We’re halfway through January, and that means it’s well past time to round up my top dozen new products of last year! I resolved to buy 40 or fewer new pieces of makeup and nail polish in 2022, but I ended the year at 47, one more than the previous year. Though I never felt… Read More My 12 Favorite Beauty Purchases of 2022
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
The sad irony of having a full-time job: I now have more disposable income to spend on makeup, but less opportunity to pounce on a much-hyped launch before it sells out. Not that I do that often (or did it often when I was unemployed), mind you. But when ColourPop announced that it was bringing… Read More ColourPop Pressed Powder Blush in Flirt Alert (Valentine’s Day 2022)
Before I start my review, let me welcome you to the new home of Auxiliary Beauty! After years of swearing to migrate my post archive from Blogger to WordPress and purchase my own domain, I’ve finally followed through, and I’ll be making my old blog private in a week or two. Please bear with me… Read More ColourPop Lilac You a Lot Palette
When I first got into makeup, in the early 2010s, blush was an afterthought in the Western beauty community. Everyone had a couple of blushes, generally a warm pink and a cool pink, but beauty bloggers often fretted about the prospect of looking tacky or clownish or old-ladyish (never mind the ageism and internalized misogyny… Read More The Great Blush Inventory of 2021
Here, as promised (look at me, keeping a blog-related promise!), is my review of the second item from my recent ColourPop order: the Blur Lux Lipstick in Slow Dance. Early in 2019, ColourPop introduced sixteen shades of Blur Lux Lipstick, a “matte lipstick formulated with soft blurring pigments.” This semi-sheer formula was designed to replace… Read More ColourPop Blur Lux Lipstick in Slow Dance
Earlier this month, I placed my first ColourPop order in over a year. Like many longtime ColourPop customers, I’d grown tired of the brand’s constant new releases and discontinuations of older products. Last spring, I discovered my holy grail neutral eyeshadow: ColourPop’s Super Shock Shadow in Truth, a satin-finish beige. I wore it almost every… Read More ColourPop That’s Taupe Palette
I’ve always had an affinity for the color yellow. Maybe it’s because my birthstone is topaz, or because yellow is one of the least popular colors and I love a polarizing underdog, or because mustard and chartreuse are surprisingly flattering to my cool-toned complexion, or because lemon bars are my favorite dessert and, fittingly, the… Read More Kitrinophiles Unite: ColourPop Uh-Huh Honey Palette
Now that I’m winding down my blog, I’ve entered a reminiscing frame of mind. I’ve been thinking about my favorite aspects of the beauty community, one of which is our appreciation for the nuances of color. I’ve always had a good eye for color, but following makeup and beauty for so many years has taught… Read More ColourPop Spring Haul, Part 2: Super Shock Cheek in Aphrodisiac and Super Shock Shadow in Truth
ColourPop released its Spring 2019 collection over two months ago, which is about two years in ColourPop time, and I’ve lost count of the number of new collections and product ranges and eyeshadow palettes that the brand has debuted since then. However, the spring collection is still available (and is on sale as I type… Read More ColourPop Spring Haul, Part 1: Jelly Much Eyeshadow in Photosynth Sis and Lux Lipstick in 7 Springs
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