theNotice: a beauty blog

The product: shu uemura rouge unlimited supreme shine in orange dream 

The shade: Orange Dream is on the sheer side, but still manages to deliver reasonable impact. It gives a lovely, barely-pinked orange veil of colour to the lips in spite of its sheerness, and has an appealing “plumping” effect as a result of its shine, translucence, and shimmer.

Oranges (and other warm colours) don’t always work on me, but this one absolutely does. The sheer colour is noticeable even on my pigmented lips, but enough of my own lip colour shines through its glossy sheen to look — well, maybe not natural, but still at-home.

Shimmery shades don’t generally work on me either, to be honest, but again: this one does! Its gold microshimmer is so finely milled that it just adds to the illusion of fullness created by the glossy finish of shu’s Supreme Shines, and meshes well with the base colour at any angle.

The formula: The Rouge Unlimited Supreme Shine lipstick formula is one that I find myself rather fond of, despite the fact that I’m not crazy about a super-glossy lip. Its shiny, slippery formula feels like a dream on my super-dry lips, and always looks very “fresh” — I think it’s perfect for the summer.

The slippery texture of the Supreme Shines doesn’t settle into lip lines (hmm, I wonder if that’s due to shu’s “revolutionary film keeping capsule”), but it does wear a little on the shorter side. At $36 CAD, I’d really have liked it to last), but I can’t say I really mind reapplying — the sheer formula is easy to touch up, and they do feel lovely going on.

The verdict?

This limited-edition orange beauty is nice to have around (particularly if you’re an orange-lover who prefers a softer, glossier lip), but it’s not a must-have. If you really love a glossy lip and you’re looking to splurge a little, then these are worth a look — but at $36 CAD, I’d really like to have seen a slightly richer, longer-wearing formula.

The adorably-packaged Orange Blossom is already sold out online & will be off shelves soon, but give or520 (a shimmering apricot-peach) a try if you’re searching for something similar in the permanent Rouge Unlimited Supreme Shine range.

Availability: $36 CAD, from the ob for shu uemura Summer 2013 collection. Find it at Holt Renfrew and select Sephora boutiques from April 2013 onwards. Limited edition.

Ingredients, swatches, & more »

Here’s a little secret: these were supposed to go up last week (with that snarky, hysterical mess of a post), but there were just too many pretty things… and I maybe broke the widget I was using.

Maybe. A little bit. Juuuust enough to get an angry URI TOO LARGE crash; not enough that anyone fired me from blogging. (It’s a really good thing you can’t get fired from blogging. For yourself. From home.)

Anyhow, some pretty things! I hope you all enjoy your Sundays, even if they’re less tasty than sundaes.

Over at LipstickRules, Michelle takes a look at Yu, a satin pencil from NARS.

Stila comes out with a gorgeous Festival Collection that Spiced Beauty thinks you must get your hands on!

The internet’s all abuzz over Sephora’s upcoming Disney Ariel collection, but Rae’s attention is elsewhere. Find out what beautiful Sephora x Disney eyeshadow palette has captured her heart over at theNotice!

Addicted to Beauty tries circle lenses and is less than impressed with the results.

Musicalhouses does a Julep DD Creme ingredient analysis, and finds out if the product lives up to its hype!

Jenny talks skin care science and sulphates to kick off her winter sulphate free skin care series at My Funny Valentine.

Looking for the perfect summer go bag? Find out what you’ll need in this week’s edition of the Gouldylox Reviews Beauty Blogger Top Ten!

Want voluminous Kate Middleton hair? Hellcandy shows you how to achieve Britain’s most coveted hair style with GHDs!Click here for the tutorial!

Beauty Crazed is giving away a $250 Sephora gift certificate and all you have to do is tell them about your worst or best date ever – but let’s be serious, they want to hear about the worst! Come on by to enter and win!

The product: Disney Jasmine Collection by Sephora Magic Carpet Ride Eyeshadow Palette

The new Sephora x Disney Ariel collection is still just that side of available (well, other than the Storylook Eyeshadow Palette, $55 USD/$66 CAD), but for those of us who can’t wait, Sephora already has a gorgeous Disney collection out & ready for the hauling.

Today’s review is of a beautiful, Aladin-inspired eyeshadow palette, on shelves now.

The overall aesthetic

There are four shades in the Magic Carpet Ride Eyeshadow Palette, all of which are named with overwhelming confusion. Sephora’s descriptions of these shades doesn’t quite seem to match up with their placement in the palette, so instead: there’s a taupey lilac, a dark plum, a shimmering peach, and a bright blue.

The palette is rather summery overall, and the shades serve easily as an all-over wash, crease shade, highlighter, and “pop of colour,” respectively. I can’t see myself wearing all four of the shades at once (I’m not quite that bold, I’m afraid), but you can definitely put together a handful of different eye looks with just this palette!

The textures & shades

The taupey lilac looks more silver in the pan, but swatches as more of a purple taupe on my skin — I bet it would look more silvered on someone warmer. A true frost, it applies uniformly with finely-milled shimmer throughout; beautiful and subtle whilst still adding colour and lightness to the eye area.

Next to it, the dark plum stands alone from the other shades. Much drier in texture, it’s more of a matte plum with blue and fuchsia micro-shimmer shot through it for depth: gorgeous and not unlike a starry night on LSD.

Sephora x Disney Magic Carpet Ride swatches in warm, indirect sunlight

On the bottom, a light peach provides shimmering, slightly-chunky texture. It’s sure to make a standout inner corner highlighter on any skintone, but this buttery eyeshadow has a much more “aggressive” shimmer to it than the lilac — closer to the glitter end of the spectrum.

Finally, the bright blue. It’s not as smooth as the peach, but not as hard the lilac. Think of it as the shimmer to the lilac’s frost and the peach’s glitter; this medium-sheer shimmer feels vibrant, beachy, and surprisingly on-trend.

Swatched on primed skin; indirect sunlight

The fallout

I’m not entirely sure which eyeshadow is at fault (if I had to guess, I’d say the plum), but an eye look with this palette always involves glittery fallout during placement and blending. Whether it’s over a primer or foiled, even a stiff tap doesn’t get all of the glitter chunks off. Be prepared to use a shadow shield… or suffer the consequences of fairydust cheeks throughout the day (or night).

The verdict?

At $36 CAD, I don’t think this palette is a must-have — but it’s still a good palette, and is nice to have if you love the shades inside. The amount of shimmer fallout means that these eyeshadows fall (ha!) short of great, but it’s not an uncommon sight: even well-loved brands like Urban Decay and Stila are often guilty of their over-shimmery eyeshadows dropping down.

Overall, Magic Carpet Ride is a pretty, well-packaged palette that houses four beautiful eyeshadows. It has its flaws, but makes up for them with a cohesive, summery aesthetic that I think many beauty addicts will love.

Availability: Limited edition this Spring/Summer at Sephora, $30 USD/$36 CAD.

P.S. If you wanted to pick anything up from the Cinderella collection, make sure to do it now (before Ariel launches)! Once Ariel is up, I have a feeling that Cinderella will be coming off shelves for good.

Additional photos & more »

CC Creams (Or, The Trend That Just Won’t Die)

Okay, I’ll admit it: I am really over this BB trend. It was a little tired even at its launch, and while it’s given us some fantastic products, I feel like most of them are duds.

Which would be fine! That could be said about anything. But, well – anything doesn’t stretch on for BBs, CCs, DDs… it’s time to let it go, dear Beauty Industry Gods. Nobody asked for a BB shampoo. This is the opposite of what we wanted.

Two Tidbits of Tech

Neither of which, unfortunately, are phasers set to stun. 

(They totally could be, though. I mean, look at those things!)

Look! Pretty Eyeliners.

Yeah, this section really didn’t need to exist as a standalone — it’s only one product, but in a ton of different shades. SEPHORA COLLECTION (typing that always makes me feel like an angry green rage monster) came out with a new formula, and–while this would not typically be exciting,–some of the shadees are pretty. Like, really, really pretty.

Check out that green! That beige! That pink! Eyeliners usually launch in black, brown, grey; maybe navy and plum if we’re lucky. These Waterproof Contour Eye Pencils ($9 USD/$11 CAD) are launching in thirty-five shades, though, which — well, that’s a pretty darn big step up from three or four.

So, okay. I’m maybe a little over-excited. But can you really fault me for it?