Who is excited for the array of fashion events themed around Ramadan? 

With a special Ramadan Trunk Show directed towards shopping for the holy month of Ramadan and Eid festivities, Boulevard One has brought together designers from India and Pakistan with their collections specifically designed for these occasions. The event is perfectly timed for you to pick out some of the latest designs suited for Iftar and Suhoor parties. I have had a peek at the various designers exhibiting at the show and am pretty sure you will find a few things catch your fancy.

For this blogpost, I will be focusing on Rida Sidra - a Karachi based Pakistani brand that offers a fusion of eastern and western cuts is showcasing their Ramadan’16 collection at the Boulevard One’s Ramadan Trunk Show on Saturday 4th June. 

Rida Sidra is a boutique luxury label founded in 2014 by Rida Teli and Sidra Umair. The brand has created an elegant and feminine concept with the usage of sophisticated peal embellishments, girly flares and delicate embroideries. The inclusion of pretty pastels and a myriad of prints add a contemporary feel to their everyday classics. Rida and Sidra believe that Fashion always looks for the latest trends to absorb it and them spread it to the rest of the world. Rida Sidra as a brand is the image of elegance and class with a youthful palette of colors. Their fundamental aim is to satisfy the demands of today’s modern lifestyle yet remain infused with transitional roots. Their latest Spring Summer collection to be featured for the first time in Dubai is the right combination of resplendent colors, floral embroidery and stunning styles. Rida Sidra focus on hand work in Kora, Dabka and Gota along with fancy sequences - staying true to tradition and heritage.

Make sure to stop by The Palace downtown on the 4th of June between 10am to 7pm, to check out Rida Sidra and many other note worthy up and coming designers from India & Pakistan. 

PS: I am collaborating with Boulevard One to host a GIVEAWAY on my Instagram page. Go check it out if you would LOVE to win a pretty digital print silk kurti. 

See you at the event ladies!

Much Love,

Mimo

A couple of months back I was approached by the agency representing Murad skincare in the region and asked if I would like to try out some of their products. Of course I said yes! I mean Murad is all the rage in luxury skincare. It is still new to the region but quickly picking up pace in popularity. 

On to my thoughts about Murad. With makeup you know instantly whether the product is a hit or a miss, however with skincare, it takes some time for your skin to react and adapt to new products. When your skin starts to benefit from the specially curated products that are supposed to help and enhance the health of your skin, this is when you start noticing a difference. It took almost a month for me to notice a change. 

The ladies from the PR agency sent over products from their white brilliance range after learning about my skin type. White Brilliance is a 3 Step skincare routine however instead of Step 1from the range, I have been alternating face wash products between Derma-e and Himalaya Herbal products followed by a toner.


After the cleansing and toning, I pump out 1 peanut sized little blob of the Wrinkle and Pore refining treatment and massage this gently in circular motions on my face and neck area, especially concentrating on my temple zone. At 27 years, I am starting to notice fine lines around my eyes and I regret not taking any action earlier.

There is a citrusy scent to the product and it is super light and creamy. After the dryness of my skin from the cleansing routine, I love how the product is soaked up by my skin and how it makes my skin feel soft and supple. This is a definite purchase as I am almost done using up this bottle.


No can ever emphasize enough on the importance of moisturizer and sunscreen. Living in the middle east, it is highly essential for us to ensure we hydrate and protect our skin. Murad’s Day Moisture is goes perfectly well with its Wrinkle and Pore refining treatment. It addresses uneven skin tones while fighting discoloration and dark spots.

The moisturizer is even lighter and more watery than the Wrinkle and Pore refining treatment. Where the Wrinkle and Pore refining treatment is citrus scented, the moisturizer has more of a skin ointment scent to it. Its in no way a deal breaker since the scent isn’t overwhelming and once it blends in after the refining treatment, you don’t notice it at all.

Note: A tiny little amount goes a long way. I used a little more than I should have in my first try and ended up with rubbery residual of sunscreen from the product overload.

Overall, the radiance factor of my skin has improved immensely. My complexion has been brighter in the last couple of weeks after the introduction of Murad products into my daily skincare routine. I love that they are non-greasy and they are soaked up by my skin immediately. The products do claim to reduce pores however I cannot comment on this since my standard toner has been doing wonders to my pores.

On to you now, do you use Murad? Let me know what are your thoughts on the products from Murad.

I have kept the best part of my ColourPop haul till the last. ColourPop eye shadows deserve as many headlines (if not more) as their lip products. What can I say, this brand has me head over heels for their products.

Firstly let me get over with the one minor drawback I found. I don’t think much of the design of the shadow pots, I would have preferred to have the general mac pot design concept which is swift to handle than the screw on pots. As I said, its a minor flaw on the overall product concept, not a deal breaker in any way. I am guessing ColourPop wanted to break the mould here in terms of design, I maybe wrong here. Such containers are great for products of cream consistency like lip balms or moisturizers. Leave me a comment below if you feel the same or you feel this works better. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.


I have purchased 4 matte and 6 metallic Super shock eye shadows. Since I have a fairly good collection of matte shadows, I went on to add more of the metallic ones.

Value for money? No doubt here. For $5 (AED18 approx.), the shadows are highly pigmented and the color payoff is beyond generous like other ColourPop items. The texture of the matte shadows are as you would expect powdery but the metallic ones are oh-so s-i-l-k-y. I am not exaggerating here, these shadows are similar in texture to the Makeup geek shadows. This is one factor that I found other high end brands - like urban decay, mac, too faced, etc - lack. It was a revelation to me, soft buttery metallic shadows are so much more gentler on the skin. They apply like a dream. Again, not exaggerating.

I have just categorized them based on plum and earthy tones.

Here they are: 

From the top: Central Perk, Stereo, Hustle and Cricket.

Central Perk (When you reference Friends, it is a sure winner): Matte maroon shade

Stereo: Metallic glittery burgundy shade with slight hint of copper and violet

Hustle:  This one is categorized as matte but I felt its more of a blend between matte & metallic because its infused with fine shimmer. Its a violet-burgundy shade.

Cricket: Metallic mid-tone plum shade with soft glitter

From the top: Hanky Panky, Girl Crush, So Quiche, On The Rocks, Mooning and Partridge

Hanky Panky: Matte light cream shade (too light to see here but this is perfect as a base shadow).

Girl Crush: Matte gray shade. (I was drawn to this shade since I have nothing else like it).

So Quiche: Metallic olive antic gold.

On The Rocks: Metallic bronzy shade with fine purple & gold glitter.

Mooning: Metallic blackish bronze.

Partridge: Metallic greenish brown shade with pearl finish.


To my dismay, 'So Quiche' arrived shattered but I am not the one to give up on my makeup. Have tried to salvage it as much as possible but nonetheless, I came to realize that it makes for a great pigment. Hallelujah.

I will have a few makeup looks incorporating ColourPop eye shadows in the weeks to follow. Keep an eye on Snapchat for sneak peeks.

P.S. Can someone remind me to get Nillionaire next time?

Much Love,
Mimo

Confessions of a Makeupaholic - The aptly titled biography that would describe my addiction to makeup, shopping, sleeping, etc. etc. Lets not forget binge watching Friends (but doesn’t everyone do that?).

My little box of joy arrived and I could have sworn that was the happiest day of my life.. umm maybe a close second happiest day of my life, so far. Don’t know how I resisted purchase of ColourPop for so long. It must have been on my wish list for 6 months before I caved. And no I couldn’t just check-out with just a few items. ;)

Lets dig into the stash now..

The packaging is A+ and the colors are true match to what you see online. I purchased 2 Ultra matte lip creams and 3 Lippie Stixs. 

From the bottom, More Better and Bad Habit are the matte lip creams. More Better is a berry shade and Bad Habit is more of a plum shade - both having cool undertones. First thing to notice is how pigmented these are, I mean the colour payoff is absolutely astounding. The formula for Ultra matte lip creams is really good - the lip cream dries of with semi matte finish but it did not dry out my lips like most matte lipsticks/lip creams, they apply smooth and the texture feels silky, its long lasting and quite easy to take off. Over all ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip creams gets 5 Stars from me.

On to the Lippie Stixs, I bought Silk, Lumiere and Grunge. Silk is a deep burgundy color with cool pink undertones, Lumiere is a dusty mauve pink and Grunge is a medium brown with warm undertones.

The packaging is slim twist up lipstick design and smells like vanilla - does anyone else feel that? I am not complaining. These were described as matte however they looked more like cream sheen when applied. I felt Silk was more on the matte side than Lumiere and Grunge. Not complaining here either, I love how it looks. The color payoff is good - at first application it comes off translucent but it is build able as you see from the pic. Texture feels creamy and I loved the finish.  

These lipsticks and lip creams are by far one of the best purchases. I have super dry chapped lips which no matter how often I scrub, they end up chappy within 5 minutes of lipstick application. I found them to be remedial to my dilemma along with looking gorgeous on me.

I feel ColourPop purchases doesn’t require any justification. ColourPop and Makeup Geek are brands that give you more than what you pay for in terms of quality and quantity. This is why they have a loyal customer in me.

One regret though, I should have added the lip pencils to my basket! Those and more are going to be a part of my next online spree.

Are you a ColourPoppette or ColourPopper too? Comment below and tell me what are your favorite ColourPop items.

Much Love,
Mimo

Over all I like this perfume and would definitely go repurchase. It also makes a great gift for valentines.

Top Notes: Lychee, Quince sorbet
Heart Notes: Peony, Peach blossom, Neroli
Base Notes: Cashmere woods, Ambrox, Musk

Try it out when you are passing by any Sephora or Wojooh stores - 50ml AED255 and 100ml AED345.

Much Love,
Mimo 

Hey there lovely people.. I thought I would share with you the deets for the 3D smokey eyes look I posted on Instagram a couple of weeks back.

There has been a lot of genuine buzz about this foundation for some time now. Though I am a faithful user of my Nars Sheer Glow foundation, I could not resists the urge to try out the foundation Tamanna Roashan (DressYourFace Makeup Artist) and Jaclyn Hill (Youtube Guru) have been raving about.

I bought this at the Sephora Dubai mall branch. The GA counter lady was super super helpful in finding me the right shade which for my liking is No. 8. I tend to go 2 shades darker with my foundations otherwise I end up looking like a ghost in photos (trying very hard to erase a few of those photos - with flash - from my memory!).

The 1st star goes for packaging - Thank you GA for the pump. Note people, foundations with pumps reduces wastage especially when you don’t want to waste a drop of luxury products as this one.


2nd star because the texture of this foundation is light and soft. It gives a medium to build able coverage with a smooth finish. With 3 pumps I was able to achieve a medium coverage.

Most importantly, it did not oxidize which adds the 3rd star to this product.


I have combination skin - oily T zone and dry rest of the face - so the foundation settled perfectly on my skin. I tried out this foundation on a day when I attended 2 events and had a lot of running around to do. After around 9 hours on my face, it did not budge or get oily (except for my nose which is a sweaty zone for me). 4th Star for staying put my friend.

So now to the point why everyone is cray cray about this foundation - the illuminating factor. I kid you not, this foundation has some micro light reflecting ingredients in it which basically gives you an airbrushed radiance - 5th Star for that glow.

This is my new Holy Grail of all holy grail items. If you have a holy grail item which you think I must try, please comment below. I would love to hear from you all.

Also, I will post a detailed write up on the above make up look next.

Always remember to smile.