No post today — like the rest of the world, theNotice is taking a moment of silence to remember. Regular posting will resume tomorrow :)
I know that the day isn’t over yet, but apparently I’m incapable of going a day without posting. Sorry.
- Tampax (traditional): cardboard applicatiors are better for the environment than plastic ones but harder to insert (I have no problem with this, though my sister does… and I use Extra Supers [ugh] in comparison to her Regulars!) They expand in this [] shape, so they’re easier to remove.
- Tampax compak: small, with a plastic applicator for easy insertion. They also expand [] thisaway, so they’re easy to remove. Unfortunately, they’re also pricier and generate more waste than a traditional tampax.
- Playtex (traditional): plastic applicators with rounded tips, which is more wasteful, but wayyy easier to insert. What I have trouble with is the removal — they expand like this <> and when I’m bleeding to death, tired, and anaemic, it is physically distressing to have to remove these. Plus, it hurts!
- Pads: messy. That is all.
- DivaCup: I would love to try one of these, because they sound wonderful! Reduced waste, one set cost (no monthly rebuying) and, from what I hear, very effective. The only problem? I haven’t the ovaries (har, har) to try it out!!
How do you guys feel about the occasional TMI day? Anything that you feel is too embarassing or awkward for real life can be discussed on said days — or emailed to me as a suggestion for the next TMI Time! The only rule is that it cannot be lewd, and the subject matter has to be appropriate for [most] ages.
TMI Time will always be under a cut, so by clicking on the “read more” button, you can choose to read it or skip it. Also, by clicking, you accept that you are… [legal jargon] and [more legal jargon stating you cannot sue me or any of my readers, who are AWESOME, might I add.]
To start this off: what type of period care do you use?? I’m a Tampax girl, my sister uses only plastic applicators (preferably Playtex) and mother can use whatever the hell she wants. I have an aunt that uses only pads and a friend who loves her DivaCup…
And now, to take it up to the TMI level… pro/cons!
Now it’s your turn — respond!!
If you can’t tell, I’ve been worrying about maintaining the relevancy of theNotice recently — so I promise all these imput posts will disappear soon! Of course, you can at any time poke me about this stuff, even if you haven’t been prompted.)
If there’s anything below that really ticks you off, or anything that you really love, be sure to let me know in the comments!
“Read More” link because there are a ton of unnecessary photos:
Swatches done overtop different bases, like the swatches of Blue Diamonds, below.
Swatches shown in layers: ie this Tarte Blushing Bride.
First layer
Second layer
Topped with powder
Swatches done pre-EOTD to show how colours layer, like in this gold/violet eye tutorial
Lip swatches that include just the colour. I hate how these look, but I have to admit that they’re the best for colour representation. (This hasn’t been posted yet, but I promise it will go up shortly!)
Swatches that include just the product, like this glitter liner (vs swatches that include the body part, too, like in the second photo, which is a swatch for a Lorac It Kit.)
That’s all for now! Again, feel free to comment on anything, even if it’s not included in the post — I’m sure I’ve forgotten something!
I’ve always been very particular about them, and I attribute it not only to a concious decision but also to the fact that I have a very keen sense of smell — trust me, when you can smell everything, how things smell becomes very important to you!
Anyhow, I sent Guerlain a short email asking if they had an Albertan retailer for Jicky and/or Mitsouko, or if they sold samples online — I’ve been told I “need” to smell them, and neither are sold in the province, according to the SA I spoke to the other day!
This is the response I recieved:
Subject line: Lodge a complaint about a product
Right off the start I have a problem with this. I wasn’t lodging a complaint, I was asking about product availability.Dear Miss,
I acknowledge receipt of your mail from 11/9/2009 and I thank you for sending it.
I am sorry to inform you that Guerlain is not able to send samples by post. They are kept exclusively in our shops and given out depending on the availability of stocks. Moreover, Mitsouko and Jicky are not declined in samples and samples are not for sale.
Really? Because… that sentence does not make sense.In order for you to become familiar with our products, I advise you to go at your Guerlain distributor to discover or rediscover the Guerlain lines of fragrances, skincare and make up.
“Go at your Guerlain distrubutor”? So not going to happen — I might just have to have a go at you, though.
Also, I started the email by specifically stating that my distributor (the largest Guerlain counter in my city) told me that my province doesn’t carry what I’m looking for. Which is why I emailed Guerlain in the first place — to ask if she was wrong, by some slim chance.You will find all the addresses of our boutiques, our institutes and our points of sale in France as well as the rest of the world in our website www.guerlain.com
How does that help me? I’m not going to travel to France, or anywhere else for that matter, to sniff a perfume and then come home. I’m not asking where I can find Guerlain in the world, I’m asking if there are any retailers in Alberta that my SA didn’t know about.“Guerlain Boutique & Institut
110 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 2W7
Tel / Phone: 416-929-6114″“Guerlain Boutique & Institut
1350 Greene Avenue, 2nd Floor
Westmount, Quebec
H3Z 2B1
Tel / Phone: 514-933-6114″Thank you for your interest in our brand.
Yours faithfully,
Isabelle ROUSSEAU
Customer Relationship Department
irousseau@guerlain.fr
I have to say it, Guerlain: I’m a little bit ashamed for you. I wonder how Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain, the original Guerlain, would feel if he knew his company was being run that way? The LVMH group really needs to knock their companies back into line — this isn’t the first time I’ve had issues emailing one of their companies. As they say… you’re only as good as your weakest link. And this link? It’s pretty damn weak.
If any of you have solutions or your own customer service stories to share, I would love to hear them in the comments! Confession: on a bad day, sometimes the best part is reading all of your comments and/or blogs. There are some pretty awful people on the internet, but there also some amazing ones.
(You guys are the awful ones.)
(I MEAN AMAZING! AMAZING! *shifty eyes*)
This year’s Sephora Birthday Gift (for Beauty Insiders) is a trio of mini-sized Super Shimmer Lipglosses. You can also get the full-sized version of these, or their set of eight minis, but I have a couple questions.
1) I’m not sure why the minis would make sense unless you’re gifting them away. If you’re already getting three of the eight for free… Sephora, why would you include these in both sets?!? It doesn‘t make sense!
2) Why is mine labelled Bronzed Beauty, but the set has an identical gloss labelled as Bronze Beauty, and the fullsize goes back and confuses me by being named Bronzed Beauty again?
3) The BCA gloss is named Forever Pink and deemed a “perfectly pink lip gloss” with “hollographic shimmer,” but then if you go to the Super Shimmer product page, they have a Forever Pink that’s a “hollographic pink shimmer” lip gloss. With a different swatch photo.
Logic and matching F-A-I-Ls, Sephora. You’re 0 for 3.
Anyhow.
From left to right: Bronzed Beauty, Precious Pink, and Rosy Glow.
Texture and scent: These were your basic low-to-mid-range gloss — slightly tacky, but not unbearably sticky, and non-drying. Though all three have glitter, it’s fine enough that you can’t feel the grittiness. What really turns me off these is the strong sugary sweet scent; the noxious fumes stick around right until the glosses are completely off your lips!
Shades: I have to hand it to Sephora: they did a great job picking shades! They’re all fairly sheer, which though undesirable in a regular gloss, makes for a great universal trio. The more pigment in each gloss, the harder it will be to make them wearable for everyone. Bronzed Beauty, the darkest shade, was certainly the darkest, and Precious Pink the fairest. Overall, I’m sure that everyone would be able to wear at least two of the three glosses without a problem.
Bronzed Beauty
Precious Pink
Rosy Glow
The verdict? I think these are great free glosses, and I would be sure to pick up your gift! However, I wouldn’t buy the full-sized tubes. For $10US (I think $12-$14 CAD?) they’re not stunning, with too little pigment and too much scent. I’d go for a Beauty Rush or AmazeMint gloss way before picking up one of these.
Just got home from Shopper’s! I didn’t pick up too much, but I did find what I was looking for.
Keep your eyes peeled for reviews of Darling (the cult-followed nude lipstick,) a basic black Extreme Art Liner (which I have very high hopes for,) and a pretty neutral eyeshadow duo. I’m not sure why the last item was only $3-something, as it should technically have been $7.50, but hey — I’m not complaining! I als0 picked up the very last eos sphere, which I am super-excited about.
(Yah, I’m a five-year-old child. Or a crow. Or a pagent queen.)
Anyhow, here are a couple shots of Senna’s Sequins. They’re a lovely super-finely-milled iridescent white powder, and a little goes a very long way. A wonderful anything-hilighter, but use sparingly!
(I don’t love that this is loose with no sifter; it makes a huge mess and has to be stored in a ziploc bag just in case. If you’re ever shopping for a loose shimmer powder like this one, keep that in mind!)
Click on photos to enlarge — especially the last one! You *need* to see all the pretty glittery bits.
I’ve closed down the poll after just under one week — thank you so much to all of you that did it! And now I know there are a lot more of you that don’t comment, nudge nudge. I love hearing from you guys, so please do comment, even if it’s just once in a while!
Super-long text-only post, so it’s under a cut.
The results: a lot of you don’t like to mention your age, but those of you who did tend strongly to be 20-30. This doesn’t actually help me in the least, but I was very curious, and I am basically an unstoppable force when I am curious. Lots of awkward situations in which I wasn’t supposed to be where I was, but went in anyways because I just had to know…
A vast percentage of you guys want to see more swatches, FOTDs, and reviews, and you don’t want — or don’t care if there are — more reader-written posts or product and collection launches. That was pretty much the only question that would influence theNotice! I have to say; I’m glad. Why? I was planning on doing more of the first three anyways, and didn’t really want to do launches!
What I didn’t expect was so many people commenting on the fact that my personality shines through my writing… I was mainly unaware of this, but I guess it makes sense. When you’re this batshit crazy awesome, it’s a little obvious. I’ll try to do a few more tutorials, and I’m already trying to figure out how to make a giveaway feasible, but no promises!
As for reviewing items from a press kit, I always let you guys know (and they’re far and few between, anyways!) For what it’s worth, I want you guys to know that I would never put a company before my readers — if something’s crap, it doesn’t even make sense to give it a good [fake] review because you still want the company to send you things. I mean, think about it! Why would you want more crap? I swear on my blog (because my mother isn’t dead) that I’ll always be 100% honest on theNotice.
(In real life, this is a downfall, because sometimes you should just keep your mouth shut.)
Anyhow, back to the topic. Most of you, surprisingly, have double lids. I’m wondering if, then, a tutorial for double lids would be more helpful? We’ll see — perhaps I can recruit a couple friends to be my models.
Lastly, I’m thrilled over the moon that you guys have actually taken my reviews to heart, and bought items recommended, or swatched items recommended, or not bought items that were BLBd (Beauty Black Listed)! Because, really, the point of a review is not to [see] myself speak, it’s to help you guys find the perfect items for you.
And I know I just said that was the last point, but I have one more!! Re: the very last question… I think it will be a Canon Rebel XS =D
I seriously contemplated not posting these photos, because a lot of them sucked. It was dark, late, and my camera was being pathetic.
However, I knew I would never get away with not posting Halloween makeup photos. So, I clicked away with colour balance and brightness and airbrushing for a while, and here are a couple that are half-decent. I didn’t have much time, so I went with tried and true — face swirlies :P I’m itching to do some mask makeup, but I need to wait for a sunny day so I can take some decent photographs!!
I can’t remember exactly what I used, but I’ll guess:
Eyes
Definitely NYX Milk as a base.MUFE 92, obviously!
Senna Intrigue, perhaps?
Either Lancome Creme Lustre or MAC Vanilla. I have no clue.
Lancome Artliner in Noir and Urban Decay 24/7 in Zero. I remember using both and having to explain to mother why they weren’t interchangeable.
Smashbox Midnight Black eye shadow to set the 24/7 on the waterline.
Face
Smashbox Smoke to contour. Don’t try this at home, unless you’re a contouring whiz! I love it, but it’s a grey shadow — which makes it a) super-gorgeous, and b) very easy to overdo, unless contouring is second nature to you.
Stila Oil-Free foundation, shade B (do NOT love how this photographs! Enlarge images and check out my nosebridge — major whiteness. I also touched-up some acne scars with Photoshop, because this didn’t cover the way I want it to. Will review later for y’all!)
TheBalm Time Balm, Lighter Than Light. Plus also possibly Boots No. 7 Illuminating Concealer, under my eyes? I can’t remember, but those two are what I usually use.
Lips
Nada. I was going to be eating dinner while handing out treats, so I didn’t bother :P I *think* I put on clear-finish (non-shimmery) light shade afterwards, though.
I don’t plan on getting married. I’m not against it, I simply don’t believe in it. Why should I have to legalize things? If you’re really in love, your partner should be loyal and faithful to you no matter what — I just don’t see the need for some big ceremony to legalize it. It’s like grocery shopping for squirrels. Expensive, with the potential to be awesome, and totally unnecessary.
(This may be strongly influenced by my aversion to a) people, b) religion, c) legality, and d) parties)
Aneeeeeehow.
Mermanda got married recently (congrats, hon!) and posted a photo of her wedding dress. It all went downhill from there. I mean, I still don’t believe in marriage, but like, holy crap. These wedding dresses are kind of making me want to tie the knot. And I’m not even in a relationship. I just like pretty things.
(I’d totally look redonc. in most of them, though, with the whole 5’2″ thing. But she’s small too! And probably rocked the hell outta hers all down the aisle!)
Dresses above via Essense of Australia.
Plus, here is some Vera, because I have NO self-control. Little complaint about her models, though: they don’t look like they’re about to get married. They look like they’re about to shrivel up and DIE in a startlingly Kafka way due to lack of food for the last six months.
