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
Happy Lunar New Year! January 22 marked the start of the Year of the Rabbit, which happens to be my own zodiac animal. (Yes, that means I’m nine months away from turning thirty-six, the age at which I’ve always assumed I’ll have all my shit figured out, though that seems increasingly unlikely.) I realize that… Read More MAC Retro Matte Lipstick in Ruby Woo: The Ultimate Red?
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
Throughout my life, I’ve found that odd-numbered years bring me more change than even-numbered ones, and 2021 was no exception to that rule, for both better and worse. However, one aspect of my life remained the same: I bought a lot of new beauty items, especially makeup. In fact, I bought more new items in… Read More My 12 Favorite Beauty Purchases of 2021
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
A perennial—possibly too perennial—topic on r/muacjdiscussion is that of the “white whale”: the product or collection that you missed out on and will forever pine after. My white whale is unquestionably MAC’s Give Me Liberty of London collection from spring 2010, released less than a year before I got seriously into makeup. It might as… Read More Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Dramatic
I recently became obsessed with a very specific lipstick shade: the deep peachy brown often seen in mid-’70s fashion editorials. One of my favorite accounts on Instagram is that of bisexual icon Sandy Linter, a makeup artist best known for her 1979 book Disco Beauty and her editorial work with Gia Carangi in the late… Read More In Pursuit of ’70s Peach: MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick in Smoked Almond
Welcome to my first makeup review of 2019! Unfortunately, it’s a review of a sold-out limited-edition product, but I just had to show you all the pretty photos I took of it. I mean, I ventured out after a blizzard for this one: In the past few years, Western beauty brands have begun catering to… Read More MAC Lotus Light (Lucky Red Collection)
It’s year-end-roundup time once again! I found it harder to compile a best-of list in 2018 than I did in 2017, which suggests that I got better at avoiding impulse buys and zeroing in on products that suited my tastes and needs. (I’ll eventually get around to writing a snarky worst-of-2018 post, but it will… Read More My 15 Favorite Beauty Products of 2018
Destashing makeup is emotionally hard for me year-round, but it becomes a little easier in the spring, as do most things. The lengthening days bring a new zest for self-improvement: I exercise more, I consume less sugar and alcohol, and I grow more decisive about streamlining my makeup collection. I recently decided to destash eight… Read More Spring Lipstick Destash
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