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Thursday, 30 April 2020

Smytten Review | An App For Beauty Skincare Haircare Health Lifestyle Fanatics | Try And Buy And Try Some More | Beauty Haul | Beauty Review

I have no clue how I did not join the Smytten app yet, but worry not, better late than never :) 

Smytten is an app with a wordplay on 'smitten', and it allows all beauty, skincare, healthcare, haircare, lifestyle fanatics to try products from top-notch brands before buying them. It is an app with a shop and a trial section where one needs to pay only Rs. 199 for picking up sample size products from brands such as Just Herbs, Aroma Magic, Votre, Seer Secrets and many more. These sample size products differ in quantity from 10 ml or 10 grams to 50-60 ml or 50-60 grams. In short, they are enough to use for 2-4 times so that the user can make up their mind if it is worth buying the full size product or not. 


If worth it, then simply go to the Smytten shop section and buy the product! Easy-peasy. But the best part about this app is that every time we pay Rs. 199 for the trial section, we get Rs. 169 back in our wallet that can be used for more trials or we can get Rs. 169 off while purchasing a full-sized product! How cool is that! 

So I made an account on Smytten, logged in using my mobile number, and fell in love with so many options for the trial part. There were 6 points in my wallet and each trial sample has certain points assigned to them. So, for example, a Votre 50 grams cream for 2 trial points while a Just Herbs 10 ml rose water for 1 trial point. Sometimes there are full sized products for 6 trial points too! 


I chose samples using the 6 trial points and got Rs. 169 points back in my wallet. Then I went to the shopping section and got Aaranyaa Hair Spa at a massive 40% discount PLUS Rs. 169 OFF! This is called Super-Bonanza shopping :D And after shopping for a full-sized product, I got 6 more trial points in my account. And so on and so forth. Now looking at my haul size, you can see for yourself how many samples I got in 3 rounds...And there is so much more to try out. 

India smytten review beauty blogger beauty haul skincare haircare

I am a beauty and skincare junkie so I got shampoo, conditioner, hair oil, face wash, clay masks..but there are samples of tea, perfumes, handmade craft materials, eco-friendly hygiene materials and MUCH MORE that I am craving to sample. 

Pretty Soon my friends, Pretty Soon :) 

Oh, if you want to sign up to Smytten now, you can use my referral code CW9cayr..of course you can sign up without it too. You will get your own referral code and everytime someone signs up using that and places a trial order, you will get Rs. 200 cash in your wallet to spend on buying awesome products. So if you feel like this pose added a bit of joy to your life, do consider using my referral code --> CW9cayr :)

Monday, 20 April 2020

Herb Life Product Haul | Herbal Products Review | Aloe Vera Gel Saffron Gel Red Wine Gel Nalpamarathi Oil Rose Water | Beauty Review

I used to pride myself on my knowledge of social media navigation. Yet, the more time I spend online, the more I learn something new and realize that it is probably bigger than our real universe! For instance, even though I have been a beauty blogger for more than 2 years now, it was only very recently that I found there was a thriving beauty industry active on Instagram. 

This is the place of organic, natural, homemade, handmade products such as serums, lotions, creams, soaps, scrubs, masks, and much more, made in small batches by enthusiastic and passionate entrepreneurs. Away from the glitz and glamour of all the big brands that occupy our shopping malls' shelves, these Instagram brands have a cult following. 


I was intrigued and I researched a bit and found out so many new brands offering wonderful products at down-to-earth prices. Couldn't resist. Especially since the year 2020 saw me at the worst of my skin and hair woes thanks to the whole of 2019 being a big battle against a lot of family, personal, and health issues. 

Anyway....after much research, I thought, let me try some such products and see where it leads us..and so I got this little haul from Herb Life, available on Instagram @herblife_soap :) It has- 

-Aloe Vera Gel 
-Saffron Gel 
-Red Wine Gel 
-Pure Rose Water 
-Almond Face Pack 
-Hair Growth Oil 
-Nalpamarathi Oil

I chose these products after consultation with the brand itself, and after using these products for more than a month, here are my views on all:- 




Aloe Vera Gel Review | Saffron Gel Review | Red Wine Gel Review 

Pure gels that did not react or give allergies of any kind to my super-sensitive skin that turns red at the slightest provocation *eye roll* I liked the Red Wine Gel the most! It felt light and cool on my face and brightened it immensely. Red Wine is famous for anti-ageing properties and I am sure this gel will perform anti-ageing miracles on mature skin after long usage. Aloe Vera and Saffron gels were cool, soothing, just as expected. Though I thought that the saffron gel would provide more brightening effect, but it was just a normal gel, the red wine gel happened to be better here. 


Hair Growth Oil Review 

Has a strong smell of curry leaves, bhringraj and many other herbs. Nourished my hair, though I did not see any new hair growth in the one month that I used it. But it worked beautifully in conditioning my super dry hair when I applied in on my scalp for 2 hours before shampoo. No complaints. 


Almond Face Pack Review

I believe it has besan, sandalwood, turmeric alongside Almonds. A little bit on the coarse side but still wonderful for my super-sensitive skin. I mixed it with aloe vera gel and rose water and a little bit of curd and applied on my face for 10 minutes 3 times every week and it left my skin super-soft and bright. Loved it. Also gives light exfoliation, a win-win proposition.


Nalpamarathi Oil Review 

I heard about Kumkumadi and Nalpamarathi oil about 2 years ago from several fellow bloggers but didn't use, for one reason or other, mainly because most big brands out there are super-expensive. But this one is so value-conscious -imagine this little bottle of wonder for only Rs. 100!!! I couldn't resist from picking it up. It is a thick concoction with sesame oil, turmeric, castor oil, and many other beneficial and potent oils for brightening the skin, making it soft, smooth, working on pigmentation, acne marks..basically it IS a wonder oil, purely Ayurvedic formulation. I have used this regularly twice a day, 4 drops suffice for my whole face, and it has CONSIDERABLY LIGHTENED my old acne scars! Sorry for yelling, but I am IN LOVE with this little bottle. 


Pure Rose Water Review 

Now everybody knows the good effects of Rose Water for our skin, right? But I never used rose water...because a long time ago I had used Gulabari that had made my skin reddish and allergic :( Very recently I realized that it is not pure rose water and is full of chemicals. When I picked up Herb Life Pure Rose Water, I had no idea it would be soooooo good. Another MUST-HAVE from this brand. It smells soooooo good, pure, light, feels like feather on my skin, refreshes it, soothes it, brightens it, keeps redness away from my cheeks. I LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOOVE it.

Oh, and by the way, do you know how much I paid for all this? LESS THAN RS. 1200, including shipping! Yes, this has to be the most budget-conscious pricing EVER :)

YES 
  • Pure Ayurvedic formulations
  • Made in fresh batches
  • Unbelievably value-conscious
  • All claims are true
  • Works fabulously on my super-sensitive skin
  • Did I tell you how value-conscious it is!!!
NO 
  • The packaging does not have any ingredients list
  • Is not available on amazon, nykaa, or our departmental stores
Recommended - YES. Rating for all products is 5/5 because I do not know where to cut marks :P 

Thursday, 2 April 2020

Ponds Super Light Gel Oil Free Moisturiser Review | Hyaluronic Acid & Vitamin E For Hydration | Beauty Review

One of the biggest issues I always face (and I think everyone faces) is that of finding a good moisturizer. Either we get one that makes our skin too oily or one that leaves it dry within a couple of hours, or one that provides good hydration but also brings pimples on acne-prone skin...and so on. Imagine the stress my super-sensitive acne prone combination skin goes through *rolls eyes*. So I have been reading and researching about good moisturizers and one ingredient that keeps coming up is Hyaluronic Acid that provides good hydration without making skin sticky or giving acne. 


Recently, Pond's launched a new gel moisturizer with this super ingredient and even though historically my skin does not like Pond's product, I felt that this might be different since I had read so many beauty bloggers rave about it. So I bought Pond's Super Light Gel 2 months ago and here let us see how it fared :)

Packaging of Pond's Super Light Gel Oil Free Moisturiser is a simple round flat tub that looks secure enough to be travel-friendly. Pond's products always stand out of the crowd thanks to their simple yet elegant color schemes and this is no different with soothing blue color making the package attractive. In fact, even the gel itself has a soothing baby blue color that looks amazing.

Ingredients list is LONG and includes everything from water, dimethicone, niacinamide, phenoxyethanol, perfume to stearic acid, hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid, limonene, and linalool. It has good as well as bad stuff, as we will see in the review.


Claims that this super light oil free gel moisturiser gives non-sticky glowing skin with regular usage thanks to hyaluronic acid + vitamin E.

Availability of  Pond's Super Light Gel Oil Free Moisturiser is good online as offline. Pond's is one of the most easily-available brands in India. You can buy it from Nykaa, Amazon, and most other online websites or offline shops. Very cost effective at just about Rs. 149 for 73 grams.

Quantity is good enough to last about 20 days when used everyday on face and neck.

Usage - Cleanse face and apply this in dots all over the face evenly.


Effect - Full disclosure- Pond's is one of those brands that rarely have products to suit my skin. During my college days, I tried many Pond's products mainly since it is too cost-effective. But over the years I realised that these were actually making my skin drier as well as giving me pimples and rashes, so I stopped using them. The same thing happens with other big mass brands such as Garnier, Loreal, Lakme. 

But anyway, when I was reading about Hyaluronic Acid and then read so many good reviews of this super light gel, everybody was talking about how it suits even sensitive skin and how Hyaluronic Acid can make one's skin as good as a baby's, so obviously I got tempted and bought it. BIG MISTAKE! First thing, I always find it alarming when any product has an ingredients list with 20-25 names. Why does one need so many chemicals? I understand that chemicals are important, every chemical is not bad, but products can be formulated only by using 2-3 ingredients too, right? But I think Pond's doesn't know how to formulate such simple products *sigh*. 

So I bought this, and tentatively applied it on my neck first to see if it was giving any allergic reaction. It felt cool and watery on my skin, no complaints there. It also has a light pleasing fragrance and instantly provides hydration to skin, no complaints again. It did not give any allergies on neck so the next day I applied on my face. Unfortunately, within 24 hours I could see little pimples on my cheeks and red rashes appear out of nowhere :( Once more, the curse of using Pond's affected me. So I used the rest on my neck and hands and vowed never to buy another Pond's product. 

If you already use Pond's products, you may like this as my skin is super-duper sensitive. If your skin is not sensitive then you can definitely try it. It will give good hydration to oily or combination skin while dry skinned people will need to use another moisturizer on top of it. Actually Pond's super light gel is considered a cheap dupe of the high-end Neutrogena Hydro Boost, but I have not used Neutrogena either so cannot confirm this.

YES 
  • Has Hyaluronic Acid + Vitamin E + Niacinamide
  • Beautiful baby blue color, cool watery texture
  • Gives hydration to combination and oily skin
  • Extremely cost-effective
  • Considered cheap dupe of Neutrogena Hydro Boost
  • Easily available online as well as offline

NO 
  • Long list of chemicals in ingredients
  • Will not suit super-sensitive skin that hates ingredients such as dimethicone and perfume

Recommended -Maybe. Only for those who have already used and love Pond's products!. Rating is 2.5/5.