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My New Moisturizing Duo
Greetings from San Francisco! My last apartment lease ended on June 20 and my new one doesn't start until August 1, so I'm bouncing around the country until then, which means limited time for...
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Kitrinophiles Unite: The ColourPop Uh-Huh Honey Palette
I've always had an affinity for the color yellow. Maybe it's because my birthstone is topaz, or because yellow is one of the least popular colors and I love a polarizing underdog, or because mustard...
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The End of Auxiliary Beauty
Around this time last year, I was talking to one of my doctoral advisers about a short story I was struggling to finish writing. "I hate finishing things," I said, "because then they're done." It was...
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The Partial Resurrection of Auxiliary Beauty
Last September, I wrote what I thought would be my final post on Auxiliary Beauty. I had a few reasons for ending the blog: my demanding schedule, increasingly utilitarian approach to makeup, and...
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An Old-Fashioned Lipstick Destash Post
One of the reasons I decided to resurrect my blog is, frankly, nostalgia. I never thought I'd feel nostalgic for the second half of grad school (or the first half, for that matter), but 2020 has made...
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Beauty Lately
In the pre-coronavirus days, I used to claim—and, I think, believe—that I wore makeup primarily for myself. Of course, it was nice to get a compliment on my lipstick or whatever, but for the most part,...
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Rituel de Fille Color Nectar Pigment Balm in Bloodflower
Rituel de Fille is a brand that I've been following, but not actually patronizing, since its launch in 2014. I have a vivid memory of sitting on a bench during a break from my dissertation seminar in...
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Pat McGrath Labs Lip Fetish Balm in Noir
Longtime readers may recall that in December 2017, I celebrated passing my dissertation defense by ordering Pat McGrath Labs' LuxeTrance lipstick in Madame Greige, which remains one of my all-time...
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Fenty Frenzy, Part 1: Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush in Strawberry Drip
Fenty Beauty, like Rituel de Fille, is a brand that I started following years ago but didn't get around to trying until 2020. I always liked Fenty's bold, offbeat aesthetic, but the releases never...
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ColourPop That's Taupe Palette
Earlier this month, I placed my first ColourPop order in over a year. Like many longtime ColourPop customers, I'd grown weary of the brand's constant new releases and discontinuations of older...
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ColourPop Blur Lux Lipstick in Slow Dance
Here, as promised (look at me, keeping a blog-related promise!), is my review of the second item from my recent ColourPop order: the Blur Lux Lipstick in Slow Dance.Early in 2019, ColourPop introduced...
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My Ten Most 2020 Beauty Products of 2020
No, that title isn't a typo. I started this post intending to write a list of my favorite new beauty products of 2020, but I soon got bogged down in a Carrie Bradshaw-esque question: what did it mean...
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2020 Lipstick Chronology #1: NARS Sheer Lipstick in Dolce Vita (New Formula)
Name: NARS Sheer Lipstick in Dolce VitaDate Purchased: January 4, 2020I started this blog in early 2014 with a series called Lipstick Chronology, in which I set out to review all of my lipsticks in...
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2020 Lipstick Chronology #2: Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick in Divine Wine
Name: Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipstick in Divine WineDate Acquired: January or February 2020Grade: A-My mother has strong opinions about my lipstick choices, and she's not shy about...
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An Interlude
Apologies for deviating from my Lipstick Chronology schedule so soon after announcing it, but the last couple of weeks have been challenging. My grandmother passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly...
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2020 Lipstick Chronology #3: Revlon Luscious Matte Lipstick in Shameless
Product: Revlon Super Lustrous The Luscious Mattes Lipstick in ShamelessDate Purchased: Feb. 15, 2020Grade: ARevlon has made some truly bizarre marketing decisions in the last decade. The brand built...
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A Red for Citrus Season: NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Red Square
This week I'm diverging from the 2020 Lipstick Chronology in order to review my first new lipstick of 2021: NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Red Square!I spent much of my January no-buy scouring the web...
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Tower 28 BeachPlease Luminous Tinted Balm in Magic Hour
Last summer, I got rid of my Illamasqua cream blush in Zygomatic, one of my all-time favorite beauty products, which I'd bought in the UK in June of 2014. I hadn't noticed a change in its appearance,...
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2020 Lipstick Chronology #4: Urban Decay Lip Chemistry Tint in X-Ray
Product: Urban Decay Wired Vice Lip Chemistry Lasting Glassy Tint in X-RayDate Purchased: Mar. 1, 2020Grade: BLet's take a time machine back to the United States on the first day of March in the year...
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The Great Blush Inventory of 2021
When I first got into makeup, in the early 2010s, blush was an afterthought in the Western beauty community. Everyone had a couple of blushes, generally a warm pink and a cool pink, but beauty bloggers...
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