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LIP SET WEEK | Korres Cherry-Picked Lipgloss Quad: review, photos, swatches

December 22, 2011

19 Comments

The product: Korres Cherry-Picked Cherry Oil Lipgloss Quad

↳ Cherry Full Color Gloss in Natural Purple, Rose, Fuchsia, and Light Purple

The formula: The Cherry Full Color Gloss formula doesn’t knock me out of the park, but I do really like it. The glosses wear with a bit of weight to them, and surprisingly, they stay where they’re put – despite the fact that these are quite pigmented, and despite the smooth, non-sticky texture*. They’re comfortable, moisturizing, and at $7 each (the set’s just $28 US, and the glosses are full-sized), they’re a really good buy.

The scent: Okay, so this is the only thing I’m not crazy about. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it, and it’s light enough that it’s not going to turn me off them, at least. The cherry scent is a little bit too cough-syrup-sweet for me, which is never a fun trip down memory lane, but a lot of people do really like it! I suppose I’m just not one of them. (As usual, ugh, nose why are you doing this to me I thought we were friends.)

The shades: The Cherry-Picked Quad (and really, quad? Am I the only one who thinks this is a weird term used out of the context of eyeshadow?) includes, you guessed it, four different shades. There’s Natural Purple 25 (described as a sheer dusty rose), Rose 22 (sheer golden rose shimmer), Fuchsia 54 (shimmering muted fuchsia), and finally, Light Purple 23 (mauve pink shimmer).

I’ve never really understood Korres’ naming scheme, but whatever, I’ll run with it.

Swatched L-R: Korres Cherry Lipgloss in Natural Purple, Rose, Fuchsia, Light Purple

I’m guessing that I’ll get the most wear out of Natural Purple, because it’s the only one that’s shimmer-free (and I’ve never been all that into shimmery lip glosses). It’s sort of a rosey medium-nude; a warm mauve, if such a thing is possible. The resulting lip is really natural, and while it would look quite different on all skintones, I can’t think of any that it wouldn’t suit.

Korres Natural Purple swatch

Rose is the medium-pink to Natural Purple‘s medium-nude. Again, it would make a great everyday lip colour, and would suit quite a few skintones & makeup looks. Despite the fact that I don’t like shimmer, I’m actually quite fond of this one – the sheer colour goes on really evenly, and the gold-toned shimmer compliments the fresh, slightly-coral pink perfectly.

Korres Rose swatch

True to their confusing naming scheme, Korres’ Fuchsia doesn’t seem all that, erm, fuchsia to me. Of the set, this gloss packs the most pigment, and creates the boldest lip colour.

But – fuchsia? I don’t know.

I’d probably describe this as a sheer, bright red, or a cool, bright berry-pink. (Er, not because it’s awesome and I’m in the nineties; cool as in blue undertones). Anyhow, Fuchsia features tiny, subtle silver and pink shimmers dispersed through the formula, and– Korres just does good shimmer, okay? Don’t judge me for being so fond of it.

Korres Fuchsia swatch

Finally, Light Purple is a slightly milky baby pink with silver glitter. The shimmer isn’t actually larger than that of Fuchsia or Rose, but I still feel like the particles “jump out” from the base colour in a way that it doesn’t in the other shades. (Perhaps because it’s so contrastive; pink in Fuchsia vs. gold in Rose vs. silver in Light Purple).

Again, I think it would flatter both warm and cool skintones — though perhaps cool a bit moreso — and it has enough pigment to tone down my natural lip colour.

Korres Light Purple swatch

Is it giftable?

Nope. Nuh-uh. Not even a little bit. If you’re going to pick these up, you’re keeping ’em. Period.

If, however, you picked up two sets (in a flurry of clarity and proactive-ness), then: yeah. They’re giftable. The trick is just to convince yourself to actually let them go ;)

Honestly, I think that Korres summed this one up really well for us in their product description: (a) full-color, (b) shine without a sticky finish, and perhaps most importantly, (c) a range of shades, from natural to vibrant, for every mood and occasion.

Crazy, right? Marketing-speak that’s actually right on the nose!

Ingredients & more »

Tags: /Holiday 2011, Korres, Lips, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches

19 Comments

Coming up | Korres Cherry-Picked

December 22, 2011

Rae Chen

2 Comments

More details in the morning! (Er… six hours from now. Or less, really.)

More photos »

Tags: /Holiday 2011, Korres, Lips, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Product Swatches, Teasers

2 Comments

All that glitters is gold | 2011’s go-to look

December 19, 2011

Rae Chen

20 Comments

Most ladies pull out the neutrals for their go-to look. Maybe a little flick of black liner here; a bit of a cat eye there. But, well – normal was never an option, now, was it?

For those of you still searching for an easy Holiday look, try this one. A touch of Marcelle Lux Diamond Liquid Eyeliner in Pure Gold has been my default since the summer, and not just because Marcelle and Annabelle do some seriously gorgeous glitters. Sure, a bit of glitter liner is pretty, but their formula is also easy to apply, but it’s also subtle – and it wears all day, with zero fading, smudging, or flaking, even on the oiliest of lids.

Pair with a bit of mascara, a natural lip, and fresh, satin-matte skin. I’m partial to Imju Fiberwig, a mascara that’s both tubing and fibrous – it holds a curl all day long, doesn’t flake, and wears right from 6AM to 12PM without smudging. Y’know… for those extra-long long days.

For the cheeks, I usually go with a light, cool pink – think MAC Well Dressed (what I used), NARS Mata Hari, etc. Any one of these pink pressed powder blushers would be perfect! The trick, I think, to pulling off a really simple eye look is to pair it with winter-fresh skin: that bare flush, plus a base that’s not quite matte, but not quite dewy. Marcelle’s powders are perfect for this, loose or pressed.

I typically don’t add shimmer to my skin or cheeks — the glitter’s enough to steal the show! — but if you wanted to, go with one of the gorgeous pressed powders that came out this Holiday season (rather than a creme or liquid). This would be perfect for a bit of flush and hilight.

More Pure Gold here and here, & a Lux liner review here.

More photos & products used »

Tags: /4. Makeup looks, Canadian beauty, Clarins, Eyes, Holy Grail, MAC, Makeup looks: neutral, Marcelle, Paraben-free

20 Comments

LIP SET WEEK(end) | Bite High Pigment Pencil Trio: review, photos, swatches

December 18, 2011

Rae Chen

49 Comments

The product: Bite High Pigment Pencil Trio (High Pigment Matte Pencils in Pomegranate, Honey Berry, and Bouquet)

The formula: the Bite High Pigment Pencils feel absolutely gorgeous. Good mattes have a very specific texture, and it’s hard to describe unless you already own a matte with a similar formula. It’s sort of… well, it’s sort of a bit like poutine. Everyone always says that the cheese “squeaks,” which makes no sense to someone who’s only ever had fries, and so much sense the second you try your first bite of cheese curd.

So, yeah, these pencils have the formula of a good matte. Velvety, surprisingly lightweight, and (perhaps most importantly), not drying!! There’s a bit of a lingering “fruity” scent, which I’d have preferred to do without, but the gorgeous shades & formula more than make up for it. (Worth noting: I believe the fragrance is naturally-derived, so those who have problems with synthetic scent headaches should be OK with these.)

The shades: Bite’s High Pigment Pencil Trio includes full-size versions of three of the line’s six High Pigment Pencil shades: Pomegranate (described as a rich red), Honey Berry (toasted almond), and Bouquet (peachy pink). The amount of pigment they’ve packed into these is really, really impressive – I’m used to being let down by “high pigment” marketing talk, but pigment-wise, these really deliver!

Of course, Pomegranate is my favourite of the three – it’s a delicious, completely opaque, bright blue-red. As fair warning, though, it has a sort of wild red vibe: no red lipstick is understated, of course, but this one seems particularly bright. As far as mattes go, though, it’s very forgiving. The formula of Pomegranate seems to wear just a bit more velvety than the other two, but I’m not complaining!

Bite High Pigment Matte Pencil swatch in Pomegranate

Honey Berry was perhaps the most surprising of the bunch; it’s a medium brown (which normally look awful on me), but somehow, it looks totally fine – even against my fair skintone. I’ve swatched it for full opacity here, but it really brings its A-game when worn sheerly. It’s an unexpectedly lovely medium nude, with just the right balance of yellow, brown, and pink tones.

Bite High Pigment Matte Pencil swatch in Honey Berry

Finally, Bouquet is a lot brighter than I thought it would be. It looks a fair bit more muted in these swatches than it does in real life, where it (like Pomegranate) comes to the field as anything but demure. It’s bright, loud, and will definitely appeal to lovers of shades like MAC Chatterbox and Please Me. There’s something about this shade that, when paired with the matte finish, takes it from quiet to L-O-U-D in ten seconds flat.

Bite High Pigment Matte Pencil swatch in Bouquet

Is it giftable?

Yes. But with reserves! For a beauty addict, this would be a fab gift – it’s all gorgeous satin-matte finishes and high pigment. For a muggle, though? Perhaps it would be best to hold off. Pick up a Colour & Shine set for them instead, perhaps!

As for whether or not this set is a good deal for yourself: it’s $38 US, but has a $72 US value. The pencils twist up (always a plus; no need for a sharpener), and I’m betting that you’re all going to pick up Pomegranate anyways. So, in short, yeah. It’s a good deal. ;)

As an introduction to the Bite line, the High Pigment Pencils are fantastic. I’m excited to try more! Which, okay, is probably going to take forever, because it’s me, but still. I’ll get to it. Eventually.

Keep reading for ingredients and more »

Tags: /Bite Beauty, Holiday 2011, Lips, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches, Silicone-free

49 Comments

LIP SET WEEK | Clinique Chubby Colour & Shine

December 16, 2011

Rae Chen

24 Comments

The product: Clinique Chubby Colour & Shine Set

It’s no secret that I’m in love with Clinique’s Chubby Stick Moisturizing Colour Lip Balm (their full name. Isn’t it intimidating?) I’ve talked about them before – or, perhaps more accurately, I’ve talked about the them a lot already. We first reviewed Clinique’s Chubby Sticks last December (when they were revamped and relaunched), went on to add the ingredients, and featured them in this year’s Summery Summary.

It’s been almost an entire year (!!!), and I think it’s safe to say that I’m still in love with the Chubby Sticks. Which, for the record, is phenomenal – I fall in love with new products all the time, but it’s so rare that one product will stay in the rotation for any more than a season. But I’m still crazy for these adorable, crayon-y balms, and I don’t think it’s a love that’s going away anytime soon!

Thankfully, Clinique included my favourite shade in this set. I haven’t tried them all, but I loved Super Strawberry when I first got it – enough so that I didn’t feel the need to try the rest of them, I guess!

Even after swatching and wearing around the other three, Super Strawberry‘s still my fave. It’s the perfect pop of colour; bright enough to really pick up my complexion, but sheer enough to still look really natural and low-key. It transitioned really well from winter into summer (and then back again), which is always the mark of a good MLBB shade!

Swatched L-R: 02 Whole Lotta Honey, 04 Mega Melon, 06 Whoppin’ Watermelon, 07 Super Strawberry

Blended out: Whole Lotta Honey, Mega Melon, Whoppin’ Watermelon, Super Strawberry

The shades

Whoppin’ Watermelon is a pretty, pastel pink, and surprisingly, it has enough pigment to tone down my natural lip colour a bit. Super Strawberry is my go-to natural lip shade; it’s a really well-balanced medium berry-pink with just the right amounts of cool and warm. Mega Melon is a sheer melon-y shade with quite a bit more shimmer than the others. Whole Lotta Honey is a muted, medium brown with enough red undertones to keep from washing you out.

Clinique Super Strawberry Chubby Stick swatch

Swatches of the rest after the cut!

Is it giftable?

Absolutely! The Colour & Shine set retails for $38.50 CAD, and comes with four Chubby Sticks in a silver pouch. Because they’re so sheer, it means that they’re going to work on any (literally, any) skintone, which is always a nice thing to keep in mind when you’re gift-giving. I love that they’re paraben- and scent-free, too; I’m always in fear of being gifted a lovely lip product that I can’t use because of a scent!

Of course, the perfect person to get this set for? That would be you. I’m convinced that every beauty junkie ought to try the Chubby line at least once, and, well, isn’t this just the most perfect way to do it?

(The crayon-y pencils are even cuter in this gift set. Even cuter. They’re the same width, but are about a centimeter shorter. Adorable!)

Availability: Canadians, this set is exclusive to Shopper’s and Murale; Americans, I think you can get yours at Macy’s; UK girls, keep an eye out at Harrod’s, Selfidges, and Clinique – looks like they’re all sold out online, though (sorry I didn’t get to the set sooner!)

Lip swatches and product photos of each shade! »

Tags: Clinique Chubby Sticks/Clinique, Holiday 2011, Lips, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches

24 Comments

COMING UP | Lip Set Week at theNotice

December 13, 2011

Rae Chen

8 Comments

“But Rae!” you say, “It’s already Tuesday night!”

Well, yes. It is.

We’ll be covering three different (very different) lip sets for the Holiday season this year, so keep your eyes peeled! Reviews and swatches upcoming – the first one should be up by tomorrow night. These lovely kits by Korres, Bite, and Clinique are great last-minute gifts for anyone you’ve forgotten, from your lipgloss-only niece, to your classic-matte auntie, to your allergic-to-everything best friend.

And, of course, they’d be fabulous gifts for yourself :P

Tags: Clinique Chubby Sticks/Bite Beauty, Clinique, Holiday 2011, Korres, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Teasers

8 Comments

A party season must-have | Prtty Peaushun review + giveaway

December 12, 2011

Rae Chen

31 Comments

The product: prtty peaushun Skin Tight Body Lotion in Medium

Oh, Prtty Peaushun. There are so many things that I could say about you.

When it comes to this “skin tight body lotion,” you more or less know what you’re getting. A lightweight moisturizer, with a bit of colour, and a bit of luminizing. Sort of… a glowy tinted moisturizer, but for your legs.

Simple as it is, though, I’ve been prtty impressed (tee hee, prtty impressed) with Prtty Peaushun. As you might’ve noticed, I’m kind of ridiculously pasty-white, especially in the winter, and it’s ~~a little frightening~~ rather unforgiving on my ~~chunky~~ solidly built legs. So I gave the Medium shade a try, hoping that it would add a bit of colour…

And it didn’t disappoint.

Prtty Peaushun – Medium

Despite looking much too orange coming out of the package, Medium blended flawlessly into my skin. And it really does look like skin – so much so that I couldn’t tell where the line of demarcation between tinted/un-tinted was in the swatch. I ended up taking a q-tip of makeup remover though my swatch patch, just so you could tell what a difference it made (while still looking totally believable).

So, yeah. You could blend your own Prtty Peaushun, and it would have the two major benefits of (i) not being $36, and (ii) not having that “peaumelo” scent, but the one that Bethany Karlyn has produced? Pretty darn impressive.

(On that note: I am never, ever going to get tired of all of these “peau” jokes.)

Prtty Peaushun – Medium, blended in with a thin line of product removed (using makeup remover.)

As a brand, Prtty Peaushun gets two huge thumbs-up from me. Not only is the formula 92% natural and free of parabens, GMOs, phalates, synthetic dyes or fragrances, talc, or animal products, but it’s not tested on animals, and is packaged with as little material as possible. Plus, (and this is the part that I love), the spokesmodel of the brand is the teeny-tiny workout maven Tracy Anderson, not some ten-foot bones-and-skin glamazon.

(She’s shorter than I am! Nobody’s shorter than I am!)

(But, I kid you not, she could beat the crap out of me if she was blindfolded and had both her arms tied behind her back. Girl is fit.)

Surprisingly, I really like the packaging – it’s new, it’s unique, and it’ll allow you to get every last drop out of your Prtty Peaushun. It does take a bit of getting used to, but I haven’t had any accidents getting the product out, and it’s a lot sturdier than you’d expect. I’ve tugged on the plastic doohickey (totally a word; even my spell-check thinks so), squished, squeezed, and chucked, and I can safely say that it’s neither exploded nor sprung leaks.

Availability: you can order your prtty peaushun through their site, on Beauty.com, or at American Apparel. There’s also a store locator on the prtty peaushun site (as well as a list of more online shops to buy through), so it shouldn’t be too hard to come by! Or, perhaps, you can get yours right here…

click to enlarge. more info about the ingredients here.

Keep reading to win a Prtty Peaushun for yourself! »

Tags: /Giveaway, Moisturizers, Other, Other, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches, Skincare

31 Comments

New 11/12/11

December 11, 2011

Rae Chen

A bit of Saturday link love

December 10, 2011

Rae Chen

5 Comments

Posting is going to be a bit patchy over the next few days – sorry!! There is so much that I’m dying to cover, but between finals and massive upper body flares (who knew that elbows could be so susceptible to inflammatory arthritis?!), I’m a bit short on free time.

Anyhow. For now, here are three gorgeous spreads that inspired ours!

Vanity Fair / BEAUTEZINE / Glitter Geek

In other news…

My drawing pad is finally working again! Here’s a rough sketch what our “get ornamental” spread was supposed to look like, before the pad decided to stop working on me. Do we love it? Do we hate it? It makes me think of candy canes :D

(I had filched Jessica’s gorgeous headline style in the meantime, because have you tried handwriting on a magic trackpad? It’s ridiculous. Ironically, all I had to do was unplug, reboot, and re-plug, and it’s working just fine again.)

(Oh, technology. Remind me never to go the refurbished route ever again.)

Tags: /Link love

5 Comments

theNotice’s Holiday Gift Guide | get ornamental

December 8, 2011

Rae Chen

13 Comments

The products

Paul & Joe Ornamental Self-Select Eyeshadow (pan only), $20.00
Philosophy Hands of Hope, $10.00
Harajuku Lovers Jingle G, $19.99
MAC Dazzlesphere! Smoky Berry Eye Kit, $32.50

—

Okay, confession: I like this one way more than yesterday’s natural skincare feature ;) (Not that I didn’t like that one! I just like this one rather a lot more.) This is the only other spread I have done right now, but I’d like to fit in one more before Christmas if I can!

No promises, but fingers crossed. I’ll try to make time :o) The holidays, you know? They’re crazy for us all.

(It’s a pity you can’t delegate to cookies. I would totally delegate to cookies. And then eat them once they’d finished their tasks. It would be gloriously efficient and so tasty.)

Tags: The Gift Guide/DIY, Fragrance, Holiday 2011, MAC, Skincare, The Gift Guide

13 Comments