Celebrating my Valentine with IGP.com

Hi Everyone,

"Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness", said Richard Bach. So true isn't it? Recently we were at my aunt's place and she pulled out 2 huge bars of chocolate for me and my sis-in-law. We grinned like lil kids!! Firstly, YES it was Chocolate.. More importantly, it  was the thought that got us excited.. even as adults!! Receiving a gift from someone always, always makes us feel special :-) So, when IGP.com gave me a chance to send a gift to someone special, I jumped at the opportunity.

About IGP.com -  Indian Gifts Portal or IGP.com was established in 2001 & is one of India’s largest online gifts store specializing in gifts for all ages and occasions. They specialize in flowers, cakes, chocolates, personalized products, festival merchandise, kids, home & living, fashion categories & other unique Valentine's Day gifts. That's a whole bunch of absolutely exciting gifting ideas!!

Office work is a drag? Work in Style!

A Bouquet to say 'I Love You'

Chocolates that "melt" any heart!

IGP. com ships orders to 150+ countries (including USA, UK, Australia, Canada etc) and 7,000+ pin codes within India.  It also has same day delivery network in 300 cities in India.

Let these grace those delicate yet hard-working hands

Make Gymming look good ;-)

The website is very simple to navigate and has a wide range of gift ideas. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, you should definitely look into the site for some wonderful, classically romantic options like Cakes, Flowers, Chocolates, etc. The site also has other options like Gymming Gear, Personalized Office Stationery, Ties, Jewellery, etc

If you wish to make Valentine's Day special for your grandmother, your brother or maybe a friend even; IGP. com gives you a chance to gift, based on how you know your loved one! Just type in options like Aunt, Brother, Friend, Cousin... & a list of possible gifts pops up on your screen. Isn't that awesome for Confused Shoppers like some of us? ;-) 

My experience with IGP.com -  I decided to surprise my sister in Mumbai. She's been my rock last year & I'm so thankful for having her in my life :-) She's just got a new job & I wanted to gift her something special at work to say, "All the very best! I love you!!". What better than an early Valentine's Day surprise ... an early lil birdie sent in to tell her she's loved & cherished!!

I found a wonderful Adidas Perfume and Deo gift set for my Sis. The website also gave me an option of writing a small personal note to the her which she would receive along with the gift. Within minutes of placing my order, I received a confirmation email stating the purchase, shipping details, etc. It also gave me an ETA on the delivery.

Unfortunately, the set I ordered was out of stock. Although, I wish I would have been informed about this on the site itself; the team did send me a personalized email (mind you, NOT one of those "copy-pasted template" responses) and offered to send another set instead. Once they received my confirmation, they processed the order right away! 

My Sis got her gift at work & was so suprised!! Here are some pics she sent across -

The set was packaged well

The Adidas 'Get Ready' Gift Set

A personalized note I sent with the gift.
Sorry, cant open it.. Top secret Sister Stuff! lol

Overall, I really liked the website. Apart from the fact that 'Out-Of-Stock' gift items glitch, I have no qualms about gifting through the site.

1. The navigation & ordering process was smooth & simple. Here's how it works.
2. I got a peronalized email from the team when there was an issue &
3. It was great that it was sorted in no time!!

IGP.com is definitely going to be one of the gifting portals I use & recommend, this Valentine's Day. :-)

Disclaimer : The website sent a voucher in exchange for a review. The opinions expressed here are my own, honest & unbiased.

Project Pan 2017

Hi Everyone,

To begin with, let me explain what Project Pan means. It's a term mostly used in the beauty-blogging sphere & means "hitting pan" or using/finishing the product before buying another one. I have been at it for quite sometime now, but officially beginning it for 2017, with this post :-) Compared to skincare, Makeup products are a challenge to use to up, so I've selected only those this time.

For me, Project Pan means showing more love to older products that I haven't used in a while. I plan to work them more into my daily rountine or create something new & dramatic with them once in a while. Here are my 10 contenders -

Lip Products - 

Used only once or twice

• NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Adis Ababa - This was a git from my Sis-in-Law, M. She knew how much I loved the Miss Claire Soft Matte Lip Creams & thought I should try out NYX too.
• MAC Lip Glass (shade unknown) - I picked this up from a blog sale in Dec 2015. I used it for sometime and then somehow forgot about it. 

Eye Products - 

Kajal used once, Blue eyeliner used 2-3 times
& Mascara used 5-6 times

• Lotus ColorKick Kajal - My favourite for quite some time now. Reviewed HERE. I don't know how but I now own 2 of these; I seemed to have picked this up on one of my random grocery shopping trips..so now I have 2. I'll work on finishing at least one.
• Maybelline Falsies Mascara (Waterproof) - I remember sending a text to Krupa, my fellow blogger & my friend, about this 5 mins after I applied it; I got THAT excited about it. I absolutely love this one. BTW - Did you know that Mascaras have a shelf life of only 3 to 4 months? Need. To. Finish. Soon.
• Maybelline HyperGlossy eyeliner in Electro Shock (Blue) - I saw this on my friend, T & just had to have it. It's a gorgeous electric blue liner & my reasoning with myself was - "It's BLUE!! I don't need to match this with anything. It goes with my blue JEANS!!" buahaha, don't ask me why I didn't show it any love later. 

Used some of the Neutrals; Bright shades used sparingly.

• Sleek I-Divine Original Palette - I went all out to proclaim my love for this "sprightly young laddie" .. Reviewed HERE. I wish to renew my vows this year *wink wink* 

Face Products - 

• Revlon PhotoReady BB Cream in shade Medium - Bought it, didn't like it so didn't use it enough. I might have some ideas on how I can use this up. Watch out for an update post!
• Miss Claire Studio Perfect Anti-Redness Primer in 01 Clear - Don't judge. Honest mistake. I had misplaced it & didn't even remember having it. So, no more Benefit Pore-fessional for me until I use this baby up.
• Loreal Face Magique Transforming Smoothing Primer - Loved Pore-fessional so much that I didn't bother with this one. The Loreal primer is a great product & was my 1st ever face-priming product. This lil tub is my 2nd. I've also loved & almost finished the Nivea After Shave Balm - reviewed HERE. Speaking of primers, don't have an eye-primer? Read THIS.
• Chanel Illuminating Powder with Shimmer - My best bud, V gifted this to me. Hoarder that I am, I saved this gift up for special occassions. It does have finely milled shimmer but not so much that it can't be used on a daily basis. 

To make all this more exciting & fun, my blogger buddies, Krupa from IshtyleAWhile & Pankhuri from AddictedShades are also launching Project Pan on their respective blogs. We will be posting updates, every 6 weeks all the way up to 25th December 2017, which is our deadline for the project.

Until then, go ahead & show us some love! Leave us your comments below. If you're new & visiting me from my friends' blogs, then a big HELLO to you.. I'm Neha - I love make-up & doing ditzy things like saying Hello at the end of the post ;-) 

Wish us luck ... & pray for me... *Come on Gurl, you can do this!!*

See you in my next post, Ciao..!!

Lakme 9 to 5 Crease-less Lipstick - Wine Order (Review)

Hi Everyone,

WINE ORDER ... the name itself makes this Lipstick-Junkie, slightly woozy ;-) Ahem ahem.. let's get back to the review now, shall we? 

Price : The lipstick is priced at Rs. 450/- but you can always get online discounts.

Shade : Wine Order is a deep, rich pinkish-wine shade. It's definitely suitable for all Indian skin tones. Some of my friends tell me, they prefer this shade only for evenings, but I mostly like wearing it during the day.

Left - under artifical light; Right - in natural light

Texture / Formula : I love the texture of the Lakme crease-less range. The lipstick glides on smoothly & does not tug at the lips. The formula is Semi-matte and sits well. It's smooth & creamy in a way that it hydrates the lips & doesn't accentuate the creases. However,  it DOES NOT really give a "Crease-less" look to the lips as it claims.

Pigmentation : Great pigmentation on this one! One swipe and you get amazing colour-payoff.

Wear-time : This lipstick looses points from me, on wear time. It lasts on me, for approximately 1 - 2hrs only. I've never been a fan of creamy or satin finishes for this reason. I don't like more than 1 or 2 touch-ups and this baby needs a lot of re-work to be done on it during the course of the day :-( Wine Order isn't transfer-proof and I see lots of it on my Coffee mug, my lil one's cheeks and all the Snacks I might have had. Basically it transfers Big Time on anything & everything!!

Overall Experience : I have absolutely loved the shade & my current lipstick tube is my 2nd in this particular shade. I've gifted it to friends and family who have loved it as well. It's a beautiful shade that would suit mostly all the Indian skin tones.

So overall, I'm so taken in by the shade that I have repurchased this & also overlooked the fact that it transfers a lot. This is one of the few "non matte" lipsticks that have made the cut to this matte-favouring Lipztickaholic's collection :-) If you're like me, you're totally going to love this lipstick! 

By the way, have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone for a product & ended up loving it? Let me know in the comments section below. 

Until the next post, Ciao..!!

School Drop Off Makeup Look (for busy mornings)

Hi Everyone,

My little one's school teacher always stands outside the class to receive the kids and wish them, early in the morning. She's always bright, cheerful and turns up looking fresh and presentable. The kids have a big smile on their faces when they see her & we (especially Moms) wonder how she manages to do all this early in the morning. While I will ask her the "secret" one of these days, it has definitely inspired me to look fresh & presentable while dropping my kiddo to school. This simple look hardly takes 5 mins & requires minimum products; but believe me when I say it makes a big difference.

1. I start off with washing my face with a face wash & then apply my normal moisturiser. 

2. I top off the moisturiser with a good sunscreen.. it gets bright, sunny & quite humid even at 7.30am here in Mangalore. I use the Lotus Herbals Safe Sun Matte Gel sunscreen with SPF 50. It gives my face a matte look & provides good oil-control. For more coverage, you could also use the Lotus Herbals 3-in-1 Matte Look Tinted Sunblock.

3. I powder my face with the Maybelline SupraFresh Compact powder. It comes with a mirror & a puff so this step can be done in a jiffy. BTW, this lil guy is great for on-the-go touch-ups too. I use the Chanel Illuminating powder on days when my skin looks dull and needs a perk-me-up. If you're wondering why this "budget product junkie" uses Chanel.. lol It was a gift!!

Products used

4. Next step - Kajal.. I use the Lotus Herbals ColorKick Kajal (reviewed HERE). I've also been liking the Maybelline Super Black Colossal Kajal. If you aren't a kajal person, you could choose to line the upper lashline. A little something on your eyes, brightens them up & gives your face overall structure & definition.

5. Lastly, apply a lip balm or light lipstick of your choice. Ahem, (cough cough) I'm a "BoldLips" kinda Mommy, so I throw on the brightest shade on most days. Today, I wore the Maybelline Lip Gradation lipstick in shade PINK2. Wearing Lipstick is one step I don't miss out on, even if I the skip the rest. You won't usually find me without lipstick..like anywhere.. lol.. have you noticed the name of the blog? **wink wink**. However, You do You... take these steps & tweak them the way you want.

So that's it! That's the 4-product routine ... With my kiddo already ready for school, this simple routine takes just about 3 - 4 mins & we're out of the house!! While some have judged me, most of the Moms have been really sweet & nice. They have come up to me & complimented my lipstick or asked me how I look so "awake". Some have told me they have a bunch of hardly-used products & asked if I could show them to use them. See? **GirlLove** again!!!

The look I put together this morning

So next time, you see a happy, fresh-as-a-daisy, cheerful mommy at a school drop off ... Don't judge! Early mornings are hard for her too & maybe throwing on some makeup is her way of feeling great & confident ... Appreciate that! :-)

Hope you liked this post. Would you like to see more such "Mommy-related" posts? Let me know in the comments section below. 

Until the next post, Ciao!!

Top 5 Most Popular Posts

Hi Everyone,

I'm really blessed to have blogger friends who shake me up sometimes & ask me what's happening to my little blog. It makes me so happy to know that even though they're professional bloggers themselves, they care & support me enough to message/call me to say ''Hello, what's up with you? Haven't seen a post from you in a long time now!!'' Now that's what I call **GirlLove**

Being a Mom means being on call 24/7, this is irrespective of whether one has a day job or not. Sometimes, I just don't feel like writing & when I do, I get a serious case of ''Writer's Block''. So, inspired by Miss Kay from IshtyleAWhile, I decided to sift through the comments & see what you have liked to read throughout this journey of mine. I wanted to go through your comments, your likes, your feedback all over again because they are very important to me. You all make me feel like I'm doing a good job! That encourages me to sit down and blog regularly...more importantly...blog better!! So I decided to grab a coffee, shake away the ''lazy-bugs'' & get down to writing :-) 

So while I work on an exciting post that's coming up soon...here's a round-up of the Top 5 most popular posts that have received so much of your love & appreciation. 

1. Himalaya Pure Skin Neem Facial Kit - Review

http://thelipztickaholicdiaries.blogspot.in/2015/10/himalaya-pure-skin-neem-facial-kit.html

2. Studio West Haul & Review (Skincare)

http://thelipztickaholicdiaries.blogspot.in/2015/10/studiowest-haul-review-skincare.html

3. MAC Flat Out Fabulous Lipstick - Review 

http://thelipztickaholicdiaries.blogspot.in/2016/01/mac-flat-out-fabulous-lipstick-review.html

4. Colorbar Kiss-Proof Lipstain in 006 Mauve Dusk - Review

http://thelipztickaholicdiaries.blogspot.in/2015/09/colorbar-kiss-proof-lipstain-in-006.html

5. Durga Pooja Makeup Look

http://thelipztickaholicdiaries.blogspot.in/2015/10/durga-pooja-makeup-look.html

Leave me a comment telling me which one of these was your favourite!

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram (HERE) for posts on Makeup of the Day, Lipstick Swatches, Jewellery, Food, etc. It's a mixed bag & I promise you won't be bored! ;-)

Wish me luck & keep that love pouring in...

Until the next post.. Ciao!!