How I Blew Up My Money on Beauty Duds this Weekend

The Gods must have been angry with me this weekend. There were some products on my beauty wish list, so I visited a Health and Glow store on Saturday. I had also planned a The Body Shop store outing for Sunday. The first product I wanted to purchase was the Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner. But before I plunge into the details, let me start with a little background. Over the last few years, I‘ve developed highly sensitive eyes that get irritated, go red and cause a headache with most eye makeup, even if it is hypoallergenic, high quality etc. So it is rare for me to find something that sits nicely with my eyes. As for eye liners, I’ve tried tons of brands – Lakme, Revlon, Maybelline, Chambor, Clinique and I am still searching for a liquid eye liner that would not irritate my eyes. Having read a rave review of Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Liner on this very blog, I had been eyeing this liner for some time. Also because this liner has been known to be the blackest black which is what I like, I was willing to give it a try. But I was not sure if it was available in India, so I was prepared to hear that it wasn’t available. But the SA told me very convincingly that this eye liner has been discontinued. Discontinued? I couldn’t believe it! That was disappointment #1. 🙁

Since I was in the mood to give liquid liners a try after a year of keeping off them, I wanted to buy an (read any) eyeliner just for brushing up on my liquid lining skills. You would think that a person with sensitive eyes would be more prudent, but not me. 😉 It was a tie between the Lotus Herbals OPULANCE Waterproof Eyeliner and Lakme High Definition Eyeliner. For some reason, I like my eye makeup to be washable, not waterproof. So I wasn’t sure about the waterproof part of the Lotus Herbals eye liner. I don’t buy makeup from Lakme but I made an exception and picked up the Lakme liner for Rs. 165. At the store, I liked the thin dark line it made with its easy-to-use felt tip. At home, I put it on and within minutes my eyes went red and the eyelids started stinging. Headache followed. That was disappointment #2. 🙁

Disclaimer: Lakme High Definition Eyeliner didn’t work for me because of my sensitive eyes. Your experience may be different.

The other product I was very excited about was the L’Oreal Blush Minerals. Since I have acne-prone skin and blushes invariably contain comedogenic substances (that clog pores), I’ve never been able to find a blush that would not cause me to break out. I’ve recently started using L’Oreal True Match Minerals foundation and it has not broken me out at all. So there was hope that their minerals blush would not cause me to break out either. An uninterested SA showed me 4 shades of the blush, out of which I wanted the dusty rose shade Soft Rosewood that I had read so much about. But my face fell on seeing so much pink glitter in the blush. There was no way I was going to slap that stuff onto my face and walk around looking like a cheesy version of Barbie! Apart from this, the size of the container and the brush was too small to be used comfortably. Also, the quality of the brush was pathetic. That was disappointment #3. 🙁

After my Lotus Herbals VANILASMOOTH body lotion got over last week, I wanted to try Vaseline Healthy White Skin Lightening Body Milk. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fairness freak, but I wanted to see if it could even out the tanned skin on my arms and feet. So I bought a 100 ml bottle for Rs.55. At night, I sat down to give this lotion a try. What welcomed me first was the intense perfume that this lotion was loaded with. But I could live with it if the lotion was effective. The lotion spread easily and a little went a long way. So that was that. In the morning, to my horror, my inner arms had small reddish patches! They were not itchy but a little sore. And this after I had applied only a thin film of the lotion. And mind you, my body skin is not sensitive, it can take a lot. I think this was not a reaction or an allergy, but it was just that the lotion was too strong for the delicate inner arm skin. There were no patches elsewhere. Not one to call it quits easily, I tried out the lotion again the next day. The same thing happened to my inner arms again. The patches healed within a day, but using this stuff was out of question. That was disappointment #4. 🙁

Disclaimer: Vaseline Healthy White body lotion didn’t work for me. Your experience may be different.

The next blow came from Lakme again. I’m a nail polish fanatic and I usually top off my beauty shopping with a nice little bottle of nail polish. The only brands available at this store were Lakme, Maybelline and Street Wear. I picked up a red Lakme nail polish with fine golden shimmer in it. It is called Berry Wine. Interestingly, Street Wear also has a red-with-golden-flakes shade and it is called Berry Shine. These shades look very similar except for the size of the flakes. Once home, I realized that I already owned the Street Wear Berry Shine. But the Lakme version contained finer particles of glitter, so it looked better. Apart from the similar name and shade, these two nail polishes have another thing in common – their staying power is nearly zero. The paint took forever to dry despite thin coats and chipped off easily. So not only did I get a duplicate nail polish, but a flaky one too. That was disappointment #5. 🙁

The series of disappointments didn’t end here. I had planned a The Body Shop visit for Sunday. But it rained so heavily that it brought down 60 trees in Bangalore. There was thunder and there was lightning, as if the Gods themselves were trying to stop me from going to the store. So we didn’t step out. That was disappointment #6. 🙁

This was all very dramatic where pretty much everything I tried turned out to be a dud. So now I’ve made some beauty resolutions corresponding to each of the disappointments:

  1. 1. I will keep an eye out for Revlon Colorstay liquid liner or equivalent.
  2. I will keep searching for my HG liquid liner since eye liners are always a hit-or-miss with me.
  3. I will give The Body Shop minerals blush a try. I will also try MAC.
  4. I will go back to my HG body lotion Garnier Skin Naturals Body Cocoon.
  5. I will not waste my money on Lakme anymore.
  6. I will add a few more things to my The Body Shop shopping list. 😉

The saving grace for this weekend shopping was the St. Ives Creamy Vanilla body wash. A warm shower with a good vanilla fragrance is an instant pick up for me. 🙂

Image sources: 1, 2

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31 thoughts on “How I Blew Up My Money on Beauty Duds this Weekend

  1. ohmigosh!
    so much of sensitivity?
    hey really i can relate to that…my facial skin is also pretty choosy…
    does loreal mineral foundation really not break you out?
    i will take ur word fro it…and buy it….cause i really need something that does not break me out…
    yeah….lakme is getting worse by the hour…they are fooling us

  2. wow you do have extremely sensitive skin!
    the sad part is that no matter how hard you try to be careful while choosing products, you never really what they’ll end up doing to your skin.

    i liked the earlier version of lakme nail polishes better. you know, where the bottles were larger and the handle was black and slanted? i still have a red shade from that range (the bottle is more than 10 years old) and the colour goes on madly pigmented, dries off in a jiffy and staaays put. the newer versions that i had dried off within months. what a vast difference!

    the healthy white lotion works wonders for my body.

    1. I’m now using the healthy white lotion on my feet alone, and I’m liking it so far. 🙂 Yeah, I liked the Lakme nail polishes of yore..

    1. Ki, I’ve bought stuff from TBS off and on, but now I think I’ll invest more in them. 🙂 I mostly buy their skincare stuff, but now I’m going to look at some of their makeup too.

  3. Awww…don’t worry…its a thing with sensitive skin…you have to figure out what works and what doesn’t that unfortunatly takes time and $$$ Maybe you should try it before you bye it, like swatch it if possible and if your fine that day then come back in the next and buy it…or try a friend’s or family’s product and see if it suits you then buy it…or ask for samples 🙂
    .-= Ruby´s last blog ..21 days till new habits form… =-.

    1. This blog is a major source of recommendations for me. I’m usually a cautious shopper, but still, as you said, you never know how something is going to fare.. I do that swatching and buying the next day thing a lot.. Just not this weekend. 🙂

    1. Yeah, don’t let the size of the jar in the image fool you. The jar and the brush are tiny even if the quantity of the blush powder is good. :silly: I really really wanted it to work for me. But anyway, there’s TBS blush minerals to try next.

  4. Awww… Poor dear… So many disappointments in one day!!!

    You know.. Take your list out on next weekend.. And have a rocking shoppimg experience…

  5. awww..you have such a sensitive skin. I use Vaseline Body White and am quite happy with it .
    Lakme is a total waste of money !
    Btw Revlon colorstay liner is easily available here in Delhi , I dun think Revlon has discontinued it
    .-= Palak´s last blog ..TBS Bath Gloves review =-.

    1. Yeah I don’t believe that Revlon Colorstay is discontinued. I’ll check out other stores. These sly sly SAs. :reallyangry:

  6. Btw… I have been using the Vaseline lotion for some time… It doesn’t reduce tan but moisturises well…
    No adverse reactions on me..

    You shd stick to Garnier na???

  7. sweetie … have u tried using a eyeshadow as a eyeliner?…. i too used to have u same problem…cant even use kajal.
    Eyeshadow is what works for me and a really dark brown eyeshadow can help alot. Use a liner or angled brush and wet it a bit either with water or a bit of transparent gloss. Then run the brush over the eyeshadow and use it as a normal liner

    Check out this
    http://www.ehow.com/how_4686098_apply-eye-shadow-as-eyeliner.html

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmbQ5-2F3es&feature=related

  8. aww…

    That was a sad story.. Btw, which H&G did you go to? I am just asking out of curiosity..If at all Comm St is close by to you, do visit their bigger outlet there..Atleast some of their staff are good.

    And yeah..Sunday was terrible. Thank god I got my MAC stuff exchanged on saturday.

    1. I first went to the CMH Road one. The store was all dark and all the SAs were standing outside due to powercut (no generators apparently!). This itself should have given me enough warning about my shopping experience that day. But I was in the mood to shop, so I dragged hubby to the Cambridge Layout H&G. I’ll check out the comm. street one sometime.

  9. Ohh Sonal….you did have a bad weekend….but I am sure ur TBS haul next weekend will cheer u up….

    I am also not a very big fan of Vaseline….n I hate Lakme nail polishes…..they dry in the bottle within months…total waste of money

  10. wat a disastrous shopping day Sonal….. 😥 bt cheer up dear im sure your next haul will be gr8… :yes:

    i too like the vaseline lotion bt as M. said does nt clear tanning bt acts as a gd moisturizer..

  11. That’s quite some disappointments! I know what u mean about the Loreal mineral blush…the quality of the blush, the shimme, the tiny sizeand the price tag for that little thing! 😯

    I personally LOVE Vaseline Healthy White! 😀 Too bad it gave u rashes…

    ♥xx♥

  12. I’ve sworn off Lakme nail paint a long time back. Darker shades take ages to dry while the lighter ones are always streaky. Lakme thinks it’s too big to consider customer feedback. Last month while I was at the makeup counter, a pushy Lakme SA refused to believe me when I said I don’t like the quality of their makeup. According to her, “Nobody has ever come up to us with complaints so what are you talkin’a bout!”; well dear, even if a dozen people did complain, would you be stupid enough to share that with me? 🙂

  13. Thanx Sonal..I wondered if my skin reacted strangely with Vaseline Healthy white lotion …I had similar reactions after using it from day1..red patches that itch..never had this kinda thing with thewheat germ and aloevera lotion of the same brand…However before discarding the whole pack..I came across its back label..which said that it should be used after allergy test on skin..However..that didnt stop from it blowin my 120 bucks!

  14. Hey…would recommend The Body Shop liquid eyeliner…its brilliant…has an easy to glide felt tip brush…slightly expensive at Rs. 895 but totally worth it…ive been using it for about 2 years…

  15. Vaseline lotion gives me itchy sensation. Lotus eyeliner is not so water proof. But i did like lakme high definition eyeliner, but they r not selling it anymore

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