Cleansing, toning and moisturizing are at the center of any good skincare routine. Today I'm going to review the Neutrogena Deep Clean Blackhead Eliminating Cooling Toner.
It contains ingredients like witch hazel and glycolic and salicylic acid to help clear up acne prone skin. But what caught my eye was that the second ingredient in the ingredient list is alcohol. Alcohol dries out the skin and messes up with our skin's natural moisture levels. But since I was going to moisturize anyway after using this toner, I decided to give it a go. For a month, I used this toner instead of my usual rose water. When you first apply this toner, you'll experience a cooling/tingling sensation. Its a mild tingle, nothing too intense. The tingling disappears after sometime. The toner has a strong smell, so be warned if you have a sensitive nose.  
This toner definitely helped clear up my skin to an extent. My cheeks and jawline, where I suffer from breakouts, seemed less congested. My blackheads seemed less prominent, but they were most certainly not "eliminated". I'm happy with this product and I will keep using it until I find a better option.
I'd like to suggest this product to oily to combination skinned beauties. Dry skinned girls may find this product drying and irritating. But always remember to use a moisturizer suited for your skin type after using this.

I will keep repurchasing and using this product until i find a better product.

I have never really been a foundation girl. I find them too heavy and finding a good color match is quite difficult for me. So I've stuck to tinted moisturizers and alphabet (BB/CC) creams. I just use a high coverage concealer on my acne spots.

A new favorite of mine is the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream. I use the shade 33 Rose Beige. The CC cream has a runny texture. It comes in a 30ml squeeze tube that has a nozzle. The CC cream is really light, you don't even feel like you're wearing it! It spreads and blends really easily on my skin. But what really blows me away about this cream is the coverage it provides. Its the highest level of coverage I've seen in a BB/CC cream! Its almost a medium coverage product. When I apply it (using my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush) it blurs my blemishes and imperfections. A few minutes later it settles down and matches my skin color perfectly. It has a beautiful, luminous finish. It makes my skin look fresh and radiant.It stays intact on my skin for the whole day. I've worn it for about 9 hours and it wears beautifully. I only need to powder my t zone once in the afternoon, but that is standard for me.
My only niggle with this product is that it is just a little pink for me. Not too noticeable, but yeah, I would really appreciate if Bourjois launches a few more shades with yellow undertones. That being said, most people will find their match in the 4 shades of the cream that are available. Beauties with dusky complexions may face a difficulty in finding their shade.
I really love this product and I will definitely repurchase it. For those who are looking for a foundation-like coverage but don't want to wear a foundation, this cream is a must try! Its not surprising that top makeup artists like Lisa Eldridge use this cream in their videos! I love it!

The Zoeva Concealer Buffer Brush was one of the first brush I bought from the brand. This is a dome shaped brush that is used for buffing and blending in your concealer. Made up of synthetic vegan bristles, it is super soft and doesn't shed at all.

How I use the Zoeva Concealer Buffer:
I apply concealer under my eye area in a triangle shape. My two favorite concealers to use are the Revlon Colorstay Concealer and Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Concealer. I use the brush to gently buff the concealer into my skin. It blends the product seamlessly into my skin, leaving no streaks and giving me an even coverage. Its small shape makes it really easy for me to apply concealer to the hard to reach areas such as the inner corner of my eyes and around my nose. I also use this brush to pin point conceal any acne or blemishes.

This brush cleans easily and dries quickly. As with all my brushes, I wash it with baby shampoo and water. I reach for this brush often and it has become an important part of my makeup routine. I bought this at Luxola. In fact, I've even bought a backup of this brush! For superior quality makeup brushes that perform beautifully, you can't go wrong with Zoeva. And they're affordable too! What's not to like?
A BIG thumbs up from me!

Glycolic acid has been one of my go to skincare active ingredients in my fight against acne and hyper pigmentation. Regular exfoliation is key for healthy skin. And I'm not talking about rubbing your skin ray with walnut/apricot kernels (shudders). I'm talking about chemical exfoliation. With acids. Glycolic, salicylic, retinoic acid. Whatever suits you. But its really easy to go overboard with this type of exfoliation. You've gotta start slow. That's when these Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Treatment Pads step in. I bought them off Luxola.com for around Rs. 1200
These pads come in a handy screw top lid jar. Each jar contains 60 pads. You can use them once a day for 2 months or twice a day for 1 month (Hello Maths!). Each cotton pad is soaked generously with the glycolic acid serum/essence. You can rest assured that these pads won't dry out your skin because they contain hyaluronic acid (the mother of all moisturizing/hydrating ingredients).
How do you use this product? Take a pad and swipe it all over freshly cleansed skin. I use it on my face and neck. It has a really light, refreshing scent. The essence itself is non irritating. I did not experience any tingling/stinging whatsoever. On the contrary, my skin felt moisturized (is that you hyaluronic acid?). I wait for 30-40 minutes before applying my moisturizer (Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion) and going to sleep.
Now mind you, you will not see immediate results. But after consistent usage over 2 months, I've found that my skin is clearer. My old acne scars have faded considerably and my new pimples heal much faster. I'm impressed by this product. If you are a beginner to chemical exfoliation, I'd suggest you give these pads a try. I will definitely repurchase.
Available at Luxola.com

Okay, okay. I am SO late to this party, but I'm finally going to review The Body Shop Tea Tree BB Cream. I remember this being so hyped when it was launched. Everyone I knew was raving about this product. But honestly? I don't like it. At all. Hear me out first. I popped into The Body Shop the other day to buy another bottle of their Camomile Cleansing Oil (now THAT is great stuff!!!). I was hanging around their makeup section and saw this BB cream. I bought it on a complete whim, just to see what all the hype was about. I bought the shade 02 because 01 was too light for my skin and 03 was too dark.

The first thing I noticed when I took out my tube of BB cream from its paper bag was that the  flip top cap had a hole in the middle. The cap had a HOLE. FAIL! Nevertheless I squeezed out some product onto the back of my hand. Two things I noticed immediately. First, the smell. It smelled of tea tree oil. I love that smell! No complaints there! Next thing was the texture. This BB cream is thicker than any of the alphabet (BB, CC) creams I've used before. This stuff blends really well into the skin. And it dries into a semi matte finish. It can cling to the dry patches of your skin, so moisturize well! After I finished applying the cream to my face, I stepped back from the mirror and gasped. This was not an awed gasp, it was more of a horrified gasp. This stuff is just too pink for me. My face looked pink and my neck looked yellow (my natural undertone). So, yeah. No can do. Granted that it is a great, lightweight and easily blendable product, the pink tones in the cream are not for me. Now if TBS were to launch a few more new shades of this product with yellow undertones, I'd be off like a bullet to grab myself a tube!
All in all, texture and finish are impressive. Shade and undertone? Not so much. Going back to my Colorbar BB and Lakme CC creams. I will not be repurchasing this product.
Price: Rs 1095 *sigh* *what a waste*