Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

Welcome to the first, and saltier, of my two 2016 roundup posts! A few notes before we begin: There are 13 products on this list simply because I was disappointed by 13 products last year (not a large number, considering how many I tried).  As always, the products are listed in chronological order of purchase, not from best to worst or vice versa. I've linked to my original reviews where available.  I returned several of these products, sometimes too quickly to take photos. In those cases, I've used the brands' product shots. I also lost a number of my photos while clearing my phone's memory last year. Not all of these products are total fails. I kept and still use a few of them, since I don't subscribe to the KonMari doctrine of getting rid of anything that I don't absolutely love. Especially in the case of color cosmetics, if a product fulfills a specific purpose but isn't perfect, I'll often keep using it instead of buying yet another product in the s...

Yellow is an underrepresented color in most people's makeup collections, including mine. Deservedly or not, it has a dismal reputation: The Googlers have spoken: yellow is the most "visible" and "noticeable" color, but like many highly visible and noticeable things, including the Kardashian-Jenner clan, Lime Crime, and Donald Trump, it is also perceived as "annoying" and "depressing." (Actually, the most visible color to the human eye is yellow-green, due to its location in the middle of the color spectrum, but let's not be too picky.) Yellow is notorious for being unflattering to most complexions, and it's the rare eyeshadow palette that includes even an understated mustard, let alone a chartreuse or daffodil. So imagine my surprise when I started noticing yellow nail polish in what seemed like every other k-pop girl-group video released this spring. Here's some proof, arranged chronologically by release date: Mamamoo, "You...

You know those products that never quite make it onto your wishlist but inspire a low-key lust for several months? So it is with me and NARS Hammamet, a limited-edition eyeshadow duo for Spring 2016. Hammamet, named after a Tunisian resort town , comprises a light matte peachy beige and the prettiest metallic rosy copper. That's a product shot from the NARS website, but I also went to Bluemercury today and swatched Hammamet for the sake of journalistic integrity and nothing more . The two shades on the left are from Hammamet; as you can see, the matte beige looks warmer in person than it does in that product shot. On the right is the limited-edition lipstick in Rosecliff, whose namesake is a historic mansion in Newport, RI. (By the way, if you were looking for a dupe of Rosecliff, Topshop's Lip Bullet in Motel is almost identical.) Now, I never seriously entertained the idea of buying Hammamet. NARS duos are $35 each, and for that price I need to be wild about both colors, no...

When I first declared my no-buy three weeks ago, I predicted that my willpower would be tested severely. Instead, I immediately felt a sense of unaccustomed freedom. I'd grown used to thinking of my beauty purchases as stress relievers, but I hadn't considered that they might actually be a source of stress. Every new purchase brought pleasure and excitement, but never without an undercurrent of guilt and worry: can I really afford this? do I really need it? will I really use it, or will it end up gathering dust? And now those anxious questions are gone. My no-buy has liberated me to play with the makeup I already own instead of constantly plotting to buy something new. I mean, ask me in a month whether I still feel this way, but for now? I'm pretty content, and I'm glad I caught an incipient problem before it became more serious. My plan for 2016 is to try a Monika-style low-buy (no more than two new items per month), but with a couple of no-buy months thrown in. Step...