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Photowall review (framed print), plus another quarantine makeup look

April 29, 2020

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For someone who loves working on house stuff, I sure don’t review house stuff very often. So, when the opportunity to do a Photowall review came up, I jumped at the chance. A nice, big print with a natural wood frame and matte gallery paper to hang amongst all my lunar studies? Count me in.

» Order from Photowall before June 10th, 2020 to get free shipping and 25% off with code “thenoticepw2020” «

A quick, no-fuss, budget-friendly Photowall review

Photowall is an online Swedish company. They do prints, posters, wallpaper, and DIY canvases. Their custom print canvases in particular are interesting: they ship rolled up in a tube to cut costs, and you have to assemble the canvas frame on your own.

I know that I’m picky about my canvases (I want that wide!!! base!!!), so I oped for a framed 40″ x 28″ print instead. The product shipped ready-to-hang for easy decorating; it has three ridged hangers on its sealed back. Photowall uses a high-quality fake glass front that ships well. It’s a thick, UV-protected acrylic that looks almost imperceptibly different from the real thing. Don’t let other acrylic glass turn you off from it: this stuff is way nicer (and less easily scratched) than what’s offered at IKEA.

Overall, I’m extremely happy with my Photowall print. It arrived quickly without a customs charge, and took mere minutes to hang. Most of their print options weren’t to my taste, but I really liked a few of them: Paper Wave, I Feel a Sin II, and Succulent, which is shown here. The options, overall, are more suited to my needs than something you’d buy at a home goods store — I often find that prints and canvases at shops like Bouclair and HomeSense are grainy or pixelated, and that isn’t an issue that I had while putting together my Photowall review.

(I may have to use the Photowall sale code below on I Feel a Sin.)

As a final note, the brand’s prints come on acid-free matte paper from Hahnemühle. They’re made to order to reduce waste, and use biodegradable printing ink.

Use the Photowall discount code “thenoticepw2020” for free shipping and 25% off before June 10th, 2020.

These greens are fake.

And a makeup look to pair

I was so smitten with my Photowall print (and, okay, so frustrated with my inability to get a good photograph of it) that I put together a green makeup look to pair with my Photowall review.

Or, at least, I tried to.

But, of course, I was gripped by my current association with warm browns; my love for violet washes; gold shimmer. I was gripped, as much as I hate to say it, by the allure of red eyeshadow. So while I started out with the best, greenest intentions, I instead put together a warm-toned smokey eye, and tinted it green over a matter of seconds in Photoshop just so that I could air my grievances (with myself) with you.

Can you counterfeit lashes?!

The most disappointing part of this post isn’t that I couldn’t stick to the colour green, or that I couldn’t photograph this glossy plexiglass frame. It is, in fact, my favourite lashes: the Kiss Little Black Dress lashes. I’ve been in love with these for years, and I’m disappointed to say that my last batch of them… sucked.

The new lashes are uniform without any density at the base, sticking straight out in a straight line. You can’t tell which lash is the right and which is the left. They flatten out my eyes when applied, making them look long and droopy.

Unfortunately, I did two restocks and tossed them into the same pile at once, so I’m not sure which was the culprit. One was from London Drugs, a wonderful western Canadian drugstore that has been doing a fantastic job of quick delivery and house drop-offs during the pandemic. The other—and this is the one that I assume is at fault—was from Amazon, which I’ve heard whispers of stocking counterfeit lashes before.

So, if anyone in Edmonton has a need for super-uniform false lashes that really don’t add any depth to your makeup look, let me know, I guess. They’re ready for a porch pickup anytime.

Products used

SKIN: Guerlain L’Essentiel 00N with Marcelle Face Powder

HIGHLIGHT: Maybelline Master Chrome in 02 Metallic Rose, Sleek Highlighting Elixir in Poppin’ Bottles, MAC Blanc Type, and Clinique Wear Everywhere Greys (shimmery white). I went ham with my highlight in this one.

BLUSH: Clinique Strawberry Fudge Holiday Compact

SHADOW: Sleek Makeup When the Sun Goes Down Eyeshadow Palette, Clarins 09 Odyssey Wet & Dry Eyeshadow Palette (shimmer)

LASHES: Kiss Lashes in Little Black Dress with Marcelle Precision Liquid Eyeliner and Duo Lash Glue in Dark Tone

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Disclaimer: Photowall supplied this print in exchange for a short review. I went, as usual, a little overboard.

Tags: /4. Makeup looks, Eyes, Home, Product Photos

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Maybelline Master Chrome review: “Metallic Rose” with swatches and Catrice Badass Bae

April 16, 2020

Rae Chen

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I’ve been going through a weird phase on theNotice where I haven’t been sent anything but red eyeshadow in like… six months. I can’t figure out why. I hate red eyeshadow, and look awful in orange; there is nothing about my face AT ALL that suggests that it would work well with warm tones at all in any capacity, and yet. And yet! And yet things like this Maybelline Master Chrome review get me by.

Products like the Master Chrome (the jelly, not the pressed version) speak to my soul. They’re so easy: shimmery and sheer, with a squishy texture that just makes my heart sigh a little every time I use them.

Maybelline Master Chrome in Metallic Rose

I have always been a huge sucker for texture, and Maybelline knows how to deliver. From their bouncy blushes (does anyone else remember those??) their super-buttery ColorSensational eyeshadow quads (oh man, the days when pigment was a rarity in the drugstore!), they’ve been pretty reliably great when it comes to cool textures.

Sure, their products tend to follow trends instead of set them — but I honestly don’t mind. I don’t need someone to invent the concept of a jelly highlighter; I just need someone to make one that isn’t four gazillion dollars.

Maybelline Master Chrome review: Metallic Rose

Maybelline Master Chrome review: Metallic Rose swatched heavily, then lightly. Next to the Maybelline Cheek Heat Sheer Gel blushers in 15 Nude Burn, 20 Rose Flush, and 30 Corail Ardent, which look super beautiful but unfortunately contain a high amount of silicones!

Maybelline Cheek Heat (15, 20, and 30) gel blush

Metallic Rose is a reflective liquid-gel that’s densely packed with micro-fine gold and rose gold shimmer. It’s pigmented and easy to blend, with a quick-setting formula that dries to a satin finish.

I’ve had liquid highlighters before that I’ve preferred, but this one is more wearable. Okay, so it’s not bouncy like jello, and it doesn’t have a duochrome finish, but it dries to a skin finish that catches the light, and that’s pretty nice. It’s not at all sticky, which is a common problem in Instagram-bait liquid highlighters — products that never set look great on camera, but smear like crazy in real life!

Honestly, the Maybelline Master Chrome formula is most similar to this Sleek Highlighting Elixir, from my stash, despite the different packaging. Both are shimmery liquids with high viscosity, but the Maybelline is a little chunkier, and neater to use.

Catrice Badass Bae Eyeshadow Palette

Okay, so: here’s the thing. I hate warm-toned eyeshadows, but this palette is otherwise pretty dope. It’s pigmented and creamy, with shades that pair and blend together like a dream. Each co-ordinated eyeshadow applies with extremely respectable intensity over a primer (no foiling needed!) There’s even a good amount of mattes in this palette: Badass and Clapback are great for cut creases and buffed edges, while Rebel, Lit AF, RBF, and Bye Felicia offer a matte finish in medium tones.

Catrice Badass Bae review

Of these 12 shades, there isn’t a single dud in sight. There also isn’t, however, anything that really stands out for me. Break Rules comes close, with a creamy texture and intensely shimmery finish, but that’s about it. Everything else is just… good. Not special, not unique, just good. I’ll talk more about that in a second, but first: “just good” is honestly a pretty great achievement. Do you know how rarely you can honestly say that every single shade in an eyeshadow palette is good?! I’ll give you a hint — the answer is almost never.

Sure, “good” isn’t “great.” But “good” means that there’s a brand out there that you can rely on in a pinch; that you can count on when you need a cool new colour or a cohesive new eyeshadow look. It means that you can nab a special release before it sells out everywhere, even if there aren’t any reviews up yet, because you can be pretty sure that you’ll enjoy whatever it is that you end up with.

At $14.99 USD/$16.99 CAD, “good” is pretty damn good.

Catrice Badass Bae Eyeshadow Palette review with Maybelline Master Chrome highlight

How to make your makeup stand out on Instagram

I was chatting with a longtime reader of theNotice who brought up something that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. (If you think you’ve been reading theNotice for a long time, trust me: you got nothin’ on this girl. We go wayyy back to the late 2000s!) In an age where Instagram is your biggest seller, a lot of products end up looking the same. Makeup brands design for the ‘gram now, and that means a lot of warm tones, melty textures, and instant-results products.

We don’t buy red eyeshadows because red looks great on a lot of people. Red, in fact, looks terrible on most of us, and amazing on a very small sliver of the population. But warm tones track on Instagram. Creators get more likes when they post warm-toned images, which means that brands see better engagement, and then even more warm tones on the shelves a year down the line. We’re being sold red eyeshadows not because we want red, but because red gets more likes.

How strange is that?

And it’s not just red eyeshadows. Interesting textures look incredibly satisfying on camera. You want to know how to make your highlighter look amazing in a five-second clip? Make it move. Turn it into a format that can drip, swish, and swirl. The same phenomenon that gives us moody red eyeshadow palettes also delivers to us jelly highlighters; layered boba drinks; pop-off acrylic nails. It delivers to us skincare with gold flakes, and fast-fashion shirts that drape just right, and, yes, $15 eyeshadow palettes that defy the odds to deliver rich, creamy colour in every shade.

The phenomenon isn’t bad, and I’d argue that it’s actually very natural. It’s just… odd! Read more

Tags: /4. Makeup looks, Eyes, Grouped reviews, Makeup looks: neutral, Maybelline, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches

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How to tone your hair at home: Kristin Ess Bittersweet Gloss review

April 8, 2020

Rae Chen

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The product: Kristin Ess Bittersweet Gloss (Signature Gloss for dark brown/black hair)

Okay. We get it. It’s April 2020, and life is generally a nightmare. Insurance companies are clawing back necessary drugs to earmark them for untested treatments, nursing homes are barring families from visiting (rightly so!), and you cannot find either yeast nor a Nintendo Switch anywhere in sight. On top of all that, you have reduced hours, you’re working from home with your children, and now you have to tone your own damn hair. Well: you cannot have any toilet paper, but you can have a little Kristin Ess Bittersweet Gloss. As a treat.

(I cannot even imagine how difficult that paragraph will be to parse in even just five years.)

How to tone your hair at home

When it comes to at-home hair colouring, toning is the easiest thing you could possibly do. (Hurray!) It’s all about adjusting the tone of your hair, not the lightness. So, you don’t have to worry about chemical burns, bleach damage, or over-processed strands. Heck, you don’t even have to worry that much about stains on your skin or in the tub!

A good toner works as a tint to realign what you already have. Chances are, if you’re looking into toning, your colourist has bleached your hair already. That’s good: the tricky part is getting the bleach in the right places, and it takes a good colourist to know where those places are. Maintenance is easy in comparison, as all you really need to do after that is smear toner everywhere you possibly can and wait twenty minutes every 3-6 weeks.

Think of a toner as a supercharged purple-based shampoo for blondes, except without the purple staining. A toner cannot lift your colour, and for the most part, it can’t take it much darker, either. Instead, it can hide brassy tones, turn copper strands into caramel ones, shift ashy blondes to rose gold, transform a carrot orange to a rich and vibrant red… you get the picture.

How to use a Kristin Ess In-Shower Gloss

Toning at home is always easy, but the Kristin Ess Signature Gloss is especially easy to use. It comes in two parts, with gloves: an ammonia-free, hydrogen peroxide and phosphoric acid-based gloss activator, and a gloss toner. To use, you mix the two together, massage through wet hair (make sure that no strand is left dry if you want an even result throughout your hair), let sit, and shampoo out after 10-20 minutes.

Because this is a toning gloss, you don’t have to section your hair carefully, worry about scalp staining, or fold up each section in aluminum foil. It’s really, really easy — it’s kind of like doing a hair mask from a tube, honestly. I let my gloss sit for 20 minutes throughout my entire head, and achieved very consistent results throughout.

Before on left; after on right, photographed 2 washes after glossing. Look at how SHINY it is!!

Kristin Ess Bittersweet Gloss on dark brown, Asian hair. For reference, my natural colour is a 4 at the roots, a 6 for most of my head, and a 7 at the ends — it sunbleaches like crazy. Bittersweet took me to about a 5 throughout.

Who Kristin Ess Bittersweet Gloss is best for

I was looking to tone my caramel balayage back to my natural brown colour, and Bittersweet was perfect for me. I walked into the bathroom with lovely—but brassy—balayage and walked out with shiny, natural-looking, dark brown hair. My strands are less eye-catching than before (I’m going to tone with Smoky Topaz next time and report back), but they look exactly like a richer, shinier version of my natural hair colour.

It’s been two weeks since I toned my hair, and the results are holding on more strongly than my usual salon tone. I’m just now starting to see my highlights barely peek through, and the initial super-shiny gloss effect has lifted somewhat. I’ve also lost much of the lovely, slightly purple hue left behind by Bittersweet; my natural colour is quite ashy, and my hair honestly looks completely natural to me now.

In total, there are 12 shades of Kristin Ess In-Shower Gloss, with one additional colourless gloss option.

The verdict on toning my hair at home with the Kristin Ess Bittersweet Gloss?

Oh gosh — a resounding yes! I loved using the Kristin Ess Signature Gloss, and will absolutely be maintaining my colour with these both during and after the COVID-19 quarantine ends. It was easy to do, and faster than making a trip to the salon and then returning. Honestly, I’ve never liked my natural colour (I routinely filter it for theNotice to make it look darker, richer, and blacker), and I would totally use a Kristin Ess gloss before a big event even if my hair wasn’t bleached.

On my dry, dark brown hair, this colour has held on well and continues to do so. (I shampoo every other day, so it’s been eight washes.) For future toning, I think Smokey Topaz would have been a better option to maintain a toned version of my balayage, but given how stressed I’ve been about the state of the world… well, I just really didn’t want to think about my hair for a while.

And so, this was perfect.

Availability: $14 USD/$19.99 CAD. 13 shades, permanent at drugstores like Well.ca and Target.

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Disclaimer: I purchased both Bittersweet and Smokey Topaz from Well.ca. This post contains an affiliate link to Target. While I’ve always loved Well.ca, I’m not impressed that this gloss has gone from $13.99 to $19.99 since I purchased it, and want readers to be aware that they may be hiking their prices during the pandemic. This is not confirmed (Kristin may have simply raised the prices when she added more shades).

Tags: /Hair, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches, Silicone-free

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We-Vibe Wand Massager review & photos

March 30, 2020

Rae Chen

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The product: We-Vibe Wand Cordless Body Massager

The world is a little bit upside-down right now, so I thought I’d take a moment to realign. Many of us are home on quarantine—and to those of you who are still at work, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for keeping the world going—while we wait out the madness. So, while we have the luxury of going stir-crazy in an effort to keep everyone’s infection risk down, little bites of self-care can be helpful. I’ve been testing the We-Vibe Wand since last year (you can see it featured here, too), and can’t speak highly enough of it.

The We-Vibe Wand as a mover and shaker

The Wand by We-Vibe does more than just rattle your bones and your bedposts. It’s a mover and shaker — an excellent example of a cordless wand in a tangle of corded ones. It stands out, almost alone, high above corded massage wands. Unlike the Le Wand, it’s waterproof. Unlike the Magic Wand Rechargeable, it’s rumby and smooth-topped. (I’ve always hated the textured heads of Magic Wands, which feel like sandpaper on my skin. I don’t want sandpaper down there!! That’s not a sandpaper-friendly area!) And unlike the Lelo Smart Wand, it’s produced by an ethical company that puts its consumers first.

I’ve spoken at length about how much I love my Doxy Die Cast, and honestly, the Wand by We-Vibe is a comparable, cordless version. Like the Die Cast, it’s heavy-headed and rumbly, with a silicone-coated head and a motor that springs to life. But unlike the Die Cast, the Wand is fully coated in silicone. Its waterproof build makes it easy to thoroughly clean, and the fact that it’s cordless gives you so much more flexibility.

Does We-Vibe Smart Silence work?

When We-Vibe’s parent company (now WOW Tech) bought Womanizer at the end of last year, it was evident that big things were coming. One of those big things is Womanizer’s Smart Silence technology, which I’m pleased to be able to say is now available in a number of We-Vibe models. It uses two points of contact to turn a toy on — in other words, any toy that uses it will turn off and go totally silent if it’s not in use.

The technology is perfect for stealthy masturbation sessions and sultry rendezvous. It works really well, and can be turned on or off to suit. In order to use an attachment with your Wand by We-Vibe, hold down the Wave button for five seconds. It’ll turn off Smart Silence until you repeat the action, letting you use the Wand in always-on mode until you’re ready to toggle back.

Speaking of attachments: there are two included with the Wand, and they’re… interesting. I don’t really like either of them, but they’re interesting. One is designed to “flutter;” the other, to be a “stroker.” I think it’s nice that they’re included without the need for an additional purchase, and I like that they’re made from velvety-soft silicone, but I’m a purist. I like my vibrators without attachments and without patterns!

What the We-Vibe Wand does

The We-Vibe Wand kinda does exactly what you’d want it to. Seriously: it hits every item on your standard sex blogger’s checklist with precision.

It’s intense and rumbly, with vibrations that are comparable to (but weaker than) the Doxy Die Cast. I’d say that it’s about 80% as rumbly and as intense on high, which is a damn impressive feat for something cordless. If you’re new to wand vibes, this is still a huge step up from handhelds: my strongest bullet vibe (the We-Vibe Tango) is about as intense on its highest setting as the Wand is on its lowest.

The Wand’s entire body is covered in velvety-soft silicone, and it charges by magnetic USB. (The cord comes labelled!!!!) The charging magnets are strong, and they leave the toy 100% waterproof, which is kind of amazing. You can get up to 2 hours of use out of a full 90 minute charge, and the Wand’s universal head flexes gently with pressure. It fits a standard-sized wand attachments from any brand.

Also notable is the Wand’s “joystick-inspired control” for “precise sensation,” which is fine ergonomically but seems to fail in practice. Despite what the company claims, the jumps in intensity—especially on lower settings—lead me to believe that you’re just toggling a standard 10ish-level variation with a joystick. Which is fine and works well; it just doesn’t feel like what was advertised!

We-Vibe’s new app

You can also sync the Wand to your phone via Bluetooth, which is a surprisingly great feature. We-Vibe finally updated their app, and it… kind of rocks now??

This is a huge selling feature for me, as I’ve had a personal vendetta against the We-Vibe app for ages. The new We-Connect app is responsive and easy to use, with a much more stable Bluetooth connection than before. It makes it easy to create your own patterns, control your toy’s intensity, and hand the control of your session over to a partner either in person or long-distance.

The updated app puts the fun back into masturbation. It takes what was once a good idea in theory (but an intensely stressful idea in practice) and turns it into something playful. Pairing takes seconds now instead of minutes, and the connection is maintained until you switch to a new toy or end your session — even when using toys that came out before the app update.

The We-Vibe Wand verdict?

If you’re on the market for a wand vibrator, this one is worth checking out. I love that it’s rechargeable and cordless, and having the option of app control is pretty cool. It’s rumbly and intense—as you might expect from We-Vibe—and waterproof for extended play and easy cleaning. It only comes in one colour, but little indicators (like having a colour tab on the box, and one-option colour selections on some websites) suggest to me that we might get more colour options one day if it sells well.

The one thing that I’m less keen on is the Wand by We-Vibe’s price: at $170 USD/$189 CAD, it’s one of the more expensive body massagers on the market. I think it’s worth it to be able to stick this toy under the tap, but your mileage may vary!

Availability: $170 USD/$189 CAD. My Wand was sent in by the fantastic team at We-Vibe.

Tags: /Product Photos, Product Review, Sex

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Graydon Berry Rich review: A probiotic convert

March 23, 2020

Rae Chen

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The product: Graydon Berry Rich Probiotic Face + Eye Cream

Hi. My name is Rae, and I’m a probiotic convert. I didn’t used to believe in them—internally, yes; topically, no—but after trying the Graydon Berry Rich Face + Eye Cream, I think I have to take it back.

I’ve had dry skin my entire life. Heck, I even have a series on theNotice dedicated to living with extremely dry skin. I’m used to applying an essence, an oil-based serum, and a moisturizer… and then still having dry flakes by noon. But ever since I started using Graydon’s Berry Rich, it’s like I’m living in a whole new world.

Do you need a probiotic face cream?

If you have skin issues? Then: quite possibly. This beauty features Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate, which the brand says works by “bacterial interference.” It more or less puts so much good bacteria on your skin that the bad bacteria has nowhere to thrive, and if it works—the scientific community is still coming around to the suggestion that it does, although most recent studies are strongly in support—your skin will naturally spend less time working against itself, which should result in better skin texture, moisture, you name it.

In my case, it did. My dryness, as I’ve always suspected, is likely autoimmune. Much like how my body’s natural state is to stress out and attack my joints, my skin gets stressed and attacks itself, resulting in mild eczema symptoms. (You should see me when I haven’t moisturized in a few days; my skin flakes off in a scale pattern and I get bumpy eczema patches in all the folds of my joints. It’s not a pretty picture!)

Graydon’s probiotics are vegan, and they help “optimize healthy bacteria and [strengthen] the skin barrier.” It’s noted as being ideal for mature skin, which always draws me to a product: you always get the best moisture out of anti-ageing products. Along with probiotics, you’ll find a delicious mix of antioxidant-rich blueberry seed oil, blue-green algae, and cacao butter in this moisturizer. The website describes it as bright blue, but mine is more of a white cream touched with avocado green.

It’s a little unexpected, but very pleasing!

What’s the Graydon Berry Rich experience like?

God, you guys. It’s so good.

The Graydon Berry Rich experience is indulgent. It works well, and it feels expensive: the almost clinical, white, airless pump seems dermatological, and the rich, greenish moisturizer is lush and opulent. I had this pegged as a $90 moisturizer for months, and only found out while researching for this post that it retails for a very reasonable $49 CAD.

(Dear reader, I was ready to shell out $90 for a tube when I ran out. Please don’t tell Graydon.)

Berry Rich is vegan, cruelty-free, and free of essential oils, with a skin-friendly pHh of 4.5-5.5. It doesn’t contain any sulphates, petroleum, or silicones. The brand’s website cites the Graydon Skincare Berry Rich ingredients as the origin of its scent, but I’ve never noticed a strong one; it contains blueberry seed oil, bergamot fruit extract, apricot fruit extract, coffee extract, and more. (Jasmine! Banana! Cantaloupe! Cinnamon!)

The best part of this probiotic skincare experience is its do-it-all nature. Berry Rich is a phenomenal moisturizer, but it’s a damn fine eye cream, too. I love being able to tap the same cocoa-buttery moisturizer into my lids and undereyes as I’m applying all over my face; it keeps them perky, but at the price point of a regular moisturizer.

(Huzzah!)

My probiotic moisturizer review: The verdict on Graydon Berry Rich

When I started testing Berry Rich, I used it exclusively for about 2 1/2 weeks. By the second week, I found that I no longer needed to use my oil-based serum; by the third, I found that I only needed to use it at night, and could use up my Lavido moisturizer during the day.

Now, I use it a couple of times a week, and… well, that’s really all I need. I don’t know how to explain it: when I started using Berry Rich, I had relied on a serum + a moisturizer two times a day to keep my flakiness at a reasonable level. After a little less than three weeks, I had no flaking. Anywhere. For the first time in years. And I found myself able to go days on other moisturizers, too — I could use something cheaper, or at least less precious, and my skin condition would be maintained.

It feels like magic, but I think it might have just been probiotics. This moisturizer balanced my skin in a way that nothing else has been able to for the entire lifespan of theNotice.

Availability: $49 USD/CAD at Graydon Skincare, The Detox Market CA, and The Detox Market US. Permanent, and if they ever discontinue it, I’m going to throw a royal fit.

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Disclaimer: Products mentioned in this post were submitted by PR for editorial consideration only, and posted with affiliate links where applicable. I was definitely on board with this being twice the price, but now that I know it isn’t, I’m going to make my over-exuberant partner try it out as well — his skin is ageing, but by god, I’m not sacrificing $100 manna so he can moisturize his face, neck, beard, and hair with it!

Tags: /1. Reviews, Extremely dry skin, Graydon Skincare, Holy Grail, Indie brands, Moisturizers, Product Photos, Product Review, Silicone-free, Silicone-free moisturizers and serums, Skincare

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Dr. Bronner’s Hand Sanitizer review + Peppermint Magic Balm and Castile Soap

March 16, 2020

Rae Chen

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So… I’m not a doctor. I’m not a med student, or a nurse, or a care worker. I haven’t done science in years. But I do have a chronic illness, and I’m generally pretty good about not getting the flu, and my coffers are brimming with Dr. Bronner’s Hand Sanitizer — their Peppermint Organic Hand Sanitizer, to be exact.

And it. Is. Awesome.

Dr. Bronner’s Hand Sanitizer review (Organic Peppermint)

Like any other good, science-reared individual, I know the real deal is soap and water. I know that it’s best to scrub every inch of your hands and wrists for a good 20 seconds, and that it’s important to get under your nails and in between your fingers and around your thumb in a twist. But hand sanitizer is really nice to have around, too — especially when you can’t get to a sink, or you need to sanitize before you put your dirty little hands back on your phone.

(Me!!)

Dr Bronner’s hand sanitizer is fantastic. It’s easy to spray, spread, and use, and it gets your hands 99.9% clean with 62% alcohol, leaving a fresh, minty scent behind. The alcohol-water-glycerine-oil formula is neither hydrating nor drying, and it’s comfortable to use on my dry skin. I like that it’s fair trade and non-sticky, with a Leaping Bunny-certified formula and vegan ingredients. While it’s the same in essence, using Dr. Bronner’s hand sanitizer feels better than using something like Purell. It’s easier to spread effectively, dries faster, and is layerable—I find it tough to sanitize more than once between hand-washes with thick gel formulas, so I prefer to carry a spray like this one.

The organic peppermint essential oils are a nice reminder to keep your hands fresh—that is, don’t touch anything—when you can smell it, and for those with sensitive skin like me, it’s also an excellent reminder as to when it might be time to wash. After a few spritzing sessions, my hands take on a characteristic tingle, and I know I haven’t scrubbed in a while.

They make something for that, too.

Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 Peppermint Pure-Castile Soap

At the sink side, you can reach for one of the brand’s classic Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soaps. (This one is travel-sized, so you can take it with you when you need to leave the house for groceries or appointments.) They lather well, and work great as a hand soap or body soap… or anything else. Use in a variety of dilutions to clean everything from your hands to your fruits and veggies, and dilute with a mix (for instance, with tea tree oil to disinfect, or vinegar to dissolve) for household chores like laundry and window-washing.

Dr. Bronner’s Castile soaps are formulated with super simple, organic ingredients, and the iconic brand originates from long before the current greenwashing trends. (They’re the real deal.) When you finish your travel-sized mini, or kitchen-sized litre, they also offer refills to help you save on packaging, cost, and transportation fuel. For the eco-conscious among us, yes: they also do bar soaps!

The real deal: Silicone-free Dr. Bronner’s Magic Balm

The entire Dr. Bronner’s line is silicone-free, but what soap isn’t?

Once you’re done scrubbing and sanitizing, their Magic Balm comes in a reusable tin with a truly magical holo print. Also made from organic, fair trade ingredients, Magic Balms are hydrating and thin, despite their solid format. (Maybe a good thing to keep around for air travel, if the world doesn’t end?) Each one features a formula made from avocado oil, jojoba seed oil, coconut oil, olive oil, and hemp seed oil, so you know it’ll be nourishing and soothing. There’s a little bit of tocopherol to help preserve every pot, and beeswax to solidify the formula.

I’m a little bummed that it took a novel coronavirus to get me to try Dr. Bronner’s, but I’m glad that I finally did. My next explorations, I think, will likely be in their biodegradable house cleaner or hand and body lotion, both of which I can never get enough of!

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Disclaimer: These products were submitted by PR for editorial consideration only, weeks before Canada started taking precautionary measures for COVID-19. It just seemed like the right time to post!

Tags: /Cleansing, Moisturizers, Other, Product Review, Silicone-free, Silicone-free moisturizers and serums, Skincare

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The Restaurant at Pearl Morissette review

March 9, 2020

Rae Chen

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I had my first sip of Pearl Morissette in 2015. It was my first big event for theNotice: Neutrogena flew me in for dinner and an exploration into their product line, and we the night away. I got to meet my friends Arianne (does anyone remember Glitter Geek??!) and Jessica (Beautezine is still totally aspirational) in person, and most importantly… I had the first white wine to ever make me really love wine. It’s not a bottle that’s served at The Restaurant at Pearl Morissette, but in a roundabout way, it brought me there.

The bottle in question was the 2011 Pearl Morissette Cuvée Black Ball, a Canadian riesling from the Twenty Mile Bench region of the Niagara peninsula. I still remember how it felt in my mouth: citrusy and dry, with a minerality that felt like it sparkled on your tongue. It’s the sole reason that I ever began to fall in love with wine.

The Restaurant at Pearl Morissette

Pearl Morissette no longer offers wine tastings (something I’ve dreamed of doing for years), but they instead have a restaurant on their property. It’s gorgeous — on the upper level of their ageing cellar, with beautiful light and bright, warm flooring. Their nine course tasting menu changes by the day, highlighting local ingredients and accenting each course with an optional wine pairing.

The most interesting thing about the restaurant at Pearl Morissette, I think, is not its food or its wines, but rather that it features more than just their wines. I imagine that the reasoning is fundamentally practical; they’ve rapidly risen in popularity, and likely don’t have enough of their older vintages to serve them with every course. But the result is a beautiful expression of palettes who truly love wine and food, and want to share it with the world.

Instead, The Restaurant at Pearl Morissette pairs courses with wines that reflect their values, from their favourite producers. We had their pinot noir with one course, which I love—it’s so velvety, but I’m horribly allergic to it for some curious reason—and their upcoming riesling with another. The first course, honey mussels with radish purée and longhorn beef jelly, were paired with a delicious white wine from out of country, and the last three (all sweets, but none too sweet) were served with the most delicious, creamy French rosé.

Unique wines that talk you into loving them

The magic that is Pearl Morissette hasn’t waned at all through the years, and I’m so excited to continue enjoying their new releases each year. (I just picked up a bottle of Violette; the brand is finally available here in Edmonton at Color de Vino and Crestwood Fine Wines & Spirits).

I made the trek to Pearl Morissette with two of my good friends—one who loves wine, and one who only drinks reds. Somehow, the same Pearl Morissette magic that talked me into loving wine five years ago worked on her, too. She entered the room hesitant to get the wine pairings—wouldn’t a bottle of red be safer, after all?—and left raving about their upcoming riesling, which one of their team members served as a pairing for us, as a treat. (My current ethos is to wholeheartedly tell people when you enjoy things. It’s led me to everything from unreleased wines to impromptu magic shows; after all, who doesn’t love sharing their passion with someone who wants to soak it all up?)

Pearl Morissette whites are white wines for people who don’t generally like white wines. They dance across your palette, and they’re never too syrupy—the brand ages their wines for a few years in old French barrels before releasing them, sometimes with a finish in concrete, and there isn’t a sticky-sweet sip to be found. Each mouthful is lively with minerality.

The experience of drinking a good bottle of wine is hard to explain, and I’ve had plenty at the same price point (usually around $45, which is extremely reasonable) that taste no different from a $20 bottle. These are different. Some are as easy to drink as a bottle of champagne; others are as complex as a cocktail. They’re always good, but often, they’re great.

Eating while Asian

Growing up as a kid in an immigrant family—my mom’s side has been in Canada for a few generations; she met and married my father while doing a year abroad in China; both grew up poor—food wasn’t a pleasure that I partook in often. I was a chubby baby and a really, really skinny kid, not from genetics but because my grandmother cooked (poorly) at home every night. (Boiled fish, boiled rice, boiled broccoli!)

The sensory experiences that I now love and often live for were something beyond my wildest dreams until long into my 20s. We rarely went out for dinner unless it was a birthday, and oftentimes didn’t even then. Spending even $25 per plate at a western restaurant was outlandish for my frugal Asian family — a trait that I’m intensely thankful for as a 20something on a budget, but one that stopped me from enjoying food until my adulthood. (If you grew up middle class and you’re accustomed to cooking at home every night with a low-meat diet of whatever was on sale at the grocery store, money practically prints itself.)

Like a lot of Chinese kids, I think, big dinners were something that were reserved for Chinese restaurants, if not for China itself. Treating your friends and family with a dinner that veered into the four digit realm was normal and expected, but treating yourself was a gluttonous act punishable with shameful glances and quiet tisking.

But the food, and the experience!

Dear reader: both were divine. The Restaurant at Pearl Morissette is a beautiful space, with the most gorgeous light, and each course was a wonderful little exploration.

I’m intensely thankful that everything my parents have given me—and everything they’ve sacrificed so that I would never have to—but I think I feel the intensity the most with food. Every time I sit down for a meal that’s been cooked for me, there’s something extra in my enjoyment; a reverence that I know I wouldn’t have had if my parents had been different. I love to eat alone, and I love a tasting menu like some people love their spouses; for a long time, with exuberance, and with the relief of having someone to make the decisions for you.

At The Restaurant at Pearl Morissette, I was the one talking a charismatic gentleman into adding a little more Pearl to the wine list. The one salivating over East Coast scallops with celeriac. The one whose eyes rolled up at the roasted pork belly and king oyster mushrooms (my favourite kind of mushroom!), savouring every bite of the nasturtium leaves on top. (You’re expecting this by now, but: my favourite kind of edible flower!)

I can’t get the taste of nutty sunchoke out of my mouth from the vegetative mille feuille, nor the icy gooseberry slush on top of the sweetgrass ice cream. I can’t get my heart out of Niagara.

Tags: /Food, Toronto

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Canadian birth control online: Felix for you

February 28, 2020

Rae Chen

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One of the best things about living in the modern day is never having to leave your house. I love being able to order things by mail: razor blades; Korean skincare; sex toys. The process, when done well, is so easy — and it lets you save your energy for the important stuff. And, I’m happy to be able to report, a new company called Felix (Felixforyou.ca) does it incredibly well.

Felix is an online provider of “lifestyle meds,” including birth control, ED meds, and topical acne treatments. Their site is well-designed and comprehensive, and I’ve been quite excited to share more about it with all of you!

» Ordering today? Use code TheNotice50 for 50% off of your online visit fee until March 31st, 2020! «

Why is accessibility important?

When I was a teen first trying to get birth control for my awful periods, my GP refused to write a prescription. Her (very, very flawed) logic was that if I wasn’t having sex, I shouldn’t be given birth control — it was “too risky” and “would encourage promiscuity.” At 27, I’m now very aware that I should have brought it up with an organization like the CPSA, but back then? I had no idea.

So, unlike most of my sponsorships on theNotice, getting to work on a post with Felix on birth control is personal. Their service charges a $40 physician’s fee which covers a prescription valid for an entire year (not dissimilar to what most GPs will charge for prescriptions by phone), and prescribes or supplies both brand name and low-cost generics for birth control and more. It’s easy to use, and most importantly, the process is extremely respectful and medically-based.

As Canadians, we’re already incredibly lucky to have first-dollar universal healthcare. Our medical appointments are covered, and we have the privilege of never having to worry about the costs when we check into a doctor’s office or hospital bed. But just like as in my case, things aren’t always as accessible as they should be.

Why order Felix birth control online?

Because it’s an online site, Felix makes prescription access easier for folks who face a barrier when accessing birth control. Maybe that’s you, because you can’t get time off of work to go to the doctor’s office before it closes. Maybe you don’t have the energy to get to the pharmacy, or maybe there’s someone in your household who’s opposed to you taking control of your reproductive health.

Felix ships to your home or sends a prescription to your pharmacy, so you can pick whichever method is the safest and easiest for you. And hey! For most of us, that’s honestly probably just going to be our homes because we’re lazy — and that’s okay. I’m enthusiastically here for all methods of safely accessing contraceptives, and one reason really isn’t more valid than another!

The Felix ordering process

Y’all. This site is swanky.

You know that feeling we all had when Warby Parker became a thing? Like, that not only was ordering your glasses online cheap and cool, but that the product you were getting was somehow cooler, better, and edgier than what you’d have found at a mall?

Felix feels like that. The ordering process is extremely thorough—way more so than any doctor I’ve ever asked for birth control from—and the website is slick. The Felixforyou.ca birth control questionnaire asks pertinent but respectful questions (think “what is your biological gender,” not “and what does your boyfriend think about this,”) with options for the oral contraceptive, the ring, and the patch. Your file is assessed by a licensed Canadian doctor, and you only pay their appointment fee if you’re approved for your medication.

I went through the process for the pill, because that’s what I took until I had my IUD inserted. Once you’re ready to order, delivery can be made every one month or three months for up to a year, and each prescription is filled by a registered pharmacist. Their rates are competitive, too; they encourage the use of generic oral contraceptives, and you can switch to a name brand or upload your healthcare information for coverage if applicable.

Currently, Felix offers topical or oral medication for contraception, ED, acne, and hair loss, but I’m excited for them to expand into medication for cold sores and HIV prevention. (Being able to recommend PrEP by mail? Iconic.)

Ordering birth control online in Canada: The Felix difference

Before telling you to go try your first order — remember, use TheNotice50 until the end of March!—I just want to touch on my favourite part about Felix again.

(And it’s not their office dog, although Chilli Pepper is really, really cute.)

Felix is for every body. That doesn’t mean that they provide birth control for every biological sex organ, but it does mean that they provide a respectful screening process for all individuals, including my non-binary self. It’s a small detail for most people, but one that I really appreciate — and one that I think is becoming more and more important in the medical landscape. So thank you, Felix!

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Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Felix. As someone with an IUD, I am not currently using their service, but was able to go through the system as a consumer to check things out & form my own options before writing this post. I’ve also met their team in person (these images courtesy of Felixforyou.ca), so don’t be surprised if my face or hands pop up on their site later this year!

Tags: sponsored/Sex

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Valentine’s for One: Gifts to get yourself (or, okay, your underperforming partner)

February 13, 2020

Rae Chen

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“Gee, Rae,” you must be asking yourself right now. “Who are you calling out?” Well, dear reader, here is a question in response: have you ever met any 20-something cis man ever? There’s your answer. This is all about gifts you can get yourself while you celebrate Valentine’s for one: one chocolate tart; one bouquet of roses; one entire bottle of bubbly. And, of course, a few gifts for them (for you).

A girl once brought me chocolates on the first date because it was close to Valentine’s Day and I was like damn, what a power move

And then I handed her the box of chocolates that I had in my purse for her and she screamed. https://t.co/kipOeYUk6Q

— Rae Chen (@theNotice) December 2, 2018

I lucked out with my current partner. He’s rarely around during the week, but shows up for every special occasion and family dinner. Our first year together, long before we were even dating, he bought me a tube of orchids for Valentine’s Day. I don’t know what the industry term should have been, but they were orchids, and they were lovely, and for some reason, they were in a large, plastic tube.

For years before that, however, I was plagued with Valentine’s Day after Valentine’s Day full of excuses and sub-par partners. (Sub-partners?) Every year was a battle ground, shared with some guy who a) refused to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and b) completely lost his mind at the suggestion that I might therefore have a nice day without him.

This Valentine’s Day gift guide is for all of you, and all of me. Here’s what (else) to buy yourself in your chocolate-induced solo haze, plus a few bonus finds to help you get your man in ship-shape.

Super-luxurious skincare

I first tried Bella Aura Skincare back in 2016, at the brand’s launch. Even then, their products were something else: extremely fluid, with the fanciest fancy-lady scent you’ve ever smelled. My review was waylaid by the fact that my skin kept reacting to their moisturizer and antioxidant booster, but I’m ever so pleased to be back in the game. Their eye cream and cleanser are two of my favourite products ever (seriously, they smell so good), and the brand’s new packaging is just as exquisite as their original design.

The brand is back with a few new products: a Rapid Repair Clarifying Elixir ($99 CAD) to cleanse acne-prone skin, and a Hydra Revive Treatment ($135 CAD) to hydrate and sooth dry skin. I have the Hydra Revive to try alongside a new bottle of the brand’s Instant Lifting Eye Contour ($130 CAD), and I’m so excited to start testing now that my skin is in great shape again.

The fragrance-free Hydra Revive Treatment features Icelandic moss, peat moss, and polypody fern extracts. They’re said to retain and store water, which is perfect for my always-dry skin. I’m excited to re-test the Eye Contour as well, which is supposed to firm, rejuvenate, and replenish the skin with ingredients like prickly pear and cumin seed oil. The Eye Contour cream smells just as exquisite as its original launch, but the scent is much, much more subtle than the original. (I could be wrong about this, but I doubt it). The updates make them the perfect splurge products to treat yourself with if you have a little extra cash left over.

You know, from not going to dinner with people you don’t want to be dating.

Valentine’s for one? Not a problem with the We-Vibe Wand

If you didn’t indulge in the Womanizer Premium I just reviewed, here’s a little reward for sticking it out: the brand new We-Vibe Wand. This will get its own review in due course, but I couldn’t help but share early!

The We-Vibe Wand ($170 USD/international) is everything you’d want from We-Vibe. It features a smooth, single-piece body covered in silky silicone, and it delivers bedframe-rattling vibrations despite being conveniently rechargeable. The purple design reminds me a lot of the Sola Wand, but while I hated the Sola’s buzzy vibrations and finicky controls, the We-Vibe Wand is exquisite.

You can find Womanizer’s Smart Silence technology in this We-Vibe toy (We-Vibe bought Womanizer at the end of 2018), plus a joystick-style design to slowly take “from 0 to 100.” The Wand has a flexible head and comes with two attachments to suit most bodies (one for the clitoris & one for the penis), and lasts for about 2 hours on a 90 minute magnetic charge.

Smooth sailing in rose gold (AKA the jewelry section without kitschy hearts)

These products can be rose gold, but they don’t have to be. My Kristin Ess Gloss is in Smokey Topaz. I can’t wait to try it (I’m often left toning my hair on my own mere weeks after leaving the salon), but the brand does a very cool Rose Gold Tint as well. Both products are so affordable — think $14 toning at home instead of $60 toning at the salon. Read more

Tags: sponsored/The Edit, The Gift Guide

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Womanizer Premium review

February 3, 2020

Rae Chen

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The product: Womanizer Premium in Blueberry

Okay… so a Womanizer Premium review isn’t super helpful during a Womanizer sale that doesn’t include the Premium. But you guys, will you look at that beautiful dark blue finish?! I’ve never reviewed the Premium on theNotice, even though it’s my favourite Womanizer toy — you can watch my video review for LuxuryVibrators here, or flick back to my Womanizer Pro 40 review here.

I still love the Womanizer Pro 40, but this one is definitely a step up. Womanizer is the only company on the market who I truly consider to have figured out a) silent toys and b) patterns, so keep reading to find out why!

What makes the Womanizer Premium great

The Womanizer Premium has everything that I loved from the Pro 40. It offers precise stimulation, a very wide intensity range, and a battery life that’ll blow your mind if you’ve only ever used vibrating toys. The bodies of each are waterproof, with interchangeable silicone heads that come in two sizes. Womanizer’s buttons are easy to press and easy to understand, and charging is done by a magnetic attachment.

4 hours of battery life with 3 LED charging level indicators
Charges in 2 hours
Waterproof silicone body
12 intensity levels (1 silent)
Comes with PleasureAir technology (AKA the original air pulse), Smart Silence, and Silent Technology
Comes with a charging cable, 2 sizes of silicone heads, and a travel bag
Currently available in five colours: red & gold, black & gold, white & chrome, blueberry & chrome, and raspberry & chrome

But the Womanizer Premium also has a bunch of things that the Pro 40 didn’t: namely, Smart Silence technology and Autopilot mode.

Smart Silence toys only turn on when your toy is touching or almost touching your skin. This minimizes the overall sound of the Womanizer, as (like any other air pulse toy) it’s significantly louder when not on your body. It also makes for the ultimate level of discretion — the second you pull away from your skin, all sounds stop.

You’ll also notice that the Premium claims to use Silent Technology… Which it does. It doesn’t apply to the whole toy, but rather just the first intensity setting. Even through just a thin sheet, the Womanizer Premium is completely silent when in use on the first setting.

Does Womanizer’s Autopilot mode actually work?

Somehow… YES. You know I hate toys with patterns. As far as I’m concerned, patterns are just a marketing gimmick that we all have to click past as one of life’s trials. They’re a waste of a perfectly good button.

But these patterns? Damn.

Okay: so I hate patterns on a vibrational toy because they’re so inconsistent. Most clitoral toys buzz at a high frequency, with patterns that exist to mimic rumbliness. However, they do so in an exaggerated fashion, leaving you with a toy that feels like it spends more time off than on. Air pulse toys, on the other hand, function on a mechanism that suctions your skin in a quick, rhythmic manner (AKA exactly what the theory behind every vibrational toy is.)

As a result, Womanizer’s Autopilot is less of a cycling of patterns and more of a cycling of intensities. The puh-puh-puh of the air pulse never stops; it just varies in strength. So while vibrational patterns piss me off, Air Pulse Autopilot gets me there. And, because Air Pulse Technology can’t numb your nerve endings like vibrations can, each orgasm is intense—for me, almost painfully so.

Weirdly, the experience is kind of like having partnered sex with a sex toy. You’re never quite sure where you’re going to be taken next, but it’s nice to go along for the ride.

Womanizer toys on sale

The Womanizer Premium really is one of the best toys I’ve ever tried, but it comes at a steep cost — around $199 USD/$210 CAD. So, while I wish I could recommend it left and right, I’m well aware that it’s not something that’ll fit all budgets.

So, I’m seizing this moment to talk about Womanizer’s own Valentine’s Day sale. One of the things that I love about the Womanizer line is that the Air Pulse technology is pretty similar in every toy, at every price point. They vary in features, not in tech.

In other words, the more expensive toys are a more luxurious ride, but every toy (except the tiny Starlet) feels great. The cheaper models simply have less features (Autopilot and Smart Silence aren’t in every model) and a smaller intensity range.

My beloved Womanizer Pro 40 is being offered at a startling $79 USD/$89 CAD until February 20th, 2020, so feel free to stop reading this post here. That’s all you need. That’s all you’ll ever need! The Pro 40 is affordable as hell for a luxury toy, and it works so well that I thought it was the peak of luxury until the Premium came along.

The Womanizer Premium review verdict?

Oh god, you guys. I don’t always use the Womanizer Premium (its orgasms often feel too intense for me), but when I do, I absolutely love it. The toy itself is so sexy, with smooth curves and the softest silicone you’ll ever touch, and it just works so well. I love that the battery life lasts for ages (I feel like I never charge mine, and yet it’s always charged when I want it to be), and I love that it’s so easy to clean.

If you’ve managed to stick with me for all of these 1000 words, consider the next paragraph your reward. These are the best deals on the Womanizer Premium that I could find — I know it’s a pricey one, so every little bit counts. For me, it couldn’t be more worth it!

Availability: The Womanizer Premium in Blueberry was lovingly sent to me by the brand, and is available on the Womanizer site for $210 CAD. It is also available at PinkCherry CA and PinkCherry US.

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Disclaimer: This product was gifted to me by the brand, who were enormously accommodating considering that I already own this toy in another colour! This post includes affiliate links, which help support theNotice.

Tags: /Product Photos, Product Review, Sex, Womanizer

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