This morning I experienced a personal mini-crisis. When I went to apply my eye cream, specially purchased on my last trip to India I realized – I had just run out. It was like one of those scenes in a movie where time stood still and zoomed in close on the empty container.

Desi girls are brown. Which means that our skin has a high level of pigmentation, unlike the pigmentation of the majority of girls in America. This means that there are probably a few common experiences that we share. At some point in our teenage make-up experimentation stage we were told to purchase the generically colored “tan” foundation and/or concealer despite it not matching our skin tone at all. We wore a ghastly bright red lipstick because someone said it looked good with our skin. Finally is the struggle to find the perfect eye cream to battle those undereye bags that a large percentage of South Asian women are genetically predisposed to and that none of the products sold here cater to.

East Asian women have Shiseido. Ambi is a line of product catering to women of color for lotions and creams. But the Desi girl doesn’t have much else, and a walk through CVS or Sephora or Nordstrom’s makeup counters is liable to give me a panic attack.

Never to fear. In my panicked frenzy this morning, I stumbled across two blogs to the rescue: An Indian’s Makeup Blog and The Indian Make-Up Diva.

Here’s what I love about the blogs: 1) These are Desi American women writing the blogs, so all of the products they use can be found here. 2) They try and review the products with a Desi girl slant. 3) They give easy to understand instructions on how to put on make up. 4) They are written with wit and charm.

Who is the Indian Girl behind An Indian’s Makeup Blog?

I am what you call a late bloomer but have been interested in make up since forever. My Indian parents ( like so many other Indian parents) never let me use make up until my sophomore year at college. Though I am thankful for that, I am now more than compensating for all those lost years.[AIMB]

A couple of things unique to her site are the helpful instructional videos and her homemade beauty product creations, like this face mask. I also like how she takes pictures of herself wearing the product such as lip gloss, just so you know how it’s actually going to look on. Follow IndianGirl on twitter to read her daily makeup adventures.

Anu at the The Indian Make-Up Diva is just as make-up crazed.

You might have guessed but I am obsessed with all things make-up. As I am currently in grad school I don’t have the time to put my lessons learned during art school to use so I make my face my canvas (before this would be literal and you’d see me walking around campus with green and blue paint on my face/hair clothes).[IMD]

What I love about Anu’s blog is how she has these really basic step by step photo tutorial on how to apply make-up. I mean, really, really, basic – perfect for a girl like me. And she has no qualms about putting her own face on her site as an example. She also goes in-depth about products that she reviews, as well as tossing in a bit of witty sarcasm while she’s at it. Additionally, she’ll give instructions to mimic red carpet looks of Desi actresses and she’ll lay it out pretty simply, listing exactly what you need to get the look. You can also follow Anu at twitter.

So there you go, two blogs for the everyday Desi girl to help us maneuver the madness of beauty products. Are there other sites or blogs that you would recommend, a line of product you use, or a beauty related desi issues that you need to vent? I’d love to hear from you on it.