Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

UM, HI. A lot has happened since I last posted. I'm still stunned and depressed at Britain's decision to leave the European Union. It was surreal to watch the whole thing unfold around me , and painful to have no way of affecting the outcome. It's not my nation or my fight, but I'm still heartbroken at what this means for Britain and Europe in general. It's clear by now that we live in an age of paranoid nationalism, and if you can think of anything good that paranoid nationalism has ever produced, do let me know. I'll just be over here reading Hobbes and glancing obsessively at the BBC. You know what? Let's talk about makeup. I've been in London for the past week, and have found myself wearing less makeup than usual. My boyfriend's parents and sister are visiting, and they're no-makeup WASP types who can go from pajamas to out the door in ten minutes. Since they've been generous enough to let me travel with them for nine days, I've done ...

(Apologies to a show I've never actually watched. I'm told that I should!) I've noted before that the average British woman seems to get more excited about makeup than the average American woman does. I stand by my original conclusion: "In my experience, Americans pay more attention to the overall effect of their makeup, while the British pay more attention to individual details." Drugstores in the UK offer more shade variety per brand, and it's not unusual to see people wearing red or fuchsia lipstick when out and about.  Experimenting with makeup is part of British culture in a way it's just not in the US; there's a sense of play here that I find so refreshing. I took this photo (faces blurred for privacy) at the MAC lipstick display at the Selfridges in Birmingham two weeks ago: I lingered in the Selfridges makeup department for about 15 minutes, and the MAC section was like this the entire time. I'd occasionally try to approach and swatch ...

Packing makeup for a month away isn't an exercise in minimalism unless you choose to make it one, which (surprise) I didn't. But I did have to limit myself somewhat in what I brought to the UK, so perhaps my not-quite-capsule collection will be of interest to others. I'm proud to report that my entire suitcase weighed in at 39 lbs, well under United Airlines' 50-lb limit! Given that my suitcase was routinely overweight when I traveled back and forth to Oxford in my junior year of college, that's quite an achievement. I guess I'm no longer terrified of being temporarily separated from my books. If there's one thing that will make you less precious about books, it's a doctoral program in literature. Seriously. Anyway, let's rummage through the contents of my giant makeup pouch (giant head included for scale). Excuse the tea-towel backdrops and overcast British lighting throughout. Skincare: L-R: Heritage Store Rosewater & Glycerin in mini CVS spra...

Hello from the UK! I've spent the last two days recovering from jet lag, with the help of some delicious scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and herbs (imagine me pronouncing the H): Overview: This roundup is going to be brief, because I bought almost no new makeup in May. After several months on this low-buy, it's become easier to postpone purchases, and even to postpone them indefinitely. No matter how much I want something, I can usually persuade myself that at least one of four things is true: 1) I already own a similar product; 2) even if I don't, the shiny new product will still be around in a month; 3) even if the product is limited edition, something similar will be released eventually; 4) even if I don't end up with the product or a dupe, life will carry on exactly as before. Granted, it's also easier to avoid buying new makeup when I'm depressed, and I was fairly depressed last month. But I'd like to believe that depression isn't the only explana...