Notte Workin' For Me

Notte Breeze (Night Breeze) is a powder shampoo made by Principessa Beauty. According to the description on the bottle, it is supposed to keep you "shower fresh all day". It can be used on skin, as a baby powder might be, but without the whitening effects, since the powder itself is tinted light brown. However, since it is marketed as a dry shampoo and that is the primary reason that I bought it, this review will focus on that use in particular. The recommended use for this powder is to "sprinkle into your hair to absorb excess oils [and] product and create gorgeous body and volume!" It is supposed to "magically blend roots and extend blowouts!" This powder is claiming to do an awful lot and, sadly, falling far short of expectations. I would almost go so far as to call it false advertising.

Here it is pictured beside the (very, very similar) Cake Satin Sugar hair and body powder.



The powder is "enhanced with beneficial extracts such as Vitamin E, Aloe, Chamomile, and Calendula." It is talc-free. Talc is thought to be a health hazard and a possible carcinogen (cancer-causing substance). I'm not sure if it's a particular ingredient or just the powder itself, but it tends to make me a little sneezy after I use it. The ingredients are as follows: Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Silica, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Aloe Barbedensis Leaf Juice, Organic Chamomille Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Organic Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Caprylyl Glycol, Parfum, Phenoxyethanol, Sorbic Acid, Tocobiol, Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)

The texture of this powder is very fine and matte, without any shimmer to it. Think cake flour, as opposed to fine sand. It feels soft and velvety and definitely has a lasting powdery effect on the skin. I usually wash my hands afterwards because they feel so smooth as to be almost slippery.



It pours a bit too easily from the container. I often find that I've accidentally ended up with too much of it in my palm. You will definitely want to "sprinkle"/pour this into your palm first and not directly onto your hair, so that you have a bit of a better handle on how much you're using. Be careful not to wipe your hands or to accidentally drop some powder on your clothing. The only way to get it off is to wash the garment, as brushing it away does nothing but grind it into the fabric. It stays in place well on the skin and in the hair...if you can get it in the right place! It's a little bit difficult to control when you've got a palm full of powder.

Notte Breeze powder has a light, floral smell, with subtle mineral undertones reminiscent of foundation make-up. It reminds me of the rose-scented powder puff that my mother used to have in the bathroom when I was a kid. It's a familiar aroma for me, but it's also a little bit old lady-ish. (Don't tell my mom I said that!) It's not a scent that I would choose to wear, but it would be tolerable if the product actually worked.

If you are able to place the Notte Breeze powder successfully where you want it in your hair, you will most likely notice right off the bat that it does not blend well into your hair color, especially if you truly have dark hair, like me. I was expecting the powder to be much darker. My hair is dark brown and this light brown powder does not match it at all. It would probably match hair that was dirty blonde or very, very light brown. I actually find that plain white baby powder blends into my hair better than this stuff. It also feels somewhat cleaner. This powder makes my hair and scalp feel stiff, gritty, and tacky to the touch. If you brush your hair through, the strands tend to clump together, which really defeats the purpose. If you scratch your head, you'll come away with a bunch of powder under your nails. Gross!

Long story short, this product does NOT make my hair look presentable enough to go out into the world without being embarrassed and feeling in need of a shower. I like to shower in the mornings, so I will occasionally use this powder as a last resort if I'm staying in for the night, just so I don't have to feel like my hair is especially greasy. I only very slightly prefer the feel of this powder to the feel of oily hair. I'd just as soon use baby powder, which performs the same function, but slightly better. It will stretch my hair through the night until I can shower in the morning, but it leaves it looking and feeling weird in the interim. When you do shower, you can watch the brown water wash down the drain and feel thankful that you've finally got the stuff out of your hair.

Here are two pictures of the product in my hair. The first is a small dab, before being blended in. The second is after tousling my hair and attempting to blend the powder through.

Notte Breeze comes in a rectangular, thin metal tin, with a plastic cap that twists open like the lid of most baby powders. When you align the openings, the product will pour out quickly. If you give it a twist, the holes will be blocked. It comes with a Principessa Beauty sticker over the top.





I have not had a problem with the bottle leaking, so you could travel with it, but it is a bit too large to be carried around with you, measuring 6" tall and 2 1/4"x2 1/4". The bottle is very classy and attractive, with minimal print. All text is written in both English and French. The ingredients are listed on the bottom. It is recyclable, so please be sure not to just throw it away when you're done with it.

I shower daily, but I only wash my hair every other day. I regularly use dry shampoo products, because the roots of my hair around the crown of my head tend to get oily, while the rest of my hair stays perfectly nice for at least two days. To keep my roots from looking greasy, I've tried a ton of different products, including just plain baby powder, expensive spray can shampoos, and cheaper drug store versions. Sadly, it seems that dry shampoo is a product for which you need to actually shell out the cash in order to get something that really works. The cheaper versions just don't do the trick. Unfortunately, Notte Breeze is painfully overpriced, especially since it doesn't work well. It is actually a full $10 MORE expensive than my favorite "salon quality" dry shampoo, Klorane, that actually DOES work. Klorane comes in a spray can, which you shake up and then spritz onto your hair. It comes out as a spray, but lands on your hair as a dry powder, which you leave on for a few minutes before brushing through. It blends into the hair and works perfectly. Notte Breeze, even when used in a similar fashion, does not perform at all up to snuff. I was very disappointed in this product.