theNotice: a beauty blog

The product: Clarins Ombre Minérale 4 Couleurs in 10 Iris Blossom

There are a lot of gorgeous (seriously; gorgeous) products in this Spring’s Clarins Rouge Eclat collection, but I have to say — Iris Blossom? Total. Stunner.

I know I promised this review ages ago, so without further adieu, I hope you enjoy the post!

The formula

Like the other Clarins Eye Quartets, Iris Blossom contains four eyeshadows with fairly hard-textured formulas. One is a sheer liner/crease shade that builds up easily and foils well; one is a translucent shimmer; and two (of course) are smooth, gorgeous mid-tones. 

Again, as with the other quads, I found Iris Blossom very easy to create both day and night looks from — things like foiling (or focusing more on the bottom two shades) are great for adding drama, and the mix of tones and textures add a fantastic amount of depth to any look created.

See this quad used in a look here! Right here!

Clarins Iris Blossom quad, swatched in indirect sunlight (dry on primed skin)

The shades

To start with the top two shades, this gorgeous wheat-y taupe (which is to say, more yellow and brown than violet and grey) is perfect for creating a neutral lid — it’s very smooth, and delivers the most pigment out of these four shades.

As its shimmery shade (great for highlighting the inner corner or adding interest to the middle of the lid!), Iris Blossom contains an extremely sheer white, packed with shimmer. It’s still complex enough to add some interesting texture, but doesn’t have any shards of glitter — I like it, but I think it could be better.

Clarins Iris Blossom quad, swatched in indirect sunlight with flash

Then, for the depth and drama, we have a stunning violet with blue reflects… but warmer undertones. Without flash or foiling, it’s much more subdued (see the top swatch), but the temperature and shimmer difference really makes the shade pop! with movement. It has good pigmentation and texture, but isn’t quite as buttery as the taupe.

Finally, as with the other Clarins quads, we have a dark shade (perfect for use as liner or in creating a smokey eye). In this case, it’s a sheer, matte charcoal, and as always, I love it — Clarins’ darkest shades are always quite hard, making them easy to work with but still leaving room for foiling or layering.

The verdict?

At $42 USD/$42 CAD (look at that gorgeous lack of a price difference!), I would absolutely recommend Iris Blossom if you’re looking to get into colour, but you’re wary of going too far with it on your first try.

I was asked last week about what would make a great first Clarins quad, and I think it varies by person and need. To answer the question in context, though: while this one doesn’t show off just how awesome those sheer shimmers can be, I still do think it would make a great “first Clarins!” if you have a soft spot for violets and taupes.

(I know I do).

Keep reading! »

Wow, okay, this look is really late. (I think I promised it for… Monday?)

All the same, though, here’s an easy violet smokey eye–seriously, this is super easy–eye done with the Clarins Iris Blossom Eye Quartet from the Rouge Eclat collection.

Don’t miss this post at She Said Beauty for the full tutorial!

Done first as a Valentine’s Day makeup look, this Iris Blossom-based eye creates a soft, luminous “haze” of violet around the eyes — honestly, you could do this with your fingertips. (But please don’t. Brushes are great.)

A bit of sculpting to the cheek, a neutral lip (yes, that’s Clinique Curviest Caramel!)…

Just by pulling the violet shade of the palette through the entire lid, then adding the shimmery white in the inner corner (for a little bit of texture & glow) and buffing in a tiny, tiny bit of the charcoal shade for definition, you can create an incredibly seasonal makeup look without adding any harsh lines or contours to the face.

It’s just so easy, you know? Add a flick of lengthening (not volumizing) mascara, and ta-da! you’re already done.

I’m a huge fan of really light, translucent eye looks, so (of course) I loved this one. No, it’s not the most exciting makeup you’ll ever wear, but it’s pretty hard to go wrong with something like this.

Especially when it makes you feel as ready for Spring as this look does — the Clarins Palette Eclat Face Blush & Powder smells amazing!

Shop the Look

Clarins Rouge Eclat:

• Clarins Ombre Minérale 4 Couleurs Eye Quartet Mineral Palette Long Lasting in 10 Iris Blossom ($42 USD/$42 CAD)
• Clarins Palette Eclat Face & Blush Powder ($35 USD/$40 CAD)
• Clarins Poudre Multi-Eclat Mineral Loose Powder in 01 Light ($35 USD/$47 CAD)

The dressings:

• Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm in 01 Curviest Caramel ($16 USD/$19 CAD)
• Senna Voluptulash Mascara ($22 USD)
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Bold & Beautiful Kit, Vol. 1 Bold Brows ($36 USD)

Keep reading! »

The product: SEPHORA COLLECTION Colorful Eyeshadow Custom Palette Case

As you may have guessed from Twitter, Instagram, or even this New This Week post, I’m having a bit of a Sephora Collection “moment” right now. They put out a new eyeshadow range recently, complete with a brilliant key-and-pan palette system, and I could not be more impressed by it.

I’m most excited about the eyeshadows in this range (coming up next week), but I thought I’d start off with a post on the system itself, just to acquaint you with it.

The Colorful System & Palette

The concept behind the Colorful Eyeshadow range is pretty simple, but I have to give the execution props. The palettes are sturdy, easy to open/close, and each slot is magnetised (including the one for the key, which is cleverly levered out by pushing down on the non-magnetized end.)

I think the key is what really makes the Sephora system stand out for me; the simple, sleek too makes it hard to gouge out your eyeshadows by accident without really adding any weight or size.

(Also worth noting is that unlike somebody, Sephora hasn’t chosen to annoyingly suspend their pans in half their packaging when in palettes!)

Worth noting is that the palettes are a little heavy, what with the large mirrors, but you could always just throw the singles into your makeup bag for something lighter — each shadow is sold in a case, which I think is brilliant! (Think more MUFE, less MAC: you won’t have to choose between singles and pans.)

The Sizing

Sephora Collection pan size vs. MAC, NARS, MUFE eyeshadow singles

The Sephora Collection Colorful Eyeshadows are 33mm pans, smaller than Make Up For Ever but larger than MAC. I can see why each brand wants to use its own pan size, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have liked them to fit in with one of the other brands!

I think, optimally, I’d have liked to see smaller pans and slightly lower prices — who really needs that much eyeshadow all at once, you know?

The Pricing

The Colorful system is priced as follows:

• Colorful Eyeshadows: $13 USD/$16 CAD
  • Just to note, this is $186 USD per ounce; MAC’s singles are $300, Urban Decay’s are $360, NARS’ are $343, and MUFE’s are $250 (all USD per oz).
• Colorful Eyeshadow Custom Palette Case, 3-shade palette: $12 USD/$14 CAD
• Colorful Eyeshadow Custom Palette Case, 6-shade palette: $14 USD/$17 CAD

The verdict?

I know this post doesn’t get into the nitty-gritty of the shadows (reviews and swatches of these six coming up next week), but I love the Colorful Eyeshadow system. The shadows I’ve tried so far have been really impressive, especially from a house brand, and I’m smitten with the pan-or-palette options.

In a word? I am reluctant to use just one, but if I had to: awesome.

Availability: Sephora, of course!

For the launch, the 3-pans are free with the purchase of 2 eyeshadows, and the 6-pans are free with the purchase of 4 — it’s a USA-only offer, but I thought I’d give it a mention! (No word on if/when the deal will be over, sorry

Keep reading! »

To start off The Week of Awesome: a “moody pastels” makeup look with the YSL Arty Stone (Spring 2013) collection.

This was initially designed to be a basic Spring tutorial for She Said Beauty, but after pulling out all of the products I wanted to use, I realized that if I just grabbed one or two more YSL products… it would be all YSL.

So, I mean, I had to go for it (of course)!

Getting the Eyes: Y Facettes Palette 

The eyes, for all you might expect otherwise, are actually pretty easy. Prime, then start off with YSL Waterproof Eye Pencil in 01 Black Ink and smudge it up from your waterline. Apply the smokey violet from the gorgeous Y Facettes Palette through the lid, then foil the dark blue into the outer corner and blend.

Pat the sheer pink into the inner corner, add the green to the lower lashline (the pointed rubber applicator is perfect for this!), and finish with a flick of Black Ink and YSL Shocking Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils.

(For the record, I hate Shocking. A lot. It smells amazing, but always tries to leave me with five clumpy eyelash-sticks poking aggressively from my eyes!)

Read the full tutorial here on SSB.

As I mentioned on the Y Facettes review, I copied this look onto my sister last week. And ,after she got over being horrified by her first glance at the palette (the pinks! the greens! the blues!), she loved the way it looked on her lids, too.

I swear, this palette works magic when translated onto the eyes!

hello, enormous photo of my face. (sorry.)

Keep reading! There is still so much more awesome to be had. »

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 »