Product Review : Lakme Face Magic Daily Wear Souffle

I haven't experimented much with foundations since I hardly wear them for college or even days out... I still own one, but I don't like it much (I think its the Lakme one in a bottle). It doesn't seem to suit my skin tone and doesn't agree with my combination skin either :-/

There's a wedding coming up in the family next month, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try a foundation that would be easy to carry, easy to use and would suit my skin as well. I know I'm a NC 40 in M.A.C, but its difficult to translate that into the tones of any other brand :|

I was in Secunderabad, and walked into a huge store that had an entire floor dedicated to cosmetic counters.. I explored Maybelline, Bourjois, Lotus herbals, Colorbar, but didn't find anything small or convenient enough to carry to Orissa. I finally chanced upon the Lakme counter, and saw this product in its oh-so-cute packaging and with such an attractive name.. I couldn't resist picking it up, need or no need :P I remember the ads on TV long ago for this product, where one swipe on a painting evens out the complexion of the painting. Anyway, it was time to try it on myself.

The packaging is really cute, and the little pot looks so convenient! The label graphics say :

For longlasting, flawless radiance, apply Face Magic Daily Wear Souffle before stepping out everyday!

Discover Lakme's Face Magic Daily Wear Souffle. A lightweight water-based foundation that gently evens out your complexion. With the goodness of Sunscreen, Cucumber Extracts and Vitamin E, it provides UV protection in addition to soothing and moisturizing your skin, giving you a natural flawless glow.

Orissa in the summers is HOT, HUMID and death to hair and makeup. This sounded like the perfect product to combat the weather and attend the wedding. Its water-based, which is what I was looking for, and promises to even out complexion, which I need.

I asked the SA to give me the one that suits my skin tone.. Unfortunately, there were no testers. She gave me Shade : Natural Pearl for fair skin. I asked her about 6 times whether she was SURE it was the right one for me :P

Anyway, when I got home and opened the packaging, it looked something like this :

Um. Messy. Maybe it was the heat in the car while we were shopping, or the product was runny anyway, but it seemed to have spilt out from the edges. I removed the plastic cover from the glass bottle and well.. messy messy messy. :-|

I took a little bit on my fingers to check the consistency.. Its runny and definitely not very heavy. I was still unsure about the shade that the SA had sold to me.

I tried it on, and it went on smoother than I had thought. It felt cool and watery, and extremely light. Yay, just what I wanted :D And the shade was perfect. It felt a tad bit sticky for the first 5 minutes, then settled into my skin and I couldn't feel it at all after that. I dusted a bit of loose powder over it and I was done. My skin looked totally natural and like I was wearing nothing at all, even after the three layers (sunscreen, foundation, powder). This product may just convert me to a foundation-believer, especially since all my past experiences have been major fails (too heavy, too sticky, etc).

Lakme Face Magic Daily Wear Souffle

Shade : Natural Pearl for fair skin

Price : 99 for 30 ml (sooo affordable!)

Will I repurchase? Yes, if I manage to finish this one with my limited use :P

xoxo

Product Review : Meylon Paris 6 Blush Palette

So sometime in February I got an email with promotional offers from new, unheard of cosmetic brands, and I decided to give one a try. The picture in the email looked like this :

Nothing looked interesting, and I was about to dismiss and delete the email (like I usually do with promotional spam), then I decided to give it a try and maybe do a product review sometime. The only item that looked remotely interesting was the blush palette. With 6 promising-looking shades, it seemed to be a convenient option to toss into my purse while travelling. Since I haven't been able to get my hands on any custom-made palettes from any big brands yet, I ordered this palette from Meylon. When it arrived, it was in perfect condition, and the real product looks like this :

The colours are really pretty, and definitely usable. They appear slightly chalky, but transfer on to the skin just fine. To give a better idea about the colours, I tried to compare them to other branded shades and found them to be close dupes of the following colours :

Top row (l - r)

1. M.A.C Well Dressed

2. M.A.C Pink Swoon

3. M.A.C Melba

Bottom row (l - r)

1. M.A.C Dollymix

2. M.A.C Loverush, Colorbar Cosmic Rose

3. M.A.C Tenderling

The top center and the bottom left ones appear too dark and maybe not exactly desirable colours but with the right kind of application, I've found that I can use one swipe to create subtle flushes of colour. Of these, my favourite is definitely the bottom row, middle one (it reminds me of Colorbar Cosmic Rose, one of my all-time favourites). All the colours are matte, very pigmented and buildable. The swatches on my skin look like this :

The colours can be made as subtle or deep as desired. I had difficulty swatching the bottom row, right one because its not very pigmented and seemed most chalky. Its a medium brown shade that seems to be somewhere in the middle between a brownish blush and a matte bronzer, but isn't effective for either purpose.

I happen to know that this palette is also available at one of the complexes on Commercial Street, Bangalore, at a small shop that sells fake M.A.C products but also stocks lovely VS body sprays.

Will I buy it again, if I find it? No.

My rating? 2.5 / 5

Extremely convenient for travelling, but the colours are nothing special. For specific travel purposes I would recommend palettes from other companies, some even offer build-your-own ones.

Colorbar Blush : http://www.colorbarcosmetics.com/Products/Blusher__BLN.aspx

xoxo