsible to declare names of winners. Maybelline will send out the prizes.

Watch the video and get going girls. All the best!

Kaya Purifying Spot Corrector - Review

If you have oily acne prone skin, you must own this product! Even if you don't, you should still own it because you never know when something might erupt and this liquid will work to banish it in a day. Yes ladies I have seen the results on myself and that is why I'm so impressed by the Kaya Purifying Spot Corrector.

Kaya Purifying Spot Corrector

Description - The Kaya Purifying Spot Corrector dries up blemishes overnight, calms inflammation. Deeply exfoliates and unclogs skin pores.

How To Use - Cleanse skin. Open pen to dispense the product onto the pen tip and dab onto affected areas twice daily.

Can be used alone or under makeup.

Ingredients - Zinc Sulfate: An essential mineral for healthy skin, zinc acts as an astringent and helps in the treatment of acne. Salicylic Acid: A Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA) which targets oil in hair follicles, exfoliates pores and clears the comedones. Glycolic Acid: A naturally occurring Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA) from sugar canes. Acts as an exfoliator, it penetrates through the cell walls, resulting in smoother and clearer skin. Camphor: Provides a cooling effect on the skin. Witch Hazel: Produced from the leaves and bark of the North American witch hazel shrub. It is a strong anti-oxidant and astringent, which makes it very useful in fighting acne.

Price - Rs 849 (8ml)
Availability - At Kaya Skin Clinics and here

Rbrand Beauty Lip Gloss Poppy - Review, Swatches

Some days back I was sent a couple of products from the brand Rbrand Beauty all the way from the U.S and in this post, I will share my thoughts on Poppy, a lip gloss from the Sugar Lips collection. Before going into the review, here is some information about the brand.

Rbrand Beauty Lip Gloss Poppy

Rbrand Beauty captures the fearless, confident style of its Creator, Terri Ray. The line embodies the spirit of this risk-taking Hollywood stuntwoman who has been in ACTION lighting up the world for years. From setting more than 7 world records as a Factory Kawasaki Team Rider and leaving the sport an unbroken title holder in 1994, to jumping ship in the world renowned motion picture TITANIC, this SAVVY woman is now taking the beauty industry by storm with her signature sophisticated edge. She embodies what it means to be an Rbrand woman through her edgy sophisticated glamour, grace and movie star confidence!

Rbrand Beauty knows that no matter how fearless or strong a woman may be, she still wants to be beautiful. Rbrand allows that beauty to shine through allowing her to be transparent but not invisible. Rbrand is the undeniable essence of a woman Unforgettable, Unshakeable, Unstoppable!

I was sent the shade Poppy from the Sugar Lips collection. These lip glosses boasts of long lasting lip color and the non sticky formula contains vitamins A,C, and E.

Price: $28

Inside My Envy Box August Edition

The August edition of My Envy Box came home last week but due to a crazy schedule I could not put up the post then. Without any more delay, let's open the box and show you what's inside.

Being a part of Max Trenday Celebrations on 15th August

Max, the leading value fashion brand and a big favorite of mine celebrated Trenday in their stores across Kolkata, Baroda, Chandigarh, Vizag, Indore and Coimbatore on 8th and 15th August. During those two days, the stores organised activities like providing nail art, tattoo art, caricature and style related tips to the shoppers and I was a part of the celebration at the MAX store in Diamond City Mall, Kolkata on 15th August. 

Max Trenday Celebration on 15 August at Diamond City Mall

Memebox Special #23 Girl's Night Out Box - Unboxing, Review

Come to think of it, I don't even remember the last time I had a girl's night out! Every day for five days a week, I work till 2.30 a.m and during weekends, all I want to do during the night is sleep. Much prefer a girl's day out. So why did I buy the Memebox Special #23 Girl's Night Out Box? Because the description was interesting, it was a ready to ship box and I wanted to try out the Maxi Lip Tint Glow.

Memebox Special #23 Girl's Night Out Box

Nothing beats spending time with your besties! Who else is going to be there for you through your ups and downs, from your most unlovable moments to your most silliest. Now, glam up and make unforgettable Instagram-worthy memories with your best girlies with our Girls’ Night Out Box! Save the muted nude makeup for the office, and add some pizzazz to your look with bold look-at-me lashes, drama queen cheeks, and red carpet worthy lips for a never-ending clubbing night! Complete your clubing look with your favorite party dress and killer heels for an unforgettable night!

Cost: $23 + $6.99 shipping (one-time cost)

Availability - Still available. Click here to buy. 

Vaadi Herbals Nail and Cuticle Oil - Review

If you have dry cuticles like I do and looking for an inexpensive product to deal with it, you can try Vaadi Herbals Nail and Cuticle oil. Priced at only Rs 55 for 10 ml, this oil contains Apricot Kernel Oil, Jojoba oil, Vitamin A and E and Shea Butter to combat the dryness. 

“An excellent oil to nourish and moisturize your nail and cuticle area. It strengthens thin, weak nails by treating cuticles from the roots. It also prevents peeling of the cuticles by making them smooth.”

Active Ingredients: Apricot Kernel Oil, Jojoba oil, Vitamin A and E, Shea Butter

New Launch - L'Oreal Paris N*de Magic Foundation

N*de make-up is a rage this season with luminescent skin and light tones being seen on all the top fashion runways. L'Oréal Paris brings the trend to India with a product that gives your skin the perfect n*de glamorous finish. L'Oréal Paris launches N*de Magic, a gorgeous light-weight daily use foundation in six shades that contains an innovative formula with light oils for perfect coverage and a velvety touch. It gives you that impeccable and radiant look you have always desired.

This product promises-

New Application: This liquid powder foundation gives best results when shaken well before use. All you have to do is take the required amount of N*de Magic on your fingertips and then blend it in to your skin. The light liquid spreads evenly, gets easily absorbed and leaves a beautiful, talc-like finish to the skin.

New Finish: L'Oréal Paris N*de Magic promises -

• Zero Imperfection 
• Zero Make up feel 
• Absolutely even, perfectly radiant skin 

The product is priced at Rs. 899 and will be available in exclusive L'Oréal Paris outlets only.

Click this link for more details of the product.

A n*de flawless complexion and tangy lips or vice versa! The “hot & cold” effect is one of the most stylish looks to keep in your makeup artillery. To master it is easy - all you have to do is just focus on one feature of your face and make it stand out. Once you’ve made your choice, just work with n*de tones for the rest of your face. Click this link to recreate a trendy celeb N*de Makeup look that can be achieved using N*de Magic.

Getting a Makeover at MAC, Quest Mall, Kolkata

If you are in Kolkata, you will surely know about Quest Mall and that it is one of the best places to shop and hang around in the city. A number of brands have set up their stores at the mall and one of them is our favorite, MAC Cosmetics. This is MAC's second store in Kolkata and also one I go to the most simply because it is nearer to my place and my favorite MUAs are all there. If you are in Kolkata, do check out the store and if you want, you can ask the MUAs to demo some looks on you. In fact, you can do that at any MAC store and it is complimentary. 

Memebox #Hair and Body 2 - Unboxing, Photos, Review

And I am officially addicted to Memebox!  Have been ordering them like crazy since the last month and today I will show you the latest one - #Hair and Body 2 packed with full size products for the skin, hair and feet. I paid $23 for this box plus the standard rate of $6.99 shipping and received six products with a total value of $115. 

Memebox #Hair and Body 2

A match for Ileana's Lip Color - Shiseido Lacquer Rouge VI324 Indiscreet

The above picture of Ileana D'Cruz at the recently held India Couture Week 2014 led to many discussions on Facebook regarding her lip color. Ileana's makeup was done by the MAC guru Mickey Contractor and obviously he used MAC products. Makeup artists rarely use a single lipstick and this was definitely a result of a combination of two or more lipsticks/lip liners/pigments etc. My guess is a mixture of Candy Yum Yum + Up The Amp + Heroine lip pencil but if you don't want the hassle of mixing shades and want a single lip color that matches that of Ileana's, your best bet is the Shiseido Lacquer Rouge VI324 - Indiscreet. This shade was part of Shiseido's Spring 2014 collection and is the perfect Radiant Orchid!

Inside My Envy Box July Edition - Review

The July edition of My Envy Box reached my place about a week back so sorry about this late post. I've been really busy at work and hardly getting time to take pictures and write for the blog and the sad part is that I'm going to get busier. No idea how I'm going to manage everything but I'll sure try my best. Coming to My Envy Box, this month the products were sent out in the lavender box, my favorite of all the colors that I've got till date. Let's take a look at what was inside.

My Envy Box July Edition 

Nyassa Oceana Foaming Face Scrub - Review

Today I am going to share with you my current favorite skincare product. I've been using this pretty much everyday for the last one week and I am loving it. The product is Nyassa's Oceana Foaming Face Scrub and it does the job of both a face wash and a scrub. It is priced at Rs 600 for 200 gm. 

Nyassa Oceana Foaming Face Scrub

A sweet way for a soft skin starts with Nyassa’s exotic body scrubs that exfoliates, polishes and moisturizes you skin. The Oceana Face & Body scrubs give your skin an enriched cleansing. It creates luxurious and fragrant foam that cleanses your body thoroughly leaving behind a fragrance that lasts long. Formulated with apricot , the scrub leaves behind a fresh, soft and younger looking radiant skin.

Vaadi Herbals Chandan Kesar Haldi Fairness Face Pack - Review

Hiya everyone, today's post is about a product from a skincare brand I'm trying out for the first time. I had read some good things about Vaadi Herbals range of affordable skincare products but never got around to trying any till the brand kindly sent me a couple of samples. One of them is the Chandan Kesar - Haldi face pack, meant to lighten the skin tone, fight tanning and fade dark spots and blemishes. Extracts of saffron, turmeric, sandal and manjistha are active ingredients and the pack is priced at Rs 90 for 120 gm. 

Vaadi Herbals Chandan Kesar Haldi Fairness Face Pack

Say Yes To Oil Clear. Say No To Bars!

How many times have you squirmed in disgust when you've seen your man washing his face with the same bar of soap that he uses to clean his body? And how many times have you tried to convince your man to use a face wash instead of just splashing some water? If the answer is yes, I've lost count then join in this movement spearheaded by Garnier Men and ask your man to Say No To Bars! Soap bars I mean :).

1. Soap bars are unhygienic as the same bar is used for multiple purposes. Instead, why not switch to a face wash which is for a defined purpose?

2. Soap bars are history now! Modern men prefer to use face wash that is customised to suit their skin's needs. So, why not be the man of today who loves modern facilities?

3. Soap bars are inconvenient and not practical to use at all. Then, why not be smart and switch to a face wash which is easy to carry?

Ask your man to ditch the bar and instead use the Garnier Men Oil Clear Face Wash for a deep cleansing action which removes excess oil without drying the skin.

To make sure, they get the message clearly, here's a fun song which tells you why it's time to #SayNoToBars and #SayYesToOilClear - 

Go ahead, bring a change in the men you care about!

Skyscanner and I travel to Egypt

I must have been around eight yrs old when I first heard about a country named Egypt from my grandfather. He was a fantastic storyteller and every night before going to bed, he used to regale me with stories from different parts of the world. Through him I got to know about the Sphinx, the great pyramids, the pharaohs, the beautiful queen Cleopatra, the mummies and I used to wonder when I would get the chance to visit this magical place. That time has come and I'm all geared up to take my next vacation in Egypt this November. The  hitch is that I can spare only one lakh for the trip so I needed some solid help in planning. That's where Skyscanner.co.in swooped in like a knight in shining armor.

Have you guys checked out skyscanner? This website is just awesome folks! All that you need to do is enter your travel dates and they will immediately start scanning different airlines to bring the best deals. I entered my travel dates and in a matter of seconds, got 76 results! I always thought that a trip to Egypt would mean very high airfares but Skyscanner gave me a return airfare of Rs 46,187! This included two stops but since I wanted to spend most of my money on sight seeing, food, shopping etc, this was a great deal for me. 

Ok so airfare done. Next step was to check out hotel rates and skyscanner did that effortlessly as well. All that I did was click on the 'Need a hotel in Cairo' link and I got the rates of 170 hotels from different hotel booking websites displayed in front of me.  From hostels to uber luxury hotels, everything was right there. I'm definitely not a staying in a hostel type of person so my requirement was a decent and safe place for a woman traveller.  I settled for Le Meridien Pyramids Hotel & Spa, a five star hotel very close to the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx. And can you guess the rate I got for 7 nights at a 5 star hotel? Rs 24,924! This was offered by booking.com and I was told that I had saved around Rs 6000 on the deal. So adding up the airfare and hotel rate, the total came up to Rs 71,111 which is definitely a steal. I've managed to save a pretty good amount of money and that's gonna be spent on discovering as much as I can of my dream destination.

Thanks Skyscanner for making my travel planning so easy and hassle-free. Egypt, here I come!

This post is a part of Skyscanner travel wizard activity at BlogAdda.com

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick Frambourjoise (02) - Review, Swatches, FOTD

Dear Bourjois Paris, 

I visited your city early this month and took a look at the entire range of makeup that you sell out there. It took me nearly an hour to decide on what I wanted to come back with since half of your stuff is not available in India. At the end, I settled on the shade Frambourjoise (02) from the Rouge Edition Velvet lipstick range and the Volume 1 second waterproof mascara which I fell in love with after trying at the store. I regret not buying your cream eye shadows but I'm hoping I will get to see them here soon. 

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick Frambourjoise (02)

A sincere request from someone who loves your products. Can you please please launch the Velvet lipstick range ASAP here? It is by far one of the best matte liquid lipsticks I have used and I want to pick up the rest of the shades. I hate the awful plasticky smell that I get when I open the tube but I can live with it considering how awesome the texture and pigmentation of the lipstick is. Frambourjoise is a beautiful raspberry red and I receive numerous compliments whenever I wear this shade. I have forgotten the number of people who have asked about the brand and shade name. It reminds me a lot of MAC's Relentlessly Red and Frambourjoise could well be termed as the liquid version of RR with a little bit more red.

What I love most about the lipstick is that it just goes on and on and on. I have to use a makeup remover after 8 - 9 hours to get the color off my lips! You could have made them slightly moisturising because after a couple of hours the dryness shows up but thankfully it is nothing uncomfortable or something a quick swipe of lip balm can't fix. In short, I just love my Frambourjoise. I love the feel, the amazing pigmentation, the matte finish and the fact that once I put it on, I don't have to worry about reapplying for the next 8-9 hours. What I don't like is the smell and I really hope that you do something about it. 

Like me, a lot of lipstick addicts have been waiting for these to launch in India for a really long time. Hear our pleas and get them out please?

Sincerely

A matte lipstick addict and a recent Bourjois lover

P.S - A big thank you to your SA's at the Champs Elysees Monoprix store for giving me a complimentary pair of shades and a cute makeup pouch with my purchase. Can you also ask the SA's in India to do that please? Most of them are really stingy when it comes to handing out gifts!

Click the link to see swatches and my FOTD..

Matrix Biolage Advanced Fiberstrong Treatment - Review

Last week I got the opportunity to try out the new Matrix Biolage Advanced Fiberstrong Treatment at the Matrix Technical Studio in Kolkata carried out by Suman Das, technical expert and East Zone trainer. This post is all about my experience of the treatment.

About the Fiberstrong range:

BIOLAGE Advance FIBERSTRONG is the next generation of hair care from MATRIX that offers anti-hair fall hair products & services specially formulated to tackle weak, fragile and brittle hair.

Fiberstrong combines the goodness of Nature with BAMBOO and the power of Molecular Science with INTRA-CYLANE to give 95% less hair breakage in just 1 application. Bamboo passes on its strength to the hair promoting the elasticity of hair strands. Intra-cylane, an exclusive patented molecule, helps fill in the gaps and seals cuticles to reduce breakage. These indulgent ingredients help in creating a structural reinforcement system to strengthen weakened hair cuticles as they condition the hair for ultra -soft & smooth results. The Fiberstrong treatment is personalized as per the level of hair weakness.

Matrix Biolage Advanced Fiberstrong Treatment products