.{ Carolina Herrera
Carolina Herrera }.
.{ Diane von Furstenberg }.
- You have normal to slightly dry skin that’s just looking a bit lackluster,
- You want a sheer base product to give a bit of a warm glow,
- You’re looking for a drugstore BB cream with a bit (but not a lot) of SPF, or
- You want to “fake out” a slightly darker skintone for an editorial look, rather than out & about in public.
- You’re looking for something that will disguise large pores, uneven colouring (eg. redness, blotchiness, or sun spots), or blemishes.
- You can’t stand scented products – I think this scent is brilliant, to be honest, but much too strong in execution.
- Heavy products drive you crazy (I can feel this when I’m wearing it, even after I give it plenty of time to sink in.)
- You have dry patches, oily patches, or dehydrated patches – I’d say this is best suited to people who are fairly content with their skin to begin with.
- Read up on the initial conversation here,
- Read more about BB creams here,
- Check out the review here, and finally,
- See comparison swatches for Light-Medium here.
FALSE.
VIOLETS ARE VIOLET, GODDAMMIT.
THAT’S WHY THEY’RE CALLED VIOLETS.
Happy Valentine’s from theNotice.
Where beauty is taken very seriously and we never joke around.
The product: Garnier Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream SPF 15 in Medium/Dark
The look: Garnier’s BB Cream is more sheer than I had expected, and more dewy. You know how I mentioned that the Marcelle BB Cream is really… I don’t know; BB-Cream-ish? I feel like Garnier’s isn’t – I can’t tell how it differentiates from a basic tinted moisturizer, in coverage or in finish.
If you have quite good skin to begin with that just needs a small “pick me up,” this may be an option – but don’t expect it to give your skin any more than a bit of a boost. I think I would have been a lot happier with this if it had been marketed as a sheer, luminizing base rather than a BB Cream or “Miracle Skin Perfector,” because it’s just that: it imparts a warm, dewy finish, but with very little coverage.
Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream in Medium/Dark on NW15ish skin
The shade: I was sent Medium/Dark, which is a massive error in logic that I’m not even going to begin to approach. I had a bit of fun with it, though – sometimes it’s nice to fake out a different skintone for a little while, and it blended in really well, probably because it’s so sheer. I’m fairly certain that Garnier’s Medium/Dark is darker than Marcelle’s Medium to Dark, so if you’re still searching for a drugstore BB cream but you’re on the darker end of the spectrum, this might be a shade option you’ll want to check out.
While I can’t speak for the lighter shade, I found the undertones of this one to run a bit pink – not so much that Asian skintones will find it completely unwearable but enough that it’s noticeable; it adds a bit of warmth by way of red undertones, rather than orange ones.
The ingredients:
Active: Octinoxate 4% | Other: Water, Isononyl Isononanoate, Isoxadecane, Glycerin, Alcohol Denat, Peg-20 Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate, Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate , Cetyl Palmitate, Nylon-12, Cyclohexasiloxane, Propylene Glycol, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Stearyl Alcohol, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, Caprylyl Glycol, Lithium Magnesium Sodium Silicate, Disodium EDTA, Linalool, Benzyl Salicylate, Limonene, Caffeine, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Benzyl Alcohol, Geraniol, Cellulose Acetate Butyrate, Polyphosphorylcholine Glycol Acrylate, Citral, Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Sodium Chloride, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Hyaluronate. ± Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides
Try it if
Skip it if
Swatched L-R: MAC NW25, Garnier Med/Dark B.B. Cream, MAC NW30, MAC NC30, Garnier B.B., MAC NC35.
All MAC shades are Studio Finish SPF 15 concealers.
The verdict?
Garnier describes their BB Cream as an “all-in-one every day moisturizer [… a] light, velvety-smooth lotion.” And, honestly, I’m going to have to say that it’s none of the above. It always irks me when a product isn’t bad, but doesn’t do as it should – because as a blogger, what am I supposed to rate it by, then?
If you’re looking for a B.B. Cream that will provide a sheer, dewy, luminizing base, then I would say this is worth checking out. However, if you’re on the market for more coverage, something scent- or silicone-free, or that truly “flawless” finish, this isn’t the product for you.
Garnier’s Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector B.B. Cream (quite the name!) retails at a SRP of $19.99 CAD, though you can get a $3 off coupon at their site, here. Full-face comparison photos later this week, if I can find time ;)
5. L’Occitane Cherry Blossom
New this February to mark the fifth anniversary of their Cherry Blossom range, L’Occitane has released a limited-edition Cherry Princesscollection. The super-cute fruity-floral collection is available in a number of separates (here), but they have a few sets on for a great deal as well – their five-piece Cherry Princess Romantic Escape kit looks particularly lovely, despite its cheesy name.
4. Ellis Faas
My relationship with Ellis is rather hot-and-cold, which I think could be said for many beauty bloggers (not just me). Their products are always absolutely breathtaking, both in formula and shade, but the packaging is a thorn in my side. Skip their eyeliners and anything with a showerhead applicator (these clog more easily), but do try their other products – anything with a brush tip, and keep a sample jar on-hand in case of overflow.
Ellis is running a surprise at the moment for all lip products, so if you’ve been thinking about ordering, now’s your chance.
Love is in the air and Saint Valentine is on his way. So until Valentine’s Day, we have a lovely deal: for each Ellis Lips you buy from our webshop, you will get a surprise that will double the pleasure of your Ellis Lips order! Why? Because you have two lips? Not really – we simply believe in “the lippier the better”.
So start browsing now: Creamy Lips, Milky Lips and Glazed Lips, order and get yourself our Valentine’s present(s).
Check out Ellis Faas’ lip products here.
3. LUSH
It wouldn’t be Valentine’s without some cheeky products from LUSH, now, would it? ;) There’s the little blue Ex-Factor bath bomb, the tongue-in-cheek Leap Frog (described as an–and I quote–“amorous amphibian for the tub”), and (for the lip balm junkies out there) the scarlet A Million Kisses lip tint.
2. Pink, pink, pink
It’s Valentine’s Day. Enough said.
(Translation, from a beauty junkie’s mind to the real world: an excuse to buy pink products! And you may as well get something you’ve had your eye on for a while, right? After all, this only happens once a year, and a pink lipstick is so very much better for you than an entire pint of ice cream. Or an entire bottle of wine.)
1. The Classic
I’m kind of crazy about fragrance minis at the moment, whether they’re adorable samples, petite sizes, or travel sprays. While not released specifically for Valentine’s, the Love, Chloé purse spray is just too cute to miss.
Canadians should be able to find this set (one container with three 10ml refills) at Holt Renfew and select Bay stores, while Americans will see this on shelves at Saks (this month) and Sephora (in March).
Pink lids, lips, & cheeks, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Check out the tutorial though the photo above, or by clicking here.
The product: Calvin Klein forbidden euphoria (eau de parfum)
Marketed as yet another “fruity floriental,” I wasn’t expecting all that much from the latest euphoria flanker. And, okay, it’s more or less what I’d expected – but in some respects, that could be a good thing.
When you go with a generically seductive fragrance from a brand known for its pretty-but-mainstream offerings, you’re not going to find anything riveting. Which sounds terrible, but it works both ways: the more adventurous a brand is with their scents, the more likely it is that everything is going to end up in a terrible mess of overdone scent molecules and trying-to-hard sillage.
forbidden euphoria, like the classic it is based off of, plays it safe: it’s the kind of scent that most people will kind-of-sort-of like, but perhaps not love.
Launched September 2011, the bottle is a spin on the original just as much as the scent is: the same shape, and the same idea, but this time in a gorgeous, translucent berry. I could photograph this for ages – and, to some extent, I suppose I did. (It’s so easy to go overboard on photo-taking when you’re working with a product that looks like this.)
The Calvin Klein house describes forbidden euphoria as a younger interpretation of euphoria, which is a description I’d have to agree with. It lists top notes of sparkling mandarin, peach blossom, passion fruit, and iced raspberry; heart notes of pink peony, tiger orchid, and jasmine; and base notes of cashmere woods, patchouli, and skin musk.
(And I’m sorry, but I cannot use the name “forbidden euphoria” without quotation marks or stylized text. I just can’t do it. Please, for the love of grammar, capitalize your bloody product names, industry; you’re driving me crazy.)
Silver to the sides, or silver to the front and back? The adverts say translucent facing forward, but I think the silver looks rather cleaner.
The bottom line
I get an indiscriminate kind of fruity from this scent; soapy and very sweet. (“Soapy” as in commercial soaps and shampoos, not “soapy” as in aldehydes and Chanel No. 5.) I think iced raspberry was a very apt description of it – it’s like someone theorized a raspberry syrup that you’d make a tasty (and extremely alcoholic) drink from, created an absolu, and infused it into forbidden euphoria.
If I had to sum this all up in one word, I think I’d go with “tasty.” (Because, seriously, it’s more mouthwatering than any fragrance has a right to be.) I doubt forbidden euphoria will be winning awards for innovation anytime soon, but it plays its strengths – and (god help me), I kind of find myself accidentally enjoying it every now and again.
It toes the line of headache-inducing and I definitely have to use a light hand with this one, but it’s also the perfect guilty pleasure. Let’s keep that between the two of us, though, yeah? ;)
There’s more! (No, seriously, really is; keep reading.) »
I think one of the reasons why I’m so crazy about Graphites (Clarins Eye Quartet Mineral Palette, $40) is because it’s so low-maintenance – one quad, two brushes, and you’ve got an entire smokey eye at your fingertips.
I did this look to test out wear time, but ended up taking photos of it anyways. (Don’t look at me like that; my total lack of self-control is surprisingly okay with me.) I used Ellis Faas E209 as a base, and it confirmed my suspicions: awful packaging, but the wear time is so much better than most eye primers or cream shadows, on my lids.
For colour, this is mainly the satin black in the palette – foiled onto the outer corner, then buffed and blended liberally across the rest of the lid. A bit of the dark grey to soften the edges, a touch of the pearly hilight in the inner corner, and then a smidgen of that gorgeous, dimensional light silver in the middle of the lid & blended to the sides.
On the cheeks, I believe I’ve got on Estée Lauder Blush All Day in Plum – my first-ever blusher, actually; long since discontinued but one that I still use with alarming frequency. I’m not entirely sure what I have on my lips, but Burt’s Bees Pink Blossom (review) or one of these Clinique Chubby Sticks would be my best guess – I’ve been reaching for both quite a lot recently.
P.S More Graphites…
It’s the sixth; it’s the sixth!! Please, tell me you know what that means.
If you haven’t guessed, you should be ashamed today is the “official” launch date of Marcelle’s new BB Cream. As of today, it should be in stores as well as online, so do go check out your local drugstore if you’re in Canada and eagerly waiting for this to hit shelves!
If you hadn’t guessed, I’m going to assume that you’ve been living underground for the last month. Or, at least, in a place without internet. (But honestly; the internet is bloody everywhere nowadays. If you’ve been cut off from it entirely, you were probably underground or in a rainforest or a coma or something.)
A quick swipe of Light-Med, blended out as a gradient.
(Photo taken darker and with more contrast than usual, to help show how seamlessly this can be blended out.)
For our coverage of this lovely new beauty balm, check out the following links…
More BB later this week, if I can find time ;) Another drugstore one, though I warn you, I don’t love it half as much as this one.
What’s that, you ask? Three words: FOTDs. After. Dark.
Ta-daaaa! No, it’s not the same, but – not terrible, right? I feel like it is not-terrible.
Here are a few photos of a smokey eye done entirely with Clarins Graphites – it’s been months and I’m still in love with the palette, so that has to be a testament to something, right? More photos (including definitely-not-horrendous eye shots) possibly upcoming!