theNotice: a beauty blog

I’m all about multi-tasking when it comes to posts, so  I couldn’t miss this chance to share a green look with you: not only is it totally appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day, but it features Pantone’s 2013 Colour of the Year, Emerald.

Don’t miss this post on SSB for the full tutorial!

I kind of hate Pantone’s 17-5641 Emerald, to be totally honest, but I’m sucking it up for the time being. It’s not that I don’t love greens–I love a deep forest green, and I’m currently smitten with this grey-green polish–it’s just this green.

The Sephora + Pantone Universe Emerald collection is undoubtedly gorgeous on some, but I just feel like it looks a little obnoxious on my skintone, you know? A little too bright, a little too blue.

Bright lids & light lips

I don’t often opt for a brighter version of something, but I really preferred this one — as gorgeous as the red lip was, I liked the vibrance of the monotone lid & shimmery, mid-toned lip.

I layered the Sephora + Pantone Prismatic Shadow Block and Lightspeed Glitter Dust (both in Emerald) to get this eye, and I have to say: not really feeling either product.

The Shadow Block in particular really grated on my nerves; for a Sephora cream eyeshadow (two things I’ve come to expect a lot from), I thought it went on rather patchy and oily, and creased like a terror.

A darker lid & bold lip

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The product: Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm

↳ in 01 Curviest Caramel, 02 Chunkiest Chili, 03 Mightiest Maraschino, 04 Heftiest Hibiscus, 05 Plushest Punch, 06 Roomiest Rose, 07 Broadest Berry, and 08 Grandest Grape.

Psst: before you start in on this one, have you read our Chubby Stick Intense posts with full-face swatches & shade name mockery coverage?

The formula

Now, the shades and packaging of these are super-cute (of course), but what actually has me head over heels for them is the formula.

Rich, moisturizing, and shockingly pigmented, the Intenses apply with buildable colour and settle well into the lips — I find the colour “sets” once applied, going on a little slippery but wearing with more of a satin-gloss finish (and without any colour displacement!) after 5-10 minutes.

(Ingredients behind the cut.)

The wear

I do find the formula of these varies a bit by shade, but not enough that I’d recommend some wholeheartedly and others not at all. Chunkiest Chili is a little gritty, for instance, and Grandest Grape is a little more slippery — I prefer a drier formula, which I found in Curviest Caramel, Heftiest Hibiscus, and Plushest Punch. (The latter two have much more opaque colour).

On the whole, however, the Clinique Chubby Stick Intenses last much longer than the original Chubby Sticks, starting off glossier and wearing into more of a stain, visually. I don’t find they really stain the lips, though — a bonus, if you want to be able to switch between colours through the day.

I would put the wear time of these at 3-5 hours; I can make it to five with most of these as long as I’m not eating or drinking (or talking a lot), but I prefer to touch up around the three hour mark for more even colour and added moisture.

The shades

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense swatches – hover for shade name labels

I’ve been getting the most wear out of 01 Curviest Caramel, a cream-finish natural lip shade with the perfect yellow-pink balance. It pairs well with both everyday makeup and a smokey eye (the sign of a truly great nude!) 02 Chunkiest Chili, on the other hand, gets almost no love; the the silver glitter adds a frosty finish to this understated, reddish base.

Next, 03 Mightiest Maraschino is a bright, shimmer-free red leaning more strawberry than vamp — perfect for both a lively holiday lip and a carefree summer pout. The real showstopper here, though, is 04 Heftiest Hibiscus. I hate most orange hues, but the pink-touched tangerine-hibiscus hues coming off on this one are so undeniable that I can’t help but pull it out again & again.

Clinique Chubby Stick Intenses, swatched L-R: 01 Curviest Caramel,  02 Chunkiest Chili, 03 Mightiest Maraschino, 04 Heftiest Hibiscus, 05 Plushest Punch, 06 Roomiest Rose, 07 Broadest Berry, 08 Grandest Grape

I think 05 Plushest Punch is going to fly off the shelves; a bright bold pink, it’s a vibrant shade that’s still easy to pull off, grabbing attention without verging on “obnoxious”. 06 Roomiest Rose is more subdued; darker, but still bright, it’s shot through with subtle shimmer that gives lovely depth (minus the frostiness of Chunkiest Chili).

For a much more subdued (but still very noticeable) shade, 07 Broadest Berry is the Curviest Caramel version of a lip with colour: with brownish berry undertones, it’s very wearable, but still gives a lovely, defined lip.

Finally, I found 08 Grandest Grape to be a little slippery at first (though, like the others, it does settle into the lips!), but it’s absolutely lovely — still very wearable; more of a crushed-berry stain than a theatrically purple lipstick.

Don’t miss this post for full-face & lip swatches of the Intense lineup!

The verdict?

The press materials for the Chubby Stick Intenses promise “the perfect marriage between a moisturizing lip balm and a full coverage lip colour,” and I think they absolutely deliver. Silly names aside, the shade range offers a gorgeous mix of brights with a couple great “everyday” shades to fall back on, and the formula is both intensely comfortable and high-impact.

(What, did you seriously think I was going to make it through this entire review without using the word “intense”?)

A few other things I love about these: the twist-up packaging (no product is lost to sharpening) and the scent-free, paraben-free formula.

Availability: $16 USD/$19 CAD at Clinique (US), Sephora, Nordstrom, & Clinique counters.

Additional photos, ingredients, & more »

The product: Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm

↳ in 01 Curviest Caramel, 02 Chunkiest Chili, 03 Mightiest Maraschino, 04 Heftiest Hibiscus, 05 Plushest Punch, 06 Roomiest Rose, 07 Broadest Berry, and 08 Grandest Grape.

Clinique Chubby Sticks Intense: full product range (in numerical order)

The full review for these will be coming up next week, but I just had to slip them into the Week of Awesome — and understandably so, I think.

The new Chubby Stick Intenses pair everything I love about Chubby Sticks (comfort, packaging, and a scent-free formula) with everything I love about a great lipstick (wear time, colour, and intense pigment), and then adds some extra awesome (a gorgeous, smooth formula; colour that doesn’t move around; surprisingly great hydration.)

They’re… basically the best.

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense lip swatches

for reference

 01 Curviest Caramel / 02 Chunkiest Chili

03 Mightiest Maraschino / 04 Heftiest Hibiscus

05 Plushest Punch / 06 Roomiest Rose

07 Broadest Berry / 08 Grandest Grape

A few shades I think you’ll love

05 Plushest Punch

07 Broadest Berry

08 Grandest Grape

In the tubes & with the rest of a face

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense in 01 Curviest Caramel (my favourite Intense — will be featured in a look next week!)

Keep reading »

The product: Yves Saint Laurent Y Facettes Palette (Spring 2013) / Pure Chromatics Wet & Dry Eyeshadow Palette in N0.14

Every release has that one product that really makes the collection, whether or not it was intended to — Clarins’ face palettes tend to steal the show, for instance, and the same goes for shu’s eye palettes.

In YSL’s Spring 2013 Arty Stone collection, that product is their Y Facettes Palette, a limited-edition packaging of their Pure Chromatics Wet & Dry Eyeshadow Palette in No. 14. 

The formula & pigmentation

“The new Pure Chromatics harmony, in its jewel box of fine Y facets, shimmering like the reflections of a thousand sequins, captures the same intensity of light diffused in the prisms of precious gems.”

YSL Y Facettes, swatched dry on primed skin

YSL’s description of their Pure Chromatics (“a concentration of nacres and pigments much higher than traditional shadows,”) leads you to believe they’ll be densely pigmented, but I just couldn’t get as much colour out of these as I had expected to be able to without foiling.

Dry on unprimed skin, they’re barely whispers of colour; dry on primed skin, they’re medium-sheer and very shimmery. Foiled, they’re much more intense, with just the right amount of pigment for the shimmer.

Had they not been described as such, however, I would have been quite happy with their level of pigmentation. While not breathtakingly intense, it works wonderfully with the aesthetic of the palette, translating onto the eyes with plenty of colour without taking away from the highly faceted finish.

Point-extracted colour samples from the swatch photos: as “real” as you can get!

The shades

Every time I swatch this palette, I love it a little more: the shades, like a handful of sugar-coated pastels, all grown up, aren’t ones that I would normally drift toward…

Somehow, though, that doesn’t make me like them any less.

These shadows were inspired by malachite (“an intense, profound green,”) fluorite (“a powdery, iridescent rose,”) amethyst (“a fresh, smoky violet,”) and azurite (“a metallic, lustrous blue.”)

YSL Y Facettes / Pure Chromatics No. 14 Eyeshadow Palette, swatched wet

A description of each, labelled under its muse:

• Malachite: a very “fresh” green; sheer pigment with a heaping of finely-milled on-colour and slightly-brighter-green microshimmer.
• Fluorite: the most sheer of the four, this pink base is almost translucent — but the microshimmer and on-tone shards flash brightly, keeping it far from unnoticeable.
• Amethyst: the most pigmented, this smokey violet is my favourite of the bunch, and has a frost finish (shimmery pigments so small and uniform that none of them flash out separately).
• Azurite: “standard” shimmery medium blue with silvery-blue microshimmer. This one would be boring on its own, but is the perfect compliment to the rest of the palette.

The verdict?

At $55 USD, I would absolutely recommend this palette — I didn’t like it at first, but by the time I had used it for a few looks, I was crazy about it. My sister, who on sight told me she thought it was horrendous, had the same reaction: one super-easy eye look and she was head over heels.

For those of you who aren’t quite sold (after all, $74 CAD is hard to swallow), stay tuned and keep an open mind, okay? I have a look coming up on Monday showcasing this palette, and I think you might be surprised.  

(If you can’t wait… here’s a preview. Follow here to stay up to date with previews, etc. on Instagram!)

A very cool applicator, the ingredients, & more photos »

The product: Yves Saint Laurent Crème de Blush Cream Blush in No. 7 Rose Quartz & No. 8 Red Agate

There are a few YSL products that you hear a lot about: their iconic Touche Éclat, of course, or their brilliant Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stains. I’ve been poking around in more of the line with their Spring 2013 Arty Stone collection recently, though, and I have to say — YSL? Not a one-trick pony.

The Crème de Blush formula

YSL’s cream blush formula is whipped and velvety, more a mousse than a heavy cream or gel. The lightweight texture applies smoothly (“like silk,” as promised!) with fingertips or a foundation brush, and dries down to a radiant powder finish.

These blushes aren’t super-pigmented when swatched, but they have more than enough colour to them. I find the pigmentation works in perfect harmony with the texture, delivering a sheer or intense cheek with very little fuss. 

These blushes are lightly perfumed, and gorgeously so — easily one of my favourite-smelling blush formulas! (What’s yours?)

YSL Crème de Blush swatches: Rose Quartz, Red Agate

No. 7 Rose Quartz

Rose Quartz is a lively, bright pink with cool undertones and just the slightest hint of yellow in the base. I have a makeup look coming up soon for you featuring this blush, and I have to say — it is the perfect pink for the season.

The velvety finish has a hint of radiance (the super-tiny microshimmer is at times so hard discern that I’m almost convinced it’s fairy dust), and it does a wonderful job of giving the cheek a glowing, “lifted” effect.

YSL Crème de Blush swatches in 07 Rose Quartz & 08 Red Agate, heavily/lightly

No. 8 Red Agate

Surprisingly enough, the brick-red warm undertones of Red Agate are wearable on more than just warm complexions — despite my very pale, cool-toned skin, I had no problem adding this to my everyday makeup routine. While Rose Quartz has a strong blue undertone, Red Agate delivers a much more natural-looking flush, which may appeal to the more subdued makeup-wearer.

I love the gorgeous, shimmer-free (but somehow still startlingly radiant) finish (it must be fairy dust), but be careful with this one! The same pigments that create this lovely warm red turn into a “fevered” cheek if you overdo it, though the colour is well worth the caution if you ask me.

The verdict?

As much as I enjoy these blushes, I find it hard to recommend them at the $52 CAN price tag — even at $38 USD, they’re pretty expensive. That said, if you love a cream-to-powder blush, these are a great product: the packaging makes me think of super-chic ice cubes, and the colours are beautiful!

Find them at: Nordstrom & Sephora online; $38 US/$52 CAN.

Keep reading for ingredients & more photos! »