Happy spring! It’s been a while. Last summer, I decided to try Urban Decay’s new shiny-but-long-lasting lipstick formula, Vice Lip Bond, which seemed to be along the lines of Revlon Satin Ink and YSL Glossy Stain. Since the lipsticks were $27 each, more than twice the price of Revlon’s perfectly good version, I limited myself… Read More Urban Decay Lip Bond in PDA vs. Lucky Boy Breakfast Burrito
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?
I’ve never taken much interest in holiday sets from beauty brands. They tend to feature excessive, tacky packaging, overpriced merch, and/or “universally flattering” makeup shades that I either already own or know I don’t want. Glossier’s Gold Kit, released in 2020, is a perfect example: $75 (seriously) for a gold-plated brass initial necklace and a… Read More Quick Review: Glossier Eye Stars Kit
Gucci Rouge à Lèvres Mat in 702 Anne Lilac, to be precise. LOOK AT HER. I don’t even have to write anything (but you know I will). Until this month, the most I’d ever spent on a lipstick was $38, for Pat McGrath Madame Greige at the end of 2017. Madame Greige was my reward… Read More I Bought a Gucci Lipstick!
Note: I purchased this product with store credit from my Glossier referral link. Thank you to everyone who has clicked on my link and helped me buy more products to review! Let’s talk about bronzer! For many years, I didn’t understand the point of bronzer, at least for me. My reasoning went like this: “From… Read More A Bronzer for Novices: Glossier Solar Paint in Flare
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
The sad irony of having a full-time job: I now have more disposable income to spend on makeup, but less opportunity to pounce on a much-hyped launch before it sells out. Not that I do that often (or did it often when I was unemployed), mind you. But when ColourPop announced that it was bringing… Read More ColourPop Pressed Powder Blush in Flirt Alert (Valentine’s Day 2022)
In my search for maskproof lipstick last fall, I neglected an entire product category: lip tints from Asian brands. It’s not that I was unaware they existed, or that I didn’t like them—I enjoyed the Too Cool for School tint I bought five and a half years ago. It’s just that I generally feel about… Read More In Search of Maskproof Lipstick, Part 4: Etude House Dear Darling Tints in PK004 (Red Bean Red) and RD306 (Shark Red)
This is the third post in a series of three. In each post, I wear a supposedly indelible liquid lipstick throughout a day of teaching and track its performance under a New York Times-approved double mask: a surgical mask, ear loops tightened and ends tucked in, with a cloth mask on top. Check out the first post here and… Read More In Search of Maskproof Lipstick, Part 3: Revlon ColorStay Satin Ink in Silky Sienna
Note: I purchased this product with store credit from my Glossier referral link. Thank you to everyone who has ordered through my link and enabled me to test and review more products! I’m taking a break from my masked-lipstick series to review a new release that has received a fair amount of buzz in the… Read More Glossier Monochromes Eyeshadow Palette in Heather
Auxiliary Beauty 