Makeup, diet and moi !!

I've been wanting to jump on the mineral makeup bandwagon for quite a few months. Not because I've been gulled by the miracle benefits to skin that have been promised by all and sundry and their aunts, more because I love to play with makeup. Anyway, so I was hampered by trying any out because I HATE being left with a full jar of makeup that doesnt match and that I paid a ton of money for. I must mention that I'm pretty sad at choosing colors and have terrible luck buying makeup off the shelf. Unlike makeup in India or UK, the drugstore brands in the US (L'Oreal, Revlon etc) do not provide testers. And buying a department store makeup brand would require a person who isnt as mmm...cheap as me.

So, I had given up on that particular wishlist until I stumbled upon Everyday Minerals, a mineral makeup company I've fallen in love with. First, they offer a FREE sample kit - with 3 foundation samples, 1 concealer and 1 blush, you just pay for shipping. And the best part, they do not limit you to one sample per customer. As I made my way through the samples, the admiration for the company's large-minded policy has changed to admiration for the makeup itself. It's goes on very smoothly, they have a ton of colours to match a wide range of skin types and because it's powder I find I can layer it on as much or as little as I like to create a very natural look. The price for the full-size makeup is also much lower then you would find in the stores. And as a final clincher, last weekend someone actually said to me 'You look great, your skin is glowing.' :D I think, after that, any other makeup brand will have to be pretty miraculous for me to give this one up.

Since I dont use much else, I cant plug anything other than the foundation and powders, the blushes I did get with my sample kit seem pretty enough. If you are wheatish-complexioned (much as it cracks me up, I couldnt find an apter word) like me, you might find the Olives - Light Olive, Olive Golden Medium or Olive Medium a very close match. Oh, and I must recommend the brushes too, they are absolutely the softest, and more importantly, cheapest brushes you will find anywhere!!!

Additionally, I think I've finally hit upon the perfect diet plan. And more importantly one that doesnt leave me tired with low energy towards the end of the day, which was the major problem with all the diets I have tried before. The only thing I'm doing, besides a judicious consumption of sweets and fried foods is that I started reducing my calorie intake. The only change I made in my diet, was to replace my night-time dinner of 2 chapattis with whatever side-dish I cooked up, to 1 chapatti, and reduced consumption of rice during lunch from every meal to once in a while replacing it with chapattis whenever I have the time.

And with this regimen I lost approx *drumroll* 8 lbs in 3 months!!!!! The first few days I was a little hungry but I ate salad alongside to compensate but now I find that the one chapatti fills me up without any additional cravings at all and more importantly I'm also exercising without any adverse energy effects so I think this is the right way to go (as an aside the 'looking great' comment earlier did have the weight-loss reason too, and while I got a lot of those no one mentioned skin 'glowing' until I started to experiment with the makeup). This means that this year will not see my festival staples of besan laddoos and chaklis being made, all because of the diet of course :D

Happy Diwali folks!!!