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
Finally! It’s humid, guys. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but when the humidity level is 94% at 7:30 am, I can be forgiven for mentioning it again. I don’t understand how those of you who live in hot climates with year-round humidity keep your makeup from sliding off your faces, but I need to… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 9: Illamasqua Cream Blusher in Zygomatic, and Some Thoughts on British Beauty
Namely, two nail lacquers–Clique, a chartreuse creme (£5) and Brazil, a rainbow glitter topcoat (£6)–and the new Chameleon Glow in Wax + Wane (£8). Are ampersands no longer cool, Topshop? First up is the Chameleon Glow, which Topshop describes as an “[a]mazing dual pigmented, multi-use powder; can be used as an eyeshadow or a facial… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 8: A Taste of Topshop
I’m back in the land of decent coffee and 97% humidity! No, that figure isn’t an exaggeration. The summer humidity in this part of the Mid-Atlantic is out of control. Early June isn’t all that hot, but I can’t spend five minutes outside without feeling moisture pool in my scalp and eyebrows and the space… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 7: Rimmel ScandalEyes Eyeshadow Stick in Blamed Blue
I can’t believe how quickly these five weeks have passed, but today was my last full day in the UK. Though I still have several new products to review on the blog for my Beauty Abroad series, I thought I’d use this post for a brief roundup of all the makeup I’ve bought here. First,… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 6: The Reckoning
Or, more properly: Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow in 16 (£6.90) and Infinity Eyeshadows in 270 and 251 (£5.90 each). The fact that the number 251 is attached to lavender is playing havoc with my synesthesia, but 6 is purple and 7 is green in my mental bouquet of numbers, so 16 and 270 are… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 5: Intro to Kiko (Eyeshadow Swatches and First Impressions)
Since I photographed Flushed two days ago, think of this post as an addendum, with swatches and a couple of looks. And more than a couple of goslings. In the States, it’s almost impossible to find a high-quality matte blush in the drugstore. Most decent American drugstore blushes have some degree of shimmer or frost,… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 4.5: Sleek Blush in Flushed (Plus Baby Birds)
Auxiliary Beauty 