Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

(You have to read "faked" with two syllables, as if this is a Donne poem, or the title won't make sense.) In the past two days, swatches and reviews of Urban Decay's new Naked Heat palette have been making the social-media rounds. (Here's a sneak peek from Temptalia and a review from Makeup and Beauty Blog.) Like many people, I can't help feeling that the palette is doubly redundant: it's not only the eighth Urban Decay Naked palette in seven years, but also the 93,458th orangey-red eyeshadow palette since mid-2016. Plus, it shares a weakness with the ABH Modern Renaissance palette: several of the medium-saturation shades look very similar to each other, which will make it difficult to achieve any look that's higher-contrast than a smoky wash of orange. I do like that '80s-throwback packaging, though. Source Since I already struggle to use the warmer, bolder colors in Modern Renaissance, I have no plans to buy Naked Heat. However, I can't de...

Having devoted the better part of a decade to studying Renaissance (we in the biz prefer "early modern") literature, I perked up when I heard that Anastasia Beverly Hills had released an eyeshadow palette called "Modern Renaissance." The palette came out in mid-2016 and started a warm-neutrals trend that, as of February 2017, shows little sign of dying down. Despite my instant attraction to the name, I resisted Modern Renaissance for half a year, for a few reasons: I have a hipster distaste for any product that receives a tremendous amount of hype. (Preteen me held out on the Harry Potter novels for at least a year because ~everyone else~ liked them.) Historically, I've preferred eyeshadow singles to palettes: more travel-friendly, less visually intimidating. My skin, hair, and eyes are all cool-toned. I wear simple neutral eye looks almost every day and didn't trust myself to use the bolder colors in the palette.  I'd never tried anything by Anastasia B...

Because it's year-end-roundup season until January 31, damn it. I'm back online, so it's time to present my favorite new-to-me beauty products of 2016! As always, I've listed these items in the order in which I bought them. I listed 14 favorites in 2014 and 15 in 2015, but 16 seemed excessive somehow, so I kept the number at 15. 1. MAC Matte Lipstick in Antique Velvet This was the very first beauty product I bought in 2016, after a no-buy of almost two months. During those two months, I tried on Antique Velvet twice, loved it both times, searched the internet for cruelty-free dupes, and finally decided that nothing would satisfy me but the genuine article. Antique Velvet is a dark, cool-toned brown with a hint of plum. You'd think that such a dark matte lipstick would go on patchy, but it's smooth and evenly pigmented, with the same soft, comfortable formula as the other MAC mattes I've tried. After sticking to my no-buy for seven weeks, I expected to be thr...