theNotice

Giveaway: calling all cat-loving beauty addicts!

March 24, 2011

75 Comments

What it is: Honeycat Cosmetics Hiss Good Nite Lipgloss

The packaging: Alright, so I like the chic, squared-off tube, and I think the cardboard cylinder it’s sold in is adorable – but I have one complaint. The tube itself is totally unlabelled! I guess it’s alright at the end of the day (I, at least, will never get this confused with anything else in my stash), but it’s a little weird. Factory blem, perhaps?

The gloss: Honestly, the photos say it all. If you love an über-glittery pink gloss, Honeycat is the way to go. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it is literally the most glittery lip product I’ve ever seen or heard of! It’s definitely not for me (I feel a bit like a small child who’s gotten into the wrong makeup stash), but if you’re into glitter (and yes I do mean GLITTER), then this is a must-have.

Other things to love:

The moisture – surprisingly, this does a wonderful job of keeping my lips hydrated!
Lightweight and really non-sticky. (Which, of course, I love.)
Absolutely no animal testing.

But watch out if:

You don’t like to be able to feel your glitter. Obviously, with particle sizes this large, you’re going to be able to (no matter who makes it!)
You need your lip products to be totally scent-free. I can’t quite put my finger on what this smells like, but I’m guessing it’s from the mango, kokum, and shea butters?

Win it

Glitter-lovers, this is your lucky day! Honeycat Cosmetics has generously offered another tube up for giveaway, and it’s open internationally (adherent to your country’s regulations). There are two ways to enter…

Follow @thenotice on Twitter and leave a comment on this post (be sure to leave your Twitter username!)
Follow theNotice through GFC, and leave a comment on this post (and again, be sure to leave your GFC username!)

And, of course, an opportunity for an extra entry – (re)tweet the following:

Calling all glitter-lovers and cat-lovers! Follow @thenotice to win a frisky @honeycattweets gloss. Details http://bit.ly/eqIzk5

EDIT: This giveaway is now CLOSED! Thank you all for entering, and we’ll see you soon with a fresh one :)

Tags: /Giveaway, Lips, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches

75 Comments

Review and swatches: I’d let Benefit’s new Ultra Shines shades frisk me…

March 22, 2011

Rae Chen

8 Comments

What it is: Benefit Ultra Shines lipgloss in So Frisk Me (new this spring, but not limited edition)

The gloss: I’ll admit that I was skeptical about this one at first – anything with “ultra” or “super” in its name usually makes me a little suspicious (I blame Burts’ Super Glossy line). In all honesty, though, these really are ultra-shiny! I don’t like wearing a lot of product on my lips, simply because I find it uncomfortable, but So Frisk Me leaves my lips quite glossy with just a light layer of product.

Benefit Ultra Shine - So Frisk Me -Spring 2011 A

Now, keep in mind that these are scented (unlike most of my favourite lip products), but it’s a light, fruity scent – and for once, I don’t mind at all! They’re flavourless, though, which is probably a good thing… because I’d totally want to snack on them if they tasted the same as they smell.

Benefit Ultra Shine - So Frisk Me -Spring 2011 B

The shade: So Frisk Me is described as a “gilded berry,” and is one of four new nude shades (it’s the least “nude” of the bunch, though!) The others are Nudie-Tude (goldspun twist), Nooki Nookie (opal glaze), and Patootie (oyster pink). Now, I’m not sure about the other three, but I’d say that this one is medium-sheer to sheer, in terms of opacity.

From L-R: Nudie-Tudie, So Frisk Me, Nookie Nookie, Patootie

While So Frisk Me has more glitter than I’d usually go for, I still do like it – the glitter’s really finely milled, so it’s not gritty, and the gloss is well-formulated, so the glitter doesn’t migrate down my chin (ahem, Rimmel StayGlossy)!

Benefit Spring 2011 swatches - Ultra Shine, BadGal eyeliner

The verdict? I’m on the fence about this one – So Frisk Me is a great colour, and I love the scent and packaging of the Ultra Shines, but $23 is a little high. If it these were either a little cheaper (say, $18, which is the US price) or more moisturizing (all the reviews I’ve read have said they’re quite moisturizing, but I personally found I really needed to layer lip balm underneath), I’d give them the go-ahead… but as they stand, I’m just not sure!

Try them if… your lips aren’t chronically dry (mine are), or if you find a shade that you really, really love.

Tags: /Benefit, Lips, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches, Spring/Summer 2011

8 Comments

A moment of silence for Senna Kinetic

March 21, 2011

Rae Chen

10 Comments

While prepping a FOTD post for later this week (you can check out a teaser here), I realized that my go-to favourite shadow, Senna Kinetic, has been discontinued. In retrospect, I’m actually pretty sure I found this out before, but that doesn’t make my suffering any less legitimate!

(At least… that’s what I keep telling myself.)

Kinetic was actually a duo shadow in a fairly large pan, and I’ve shown you the violet side in the past, but it’s really only the silver that I’m going to miss. Like all Senna shadows, it was buttery and blendable, and even though its frost finish could be a little *too* much sometimes, I still absolutely adored it.

Oh, and here are two old looks that I’ve used Kinetic in:

Smokey blue-grey eyes (aka the “sex kitten eye,” thankyouverymuch Arianne),
I’ve got the silver-blues (scroll down)

Are there any LE/discontinued shadows that you just love? And more importantly: can you think of any dupes for Kinetic? :P

Tags: /Eyes, Indie brands, Product Photos, Product Swatches, Senna

10 Comments

Ulta Molten: another delicious chocolate brown shadow

March 21, 2011

Rae Chen

3 Comments

Meet Molten, a lovely brown eyeshadow with a healthy serving of gold shimmer. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and currently on sale for a mere $3, so I honestly don’t think I need to say much more than that!

The gold flecks in Molten made me think of Annabelle Tiger-Eye, at first, so I swatched them together, but it also reminds me of another favourite – the amazing Ellis Faas E104. Obviously, Molten has nothing on the Ellis shadow’s bulletproof wear, but at literally less than a tenth of the price, I’m willing to forgive that little fact.

Ulta Molten (wet/dry), black shade in Annabelle Tiger-Eye (wet/dry)

indirect lighting, no flash support; cloudy

Tags: /Eyes, Product Photos, Product Review, Product Swatches

3 Comments

Off-topic fluff

March 20, 2011

Rae Chen

13 Comments

Alright so I really wanted to do this tag but I haven’t a tumblr account, so I’m posting it here! I actually hadn’t meant to create it at all; I was just going to see what three things I’d come up with and leave it at that… but then they were all so awesome that I couldn’t not do it.

The prompt:

Go to wikipedia, click random article. That is your band name.
Go to quotationspage.com, click random quote, the last 4 words of the last quote is the album title.
Go to flickr, the 3rd picture in “Interesting photos from the last 7 days” is your album cover.
Go to paint, paintbrush, photoshop, ect and make your album.

And of course, the credits: meme found on saniday’s tumblr (which I love), Wikipedia, Random Quotes, and Jason Wright-St Clair (what a gorgeous photo!)

What would yours be? If you create one of your own, I’d love to see the link in the comments! Or, if you’d rather just provide links to your three results (Wiki, Quotations Page, and Flickr), that works too ;)

Tags: /Uncategorized

13 Comments

New 19/03/11

March 19, 2011

Rae Chen

5 Comments

Palettes and sets… (review of that Mr. Bright palette here!)

And a few more gorgeous new products…

Oh! And a lovely little WHAT IN THE HELL: this is $495. $495!!! I don’t even have words.

(Alternately, you could pick up this for a breezy $6.99.)

Tags: /New This Week (& etc)

5 Comments

FOUND: a fix for a dry scalp!

March 18, 2011

Rae Chen

6 Comments

A few months back, we reviewed Diane Lai’s Rejuvenate moisturizer, and I thought I’d give a quick update on it! I’ve been using Rejuvenate more as a cure-all than a regular ‘ol face moisturizer recently, and it’s been absolutely amazing. Because it’s so lightweight, I can do a lot more with it than I can with, say, German Nivea (which I adore, but it’s just so darn thick!)

Of course, I’m still not a fan of the strong lavender scent, but I am loving it for my hair and scalp. Like the rest of my skin, my scalp is quite dry, and it’s uncomfortable a good 98% of the time. I was convinced for the longest time that I had dandruff, but in reality – I just have phenomenally dry skin.

(The difference: dandruff is caused by a fungus, and produces large, sticky flakes. Instead, my scalp often feels tight, and I get tiny dry bits, like when you have a dry patch on your face.)

For the past little while, I’ve been massaging Rejuvenate into my scalp before going to bed once or twice a week (two pumps of product usually does the trick) and showering it out as normal in the morning. The result? No more dry bits, and my scalp – for once! – doesn’t feel at all tight and uncomfortable.

Right now, I’m feeling like Rejuvenate is my own little godsend, so (of course,) I had to share it with all of you! It’s the only product that’s helped my scalp so far, and because it’s ‘cone-free and lightweight, it doesn’t irritate my scalp or make it break out (TMI, but yes, really silicone-y things have made it do that in the past). It’s also making a great leave-in hair lotion during the day (I work in a half-pump to a pump while my hair’s still pretty damp), so I’m a happy camper.

For all of you lovely ladies that have gone off silicones with me, this is a must-have!

Tags: /Hair, Moisturizers, Other, Paraben-free, Product Photos, Product Review, Silicone-free, Skincare

6 Comments

Green swatches for St. P

March 17, 2011

Rae Chen

5 Comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, lovelies! (Eep, let’s pray I’ve got the date right…) My apologies for the quality of the photo; I took this late last night in some pretty awful lighting. Hope it’s helpful all the same :o)

Top, L – R: MAC Tease ‘n Teal, MAC So There Jade¹, Marcelle Metal Green², Marcelle Jade³

Bottom, L – R: theBalm Jealous Jordana, Marcelle Amazone, Annabelle Rainforest, MAC Humid

¹ Powerpoint Eye Pencil / ² Waterproof Eyeliner / ³ LUX Metallic Liquid Eyeliner

Tags: /Eyes, Product Swatches

5 Comments

EOTD: blackened violet and green

March 17, 2011

Rae Chen

10 Comments

Get the look…

To form the base of this look, I used FaceFront Nylon Garden (gold-green) and Shadow Keeper (blackened violet) Artistic Pigments, foiled with no base. Then, to add depth to the corner, I added theBalm Jealous Jordana (blackened green) to the outer corner and blended well.

I wanted a bit more green in the look, so I used a 217 to add a touch of MAC Humid (brighter medium green) to the outer corner, and took it along the outer half of the lower lashline with a dry angled eyeliner brush. (The inner corner is Shadow Keeper, again.)

To finish off the eye, I added MAC Vanilla (pigment, not shadow) to hilight, smudged L’Oreal’s Black HiP Creme Liner along the waterline, and drew a thin line with Marcelle Very Black Liquid Eyeliner Pen along the top lashline before adding falsies.

Finish off the look with…

A natural lip and pink cheeks
A berry lip and nude cheeks

Doesn’t exactly say “spring,” does it? Oh well, I love it anyways :P

P.S. I really didn’t love how the falsies looked in the looking-down shot, so umm… lots of liberal photoshopping. I hope you can forgive me!

Tags: /4. Makeup looks, Eyes, FaceFront, Indie brands, Makeup looks: colour, Spring/Summer 2011

10 Comments

New packaging for Urban Decay’s Primer Potion

March 16, 2011

Rae Chen

1 Comment

Thank you, Urban Decay. Now, not only do I have a product that I’m not thrilled with, but everyone else will have more functional, hygenic packaging than I.

Tags: /Urban Decay

1 Comment