That’s right, your girl is back in the workforce! I’m teaching part-time at a local community college this semester and working on my creative writing on non-teaching days. It’s going well so far; I missed being in the classroom. I also missed adapting my makeup to the demands of teaching, though there’s less distance now… Read More Classroom Makeup, Fall 2025
“That’s the trouble with first impressions,” says a snooty country-club lady to Marge Simpson in my favorite episode of The Simpsons. “You only get to make one.” My first impression of Merit Beauty wasn’t great. Merit is one of the many beauty brands that have popped up in Sephora and Ulta and Credo in the… Read More Makeup Meritocracy: Merit Flush Balm in Le Bonbon
(Note & disclaimer: This is the second of my seasonal color analysis posts. I’d recommend reading my first post, on my session with Kigo Color & Style back in August, for context. Lena is a personal friend and generously gave me a free session; she also helped me figure out the seasons of some of… Read More My True Winter Makeup Collection, Part 1: Cheeks & Lips
Disclaimer: Lena of Kigo Color & Style is a longtime friend and generously did my color analysis for free (her standard price for a four-hour session is $400). I was under no obligation to write this post, though we did discuss it before I published it; all thoughts and opinions in it are mine except… Read More My Seasonal Color Analysis with Kigo Color & Style
Just in time for spooky season, I’ve made two bone-chilling discoveries. The first is that Revlon discontinued its Glass Shine lipsticks at the beginning of this year. The second is that NARS is currently selling off its remaining stock of Velvet Matte Lip Pencils and replacing them with an uninspiring ten-shade lineup of Powermatte High-Intensity… Read More Mysterious Red Is Dead. Long Live Mysterious Red.
(Both Rs are silent, you plebe!) In recent months, there has been much chatter about the future—and the present—of Glossier. In January of this year, the brand laid off eighty employees, spawning a swarm of articles with titles like “What Went Wrong at Glossier?,” “How Glossier Lost Its Grip,” and “Glossier’s Fall by the Numbers.”… Read More Whither Glossier?
It’s finally happened. Makeup from the era when I got into makeup, the early 2010s, has entered the “nostalgic” category in the popular imagination. Makeup ads and editorial looks from the 2009-2013 years have started showing up on my favorite beauty-of-yesteryear Instagram accounts. I mean, it makes sense: who among us wouldn’t rather be living… Read More The More Things Change, the More They Stay 2012: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipsticks in Pink Promise and Smoky Rose
Happy holidays from San Francisco, where I’m spending my winter break! As an eventful 2021 comes to an end, I’m pondering how I can tweak my purchasing habits and beauty rituals in the new year. Here are my resolutions for 2022! 1. No new lip or cheek products until I can stop masking regularly. I… Read More 2022 Beauty Resolutions
Apologies for deviating from my Lipstick Chronology schedule so soon after announcing it, but the last couple of weeks have been challenging. My grandmother passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly nine days ago, at the age of ninety-six. Between processing that shock and conducting a job search in a new field, I haven’t had a… Read More An Interlude
No, that’s not a typo in the title. I started this post intending to write a list of my favorite new beauty products of 2020, but soon got bogged down in a Carrie Bradshaw-esque question (“I couldn’t help but wonder”): what did it mean for a beauty product to be good, let alone a favorite,… Read More My Ten Most 2020 Beauty Products of 2020
Auxiliary Beauty 