theNotice: a beauty blog

The one-day pre-sale is here. Will you be trying Benefit’s newest powder? (I’m waiting ’till I can see it in-store first – but it does certainly look pretty!)

Find Hervana on the interwebs…

• Purchase links through Sephora and Benefit, and
• Reviews, pics, and swatches on Temptalia, Makeup and Beauty Blog, and Beaut.ie.

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? I’m loving the swatches that I’ve seen so far, but I don’t know about $28 (& even more in Canada). It looks like a great blush, but not a phenomenal one! Benefit, I dare you to prove me wrong.

I believe Hervana comes out “officially” in January (Dec 26th for Sephora), but please correct me if you have more up-to-date info!

The product: tokidoki Arte Palette in Vegas

The eyeshadows: The tokidoki Vegas palette includes four eyeshadows, described on the Sephora site as “pearl white, pearl grey, iridescent purple, and pearl dark purple.”

The pearl white is pretty standard (if any of you picked up last year’s Sephora BI birthday set, with Aspen Summit, I’m pretty sure it’s similar), and the iridescent purple is fairly “normal,” too – reminiscent of FaceFront Retro-Robotic Violetta, a shimmery mid-violet with red (rather than blue) undertones. (Think MAC Star Violet, but more pigmented.) They’re good shadows, medium pigmentation and blendable formulas, but they won’t blow you out of the water.

The other two shades (the two on the right), though…

In the top right is the pearl grey, which is just – wow. It doesn’t look all that special, but it swatches absolutely gorgeously. For a grey, it has quite a bit of yellow pearl (and violet-y undertones); the end result is sort of… mushroomy. I know, it doesn’t make a ton of sense right now, but just – look at the swatches! (It’s prettier visually than textually, and–like many great taupes–even prettier in person.)

And, finally, the dark purple. It’s not as unique as the grey, but it’s still well worth having. It’s a bit boring in theory, but it’s perfect in execution! I’m sure my fellow violet-lovers will understand when I say that purples are often pretty in the pan, but end up swatching too black, or too blue, or just too boring, you know? This one is a truer purple than most, though, which is definitely something I can appreciate.

tokidoki Vegas palette swatches – four eyeshadows, then the blush heavily/lightly

The blush: Described as a “soft bronze pink,” the blush in the Vegas palette made me think of NARS Orgasm right off the bat. Upon comparison, though, I can see that I was way off: they’re far from dupes, with Orgasm being more shimmery, less pigmented, and quite a lot more peach. More importantly, though, I’m a little concerned for the Sephora+tokidoki team – because whoever wrote up the blusher description is clearly struggling with language comprehension.

All of the three words apply, but it’s not a “soft bronze pink” blush. Colour-wise, the blush is pink. Period. It’s a strong, clear pink, and it happens to contain a healthy dose of gold shimmer, but that doesn’t interrupt the overwhelming pink (read: non-bronze)-iness of the shade. The formula is quite soft, so make sure to “dab” your brush to pick up colour; don’t sweep or push.

But, the blush, overall – it’s soft (in terms of texture), and bronze (in terms of shimmer), and pink (in terms of shade). However, it’s certainly not a “soft bronze pink”!

Top row, L-R: Clarins Miami Pink, Clinique Smoldering Plum

Bottom row, L-R: NARS Orgasm, tokidoki Vegas blush, generic 10 palette (leftmost shade on the top row of the palette)

The verdict?

For a measly $10USD/$12CAD, I cannot recommend this palette enough. The quality of both the eyeshadows and the blush is quite surprising, and though I’m very much not into the tokidoki packaging and branding, I’m willing to forgive it. I like the thin, lightweight cardboard packaging, I love the shades included, and the price tag & paraben-free formula are just the cherries on top!

I’m hoping that they’ll add another few Arte Palettes to the tokidoki lineup, but it would be nice to see a matte blush in the next one – this shimmery pink is a bit too in-your-face for me. Nonetheless, it’s a great, cheap palette, and it’ll hopefully make its way into quite a few stockings this December!

Ingredients and additional photos »

The product: FaceFront Cream Illuminator in Rising Sun and Gold Rush

I was a bit iffy about these illuminators from the get-go, but I gave them a try nonetheless. No matter how I wore them, though – sparingly or sheerly, high on the cheekbones or mixed into my cheek colour, – I just couldn’t get the an appropriate effect out of either shade.

I’m not crazy about the formula of these Cream Illuminators; on one hand, they feel a little greasy when being applied, but on the other, they somehow seem too “solid” to blend out easily. Which – I mean, hello, physics. Aren’t greasy things supposed to have more slip?

If I was behind the formula (which I’m not) and I had to guess the problem (which I don’t), I’d say that it’s probably an issue of a a slightly skewed silicone-to-carnauba ratio. Actually, I’d probably recommend taking out the carnauba altogether. Maybe blending in some organic coconut oil; include it in a summer collection and really play up the coconut appeal. Y’know. If someone asked. (Which they didn’t.)

Gold Rush

Rising Sun

Gold Rush, described as a “super pearled white gold cream with bright 24K-colored refleks [sic],” runs a too green to impart a believable luminosity. Rising Sun, on the other hand, is supposed to be a “warm peachy-gold withs subtle golden reflecks,” but I feel like it got sidetracked in transit, missing the turnoff for Peachtown and ending up in Copperville. Perhaps running over a wild Subtlemon on its way.

In other news, I am starting to doubt FaceFront’s ability to discern what is gold and what is not. These, as you may have guessed, are definitely not.

The large flecks of glitter (in both, but particularly in Gold Rush) transfer and migrate throughout the day, and are easily identifiable even without a 20x magnifying mirror or direct sunlight. Perhaps on someone with strong olive undertones, a medium-dark skintone, and tiny, perfect pores, they would work… but I am none of those things, and quite frankly, neither are most human beings.

FaceFront Tokyo Future swatches: Gold Rush

FaceFront Tokyo Future swatches: Rising Sun

The verdict?

Though they’re just $11 each, I can’t find a single thing I like about either of these illuminators. (Well, I guess, the formula is scent- and paraben-free. That’s good, right?) They’re just extremely disappointing, in general, but the fact that they’re FaceFront (who have created some of my absolute favourite shades in the past) makes it even worse.

It’s sort of like – well, okay. Let’s say that you read about a new lipgloss that was coming out in three months. And you got all excited, and you waited, and you waited, and you checked out the promo photos and went yes, this is the one, and it was supposed to be a really lovely sheer plummy-rose with just a subtle, ethereal gold sheen to it.

And then it came out, and you bought it online, and you waited, and you waited, and you waited some more, and finally, at long last! it arrived on your doorstep and you unboxed it AND IT WAS GREEN WITH SPARKLES AND THE TEXTURE OF ROSIN.

This? This feels feels a bit like that.

Ingredients and additional photos »

The product: Clinique Gradient Powder Blusher in Black Honey

Ironically, the product I was most excited for in Clinique’s Fall 2011 The New Black collection ended up being the one I liked the least. Which, okay, before you freak out – that doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it! I just, er, liked it less than expected?

I think the reason I wasn’t crazy about the Black Honey blusher is that it has a lot less of a gradient than I’d hoped it would. It’s still lovely - a bit plum, a bit brown, and a tiny bit peach - but it’s just… more uniform than you may think. As a cheek colour, the shade is far more universal than the traditional Black Honey lip colour (which I know can look rather “blah” on some skin tones), and the faint shimmer helps add more universality still.

Left: sponge pulled horizontally down Black Honey and horizontally on the skin, to display the gradient.

Right: sponge pulled horizontally down the blusher, but vertically down the skin, to display the blended effect.

(Did that make any sense whatsoever?)

I’m usually not a fan of shimmer in my cheek products, but these fuchsia flashes are so finely-milled – you really have to get right up to your skin (within 3-4″) and stare it down in order to pick out the shimmers. It definitely wears as a matte, not only in terms of all-day colour but also in the way it sits on your skin: the smooth, velvety texture buffs right in, and beauty junkies who typically avoid shimmery blushes (usually those with oilier skin or large pores) need not fret with this one.

I love the chic, sculpted cheek that this blusher creates so easily, but I hate the price tag – with taxes, it’s over $30 in both Canada and the US, and I feel like that’s a bit much for a Clinique blusher. You are paying for the gradient effect, though, so I suppose that it’s worth it if you’re really into gradient products! (This is my first, but I do think  it looks quite pretty in the pan.)

Black Honey blusher, applied

The verdict?

Ooh, I feel like I never reach verdicts anymore! I’ve been far too fickle as of late.

I was actually really impressed by the Black Honey Gradient Powder Blusher, and I love the effect it gives – that perfect, low-maintenance sculpted cheek. However, it would have been nice to have a more pronounced gradient, and I’d advise caution in application: particularly on fair skintones, I can see this getting a bit muddy if you tend to be heavy-handed.

If you fall in love with the shade, though, don’t hesitate! It really is a lovely product, all in all, and it won’t be around much longer. I haven’t been able to find a dupe thus far – I know there has to be one out there, somewhere, but Larie and I were just completely unable to track one down!

Keep reading »

The product: MAC Powder Blush in Fever (Matte)

So, weird little confession coming up. When I’m toeing the line between “vaguely healthy” and “deliriously feverish,” I actually look… healthy. Seriously, it’s like, the only time I ever have a “healthy flush.”

(A little less sickly and I’m just a weird interpretation of pale; a little more and I look like someone’s got me on a stretching rack. Probably because my brain is being held captive on a stretching rack by the flu.)

Where was I going with this?

Oh, right. MAC Fever! And the fact that it’s quite pretty.

MAC Fever Powder Blush swatches

Consider it a strange personality quirk, but I’m really into wearing tiny amounts of really pigmented products, rather than normal amounts of medium-sheer ones. With blushes like Fever, it’s just so easy to get that flushed-from-within glow, because you need so little that they wear like a stain - that is, you can’t see evidence of blusher on your cheeks, no matter how up-close-and-personal you get, and they just last and last and last.

Fever is a really intense, matte raspberry red. MAC describes it as a reddish-burgundy, but I’d go more along the lines of… I don’t know; a brownish raspberry. (Raspberry, oxidized!) It’s honestly just – god, the pigmentation is ridiculous, and the shade! It’s utterly perfect for that expanded-capillaries, blood-beneath-your-skin effect, and the amount of pigment (not to mention, the depth of colour) means it’ll show up on pretty much everyone.

Keep reading… the review’s not nearly done yet! »