When Urban Decay released the Naked Heat collection earlier this summer, the product that really tempted my resolve was not the Naked Heat palette itself but one of the two limited-edition 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils: Torch, a rusty orange. (Okay, the palette was also tempting, but slightly less so.) I swatched both eyeliners, as well… Read More NYX Faux Blacks Eyeliners in Blackberry and Burnt Sienna
Though I was skeptical of Urban Decay’s decision to pull its entire Revolution lipstick line last year and replace it with the even more extensive Vice line, I’ve come to appreciate the wisdom of that move. The lipsticks are now $5 cheaper ($17 vs. $22) and 0.6 grams larger (3.4 vs. 2.8); the bullets no… Read More Urban Decay Metallized Vice Lipstick in Amulet
The only makeup store close to where I live is an especially snobby Bluemercury, so when I visit my mom in San Francisco, I tend to spend more time than strictly necessary in Sephora and Ulta. During this particular visit, I was excited to check out the NYX Liquid Suede Metallic Matte lipsticks, which debuted… Read More NYX Modern Maven and a Liquid Suede Metallic Matte Anti-Haul
Last month, NARS shocked many of its customers by announcing that it was expanding into China, whose government requires animal testing on all imported beauty products. Like most successful smaller beauty brands, NARS is already owned by a larger, non-CF brand (Shiseido, in NARS’ case), but it has not allowed such testing on its own… Read More Some Thoughts on NARS and "Cruelty-Free" Beauty
Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling particularly celebratory or patriotic this Independence Day, but I also wasn’t going to miss the chance to wear blue highlighter and metallic red lipstick at the same time. I thought I’d use this FOTD post to write a quick review of a product I bought back in November: ColourPop… Read More Reverse Lipstick Chronology #4: ColourPop Lippie Stix in Let’s Play
Glossier keeps coming up with new marketing strategies to put me off and new products to tempt me back in. No sooner had I planned a post on Glossier’s MLM-esque rep program than they released a fucking birthday-cake-scented lip balm with sparkles and holographic packaging. I have a price, and Glossier knows it. So this… Read More Glossier Birthday Balm Dotcom (Plus Another Rant)
My boyfriend recently left his job in the UK, which is great news relationship-wise: we met in my former graduate program and have been long-distance since I started my current program seven (!) years ago, and now we’ll actually be able to live together for more than a couple months at a time. On a… Read More Kiko Velvet Passion Matte Lipstick in 319 Chocolate
Most makeup collectors have their color kryptonite, particularly when it comes to lipstick: pinky nudes, corals, blue-based reds. For me that color is, and has pretty much always been, magenta. Or whatever you want to call it: bright plum, dark fuchsia, anything that walks the line between purple and deep pink. I just did a… Read More Magenta Madness: MAC Rebel and Wet n Wild Nice to Fuchsia
(You have to read “faked” with two syllables, as if this is a Donne poem, or the title won’t make sense.) In the past two days, swatches and reviews of Urban Decay’s new Naked Heat palette have been making the social-media rounds. (Here’s a sneak peek from Temptalia and a review from Makeup and Beauty… Read More FOTD: Faked Heat
Something different today: a mini-review of a product that isn’t makeup! You’ve probably noticed that my obsession with color makeup is several orders of magnitude greater than my interest in skincare, brushes, haircare, or “boring makeup” (mascara, brow stuff, concealer, etc). But for variety’s sake, I thought I’d write about a new tool that’s been… Read More Real Techniques Mini Sponges
Auxiliary Beauty 