Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

Apologies for both my Beirut allusion and my ten-day absence from this blog. I was writing my second conference paper of the month, and then I was in Venice, drinking Campari and soda. I'll probably never like Campari, even if I drink it while sitting in a Venetian campo watching little Italian boys kick a football against a centuries-old wall. But I liked the Campari-soaked olive that came in the glass, and I liked everything else about Venice, too. Except the fake-designer-purse vendor who shoved me aside while fleeing the police. This was my second time in Venice; my first was the better part of a decade ago, in March 2008. During our spring break from Oxford, my friend Maud and I spent ten days touring Venice, Rome, and Florence, living on smoked mozzarella and hazelnut wafers from the grocery store. In the subsequent six years, I'd often describe our stay in Venice as two of the best days of my life. But after I arrived this time, I realized that I couldn't remembe...

Two weeks after I arrived in England, I finally set foot in the huge mall near my boyfriend's apartment. It's a ten-minute walk away, so I'm not sure what was holding me back except my congenital fear of spending money. I needn't have worried, because I wandered for three and a half hours and still came away empty-handed. I know: what kind of blogger am I? Well, not quite empty-handed: here be swatches. I was very excited to explore Topshop's makeup selection, especially their blushes. They don't have a huge selection, but I liked the shades I tried out. Top to bottom: powder blushes in Dream Phone and Let Her Go; cream blushes in Flush and Head Over Heels. All the blushes are £7, I believe. Dream Phone is a neutral plum-tinged pinky brown; Let Her Go and Flush are pink corals, but Flush is slightly cooler; Head Over Heels is a peachy orange very similar to Sleek Life's a Peach . I think I'll end up buying Dream Phone eventually--I don't have a neutr...

My face has emerged from the shadows!  My previous post on theBalm's Nude 'tude palette was devoted to swatches and mini-reviews of the colors. As promised, this post features four looks I've concocted since then, plus an alternate use that isn't a look per se. I began by pushing myself to focus on the shades I use least often, but fell back for the last two looks on my favorites: gray-taupe Selfish and brown-taupe Sophisticated. All of the eyeshadows were applied over NYX HD Primer. For a refresher on the colors, here's my palette after almost two years of ab use. 1. Rose Gold, or: Who Needs Naked 3?  Shades used: Stubborn, Snobby, Stand-offish ( sic ) Application: Stubborn all over the mobile lid, Snobby blended into the center as a highlight, Stand-offish in the crease and on part of the browbone. Field Notes: I like this more than I thought I would, and I'd use it again as a tonal complement for other peaches and/or pale pinks. (In the photo above, I...

Sorry for the infrequent posting recently! No sooner had I recovered from jet lag and returned from my conference in York than I was felled by a bad cold. It's now been six days; the fever is long gone, but the hacking cough and general malaise remain. We went to Oxford yesterday, my first time back since I finished my study-abroad year in 2008, and though it was a glorious sunny day of cathedral-climbing and ice cream and Pimm's, I exerted myself more than I should have. And now I have to write another conference paper by next Saturday, which is plenty of time but would feel less daunting if I were less sick. Excuses, excuses. Let's talk about nail polish. I mentioned that I'd bought two Barry M nail polishes: Sugar Apple, a bright pastel aqua, and Shocking Pink, a fuchsia that always photographs too warm, despite my best efforts. I trust I don't have to tell you which is which: The first one I tested was Sugar Apple, new this spring. I'm 99% sure that Sugar ...