Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

Surfacing briefly from the dissertation abyss to give you my November update! I'm proud to say that I made only one beauty order on Black Friday —I bought some new clothes that I really needed, so I couldn't justify splurging on makeup too. And November was my birthday month, so I received a few makeup gifts, including a lipstick I'd wanted for a while. But I did yield to temptation a few times, and here are the results: New Makeup & Polish: L-R: NYX lip liner in Brooklyn Thorn, ColourPop Let's Play, Sinful Colors Nice Guise. NYX Suede Matte Lip Liner in Brooklyn Thorn: $4 ColourPop Lippie Stix in Let's Play: $5 Sinful Colors nail polish in Nice Guise: $2 Zoya nail polishes (not pictured) in Aubrey, Jules, Serenity, and Troy: $3 each plus $6.95 shipping = $18.95 Total: $29.95 NYX recently released a bunch of lip liners that match their Liquid Suede lipsticks. Since my mom sent me the Liquid Suede in Brooklyn Thorn for my birthday (more on that later), I picked u...

It turns out that I have time for one more post before I head to New York tomorrow! A lot of new products entered my life in October, and though some of them were gifts, some were...definitely not. It's not exactly shocking that I bought more stuff than usual last month. October tends to be hard for me mental-health-wise, and I was applying for jobs for the second year in a row, and I couldn't help but keep up with upsetting election bullshit . And my neighbors' cat, whom I'd known for three years, died two weeks ago. Mr. B was the sweetest, friendliest cat I've ever met, and he used to come over so often that I almost thought of him as my cat . So October was a stressful month, and I'm not going to beat myself up for going a little over budget, though I will make some new resolutions at the end of this post. After all, I have more stressful months ahead of me, and the whole point of this low-buy is to learn how to manage stress without spending impulsively or ...

Three-quarters of 2016 is gone, you guys! What happened? Well, at least one thing happened: I bought some makeup. And I spent the weekend on postdoc applications, so I didn't get around to this post until now. Here we go: New Makeup/Polish: Essie Playing Koi: $9 NYX Matte Lipstick in Up the Bass: $6 Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Backtalk: $17 Total: $32 I bought all of these in the first few days of the month and worried that I might not be able to go the rest of September with no new makeup. But I held off, and I'm proud that I did, especially because this was such a stressful month and I was so tempted to impulse-buy stuff (more on that later). I confess that I did visit my local Rite-Aid more than once in search of the Wet n Wild fall collection; I would have bought the Plaid to the Bone trio had I found it, but the collection never materialized. I'm pretty happy with everything I did get this month, especially Backtalk. Up the Bass and Playing Koi are both a bit patchy,...

A lot of stuff here! Let's get into it: New Makeup/Polish: Marc Jacobs Le Marc Lip Creme in Rei of Light: $30 Studded X mini duo (Kat Von D Studded Kiss + Formula X) in Mercy: $7.50 NYX Velvet Matte Lipstick in Midnight Muse: gift from my mom NYX Jumbo Pencil in Black Bean: ditto Total: $37.50 Rei of Light was my big-ticket planned purchase for this month. Having worn it a few times, I'm not sure it's my Platonic rusty orange, as it pulls darker and redder than I thought it would. But I really like it and think I'll wear it a lot this fall, so no harm done. By contrast, the Kat Von D/Formula X duo was a total impulse purchase. After I finished rewriting my third dissertation chapter, I slipped back into the habit of checking all my procrastination sites, including Temptalia. Christine posted about the Sephora end-of-summer sale, and I just couldn't resist the Mercy duo. I wish every lipstick came in a mini version: I don't need a full-sized metallic berry lipst...

After my little spending spree in the UK last month, I decided to go on a replacement-only makeup/polish no-buy for the month of July. I'm happy to report that I didn't need any makeup or polish replacements and had no trouble avoiding new purchases. I don't know why, but it's much easier for me to stick to a no-buy than to a low-buy. If I restrict myself to two new items per month, I'll inevitably end up with three or four. But if I restrict myself to zero items per month, I'll buy zero. Granted, I don't have a huge breadth of experience here — I've never tried to maintain a no-buy longer than two months — but in general, moderation is not my (black-and-white-striped) bag. Anyway, here's the damage for July: New Makeup/Polish: none, bitches! Gifts:  My mom picked up an e.l.f. lip stain in Nude Nectar at some point in the last several months. She can't remember when or why she bought it, but she has never used it and conjectures that "I pr...

The title of this post is misleading, since I took a break from my low-buy during my month in England (I'm writing this on my last evening here). I'll just say it: I bought 11 12 new pieces of makeup and nail polish in June. This is going to be a haul post. Which is okay! I planned for this hiatus, I could afford it, I'm happy with what I bought, and I'm eager to get home and start experimenting. I'm also going on a replacement-only no-buy for the month of July, just to give myself some time to enjoy my new stuff. In August, I'll resume my low-buy regimen. As I'm sure you've heard, the pound has taken quite a hit in the last week. I bought seven of my new products pre-Brexit but am using the current exchange rate ($1.33 to £1 ) for the conversions in this post, so my total in dollars will be a little lower than what I actually paid. New Makeup/Polish: Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Facet: £14.50 Barry M Nail Paint in Vintage Violet: £2.99 Barry M Gelly Hi-...