I had wanted to create a (darkly) colourful smokey eye for you today, and I was really happy with how it turned out… with one (huge) exception: I kind of forgot to put mascara on (or curl, for that matter) the lashes on my left side. And I didn’t notice until I had already finished taking this photo set and the sun began to go down.
-.-
But anyways! Here’s a bold blue-and-violet smokey eye to start the week. Just, um, try not to look too closely at the full-face shots, mmkay?
The one-day pre-sale is here. Will you be trying Benefit’s newest powder? (I’m waiting ’till I can see it in-store first – but it does certainly look pretty!)
What do you think? Love it? Hate it? I’m loving the swatches that I’ve seen so far, but I don’t know about $28 (& even more in Canada). It looks like a great blush, but not a phenomenal one! Benefit, I dare you to prove me wrong.
I believe Hervana comes out “officially” in January (Dec 26th for Sephora), but please correct me if you have more up-to-date info!
Didn’t have time to finish this post yesterday night, so all you get for now is a few teaser images. The rest will be up later today, with the products listed & etc! Talk soon x
Oh, I haven’t felt this way about lavender in years! Xiao can take all the credit for turning me onto it again this time around ;)
From the drugstore to the department store, here are a few soft lavenders that caught my eye…
The eyeshadows: The tokidoki Vegas palette includes four eyeshadows, described on the Sephora site as “pearl white, pearl grey, iridescent purple, and pearl dark purple.”
The pearl white is pretty standard (if any of you picked up last year’s Sephora BI birthday set, with Aspen Summit, I’m pretty sure it’s similar), and the iridescent purple is fairly “normal,” too – reminiscent of FaceFront Retro-Robotic Violetta, a shimmery mid-violet with red (rather than blue) undertones. (Think MAC Star Violet, but more pigmented.) They’re good shadows, medium pigmentation and blendable formulas, but they won’t blow you out of the water.
The other two shades (the two on the right), though…
In the top right is the pearl grey, which is just – wow. It doesn’t look all that special, but it swatches absolutely gorgeously. For a grey, it has quite a bit of yellow pearl (and violet-y undertones); the end result is sort of… mushroomy. I know, it doesn’t make a ton of sense right now, but just – look at the swatches! (It’s prettier visually than textually, and–like many great taupes–even prettier in person.)
And, finally, the dark purple. It’s not as unique as the grey, but it’s still well worth having. It’s a bit boring in theory, but it’s perfect in execution! I’m sure my fellow violet-lovers will understand when I say that purples are often pretty in the pan, but end up swatching too black, or too blue, or just too boring, you know? This one is a truer purple than most, though, which is definitely something I can appreciate.
tokidoki Vegas palette swatches – four eyeshadows, then the blush heavily/lightly
The blush: Described as a “soft bronze pink,” the blush in the Vegas palette made me think of NARS Orgasm right off the bat. Upon comparison, though, I can see that I was way off: they’re far from dupes, with Orgasm being more shimmery, less pigmented, and quite a lot more peach. More importantly, though, I’m a little concerned for the Sephora+tokidoki team – because whoever wrote up the blusher description is clearly struggling with language comprehension.
All of the three words apply, but it’s not a “soft bronze pink” blush. Colour-wise, the blush is pink. Period. It’s a strong, clear pink, and it happens to contain a healthy dose of gold shimmer, but that doesn’t interrupt the overwhelming pink (read: non-bronze)-iness of the shade. The formula is quite soft, so make sure to “dab” your brush to pick up colour; don’t sweep or push.
But, the blush, overall – it’s soft (in terms of texture), and bronze (in terms of shimmer), and pink (in terms of shade). However, it’s certainly not a “soft bronze pink”!
Top row, L-R: Clarins Miami Pink, Clinique Smoldering Plum
Bottom row, L-R: NARS Orgasm, tokidoki Vegas blush, generic 10 palette (leftmost shade on the top row of the palette)
For a measly $10USD/$12CAD, I cannot recommend this palette enough. The quality of both the eyeshadows and the blush is quite surprising, and though I’m very much not into the tokidoki packaging and branding, I’m willing to forgive it. I like the thin, lightweight cardboard packaging, I love the shades included, and the price tag & paraben-free formula are just the cherries on top!
I’m hoping that they’ll add another few Arte Palettes to the tokidoki lineup, but it would be nice to see a matte blush in the next one – this shimmery pink is a bit too in-your-face for me. Nonetheless, it’s a great, cheap palette, and it’ll hopefully make its way into quite a few stockings this December!
I was going to write up either a tokidoki Vegas palette or Balenciaga L’Essence review for you today…
…but then I used up all my blogging time reading about feeds and Google and poking around on the new (well, I guess it isn’t new anymore) Blogger interface and ended up making follow buttons for our right sidebar.
So, um. Yeah. Will hopefully have a post up for you later today! In the meantime, please take a moment to follow theNotice on Twitter, bloglovin’, through other RSS feeds, or by email, because we’ll eventually have to stop using Google Friend Connect.
(I kind of want to hit the big 1-000 and then shut it down, but, well, that’s just me being silly and sentimental.)
Hope you like the new buttons! They’re nothing special, and I do plan on switching to a new layout over the Holidays (so they may or may not be sticking around), but they’re ours. And I like them. And they’re not orange!
As for the less-important-but-more relevant thing, I also learned that:
In case you hadn’t already figured it out for yourself, I’m not exactly Chilli Tingle‘s biggest fan. But, of course, that’s just me being ridiculous – it’s simply not what I’d expected. The product itself, however, really isn’t actually half-bad!
My initial reaction to this lip tint was huh, cool – you don’t see chilli in lip products too often, you know? The market’s mainly just full of peppermint and cocoa butter and vanilla and shea. While Chilli Tingle certainly is interesting, though, I should probably have thought about the fact that I hate chilli (and orange lip products, actually) before giving it a go.
(Yes, alright, you can take a moment to laugh at me.)
(Okay, moment’s over, stop it!)
Chilli Tingle Lip Tint, swatched
With the dry texture of this Lip Tint, I find that I have to put quite a bit of it on when I wear it – too sheer of a layer and it goes rather patchy, clinging to dry patches and otherwise just sliding about. With the amount that I have to wear, the resulting colour is a lot more full-on than I had anticipated: instead of a sheer coral, it’s more of a medium-opaque orange-red.
For beauty junkie with normal (rather than, erm, extremely dry) lips, though, and for lovers of orange lip products? I would definitely recommend giving this a go. There’s way more pigment in this product than you’d think, and the colour wears for quite a long time (especially for a “tint”!)
Swatched L-R: LUSH Lip Tint Chilli Tingle, Marcelle Rouge Xpression in Delirium, Annabelle Volumelip gloss in So Sanguine.
Steer clear of Chilli Tingle if (duh) you’re not a fan of chilli or orange lip colours, and/or if you have dry, sensitive lips. (Sometimes I think I need to have my brain checked out. Are you sure all of this perfume-sniffing hasn’t damaged my frontal lobe?)
However, if you’re looking for a natural (and we mean this in terms of production and ingredients, not colour) orange lip colour, don’t miss it! Just – make sure to think of it like a lip colour, not a lip balm, which was one of the many, many mistakes I made while writing this review. Remember to layer it on (too little product and it’ll shift around) and you should be good to go.
I keep forgetting to post this, but – it’s here now! Hurray!
BeautyBloggers.org has just opened for its second year of auctions, and it’s looking just as good (or maybe even better) than last year. Bloggers and brands have teamed up with the site to raise funds for Doctors Without Boarders, donating items to be bid on from now until December 12th.
So – get your bid on, my dears! At the very least, have a look around; there are a ton of great buys (and LE items) to be snapped up ;)
Here are a few of the items at the top of my lust list…
P.S. Worldwide shipping is free on all items, so non-US beauties need not shy away!
It occurred to me that I haven’t done a violet eye look recently, which – well, I mean, seriously? I feel like I’ve accidentally broken one of the key rules of engagement for real life.
Anyhow. Just a simple, wearable violet eye look for you today. Clinique Lid Smoothie in Born Freesia (of course) as the base, Lancome Angora eyeshadow in the inner corner, Korres Plum for most of the colour. Plus, my secret to any violet smokey eye – just a tiny, tiny bit of Make Up For Ever 92, buffed overtop with a fluffy blending brush and feather-light movements. I’ll have to do a before/after with it one of these days; a little bit of 92 makes so much of a difference.
Finish with black liner smudged into the upper lashline (probably L’Oreal HiP Creme liner, just because I’m attempting to use mine up) & Imju Fiberwig (which I adore) on the lashes themselves. Keep reading »
Um.
Can it be next Spring right now, please? Pretty please?
(And on that note – I could spend a ridiculous amount of time watching Clarins videos. They’re just so well-done! I love the light, upbeat instrumentals in the background; the models–what amazing complexions, good lord!–they’ve chosen; the not-too-bright but not-too-dark way they’ve filmed them. Well worth a watch, if you have the time.)
