Book Review - Truth And Humility

Truth and Humility by J.A. Dennam
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love love love this book. Ms. Dennam has created such unique and vibrant characters that you cannot help but love-hate them. They all stand out on their own while perfectly complementing each other. Every one of them has flaws and qualities which makes them human and seem like they are based on real people and dynamics. They will speak to you and make you feel what they do. Making a movie of such fabulous characters would be a challenge, especially for the actors. Although I hate the author for the unexpected tragic twist, I understand where she was coming from and why the twist was needed. Get ready for heart-pounding adrenaline, sarcastic humor and for your heart to be broken. This is a definite keeper and not to be missed! I cannot wait to the next book in this series.


- To read the complete review, see more at: http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Book...

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Neutrogena Healthy Defense Daily Moisturizer

As-salaam O Alaikum girls!

How are you all doing today? How was the long weekend and Eid? Had loads of meaty food or just mingling with friends and family?

My first day was very tiring and next two days I was just sleeping. Wanted to do an EOTD but I forgot to take the pics when I got ready. I did take a couple when we were back at night but not as good as freshly done make-up. I just might post it. Lets see.

For today I would like to continue the review on Neutrogena Healthy Defense daily moisturizer which as I mentioned in my previous post, got it as a freebie with Neutrogena Wave during its promotion sales.

Have you guys ever used Neutrogena moisturizers? I had used one before and it was a huge disappointment. This was Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisture which came in a bottle. I am posting the picture of the bottle and a swatch of the moisturizer.

Nope I did take this swatch on my hand. The reason being, all Neutrogena moisturizers have a strong smell. I do not know how to describe it. Something like baby powderish I guess. It stays all day long. The smell I get used to when it is one the face but hands is another matter. Anyways, this particular moisturizer did not suit me at all. It left me greasy everytime I put it on whether my skin is oily or dry (I have combination, extremely oily and greasy in summers while very dry in winters, same areas.) It felt heavy and honestly my face looked dirty whenever I put it on making blackheads visible etc. Due to this I was not very keen on trying the new moisturizer but then I thought why not give it a try. I am sooo glad I did. First take a look at the box, ingredients etc and then I will tell you my opinion (sorry about the picture quality.. usually I find time at night to do this stuff soo pictures are accordingly and I do not have a really good camera.)

Like the previous one, this moisturizer also has a strong smell to it but am willing to put up with it because it is really nice. I used it in summers and it hardly felt greasy. In fact it easily blended in leaving a satiny look. I usually just apply setting powder on my face to minimize sweaty oily look when in a hurry. It works great under foundations too. Making the foundation application easy. In winters it made my dry patches a little more patchy so I put on more then regular amount to moisturize them. It has spf 30 using Helioplex protection which is a plus especially for the summers. I found the following description of Helioplex on wikipedia:

Helioplex is a formulation of broad-spectrum ultraviolet (UVA and UVB) skin protection containing avobenzone and oxybenzone made by Neutrogena.

Avobenzone-containing products have decreasing efficiency after a few hours of sun exposure, but the addition of oxybenzone reduces the amount of degradation that occurs.^[1]

Aveeno advertises its products using this formulation under a different name of "Active Photobarrier Complex."

Interesting huh? To read more about what it says on the box itself, try enlarging the picture. I tried my best to make it readable. A very small amount is enough for the whole face. If you put on a lot, yes it will make the face look greasy after a while.

Would I recommend it? Yes except for girls with very dry skin. Will I buy it again? Since I rarely go out in the sun so my tube is still half full but when I run out, yep I will definately buy it again unless something better comes along. ;) It is also non-comodogenic so it will be suitable for acne prone skin. Suited me at least. I think this is easily available in stores which carry Neutrogena brand.

If you have already used it or heard about it do let me know. I would love to hear from you all. It is getting a bit boring talking to myself. Don't you think? *winks*

Till my next post..

Take care!

Neutrogena Wave

As-salaam O Alaikum all you lovely girls out there,

How was your day? Busy doing last minute chand raat shopping or already celebrated Eid in your country?

I was planning on doing this post last night but for some reason my internet went nuts and stopped working so I gave up. And today I was so busy with house-work and needing to get the groceries in for Eid that I did not get time. In fact I wanted to put on mehndi right now but feel too tired to do it. :(

Anyway today's post is on Neutrogena Wave. It is an original vibrating power cleanser. I got it last year when there was a Neutrogena deal going on. They were giving Neutrogena Wave with a new launch at that time, Neutrogena Healthy Defense daily moisturizer with helioplex.

I will be reviewing Neutrogena Healthy Defense in a separate post. Now about the wave. They say, "Wave hello to softer skin!". According to the cover, this cleanser is clinically proven to be superior to regular cleansing in 2 ways:

• Gentle vibrations clean your skin about 10 times deeper to remove oil, dirt and make-up.
• It also smoothes away dead skin cells, leaving your skin softer and smoother.

Further more they also claim this cleanser to be so gentle, you can use it daily. Does it do all that? Well first check the pictures and all that the box has to say before I move on to my opinion.

Removable lid on which the foaming pad is attached.

Close-up of the lid

The first time I used it, my skin felt smoother but very tight and stretchy. I have combination skin which get very dry in winters and those same areas are greasy and oily in summers. Since I was trying this in winters, I thought it might be because of my skin. I did not use it daily but occasionally. Then came the humid weather and I tried it again. Pretty much same effect but slightly less stretchy feeling. Did it help with dead skin, black & white heads? Not exactly. May be if I used daily for a month but I doubt it. I did use daily for several days then I switched to alternate days. Another reason might be that in the stores here, I could only find Deep Cleansing Foaming Pads and not the other two specified in the brochure: Gentle Exfoliating Pads and Shine-free Blemish-free Pads, which I feel would have been more suitable for the problem I was facing at that time. I did find them on Just4Girls.pk but the price was a tab bit more then I wanted to spend on them.

Now I have the machine, I sometimes deep cleanse and keep an eye out for the other types of pads being available here in Pakistan. Till then I make do with this. It does help clean up a bit when the skin feels too dirty and greasy. It also does make the skin feel smoother and a tad bit softer. Do try it out. It might be more effective on your skin then mine but I would not recommend this to girls with too dry skin. I got it for around 1300 PKR last year. It might be a bit cheaper now.. or may be not. This is available in Hyperstar in Dolmen City Mall. I got it from Forum. Not sure about other places but am pretty sure it will be available. It is a long term investment. *winks*

If you already have used it, let me know what you think of this product.

Till next time.. Have a very nice meaty Eid..

Take care..

Luscious Cosmetics 12pc Deluxe Diva Brush Set

As-salaam O Alaikum Girls,

Today I will review the Luscious Cosmetics 12pc Deluxe Diva Brush Set. I got this brush set back in February so I have been using it for the past 8 months almost.

So do you think this would qualify an honest review?? ;)

LoL. Anyways, to the review now.

What Luscious Cosmetics have to say about their make-up Deluxe Diva Brush Set:

A deluxe, twelve-piece brush collection for the diva who’s got to have it all. This brush set includes 12 luxury brushes for creating a professional, polished makeup application. It includes a face powder brush, a blush brush, a lip brush, a brow brush, a concealer brush, and seven professional eyeshadow brushes. This set comes with its own luxurious faux leather carrying case.
These high quality brushes have sleek handles and top high-quality synthetic and natural hair.

Luscious makeup brushes are 100% cruelty free and are made from high-quality synthetic and natural hair.

The carry case the brushes come in.

Inside the leather carry case

The Leather Carry case for the brushes is really nice and handy. Since the purses/bags nowadays being used by girls are pretty spacious, you can even carry these brushes around easily (not for small sized purses). I usually am able to easily take it with me whenever I go to stay at my mom's place for a couple of days (without extra baggage). The only negative issue with the carry case is that since I live near the sea, my pouch has started to get white patches on it (like you usually get on leather stuff). I have to keep it covered for time being. Need to polish it soon. Now the brushes.

Brushes Close-up

Brushes Close-up

Sorry I could not take close-ups of brushes individually. My camera is not too good. You can check the individual brushes pictures on Luscious Cosmetics website, here.  The brushes are all individually wrapped in a plastic cover for added protection, as you can see in the pictures. Below are the brushes names which come in this set and my opinion about each of them:

ANGLED EYEBROW BRUSH: This seems to be a very nice brush but since I have no use for it, it is still in its packing. It has very soft, slightly firm bristles. I rarely make eye-brows (I know it looks nice on complete make-up but am too lazy to do.. working on it nowadays). Sometimes when I do make them I use a brush and comb eyebrow duo (no brand, randomly picked from a cosmetic shop).

ANGLED LIP BRUSH: This is a firm small angled brush. Again I do not use the lip brush to apply lip sticks. This is sealed too. I apply lipsticks directly and most of the glosses I have are either in a tube or with an applicator. Maybe one of these days I just might try it.

EYELINER BRUSH: Again very soft and slightly firm bristles. I usually use pencil or liquid eye-liners so never required this. Though I did use it a couple of times to apply cream shadow. It picked up the shadow beautifully but unfortunately the quality of my cream shadow was not too good to stick to my eyes in a beautiful line. The brush itself is soft and perfect to use as a liner. Not too harsh for eyes. I also sometimes use it for applying shadow to my lower lids.

SMUDGE BRUSH: This is my least favorite brush. I found it too harsh for smudging. Whenever I tried, it scratched my skin a little. I also did not like the smudging it did. I felt it took away too much product leaving some areas showing skin instead of shadow.

PENCIL BRUSH: This brush is slightly bigger then shown in the picture on the website and a bit more fluffy. I usually use this brush for smudging and blending around the corners of the eyes. I found the bristles of this brush slightly harsher as compared to other brushes.

SHADER BRUSH: This is a very soft brush. I usually use it for putting shadow on my lower lid and for outer corner of the eye. I find it to be too flexible for precise lines so using it already gives a bit blended, smudged look. It nicely picks up enough product to get the initial shadow on.

FLAT ROUNDED EYESHADOW BRUSH: This brush is very stiff and comparatively bigger then shown in the picture on the website. The bristles are very soft though. I am posting the picture of this brush so you guys can get an idea. Due to its size and stiffness I have hardly used this brush. My lid is small so my go to brush for applying the shadow on the lid is the Fluff Brush. Sorry for the picture quality.

Flat Rounded Eye-Shadow Brush

MEDIUM TAPERED EYESHADOW BRUSH: This brush had me a bit confused. The one shown on the website is not at all similar to the brush I got and since it was the only odd one out, I am assuming its the same brush. This is almost the same size as Flat Rounded Eye-Shadow brush but much softer, flexible and angled. I use this for my crease blending especially when I am in a hurry. It easily swipes from crease to half of brow bone. Sometimes the bristles feel a little sharp and irritate (as in pointy while applying) but not too much. I am posting its picture too so you can see for yourself. :)

Medium Tapered Eye-Shadow Brush

FLUFF BRUSH: This is my go to brush. Whenever I am in a hurry (which I usually am), I just take it out, swipe the shadow I want and pat it on my lid. After I have put on the desired amount, I use this same brush for blending it out all over the lid.  Its picks up the product beautifully and usually does not require me to do more then two swipes (also it depends on the quality of your eye-shadows too i.e. how soft and pigmented they are). Due to my abuse of this brush, the bristles are now getting a little too scratchy. Will have to figure something out to soften them again. There may be another reason for the brushes getting so scratchy. Will let you know in the end.

EYESHADOW BLENDING BRUSH: I absolutely love this brush!!! I use it for blending, for applying shadow on my brow bone and for removing shadow fall outs from under my eyes. This is a lovely soft, bristly brush which picks up a lot of product in a single swipe and blends it in beautifully. Love it!!!

BLUSH BRUSH: Another one of my favorite brushes. This is one of my must haves at all times. Picks a generous amount of product. Blends beautifully. I use it for applying blushes, contouring and highlighting.

FACE POWDER BRUSH: A very soft, fluffy brush. Amazing for applying face powder all over the face and blending it out. Though call me a bit paranoid but usually I apply a generous amount of face powder with the powder puff (because I never feel satisfied with the coverage I get from powder brush) and then blend it out with this brush. If I am in a hurry I just apply from this for sheer coverage.

All of the above brushes are of really good quality. Another reason I feel my brushes may be becoming a bit scratchy is because I get hard-saltish water at my place. It may be effecting the quality of the brushes since my hair and clothes already are very bad because of this water. I will wash them at mom's house this time to see the difference. The fallout after each wash is bare-minimum. You will hardly notice it.

Overall, would I recommend it to you guys? Yes I would for anyone who is new to make-up and want to feel the difference good quality brushes bring to your make-up at a reasonable price (though I think the previous price was very reasonable as compared to now). Considering majority of the brushes available in Karachi shops, these are close to the best quality available in terms of packaging, result, availability and durability. The price for Deluxe Diva Brush Set is PKR 2350/- If any shop sells you for more, I recommend ordering online. :)

That is it for now girls. If any of you has used these brushes or heard about them Or if you feel need to correct me in anything I have written, do let me know. :)

Till next time.. Take care.. :)

[NOTD] SWEET TOUCH shade no.1074 - Gold Mine

As-salaam O Alaikum all you beautiful girls

Hope you are all doing great..

For my very first ('actual') post I wanted to do a post showing what happens when you get a wrong foundation shade. Unfortunately though my pictures are turning out to be too horrible to put up so I have compromised for time being by putting up NOTD (Nail of the day) post.

These pictures are not too good either but I have tried my best to show you the actual shade. Please bear with me. The shade is Gold Mine by SWEET TOUCH. :)

First the story. LoL. Well you have to know the background behind getting this shade. If you do not, then please skip right to the pictures.

This Saturday, 13th October 2012, Color Studio Professional Pakistan was launching its first Flagship Store in Dolmen City Mall. This will be the first location in Pakistan to store a complete Color Studio professional range which will consist of foundations, compacts, eyeliners, nail polishes etc. Now being absent-minded, I, totally by chance came across the launch news. Again being an absent-minded person, I, for the life of me cannot figure it out how it registered in my subconscious that the launch date was 12th October (Need I say I missed the launch).

Without confirming or re-checking, I convinced my hubby to take me there on 12th. When we got there.. 'la di dah dahhh!!', no signs of any launch. Depressed I went on random make-up shops looking at random stuff. Then I saw the Make-up City shop in infront of Hyperstar lane. This shop has variety of brands for hair and make-up. I did not give much attention to the hair brands so I cannot tell you which ones are there. The make-up brands available in this shop are: FEMINA COSMETICS, KRYOLAN COSMETICS & SWEET TOUCH COSMETICS. All these brands have been available in Pakistan for a long time but as far as I know, they have officially re-launched them with dedicated shops. For more information on Make-Up City you can visit their facebook page here.

Anyways, having used their nail polishes before, I went browsing and came across this lovely shade of Gold Mine. Below are the swatches and then my opinion about the shade.

Natural Daylight

With Flash (Daytime)

Without Flash (NightTime)

With Flash (NightTime)

With Flash (NightTime)

Gold Mine

Gold Mine

This is very nice deep goldenish shade with a touch of yellow and bronze in it. The applicators of Sweet Touch nail polishes are very thin (I did not take any snaps because I worry I may dry the nail polish out quicker). Due to this, it takes time to put the polish on and sometimes, streaks are left behind.

I put a base coat and 3 coats of Gold Mine to get the above result. No top coat. I felt it already had a nice shine. If you look closely, it is still a bit sheer but will do for me. The drying time of first coat is very fast but the latter coats take longer to completely dry out.

Sweet Touch nail polishes are very reasonably priced at PKR 100/- especially when compared to other brands. For someone like me, who is not very regular in putting on nail polishes, these are perfect. You can get them from majority of local cosmetic shops (sometimes at a bargain price) and from Make-up City outlets. What is the staying time? I have no idea. I rarely have a nail polish on for more then 2-3days mainly because as a house-wife I have loads of work with water which chips my nails regularly.

Well that is it for now girls. Hope you liked the shade as much as I did.

Till next time, take care.. :)

p.s: I have also start the blog on wordpress in case google websites get blocked again. Everything is same so you can say they will be identical posts. The wordpress website link is: https://unlikelybeautyblogger.wordpress.com