Lipstick Masala

We at Lipstick Masala would like to take a moment to wish our partner-in-crime and muse for this site, SP, a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you in Hyde Park!

Photo Credit: shinygloss.tv

You’re off to a big party and you’ve been planning your outfit and makeup for weeks. As you walk out the door, you look more spectacular than you have in a while, your dress emphasizes all the right curves, your hair softly cascades down your back, and the eyeliner you’ve struggled with your whole life managed to go on in a straight line today. You start making your rounds at the party and after a little while excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. That’s when you look up into the mirror and realize your entire eyeliner has somehow migrated upward, causing you to have double, even triple lines of black on your lid.

Sound familiar? It’s happened to all of us, and from the questions I’ve been receiving from many of you, it’s a big problem that needs a solution – now! We’ve decided to add a new section to our site that answers the most popular question of the week. Not all our tips work on everyone, so we encourage you all to share your secrets with us.

Here are some of our recommendations for the problem above: Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: www.thebostonbazaar.com

I used to spend $65 on my mascara. Yes, you read that right. Sixty-Five Dollars. You’re probably wondering what was in this product, was it made of gold? Did it spill ruby powder on my lashes? Did the world fall at my feet with every blink? Yes. Yes. And Yes. It was all that and more. But, then, like many other love affairs, this one came to an abrupt end. I finally realized that I was spending more on a mascara than my monthly cell phone bill. So, I set out on the search for the ultimate mascara. It was then that I realized that it’s not the mascara that really matters (unless you pay 65 bucks of course – then it BETTER matter), but it’s actually what goes on underneath. Just like foundations and eye shadows look better with a primer and lipsticks last longer with a liner base, eyelashes look 5x better with a protective coating underneath the mascara.

Now, I know that most of you out there have mascaras that you absolutely love and are faithful to, and over the course of time I hope to discuss all of them with you, YSL Faux Cils, Lancôme’s Ôscillation (with the vibrating wand), etc etc. But, with the eyelash primer, you can use any drugstore brand mascara and end up with similar or even better results. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: foreveramber.typepad.com

By Guest Writer Chaat Masala

Eyebrows, a universal desi problem. When did such a simple ornamental feature become so difficult. Now the battle here really is between nature and nurture. Because, as desis, we know that nature has endowed us with a veritable thicket of glorious browdom. And I say brow, because oftentimes the problem isnt thick eyebrows, it is thick eyebrow. This applies, of course to men and women. So naturally, there is a place for making yourself appear as though your ancestors stopped dragging their knuckles on the ground a couple millenia (or generations) ago. However, there is a fine line between tweezing the stray brows and well, leaving a fine line.

Reema Photo Credit: www.hipakistan.com

What you will notice is that some desi girls have a tendency to leave pencil-thin eyebrows on their faces. Personally, I always thought that was the purview of the evil sauteli ma (stepmother) characters with painted on eyebrows in Pakistan dramas, and well, Lollywood actresses (Reema comes to mind). As much as they may be the paragon of class, these pencil thin eyebrows, or painted on, have no place in the real world. Frankly, I don’t even know how the actresses do it; when the rain starts falling, as they dance around the tree in their white sari, somehow their eyebrows manage to stay painted on.

There is, of course, the other extreme-Kajol. We all know that two eyebrows are better than one. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: milanmk.com

Desi girls love eyeliner. Whether it’s black, brown, turquoise, liquid, gel or pencil, it has found its way into all of our makeup bags. Some girls prefer to look traditional like Kareena, while others like a much lighter look similar to that of Angelina Jolie, who only uses it on her upper eyes. I find myself leaning towards the old “less is more” rule, but that’s my personal preference. Whichever way you prefer to wear your liner, remember that it doesn’t have to be a complicated process, especially with one of my favorite makeup tools of all time – the smudge brush.

Photo Credit: laura mercier .com

As you can tell from the name, the brush is used mainly to smudge liners and shadows, extremely useful when creating the smoky eye look. If you feel like your eyeliner is too dark, you can easily blend it out with this brush. However, the focus of this particular post is to share with you how to apply basic eyeliner quickly and efficiently in less than 5 minutes. Also, for girls who have shaky hands or just don’t know how to draw a straight line, this one’s for you. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: flickr.com/kaurpomal

Spring is here. This means flip-flops, t-shirts and cherry blossoms. But, most importantly, this means being able to try out the fabulous new colors that have appeared in Spring makeup lines. In order to market the latest color trends, cosmetics companies are both toying with new tints and also repackaging old pigments to seem original. Regardless, I love Spring makeup, and like all the seasons, there are some shades that I absolutely adore and some colors that I plan on staying far away from despite how “in” they are.

Ladies, go ahead and pack away the dark eye, lip and nail choices that were hot in the Winter. To reflect the changing weather outside, the fun flirty colors of the Spring are lighter and brighter. Some shades are probably already in your makeup bag, while the new “it” colors of the season may require a little loosening of the purse strings as you peruse the counters at your local drug and department stores.

The first set of colors Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: allhotasia.blogspot.com

Hi Everyone,

We just wanted to write a quick note to say thank you for your support. We’re honestly overwhelmed by all the nice comments and messages we’ve gotten over the past few days! We’ve been getting hits from all over the world, even as far as Tokyo! So, thanks for telling all your friends, word-of-mouth really makes a difference!

Thank you to all those who have shared their favorite products, the community is growing slowly but surely, and soon we hope more ladies will feel comfortable enough to share their thoughts with each other. All comments are welcome, we encourage people to interact – this is a forum for everyone to learn from each other. Tip: If you would like to answer someone’s question or ask someone in particular for their opinion, then you can just hit the reply button under that person’s comment.

We’d love for you to add us on Facebook (Click here and become a fan) and help spread the word!

Woodwinked is on lid and lined under eye. Photo Credit: www.flickr.com/silentcharon

I used to spend hours getting ready. I took so long that my entire family still teases me to this day – if we have to go out at 9, my sister knocks on my door at 4 and asks me “aren’t you running late?” I loved experimenting with different colors and cosmetics and would spend forever painstakingly making sure every hair was in place. But, as I grew older and time seemed to move at a faster pace, I didn’t have the luxury of spending half an hour on my eye makeup. I wanted an eye shadow that I could use in a hurry for when I went out in the evenings that looked good just by itself, without me having to apply three different shadows at once, as well as something that looked phenomenal with almost anything. I literally kissed the MAC counter when I found Woodwinked.

Ladies, trust me when I say that Woodwinked is one of the most important eye shadows you will own. Woodwinked is part of the Veluxe Pearl shadow line and is described by MAC to be a “warm antique gold.” I know a lot of Desi girls who own this one, and pretty much all of them seem to love and swear by it. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: flickr.com/kiran.198globe7

Most of us Desi girls flat iron our hair, including those who already have straight hair. I have no idea why we do it. It’s as if we were born with a genetic inclination to reach for the flat iron before going out. We know it damages our hair, we know that it makes us look like EVERY other Desi girl out there, but we don’t care, we continue to straighten through summer, winter, and split ends. Hopefully all you girls out there with CHIs (or GHDs for our British beauties) in hand are remembering to protect your hair with some kind of product or serum before applying 400 degrees of heat, if not – STEP AWAY FROM THE FLAT IRON!

Photo Credit: www.the-planets.com

In any case, most of us with drier hair, or hair with oily roots and dry ends, feel as though we need a little extra something after flat-ironing to tame the frizzies and flyaway strands and most importantly to add a little more shine – who doesn’t love more shine? This is especially true in the winter. What most people don’t realize is that our hair is like our skin, it loses major moisture when it’s cold. That’s why our hair gets a lot drier and dull looking in the winter months. Just like we wear extra lotion in the winter months so our hands and legs don’t get chapped and ashy, we need to make sure we’re giving our hair the same additional care (masks, oil treatments etc). However, since most girls don’t know this little tidbit, their hair takes on a straw-like appearance or else just looks completely lackluster, particularly near the ends (like Preity Zinta to the right). There are many long-term solutions to this problem, but if you are going on a big date, a work event, or even just a get together at a friend’s house, you need a quick fix. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: www.beautysource.com

Winner of multiple beauty awards, NARS Orgasm blush is hailed as one of the best on the market. For those of you that either use the product or know friends who do, you will agree when I say girls everywhere gush about the gentle flush and natural glow brought on by Orgasm. At a recent wedding event for a friend I was not surprised to find that more than half the Desi females there have used or wish to try out this supposed wonder product, my mother included!

So is Orgasm blush really worth all the hype? Or, is it just another overrated product that continues to sell because of genius marketing? Read the rest of this entry »