MAC Retro Matte Lipstick in Ruby Woo: The Ultimate Red?
Happy Lunar New Year! January 22 marked the start of the Year of the Rabbit, which happens to be my own zodiac animal. (Yes, that means I’m nine months away from turning thirty-six, the age at which I’ve always assumed I’ll have all my shit figured out, though that seems increasingly unlikely.) I realize that…
My 12 Favorite Beauty Purchases of 2022
We’re halfway through January, and that means it’s well past time to round up my top dozen new products of last year! I resolved to buy 40 or fewer new pieces of makeup and nail polish in 2022, but I ended the year at 47, one more than the previous year. Though I never felt…
Quick Review: Glossier Eye Stars Kit
I’ve never taken much interest in holiday sets from beauty brands. They tend to feature excessive, tacky packaging, overpriced merch, and/or “universally flattering” makeup shades that I either already own or know I don’t want. Glossier’s Gold Kit, released in 2020, is a perfect example: $75 (seriously) for a gold-plated brass initial necklace and a…
My Five-Minute Teaching Face, Fall 2022
I’m now two months into the fall semester, which has been an especially busy one. My mantra for this year is “the perfect is the enemy of the good,” and that extends to makeup. (Ironically, it doesn’t extend to this post, which I’ve been tweaking for over a month now.) I’ve had to perfect a…
I Bought a Gucci Lipstick!
Gucci Rouge à Lèvres Mat in 702 Anne Lilac, to be precise. LOOK AT HER. I don’t even have to write anything (but you know I will). Until this month, the most I’d ever spent on a lipstick was $38, for Pat McGrath Madame Greige at the end of 2017. Madame Greige was my reward…
A Bronzer for Novices: Glossier Solar Paint in Flare
Note: I purchased this product with store credit from my Glossier referral link. Thank you to everyone who has clicked on my link and helped me buy more products to review! Let’s talk about bronzer! For many years, I didn’t understand the point of bronzer, at least for me. My reasoning went like this: “From…
Whither Glossier?
(Both Rs are silent, you plebe!) In recent months, there has been much chatter about the future—and the present—of Glossier. In January of this year, the brand laid off eighty employees, spawning a swarm of articles with titles like “What Went Wrong at Glossier?,” “How Glossier Lost Its Grip,” and “Glossier’s Fall by the Numbers.”…
The More Things Change, the More They Stay 2012: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipsticks in Pink Promise and Smoky Rose
It’s finally happened. Makeup from the era when I got into makeup, the early 2010s, has entered the “nostalgic” category in the popular imagination. Makeup ads and editorial looks from the 2009-2013 years have started showing up on my favorite beauty-of-yesteryear Instagram accounts. I mean, it makes sense: who among us wouldn’t rather be living…
I’m Still Alive (and So Is This Blog)
Well, it’s been an eventful two months since I last posted. My partner and I took a wonderful trip to LA over spring break; then I returned to school, enjoyed a week and a half of maskless teaching, noticed that COVID cases were rising in the area, and decided to start masking again. I managed…
ColourPop Pressed Powder Blush in Flirt Alert (Valentine’s Day 2022)
The sad irony of having a full-time job: I now have more disposable income to spend on makeup, but less opportunity to pounce on a much-hyped launch before it sells out. Not that I do that often (or did it often when I was unemployed), mind you. But when ColourPop announced that it was bringing…
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