In the summer of last year, while browsing the venerable Bookshop in Chapel Hill, NC, I made a curious find. Published in 1996, long before “basic” became an insult, Cindy Crawford’s Basic Face is a “makeup workbook” co-authored by Crawford, the makeup artist Sonia Kashuk, and Kathleen Boyes. “What’s a basic face? A five-minute confidence… Read More Lipstick Chronology #27: Back to 1996 with Cindy Crawford’s Basic Face
I’m back! Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post: your kind words were much appreciated. I did what I needed to get done, and now I’m excited to return to blogging. I’ve missed it a lot! Missed it so much, in fact, that I kept a photographic record of all the makeup… Read More F(all)OTDs: An October Makeup Diary
It feels like I’ve been waiting forever to post these reviews. When Ulta had a 40%-off sale on NYX and Revlon two weeks ago, I seized the chance to order a few things I’d been wanting for a while. (I came in $.77 over the $25 free-shipping minimum, which made me inordinately proud.) My order… Read More Ulta Sale Haul: NYX and Revlon Swatches, Reviews, and FOTDs
Name: Revlon Super Lustrous Shine Lipstick in Plum Velour Date of Purchase: July 2013 Grade: A- Notes: I’m usually indifferent to sheer lipsticks. No, let me phrase that another way: I like to think of myself as indifferent to sheer lipsticks. I’ve been wearing bold lip colors for over three years now, so putting on… Read More Lipstick Chronology #26: Revlon Plum Velour
Convicted, rather, of truly painful punning. Sometimes I just can’t help it. Welcome to my very first purge post! It will probably also be my last in a while, since it saddens me so much to throw anything out. I’m both a sentimental hoarder and an incorrigible cheapskate–a deadly combination where makeup collecting is concerned.… Read More Convicted of Purgery
BABY, ALL I WANT IS TO LET IT GO AIN’T NO WORRIES, NO WE CAN DANCE ALL NIGHT… Ahem. On my previous trip to the UK, I limited my Topshop damage to two nail polishes and an eyeshadow. This time I was eager to try one of Topshop’s many lip products, and I settled on… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 13: Topshop Matte Lip Bullet in Get Me Bodied
I’m generally reluctant to buy extra tools to make a beauty product work. I delayed buying an eyeshadow primer and lip brush for ages, because “I shouldn’t have to.” A good eyeshadow or lipstick, I thought, wouldn’t need extra help. My stubbornness in this matter has softened since I started this blog, but there was… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 12: Experiments with & Other Stories Droguet Purple and Barry M Lip Liner in Plum
I’ve always heard great things about the makeup line from & Other Stories, an upscale offshoot of H&M that has somehow managed to acquire the URL stories.com. & Other Stories hasn’t made it to the US yet, so I was excited to visit the store on Regent Street Wednesday evening. &OS skews toward an older… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 11: & Other Stories Lip Colour in Droguet Purple
I have a very specific packaging fetish: I like things in small round tins. But really, could you resist this particular tin? Vaseline Lip Therapy in Rosy Lips is only the latest in a series of Tins I Have Loved. My first makeup products, when I was a young teenager, were Perfumeria Gal redcurrant and… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 10: Vaseline Lip Therapy in Rosy Lips
I still haven’t had a chance to take decent blog pictures in London, so here’s a beauty tag, taken from the lovely Teresa at Brush and Bullet! (I’m retaining the Commonwealth spelling of the questions because I’m in the Commonwealth as we speak. It’s only fair.) ETA: I just realized that I forgot to copy… Read More Because You’ve Always Wondered How Often I Wear False Eyelashes…
Auxiliary Beauty 