Sorry I’ve been posting so erratically this month! I usually try for one post every three days, but lately it’s been two posts in two days, then a break of five or six days, then two more posts in two days. I’m trying not to beat myself up about it, because inspiration comes and goes… Read More Holy Magenta: NYX Intense Butter Gloss in Spice Cake
In my twenty-seven years on this earth, I’ve never lived in a space larger than a two-bedroom apartment. My current apartment measures 271 square feet (10 square feet per year of life, plus one to grow on), which is actually an upgrade in size from my previous place. It’s fair to say that I’m used… Read More By Request: When Minimalism Isn’t a Choice
Name: Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Streak Date Purchased: January 2014 Grade: B+ Notes: This “chronology” has gotten so woefully out of order that it doesn’t even deserve the name, but the weather is finally above freezing and the sun is out and I’m drinking an iced coffee, and I’m going to review my springiest… Read More Lipstick Chronology #33: Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Streak
I’ve been thinking recently about the so-called “effortless” look, but I’ve also been thinking about its opposite, or perhaps its obverse: the heavy, colorful, ombréd look popular on Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube. At first I thought these two looks couldn’t be further apart aesthetically, but I’ve come to believe that they’re actually two sides of… Read More Selfie-Consciousness: Some Thoughts on Instagram Beauty
As a beauty blogger, I often feel that I should be experimenting constantly with makeup, and that wearing the same lipstick two days in a row is tantamount to a creative slump, especially if that lipstick is a neutral shade. Since buying Milani’s Matte Naked lipstick, I’ve worn it almost every other day, though nude… Read More FOTDs: My Makeup Is So Boring, Guys
In the last few years, I’ve noticed two different beauty ideals emerging on the Internet, or at least in the corners of the Internet that I frequent. The first is “effortless beauty”: glowing skin, almost no color makeup, and an overall air of having something better to do. The second is what we might call… Read More Should Beauty Be Effortless?
But first, how my local CVS crushed my lipstick-collecting dreams for the 837th time. But first, how I ended up at the CVS, a place I do my best to avoid, for the 837th time. I was lying in bed a few nights ago, lamenting the state of my skin, when it hit me that… Read More Milani Moisture Matte Lipstick in Matte Naked, or How I Became a Vampire
It occurs to me that “Feels Like Negative Thirteen” would have been a great name for an early-’00s pop-punk emo band. What it is not, however, is a phrase I want to read on weather.com just before I walk to the library in the morning. Anyway, this is a quick addendum to yesterday’s review of… Read More FOTD: Feels Like Negative Thirteen (feat. ColourPop Bill)
I’m back with my second round of ColourPop reviews! (Here’s my review of CP’s Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencil in Frenchie.) This review would have gone up earlier, but my parcel was delayed due to last week’s bad weather, and it was only today that I got to try on the four eyeshadows I ordered… Read More ColourPop Reviews, Part 2: Super Shock Shadows in Bae, Bill, Krinkle, and Sequin
The past week has been unusually busy, so I haven’t had a chance to take photos and write paragraphs and all that. But I’ve had a series of fugitive beauty-related thoughts, none of them quite substantial enough for an entire post, and I thought I’d compile them here before the wind blew them away. 1.… Read More Scattered Words for a Windy Sunday
Auxiliary Beauty 