(Note & disclaimer: This is the second of my seasonal color analysis posts. I’d recommend reading my first post, on my session with Kigo Color & Style back in August, for context. Lena is a personal friend and generously gave me a free session; she also helped me figure out the seasons of some of… Read More My True Winter Makeup Collection, Part 1: Cheeks & Lips
Disclaimer: Lena of Kigo Color & Style is a longtime friend and generously did my color analysis for free (her standard price for a four-hour session is $400). I was under no obligation to write this post, though we did discuss it before I published it; all thoughts and opinions in it are mine except… Read More My Seasonal Color Analysis with Kigo Color & Style
After my positive experience with NYX’s Fat Oil Lip Drip, it was inevitable that I’d try the next product in the Fat Oil series: Fat Oil Slick Click, a balmy lipstick in click-pen form. I feel ambivalent about including this review in my Cheap Thrills series—$11 for two measly grams of lipstick is a mid-priced… Read More Cheap(ish) Thrills, Part 5: NYX Fat Oil Slick Click in DM Me & Going Viral
It was a total coincidence, I swear. My partner and I took a short trip to New York last month, and the place where we had a brunch reservation turned out to be right across the street from the Glossier flagship store, and we arrived at the restaurant thirty minutes early, and it was raining,… Read More A Visit to Glossier Soho
Believe it or not, I don’t just acquire new lipsticks; I also use up old ones. However, finishing a lipstick is a rare enough occurrence for me that when it does happen, I feel the need to brag about it on at least one online platform. And when I finish three in a short period… Read More Three Recent Lipstick Empties
Auxiliary Beauty recently passed its tenth birthday, so it’s fitting that this post concerns one of the first lipstick formulas I ever reviewed on my blog! In fact, my very earliest lipstick purchase, way back in the fall of 2009, was a Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Certainly Red. (The only other makeup I owned… Read More Cheap Thrills, Part 4: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Fire Peach
Around the middle of last year, I became aware of a new makeup category (or, at least, one I hadn’t previously heard of): lip oil. Seemingly overnight, brands at every price point had begun offering new ranges of lip oils. I wasn’t particularly tempted by the name, which sounded a little, well, gross. In general,… Read More Cheap Thrills, Part 3: NYX Fat Oil Lip Drip in That’s Chic
Beauty-wise, 2023 was a year of caveats. As you may have gathered from the tenor of my blog reviews, very few makeup products blew me away as thoroughly as, say, Gucci Anne Lilac did the previous year. I bought roughly as many color cosmetics in 2023 as I did in 2022, but I felt less… Read More My 12 Favorite Beauty Purchases of 2023
For almost as long as I’ve been wearing makeup, I’ve been using NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer to tone down my dark circles. I started in 2014 with Vanilla, which at the time was the second-lightest shade, and switched to Chantilly, the lightest shade, a few years ago. Because Vanilla had a slight peach undertone, it… Read More Cheap Thrills, Part 2: e.l.f. 16HR Camo Concealer in Light Sand
Slim lipsticks, somewhere between regular lipsticks and lip pencils in width, have existed for decades (look no further than this Maybelline commercial from 1980). ColourPop’s original Lippie Stix, NARS’ now-discontinued Pure Matte Lipsticks, Hourglass’s Confession Ultra Slim Lipsticks, and Kevyn Aucoin’s Unforgettable Lipsticks all fall into this category. Slim lipsticks appeal to customers because of… Read More Season of the Slim Stick: MAC Powder Kiss Velvet Blur in Wild Sumac & Maybelline Color Sensational Ultimatte in More Cedar
Auxiliary Beauty 