LAHORE: Women look for three things while shopping for cosmetics – durability, affordability, quality and distinctiveness. The makeup items truly need to stand out with a virtual tag attached that says, “You have got to buy me,” in order for women to purchase them. However, sadly, there is always one feature or two compromised; either the durability is lacking or the quality is really bad, among a myriad of other flaws that I’ll try not to mention. Also, for women like me, who have had a bad experience with the purchase of nail polishes as some turn out to be dry, some have already been used, whereas, others are mind-numbingly expensive and over priced, we resort to getting our nails done from salons rather than purchasing a colour and then regretting it. This has resulted in many women having a lot of other makeup items, but there definitely is a dearth of nail polishes and nail colours on our dressing tables owing to the aforementioned reasons. Having said that, it definitely takes one brand, one product and one experience to change it around for all of us and that is exactly what happened to me. So I went to try out Stageline cosmetics with their small set-up at Emporium Mall’s second floor. For those of you who are not familiar with the brand, let me briefly introduce it to you. Stageline Makeup is a Spanish cosmetic brand that’s been in the business of professional makeup since 1936 with its head quarters in Barcelona. Laurendor is the parent company manufacturing Stageline. STRENGTHS: Among other products on offer by the brand, which I tried, I particularly liked their nail products as for me the product ticks all the boxes women look for. The brand puts forth shades, which are normally hard to find, for instance a statement nude shade, a sparkly summery green, etc. The nail colours are slick, and fresh and not over dried like our experience has been before with other brands’ products. They stay on for two weeks! The brand’s lip colours are the other items that tried and I would like to give a special mention to their stay-on lip-glosses, which are waterproof and last even after meals! The kohl eyeliner doesn’t smudge and is just the right kind of black shade desis opt for. I like the availability of the brand which encompasses cities like Multan, Mirpur, Arifwala, DG Khan, Kohat, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Bahawalpur, Sadiqabad, Burewala, Swat, Jamshoro, Jhang, Khanewal, Rahimyar Khan, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Haripur, Kasur, Sargodha, Hafizabad, Okara, Sahiwal and Vehari, along with Lahore which is their base. The brand is available in over 70 stores in Karachi and 20 in Islamabad. WEAKNESSES: I feel like Stageline should have a variety of different nail colours rather than a standout shade of one hue. They need to expand their presence in terms of space, whether it’s a standalone outlet or brief stocking at a mall. That said, Stageline is a fresh addition to the local and international cosmetic availability in Pakistan as their products are competitive in quality. Beauty conscious people, take note! Published in Daily Times, July 26th , 2017.