Perfumes and a surprising realisation of my taste :D

It's an essential to every woman's (and hopefully all men's) wardrobe - not wardrobe exactly, but the thingamajigs you use before you walk out the door. Everyone has their preferences - some like it musky, some like the woody smell .. some even like floral fragrances :)

Essentially there are 4 basic notes to all perfumes

1. Floral

2. Woody

3. Fresh and

4. Musky

The names kind of are self explanatory. I don't have any preference per se, but I know or sure that the woody ones are not my choice. Almost all perfumes have a combination of these 4 types of scents, but there are layers : head note, middle note and base note. Base notes last the longest and you need to ensure you choose one that has a base note that you like. The base note kind of influences the lingering scent once you have applied the perfume.

Applying perfume on your skin is supposed to be the most effective way to get the smell to last longer; especially applying it at your pulse points. 'Coz when you get warm a bit (due to the sum / slight perspiration), your heart beats faster and the molecules dissipate, thus making the perfume's fragrance come out a bit more.

I remember the first expensive perfume I ever got. It is Dune by Christian Dior. The reason I love this fragrance is because of my mom :) She has this bottle in her cupboard and it has been her staple perfume for as long as I can remember. The shape of the bottle, the approval my dad gives when either one of us wears this perfume, the long lasting smell - all of them make me love this one. The base note is Vanilla. Now, I am not a fan of Vanilla smell - it can be extremely strong and many perfumes in my opinion have gone horribly wrong with it.. But Dune .. oh my God.. Dior has nailed it with this classic. I asked my friends to give this to me as a wedding gift instead of the usual jewellery 😁

The next one I own and love is Weekend by Burberry. I remember the first time I smelt this perfume - it was at Central in Bombay. I was still in college then and had gone shopping with my mom and one of her friends. The sales lady sprayed this on those paper thingies you get for smelling perfumes and among over a dozen perfumes we smelt, all 3 of us loved this one. But even during the sale it was freakishly expensive (over 2k). So I let it pass. When I started working, flipkart had a sale and this perfume was being sold by WS Retail (back then) and it was 1.2k for a 100ml bottle :D Of course I bought it :) The base notes in this one are woody.

My next favourite is the one my husband got for me as a wedding gift. Burberry Body ... It was a newly launched scent in 2013; and I wore it during our wedding, honeymoon .. Hell, now every time I use it I am reminded of Goa :D Base scent is again woody... I guess I tend to like base notes that are woody ... Hmmm 😀

Last but definitely not the least is Sunflower by Elizabeth Arden. It has a fruity top note, and a woody base note. Lol!!! I first got a whiff of it at my first job when the HR walked by. I actually stopped her and asked her the name of the perfume she was using - and ever since then I have been on the lookout. I finally got my hands on it at duty free at the Bangalore Intl Airport. I think they have discontinued this range !!!! But, next international trip, I plan on buying a bottle to make sure I have a back up just in case they actually do stop production. I hate it when companies stop stuff that you like- happened with the Lychee fragrance range from the Body Shop. Yes yes it is a limited edition - thank God I bought 3 bottles when it was on sale 😐

Another range that has been discontinued is the White Cherry Blossom from Bath and Body Works. My God - the smell ... absolute heaven. They've stopped it; so I bought it off on amazon.com and asked a friend to bring it ove. Unfortunately they didn't have the perfume, so I made do with a body wash and 2 bottles of lotion - hee hee😎

I'm sure more will be added - but I know for a fact that I will definitely repurchase all the above if and when I run out of my current stock !

Sephora Invite !

Yesterday I get a call from Sephora that's at Orion mall. I know some of the people there (given that I have gone so many times with multiple people). The Shiseido guy was on the line telling me that the next day they were having a Shiseido facial-sample-hand-out kind of event and if I was interested. Hell yeah ! I politely told him I was and that 11AM sounded good (first slot and I was the first customer to book an appointment). Woohoo!

Went to the place and I actually reached on time ... But then I was like, what if the program has been cancelled ? What if I am the only one there like an idiot; and there are no there registrations ? OMG, am I lame for wanting to go for such a thing ? Then I was like, chuck it; lemme go grab a coffee and kill some time so that I don't appear tooooo desperate 😐 While I was sipping my cappuccino, the store called asking if I was coming over as planned :) :) yay, it was not cancelled 😜... 

The first thing the lady did - her name is Sahiba - (she was the Shiseido person who had come over), was talk to me about my skin care routine and if I had any skin concerns. After figuring out my main concerns, she put a sort of bib on me, and covered my hair :D

I found it super funny but it was effective. Here is a picture of what I looked like.

The chap who is usually at the store (the Shiseido sales person by the name of Salman - he is the guy who called me for this event) was also there - and let me tell you... He is very good. He understands the products and knows what will suit your skin - unlike the people at the Phoenix outlet who gave me a face wash (the Ibuki Purifying Cleanser) that was not meant for my skin and kind of broke me out as it was too strong (I basically over-exfoliated my skin). He was like you should have used the White Lucent Brightening Cleansing Foam I gave you a sample off, and also told me not to worry because I can use the exfoliating face wash once or twice a week as a scrub.

Sahiba (the Shiseido rep) first started with a simple cleanser which she softly massaged onto my face and then wiped off with cotton. After this she used a softner - both of these were from the White Lucent range. Then she massaged this amazing Ibuki sleep mask onto my skin - which was extremely soothing and smelt like oranges!! She explained that this is because the product contains vitamin C and vitamin E. Also, this product is supposed to help make skin look refreshed and give it that pick-me-up sort of effect. It can be used once a week like a mask which you wear over night. She left this on my face for around 10 minutes, and then gently wiped it off with cotton - you don't need to do this while leaving it on over night. The small granules in it just melt at human body temperature and the product just glides on to your face. I could immediately make out the difference in my skin after this. She then applied the White Lucent moisturising lotion on my face -to be specific she used the All Day Brightener SPF 36 (the link is for SPF 18, but she gave me a sample of 36). 

I then took a look at my face in the mirror and saw that my skin texture was pretty clean and smooth. After this she applied the Water resistant sun block - which did not leave a white cast. She used such a tiny amount and that itself spread very well. She also explained that if your face/body gets wet when this has been applied, the sub blocking abilities improve😎 So here is what I looked like after getting these beauty services done 😊 (sorry for the weird face :P)

After this she told me that the foundations are on sale, and I was like why not😈 She got a yellow, a pink and a neutral toned foundation for me to try. The product range that she was applying on my skin was the Synchro Skin lasting Liquid foundation - she said this would suit my combination skin the best (and it also has SPF 20). After a lot of patch testing we both agreed that the neutral shade number 4 (N4 - Neutral 4 to be precise) suited me the best. Im an NC35 from M.A.C in the pressed powder compacts. It matched perfectly when I did a swatch along my cheek and neck. However, I decided not to buy this product however because it was a whopping 3.6k. I was like, let me finish my Make Up For Ever HD foundation first before splurging on another high-end foundation.

I then told her that I wanted to check out a few lipsticks and that I wanted something in a neutral/nude shade. She applied the shade "RD 732" from their Perfect Rouge range. Apparently this shade is called Blush (I found out while writing this post 😊). It is a very light pinkish brown and it can be built up very easily on application.

I decided to pick up this colour and then proceeded to bill my purchases. Now, at Sephora you get points for your bill - kind of like every store currently gives. I got upgraded to a Black membership status a while back and now get 3 points for every 100 spent. Once you hit 250 points, you get 10% off on your next purchase. I was at 200 odd; so I told the lady to only bill the lipstick (that was already at 10% discount and was coming to around 1.6k) in one bill, I will hit 250 and then I can use the 10% discount on the face wash and sleep mask. Smart right ? Well, the servers decided to fail on me and they were not able to process the 10% discount right then and there (coz of some time lag in updating of the points). I ended up paying the full price for the products 😖

Salman (the Shiseido chap I have been telling you guys about), said he would make up for this, and what do you know !! I got a Dolce & Gabbana travel pouch 😁😁

Apart from this he and she (Sahiba) also loaded me with samples (white lucent lotion, softener, face cream with SPF, sun block, white lucent face wash travel size, and a Burberry Body perfume travel size bottle!!) and a Shiseido pouch to carry all my products 😍😍

All in all, a wonderful 2 hours spent at the store and being pampered... I spent around 5k, but I think the free stuff they gave me (especially the D&G bag), made up for this hole I burnt in my pocket 😄

edit : in the face pics you can see that pimple on the left top of my forehead right ? Well, it is not there this morning !! That sleep mask has worked wonders on my face - I swear !

My bag on my way home :)

A collage from this app called Layout!

Contouring

This is going to be a kutti post ... :)

Basically, contouring is a make up methodology by which you make your face look thinner and more angled and chiseled. It's a good technique to use when you want to have that defined jaw-line look :)

No contouring. Simple chubby face

I found out about contouring from the youtube channels I watch where all of them perform this step.

Contouring comes after you prime and apply foundation. Some people do contouring before the eyes, some do it after, I do it whenever I remember :P

Steps for contouring are simple. What's your end objective ? Make your face look more angular. Hence, in order to achieve this what do you need to do ? Apply the contouring stuff in

1. Jawline

2. Cheek hollows (just blow where you apply blush)

3. Sides of your nose

4. Temple portion (if you want) - I usually don't do this step

Here you can see on the left the way I have applied the product on the first 3 points from above. The product that I have used on my face is the Clinique Contouring Chubby Stick.

Applied in jawline, nose and cheek

Do note, I have not applied anything on my face under the contour; this means no prep, no prime, no foundation, nothing. The effects of the contouring will be much better after prepping your face.

The blog is a little haphazard because I'm still trying to figure out how to align all these pictures the middle of all the text - it is extremely frustrating !
Basically the 2 pics on the sides of this para are post blending the product which  had applied. You can see that a slight shadow has been created in the cheek hollows, and nose - thus giving me a slightly thinner face look :)
Coming to products that I have and like :)

1. Clinique contour chubby stick. This Clinique product is non-comedogenic, does not have any fragrance and glides on like a dream. Extremely smooth and non tugging on your skin. Some people have an issue with it being a little orange-y, but I think for Indian skin tones that should not be an issue (unless you are really really fair). It is a stick applicator and needs to be blended well. You have to make sure there are no hard lines after blending - else it will look cakey and fake. I use my Real Techniques beauty blender and it works like a charm :)

2. Benefit Hoola bronzer: This is from the company Benefit. It is available at Sephora in 2 sizes, I have the smaller one (which  bought in Singapore for 26 SGD) and should cost around 1800 odd - if you buy this from India. I bought the smaller size as it's travel friendly. I have not really found it available anywhere online (at a reasonable price whilst being from an authentic seller), so if you're looking to buy it, you will need to go to Sephora (which is there in Bombay, Bangalore, Delhi, and now also in Chennai !). Benefit comes with a flat-rectangular brush that makes it easy to apply along your jawline and nose. Also the shape of this brush helps ensure that the lines are not too sharp and artificial looking. The advantage of this product is that it goes well with any skin tone as it is a very natural looking shade. The lady at the store told me that it has grey undertones which are complementary or all skin tones and just add a bit of shadow to your skin (which is what contouring is supposed to achieve).

Below are snaps of how they swatch.

Benefit

Clinique

Comparison of the 2. Left : Clinique, Right : Benefit

You can see that the Clinique one is slightly orange in colour when compared to the Hoola one, but it does not show up this way when you apply on your face and blend well. Also, usually since I wear a slight blush above this, it looks natural and not weird :) I kind-of prefer the Benefit one over the Clinique due to the more natural shade, but I also like the Clinique due to its ease of application.