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’ve never taken much interest in holiday sets from beauty brands. They tend to feature excessive, tacky packaging, overpriced merch, and/or “universally flattering” makeup shades that I either already own or know I don’t want. Glossier’s Gold Kit, released in 2020, is a perfect example: $75 (seriously) for a gold-plated brass initial necklace and a… Read More Quick Review: Glossier Eye Stars Kit
Gucci Rouge à Lèvres Mat in 702 Anne Lilac, to be precise. LOOK AT HER. I don’t even have to write anything (but you know I will). Until this month, the most I’d ever spent on a lipstick was $38, for Pat McGrath Madame Greige at the end of 2017. Madame Greige was my reward… Read More I Bought a Gucci Lipstick!
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)
In my search for maskproof lipstick last fall, I neglected an entire product category: lip tints from Asian brands. It’s not that I was unaware they existed, or that I didn’t like them—I enjoyed the Too Cool for School tint I bought five and a half years ago. It’s just that I generally feel about… Read More In Search of Maskproof Lipstick, Part 4: Etude House Dear Darling Tints in PK004 (Red Bean Red) and RD306 (Shark Red)
I’m back with some good lipstick and some even better tidings. First, the tidings: I’m employed again! I’ll be moving back east next week to teach English at a boarding school in New England. No fewer than four people have reacted to the news with some version of “That will be great novel fodder,” so… Read More MAC Matte Lipstick in Forget-Me-Naughty
Last summer, I got rid of my Illamasqua cream blush in Zygomatic, one of my all-time favorite beauty products, which I’d bought in the UK in June of 2014. I hadn’t noticed a change in its appearance, smell, or performance, but I felt increasingly uncomfortable smearing a six-year-old cream blush on my face. Unfortunately, Illamasqua… Read More Tower 28 BeachPlease Luminous Tinted Balm in Magic Hour
In December 2017, I celebrated passing my dissertation defense by ordering Pat McGrath Labs’ LuxeTrance lipstick in Madame Greige, which remains one of my all-time favorite lipsticks. For the next two and a half years, though, I didn’t pay much attention to the brand. Its price point was just too high for me, and its… Read More Pat McGrath Labs Lip Fetish Balm in Noir
Rituel de Fille is a brand that I’ve been following, but not actually patronizing, since its launch in 2014. I have a vivid memory of sitting on a bench during a break from my dissertation seminar in Washington, D.C., and scrolling through the newly launched Rituel de Fille website. The brand’s aesthetic seemed designed for… Read More Rituel de Fille Color Nectar Pigment Balm in Bloodflower
I purchased these products with store credit earned through my Glossier referral link. Thank you to everyone who has clicked on it and helped me buy products to review! Update, 3/12/19: This post discusses Glossier Play’s excessive plastic packaging and non-biodegradable glitter. In the ten hours since I finished my post, Glossier has stated that… Read More Glossier Play Reviews: Colorslide Eyeliner in Early Girl, Glitter Gelée in Phantasm, and Vinylic Lip in Blow-Up
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