Paragon of Purple: Fenty Cheeks Suede Powder Blush in Drama Cla$$
Eleven and a half years have passed since I bought my first purple blush, Tony Moly Cristal Blusher in Milky Violet, at a Korean beauty store in Manhattan. From the vantage point of 2026, late 2014 might seem like a long-lost paradise, but was it really? Sure, I’d never heard the phrases “President Trump,” “novel…
Interview Makeup (Travel Edition)
To state the obvious: it’s been two months since my last post! I devoted those two months to searching for teaching jobs at prep schools, which meant many Zoom and phone interviews and, eventually, four overnight campus visits, three of which required air travel. I was fortunate to get so much interest from schools, but…
My 12 Favorite Beauty Purchases of 2025
Last year, I bought 32 new pieces of makeup and nail polish, making 2025 my most abstemious (“abstemious”) year since I started keeping track of my beauty purchases in 2015. I generally aim for no more than 40 new items a year and exceed that mark by a few, but 2025 was different. I was…
My Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Collection (Present & Past)
This is a follow-up of sorts to a post I wrote a year and a half ago, in which I reviewed Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Fire Peach, discussed the Super Lustrous formula as a whole, and linked to previous Super Lustrous reviews I’d written. But I’ve bought four shades in the formula since then…
Classroom Makeup, Fall 2025
That’s right, your girl is back in the workforce! I’m teaching part-time at a local community college this semester and working on my creative writing on non-teaching days. It’s going well so far; I missed being in the classroom. I also missed adapting my makeup to the demands of teaching, though there’s less distance now…
Tournament of Tints: Benefit Splashtint in Wide Brim vs. e.l.f. Sheer For It Blush Tint in Cherry Cola
Glossy lip tints seem to be enjoying a renaissance in 2025, much as slim lipsticks did in 2023. And just as I did two years ago, I’ve managed to acquire two examples of the trend, one from the drugstore and one at a higher price point. I didn’t buy them specifically for this blog post,…
Makeup Meritocracy: Merit Flush Balm in Le Bonbon
“That’s the trouble with first impressions,” says a snooty country-club lady to Marge Simpson in my favorite episode of The Simpsons. “You only get to make one.” My first impression of Merit Beauty wasn’t great. Merit is one of the many beauty brands that have popped up in Sephora and Ulta and Credo in the…
Revlon Glass Shine Balm in Glossed Up Rose (2025 Version!)
Earlier this year, Revlon finally listened to its customers and relaunched the beloved Glass Shine lipsticks. For once, a wise decision from Revlon! Of course, they wouldn’t be Revlon if they didn’t fuck up that decision somehow, so they dramatically reduced and neutered the shade range. The original lineup had twenty-five shades, but the 2025…
MAC MACximal Silky Matte Lipstick in Everybody’s Heroine + More MAC Lipstick Swatches!
There are certain beauty products, usually lipsticks, that stay on my mental wishlist for years, never quite becoming an urgent desire but never quite fading from memory, either. The original version of MAC Heroine is a good example. In 2012, dozens of Tumblr posts brainwashed me into wanting a purple lipstick (real ones will remember…
My 12 Favorite Beauty Purchases of 2024
This post is going up a little later than I expected (I was out of town for the holidays for an extra week, and then I got sick), but I’m back in Philly and back on my bullshit, so here it is now: my roundup of the best beauty products I bought in 2024! I…
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