theNotice: a beauty blog

The product: L’Occitane Immortelle Brightening Mist

So, I wrote a fifteen page paper earlier this week on prefrontal cortical damage and its intersection with tactical communications, mostly between the hours of eleven at night on Tuesday and two in the afternoon on Wednesday.

I’m still kind of dazed.

Despite the lack of sleep I’ve been getting this term, though, I think I’ve been presenting a pretty glowy base… but maybe my perpetually-dry skin just has me biased. Either way, L’Occitane’s limited edition facial spray has been high, high up on the list of things I’ve been loving!

What it is: Part of L’Occitane’s Immortelle Brightening range, the Brightening Mist is an alcohol-free toner & make-up setting spray. It’s enriched–of course–with floral water from the Immortelle flower, an anti-ageing “golden sun” (Helichrysum arenarium) sourced by L’Occitane from the island of Corsica.

Also formulated with Bellis Perennis (a common European species of daisy), the range is made to increase collagen production, protect against free radicals, and reduce the appearance of pigmentation marks.

A few April (and April-ish) picks

– LUSH Big Solid Conditioner. Fragranced with vanilla, jasmine, and tonka bean, this solid conditioner uses sea salt to add volume to fine hair… & comes free of parabens, silicones, and packaging. $9.95 CAD/100g.

– Benefit Fake Up Hydrating Crease-Control Concealer. Like a lot of these spring picks, Fake Up offers more than just colour: silicone- and paraben-free, these sticks (which come in three shades) bring light-diffusing hydration to the table, too. $24 USD/$29 CAD.

– Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in I Lilac You. How pretty is this 7-in-1 varnish? The reformulated Sally Hansen Complete polishes come in a terrifying 49 shades, and are made to be your base coat, strengthener, growth treatment, colour, and top coat, all in one. $8.95 CAD.

– eos Smooth Sphere Organic Lip Balm Duo. With one best-selling fan favourite (the pink Strawberry Sorbet) & one set-exclusive flavour (the elusive purple Passion Fruit), this is one set that you can’t miss… if you can find it before it sells out, that is. $5.99 USD/$7.99 CAD.

– Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupté Shine in Pink in Confidence. YSL’s new Rouge Volupté Shines may be sheerer than most makeup addicts would like, but I love the vibe of this paraben-free dusty pale pink. $34 USD/$39 CAD.

What’s on your radar for the spring?

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 »

How cute is this? Sephora Collection Pastel Pop Color Adapt Blush, $14 USD/$17 CAD. pH-adjusting products are always such a gimmick, and yet, they always manage to hook me.

This one’s a sheer pink for the lips and cheeks, with açaí oil, cherry extract, and safflower seed oil, and (more importantly) without parabens or silicones.

The packaging is pretty fun, right? Either that or my judgement is being seriously impaired by my recent dearth of sleep.

The product: shu uemura ultime8 sublime beauty cleansing oil (unmask edition packaging)

The collection

To celebrate a classic (and one that’s been on shelves for 46 years, at that!), shu uemura have released their top-selling cleansing oil in limited edition “unmask” packaging – a far cry from the minimalist bottles in the permanent range.

From left to right, we have the ultim8 cleansing oil (reviewed here), the fresh pore clarifying gentle cleansing oil (for pore concerns), the high performance balancing cleansing oil (for all skin types), the cleansing beauty oil premium A/O (for ageing skin), and finally, the whitefficient clear gentle cleansing oil (for brightening).

ultim8 cleansing oil

Created to target global skin concerns, the ultim8 cleansing oil is something of the crème de la crème of cleansing oils. Its eight oils are infused with botanical ingredients to fight any of the skin concerns you may have, and shu uemura describe it as a “cashmere-like cocooning oil.”

I’ve tried two of shu’s cleansing oils so far  (the other was their A/O formula), and this one has been my favourite. Lighter than the A/O while still feeling comforting and a little weighty, I much prefer the scent of this one — and, of course, its cleansing powers don’t disappoint.

As a blogger, one of the things I struggle with the most is getting super-pigmented swatches off of my forearms on swatch days. It doesn’t sound like much of a feat, but trust me: with very pale, dry skin, my arms pick up colour like crazy.

Cleansing oils aren’t my favourite way to remove makeup from my arms (you need a sink, and I’ve yet to find one that’s truly cost-effective), but when I have a lot of products to go through in very little time, the shu oils have been my go-to. Without even needing a cleansing cloth to scrub with, they remove product more quickly and gently than anything else I own — including bi-phase makeup removers and micellar waters!

Keep reading! »