When I first moved to the boarding school where I ended up spending two years, I thought it might be interesting to write a post on preppy beauty. However, it soon became clear that the post would comprise a single sentence: “Preppy beauty doesn’t exist.” In rural New England boarding schools, I discovered, the main aesthetic objective of both students and teachers was to look as if they could jump into a lacrosse game at any second. There were two basic levels of dress at my school—business casual and athletic wear—and neither one had a makeup look associated with it. In fact, female instructors wore even less makeup at boarding school than they did in academia. Students dabbled in makeup, but they kept it subtle, too (Glossier was a popular brand); the one exception was the heavy black eyeliner on some of the musicians and theater kids. Both teachers and students liked having their nails done, but professional manicures were more common than DIY jobs, and a colleagues once expressed shock that I could do my own nails without making a huge mess. Skincare wasn’t a huge priority, either, because sun damage was a badge of honor indicating that a person had spent a significant amount of their life playing lacrosse. As for fashion, I was probably the only woman on campus who didn’t own a pair of Jack Rogers sandals, a Lilly Pulitzer dress, or a piece of Lululemon athletic wear.

In other words, the beauty landscape of preppy New England was trend-immune and painfully boring (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: rich white people aren’t interesting), and it didn’t deserve its own blog post. But if rural Ohio couldn’t persuade me to give up makeup, rural Connecticut certainly wasn’t going to do it, either. I saved my bolder makeup for special occasions, but I found myself giving more thought to the no-makeup-makeup looks I put together for casual events. And now that my move to the big city (Philadelphia) is just days away, I thought I’d write a post showcasing one of those looks—along with two new products I’ve been using to achieve it—as an ambivalent tribute to the place where I’ve spent a very peculiar two years.

While in LA over spring break, I bought two pieces of makeup: Sephora Collection Matte Lip Balm in Pink and Milk Makeup Lip + Cheek Cream Blush Stick in Rally. I picked up Rally because I wanted a travel-friendly cool-toned pink blush and elf Putty Blush in Bora Bora was sold out everywhere, and the uncreatively named Pink because I’d heard good things about Sephora’s matte balms and wanted to see how they compared to Glossier’s Generation G lipsticks.

Swatches: Pink (top) and Rally.

Since I already had a Milk blush stick in Werk, which was part of the Sephora birthday gift back in 2020, I knew I liked the packaging and formula. The tube is small and sturdy with a securely fitting twist-off cap, making it perfect for travel; the amount of product might look meager, but it lasts a surprisingly long time. Two common complaints about the packaging, which I share, are that the extra plastic cap under the main cap can get messy and dent the blush, and that the stick’s twist-up mechanism can malfunction at times (a problem I’ve had with Werk, but not yet with Rally). The scent, somewhere between citrus oil and crayons, is also controversial. In my opinion, though, these issues are outweighed by the portability of the tube and the texture and finish of the formula.

Rally is described on Sephora’s website as “mauve with shimmer,” but both parts of that description are misleading. If you, like me, aren’t a fan of shimmery blushes, don’t worry: the particles of shimmer are just visible in the tube, but they disappear on the skin. And Rally isn’t mauve at all; it’s a bright berry pink, a close color match for my oldest and dearest blush, the now-discontinued NARS Mata Hari.

Here’s Rally swatched on the left and Mata Hari on the right, in direct sunlight. As you can see, the formula goes on somewhat shiny at first, but it sets to a skin-like natural finish.

I eventually tracked down elf Bora Bora, so here it is (left) swatched next to Rally in indirect natural light. Bora Bora is lighter, brighter, cooler-toned, and very matte. I’ve been using both this spring, but I think Bora Bora is better suited to a statement look (it’s very k-pop) and Rally to a fresh-faced one.

To apply Rally, I swipe it directly on my cheekbones, like so…

…and then blend out with my fingers. I usually have to do this twice for my desired amount of pigment. Rally looks great for the first few hours, but like most cream blushes, it’s mostly gone by the end of the day; on the plus side, it’s very easy to carry around for touchups.

Now for the Sephora Collection Matte Lip Balm in Pink. These matte balms are somewhat mysterious: they launched earlier this year, but I can’t find them on Sephora’s website, and I’ve seen them in person at just one Sephora store, in Pasadena. At other stores, I’ve seen an empty display for the matte balms but no actual products in the display. I can’t figure out whether this formula was discontinued almost as soon as it debuted, whether it was soft-launched in a limited lineup of shades to test customer response (there were only six shades at the Pasadena store, all some version of neutral), or whether Sephora is having supply-chain issues at the moment.

If you’re wondering which Generation G shade Pink most closely resembles, I’d say it’s cooler-toned than Fuzz (which I’ve never seen in person) but warmer-toned than Like.

L-R: NARS Dolce Vita, Pink (two swipes), NARS Cruising, MAC Rose Daydream:

By an interesting coincidence, the scent of this lipstick is very similar to that of the Milk blush sticks, though subtler. Like most “matte balms,” Pink is not actually moisturizing, but it doesn’t dry out or irritate my lips. It looks smooth when first applied but can emphasize dry parts of my lips as the hours pass, and it doesn’t disguise pre-existing dry patches, as you can see in the lip swatch below.

And here’s the look I’ve been putting together with Rally, Pink, CoverGirl LashExact waterproof mascara, and NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla:

We’re moving this weekend, so next you hear from me, I’ll be in Philly, where I plan to wear much more interesting looks than the one above! (And yes, I will be visiting the Glossier store there.)