Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

(Apologies to Jenny Holzer , of course.) The stress of the job market has me feeling extra-acquisitive, as witness my latest impulse purchases: L-R: KBShimmer Open Toad Shoes, Zoya Fei Fei, Essie Leggy Legend, Milani Matte Fearless. But that's not enough, oh no. I want still more, because when I'm trying to relax I tend to immerse myself in the online beautysphere, and I have the bad habit of using Google to hunt down my Platonic ideals of color, formula, and finish. In a perfect world, I'd spend that time experimenting with new techniques using the products I already have, but this is far from a perfect world. I'm hoping that writing out my wishlist in a blog post will be just as cathartic as actually buying the stuff. If not, well, I just got my September paycheck. Lipstick: 1. Pinkish-red satin This is one of those dangerous Platonic ideals. I've spent a lot of time putting off my actual responsibilities by scouring the Internet for the epitome of cherry-red gorg

"Look, you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left!" If you frequent the company of middle-aged male professors who specialize in Renaissance history or literature, chances are good you'll hear a lot of Monty Python references. A few years ago, after too much time spent laughing politely at allusions that went over my head, I got around to watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I found it mildly amusing but not uproariously funny (except for the Black Knight scene , above), so maybe you need to have been a teenage British boy in the 1970s to truly understand its hilarity. This is a very roundabout way of introducing something I've been pondering: the concept of beauty "holy grails." In recent procrastinatory moments, I've been searching for better versions of a few things I already own: a cherry-red lipstick, a black liquid liner, a lightweight facial sunscreen, and a yoga mat. I began this post intending to ask your opinion on some candidates I&

Prior to this year, I felt ambivalent about Milani. It was the only cruelty-free brand with a decent selection in my local CVS (no NYX or Wet n Wild for this backwater), but its offerings included malodorous, drying lipstick , sticky lip gloss , liquid lipstick that refused to set, coarsely milled eyeshadow , and too-shimmery baked blush. 2015 has changed all that. I don't know what changes took place behind the scenes at Milani HQ, but my purchases in the past year have turned me into, if not an ardent fangirl, at least someone who appreciates the brand's presence in the beauty aisle. Matte Naked lipstick and Coral Cove blush are two of my favorite beauty buys of 2015, and Milani's clear eyebrow gel has become a daily staple despite its too-large applicator. The matte liquid lipstick I reviewed a few weeks ago was a letdown, but I'd recommend it for anyone who likes that sort of thing; it just turns out that I don't. So I had high hopes for my latest Milani pur

Guys, I miss beauty blogging. I miss it so much that in the week since I announced my semi-hiatus, I've worked on four different draft posts. I'll open an empty post, add a title, write a few sentences just to give myself the feeling of blogging, then save the post to my draft folder and go about my business. Pretty sad, I know. I've noticed that in the last year or so, I've fallen into the trap of believing that my posts have to be a certain length, and that if they don't contain introspection, digression, and meta-wank, they're unworthy of a place on my blog. Well, screw that. Sometimes I just want to write a few words about something pretty , and sometimes a few words are all I have time for. I'd rather pop in now and then with a brief post than go a month between elaborate, long-winded essays. Digression is one of my worst writing habits, anyway: it's not something I should indulge regularly, even if a blog is more digressive by nature than a dissert

It's fair to say that shit just got real. In the last few days, I've been coming to terms with everything I need to do this semester (primarily applying for academic jobs, but also teaching and dissertating), and I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to spend on this blog in the near future .  I don't want to declare myself on hiatus, but I also know that I have a lot of hard work ahead of me, and I'd like to have as few distractions as possible. I'm writing this in a post not because I think you'll die of worry if I don't blog every few days, but because I want to blog every few days and I can't afford to do so right now, and putting that fact in writing will hold me accountable to it. At least, I hope so. Anyway, this is just to say that I'll be posting less frequently, and at less self-indulgent length, for the next few months. Wish me luck on the job market! I've been working toward this since I graduated college in 2009, and now it