Last summer, while working in the university archives, I wrote a post about some treasures I’d unearthed from the “archives” of my own makeup collection. In the spirit of my 2016 low-buy, I’ve decided to turn “From the Archives” into an ongoing, if not regular, series. Let’s get better acquainted with a product I wrote… Read More From the Archives: Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pomegranate Punk
It occurs to me that I was a little unfair to the MakeupRehab subreddit in my resolutions post. Yes, there are a few things I dislike about that community. I don’t think people should force themselves to finish or pan products they detest; all that means is that they neglect the products they do like… Read More Pan That Palette 2016: Nude ‘Tude Revisited
Greetings from a cramped hotel room on Manhattan’s Upper West Side! This endearingly unhip neighborhood is special to me because of the time I spent in a history program at Columbia in the summer before my junior year of college. It was my first experience of New York as an adult (if nineteen counts), and… Read More A Journey Through Purge-atory, Part 2: Eyeshadows and One More Lipstick
In my review of Sephora Formula X Enigma, the nail polish that sparked my love for teal, I mentioned that I wanted to try a teal eyeshadow. It didn’t take me long to find a suitable one, so here we are with my second London beauty buy: Kiko Infinity Eyeshadow #264, a green-toned teal with… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 17: Kiko Infinity Eyeshadow #264
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been a bad early modernist: I’ve watched the BBC miniseries of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall without first reading the books. I did start reading Wolf Hall two years ago, but I just couldn’t get into it, despite my childhood obsession with Tudor history. There’s something about grad school… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 15: Inglot Eyeshadows in 08 and 433
Many thanks to everyone who gave me Canadian beauty advice! As it turned out, I bought three beauty items in Toronto, none of them from a Canadian company: an American Apparel nail polish, a Face Shop sheet mask, and an Inglot custom eyeshadow duo. I almost never wear glitter topcoats, but I made a (possibly… Read More Beauty Abroad, Part 14: Notes from Toronto
It occurs to me that “Feels Like Negative Thirteen” would have been a great name for an early-’00s pop-punk emo band. What it is not, however, is a phrase I want to read on weather.com just before I walk to the library in the morning. Anyway, this is a quick addendum to yesterday’s review of… Read More FOTD: Feels Like Negative Thirteen (feat. ColourPop Bill)
I’m back with my second round of ColourPop reviews! (Here’s my review of CP’s Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencil in Frenchie.) This review would have gone up earlier, but my parcel was delayed due to last week’s bad weather, and it was only today that I got to try on the four eyeshadows I ordered… Read More ColourPop Reviews, Part 2: Super Shock Shadows in Bae, Bill, Krinkle, and Sequin
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
Greetings from Londinium! I’ve been trying for the last few days to write a post about the makeup I brought to England this time, but I’m never at home during prime picture-taking hours, and I’m very picky about color accuracy. Today, though, I remembered that I wrote most of a review of Milani Bella Charcoal… Read More La Vita è Bella, Take 2: New Milani Eyeshadows in Bella Charcoal and Bella Navy (Updated with a Tragic Footnote)
Auxiliary Beauty 