(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
In the pre-coronavirus days, I used to claim—and, I think, believe—that I wore makeup primarily for myself. Of course, it was nice to get a compliment on my lipstick or whatever, but for the most part, I wasn’t wearing makeup to look more professional or more attractive; I was wearing it because I liked mixing… Read More Beauty Lately
Last September, I wrote what I thought would be my final post on Auxiliary Beauty. I had a few reasons for ending the blog: my demanding schedule, my increasingly utilitarian approach to makeup, and my desire to focus on other kinds of writing. The next six months gave me no reason to regret my decision.… Read More The Partial Resurrection of Auxiliary Beauty
Around this time last year, I was talking to one of my doctoral advisers about a short story I was struggling to finish writing. “I hate finishing things,” I said, “because then they’re done.” It was one of the more ridiculous statements I’ve made in a lifetime of making ridiculous statements, and my adviser found… Read More The End of Auxiliary Beauty
We’re already halfway through January, but here are my beauty-related resolutions (and some other resolutions) for 2019! 1. Maintain a replacement-only makeup no-buy through March (and possibly longer). It seems like everyone on the Internet is undertaking a year-long no-buy in 2019. While I admire that level of dedication, I don’t think it’s the right… Read More 2019 Beauty & Blogging Resolutions
(I started writing this as an Instagram post, but I can type only so much text with my thumbs on a tiny keyboard before I have to move to the laptop. I’m old.) The end of the year has awakened the destashing impulse in quite a few makeup people I follow online. It makes sense:… Read More Last Destash of 2018
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