Since the spring semester is almost over, I thought I’d publish a quick update to the post I made six months ago. I still take about five minutes to do my makeup before classes, but as the weather has warmed up, I’ve gravitated toward different colors and textures while remaining in my cool-toned comfort zone.… Read More My Five-Minute Teaching Face, Spring 2023
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… Read More My Five-Minute Teaching Face, Fall 2022
First, the good news: I got an academic job! Starting in August, I’m going to be a visiting assistant professor of English at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest. It’s a one-year appointment, so my job search will continue, but it’s a pretty great offer that will give me cool stuff like a… Read More Some Big News
(Settle in. This will be a long post.) First, some personal news: I defended my doctoral dissertation earlier this month and now have a Ph.D. in English! At my university, the dissertation defense (our official term, hilariously, is “Final Public Oral”) is a pretty lowkey affair. It consists of a 30-minute presentation and another 30… Read More Pat McGrath Labs LuxeTrance Lipstick in Madame Greige
Having devoted the better part of a decade to studying Renaissance (we in the biz prefer “early modern”) literature, I perked up when I heard that Anastasia Beverly Hills had released an eyeshadow palette called “Modern Renaissance.” The palette came out in mid-2016 and started a warm-neutrals trend that, as of February 2017, shows little… Read More How Renaissance Is the ABH Modern Renaissance Palette?
The annual Academic Job Conference of Doom fast approaches (this is my second year preparing for it), and yesterday I had a dress-rehearsal practice interview with my advisor and another professor. This gave me an opportunity to test my interview makeup as well as my answers to questions like “But Machiavelli and Polydore Vergil are… Read More FOTD: Game Face
I went to Boston for a Renaissance-studies conference on Wednesday and just got home last night, so my monthly roundup post is a bit late. I was born in Boston and lived there until I was almost eight, and I’ve returned periodically since then, but the city still feels foreign—the more foreign for being slightly… Read More Low-Buy Progress Report #3: March
Now that a new semester is in full swing, I thought it would be fun to do a roundup of my favorite lipsticks to wear while teaching. Here are the basic criteria I have for a Teaching Lipstick: not too bright—no fuchsias, flaming reds, or white-based candy pinks not too dark—no blackened browns or gothtastic… Read More My Favorite Teaching Lipsticks
Guys, I miss beauty blogging. I miss it so much that in the week since I announced my semi-hiatus, I’ve worked on four different draft posts. I’ll open an empty post, add a title, write a few sentences just to give myself the feeling of blogging, then save the post to my draft folder and… Read More Stress-Fueled Impulse Purchase #1: Essie Leggy Legend
As you know, I’m going on the academic job market for the first time this fall. Accordingly, I’m now interviewing lipsticks for the position of Interview Lipstick. Am I doing this to put off compiling my job materials? Maybe, but there’s no denying that first impressions are important. Academia has no set dress code. In… Read More Professionalesque, Part 2: Urban Decay Rapture
Auxiliary Beauty 