The NYX Liquid Suede lipsticks didn’t spark my interest when they first came out last year. So many NYX products have disappointed me that I tend to approach the brand with skepticism, and the Liquid Suede line seemed like a hasty attempt to capitalize on the liquid-matte trend of 2015. And since NYX had been… Read More NYX Liquid Suede in Amethyst
I went to Boston for a Renaissance-studies conference on Wednesday and just got home last night, so my monthly roundup post is a bit late. I was born in Boston and lived there until I was almost eight, and I’ve returned periodically since then, but the city still feels foreign—the more foreign for being slightly… Read More Low-Buy Progress Report #3: March
As a preteen and young teenager, I had a brief flirtation with witchcraft. There was something in the air at the time: The Craft had come out several years before, the Harry Potter series was gaining worldwide popularity, and bookstores were full of titles like Spells for Teenage Witches. Growing up in San Francisco made… Read More In Search of Lost Witchcraft: NYX Simply Vamp Lip Cream in Enamored
Just call me Virgil. To save some money in the coming school year, I’m moving at the end of the summer into a two-bedroom duplex apartment. As moves go, this one will be almost comically easy, since my new building is next door to my current one. But I’ll be sharing the apartment with a… Read More A Journey Through Purge-atory, Part 1: Lipsticks and Glosses
Just a quick review of the final two items from last month’s Ulta order: NYX Slim Lip Pencils in Dolly Pink, a pastel lavender-pink, and Pumpkin, a burnt orange with gold shimmer. I keep protesting on this blog that I don’t care much for lip liner, but I also keep buying more lip liners. I… Read More Liner Notes: NYX Slim Lip Pencils in Dolly Pink and Pumpkin
I made my stage debut at the age of eight, in my elementary school’s production of The Phantom Tollbooth. I had two roles: the Spelling Bee (marred by a wardrobe malfunction: part of my headband fell off and I pouted for the rest of the scene) and the Senses Taker. For the second role, I… Read More Eight Beauty Products I Didn’t Buy in the Last Six Months
Sorry I’ve been posting so erratically this month! I usually try for one post every three days, but lately it’s been two posts in two days, then a break of five or six days, then two more posts in two days. I’m trying not to beat myself up about it, because inspiration comes and goes… Read More Holy Magenta: NYX Intense Butter Gloss in Spice Cake
Back in November, I decided to participate in Project Make-a-Dent, the creation of Helen at Lola’s Secret Beauty Blog. Quite a few people on my blogroll have joined in this project, which aims to curb excessive consumption by forcing us to pay attention to the products we already own. The idea is to choose a… Read More Why I Failed to Make a Dent
Greetings from San Francisco, where I’ve spent the past few days recovering from jetlag and dissertating at neighborhood coffee shops. With three days of the old year remaining, it’s time to post a list I’ve been compiling for the past month or so: my 14 favorite beauty purchases of 2014! A few notes before we… Read More 2014 in Review, Part 2: My 14 Favorite Beauty Purchases
Well, I guess that was an eight-day hiatus! It crept up on me, as such things do. First the weather was gloomy for days on end, so I couldn’t take decent photos. Then I took an overnight trip to visit a friend in another city. Then I spent a couple of days in DC for… Read More 2014 in Review, Part 1: My 14 Most Disappointing Beauty Purchases
Auxiliary Beauty 