Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

I can't remember getting as excited over any Glossier release as I did over the Cloud Paint cream blushes, which launched a week and a half ago (following a "soft launch" at the Oscars, because of course). Two days before the blushes dropped, I had a dream that I was looking at them in a store, but they were in pans instead of tubes, and there were only two shades: a warm brown and a bright red-orange similar to NARS Exhibit A. Say what you will about Glossier, their marketing is capable of infiltrating my subconscious to the point that I have dreams about specific products. Glossier is really good at creating narratives around their merchandise, and as someone who picks apart narratives for a living, I have to respect that. The Cloud Paints are $18 each (though Glossier currently has a two-for-$30 deal), and they come in four colors: Beam, a peach; Dusk, a beige-brown similar to Illamasqua Zygomatic; Haze, a purple berry; and Puff, which I thought  would be a lavender p...

For at least two years now, I've been searching for the perfect cool-toned pale pink blush, something that will give me that fresh-faced but slightly artificial k-beauty look. Here's Jiwon of Spica for BNT International, back in March 2014: Source: Omona They Didn't . Spica disbanded last month. :( And here's Irene of Red Velvet for  Instyle Korea , March 2016: Source: Omona They Didn't Now, needless to say, these photos have been smoothed and blurred and color-altered to hell. Because every irregularity of color and texture has been airbrushed away, there's a sharp contrast between skin and blush, a contrast that I'm not sure is achievable in real life. But that hasn't stopped me from searching for a blush that can deliver a subtle, yet not quite natural, cotton-candy flush. By the time I began my quest, the NARS Final Cut collection had come and gone, and with it my platonic pink blush, Sex Fantasy  (lol). I thought about buying NARS Gaiety instead, bu...

Hey there! Just a quick review to prove to you that I haven't quit blogging, and to prove to myself that there's more to life than watching American democracy go down the toilet while I revise my dissertation abstract for the dozenth time. Today we'll look at a product I've been using and enjoying for almost three months: Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow in 36 Golden Mauve. I bought Golden Mauve back in June at the new Kiko store in Birmingham, along with two powder eyeshadows that I have yet to wear. The stick eyeshadows were all on sale, so I assumed they were being discontinued, but they're still on Kiko's website at their original price of £6.90. I certainly hope they're here to stay, because they're fantastic products that have received almost universally positive reviews. One of the less-than-positive reviews is mine, actually: the first Kiko stick eyeshadow I tried was 16 Purple (pardon the ultra-LQ photos in that post), a shimmery dark purple ...

In addition to the Ultra Matte Lip in Trap , I bought three potted products from ColourPop last month. After a few weeks of playing with them, I'm excited to finally write a review! I'll start with an overview of each item, then post a few looks I've put together. Clockwise from left: Super Shock Cheek in Rain ($8) and Super Shock Shadows in Shop and Eye Candy ($5 each). L-R, one finger-swipe per swatch: Eye Candy, Shop, Rain.   When I ordered Eye Candy , an "ethereal lavender drizzled with tons of pink and silver glitter," I knew from experience exactly what I would get: an unabashed glitterbomb.  Eye Candy's base color looks like a sheer dusty pink in the pan and in arm swatches, but it pulls more lavender on my lids. That sheer base is crammed, not drizzled, with fine pink glitter and chunkier silver glitter. You really have to squint to see the pink glitter, and only the silver comes through when the shadow is worn. Eye Candy has the same bouncy, moussey t...

When ColourPop released a line of 15 highlighters early last month, I didn't take much notice. I'd never used a highlighter before, and since this hot, humid weather gives me a perpetual...let's call it "glow," I didn't think I needed any extra radiance. If anything, I needed the opposite. But curiosity and the usual flood of gushing ColourPop reviews prevailed, and I eventually decided to pick up a couple of highlighters. The highlighters are $8 each, and I decided to order two. Narrowing down the selection was difficult, since some of them differed only minutely from others. I had a few requirements, though. Above all, I wanted to avoid any highlighters with big glitter chunks, which several of the ColourPop highlighters seemed to have. My desired effect was more along these lines... Source ...than these: Source I also shied away from the highlighters that seemed too dark or orange for my skintone and the ones that looked more like pearlescent blushes (thou...