Some Products I've Used for Almost a Decade

The beauty industry produces new formulas, shades, and applicators at a rapid pace, guided by the twin forces of scientific discovery and savvy marketing. Realizing we can put film formers in makeup and make it last for a full day, for example, lines up perfectly with trends that favor long-wearing products, matte textures, and minimal fuss. The huge variety of products is already a strong lure for beauty addicts like me, but I'm also an American, and we have easy access to most brands. So like many bloggers, I buy and try a ton of products.

Despite the fact that I'm always testing something, I've managed to collect a small assortment of makeup that is, to my mind, irreplaceable. And no matter how much I try other foundations, brow pencils, and eyeliners, I always come back to the staples that have stuck with me since college. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it highlights some of the all-time favorites I've gladly spent my money on many times over.

Wearing MAC Face & Body foundation and Rebel lipstick, Milani Liquid Eyes eyeliner, Shu Uemura Hard Formula pencil in Seal Brown, Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer, and Wet n' Wild Brulee eyeshadow.

MAC Face & Body foundation -- Ah, yes, the product everybody is sick of hearing me talk about! I'm sorry, but no matter how many foundations I try (and I sample a ton), I always come back to Face & Body. The buildable light coverage and slightly dewy finish give me the my-skin-but-better look I adore, it feels weightless on the skin, and it lasts a surprisingly long time for something that isn't uber-matte. Any time I ask my mother what she thinks of the new foundation I'm testing, she always says, "It's _______, but I like the MAC one you wear the best." What mom says is law, my friends.

Shu Uemura Hard Formula Pencil in Seal Brown -- I often hesitate to recommend this brow pencil because it's so hard to get in the states now, but if you wanted to know the absolute queen of brow products? Yeah, it's this one. No matter how many other pencils, powders, and gels I try, I always come back to this one. Beyond the fact that a single Hard Formula pencil will last you for a freaking decade or more, this is the most versatile formula I've ever used. Supposedly, the oil from your brow hairs is needed for the pigment to show up, which means it's hard to overdo. You can absolutely use it for a heavier brow look, though, if you just keep applying it. And Seal Brown is the sort of cool taupe shade I always look for from other brands.

Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer -- I decided to experiment with this product and have been using the Ivory shade lately, but really, my heart belongs to Radiant, the salmon-colored corrector. Blending a bit of this sheer, luminous formula with whatever concealer I'm using keeps my undereyes from looking dry and cakey. It also helps to bounce back a lot of light. As an added bonus, this is another lightweight product; my mom hates makeup she can feel on her face, but she wears the Medium shade without complaining.

Milani Liquid Eyes pencil -- I'm no longer as in to eye makeup as I was in college, but I still like to wear eyeliner, and the Milani Liquid Eyes pencils have been my go-tos for tightlining for at least a decade. I mean, I was buying these things when they were still called the Liquifeye pencils! They're incredibly smooth and richly pigmented, yet they also stick to the water line fairly well, meaning I get minimal smearing. No high end pencil liner has ever compared to this $5 beauty. The only downside? The formula is super soft, so you'll have to sharpen the pencil after every 2-3 uses.

MAC Strobe Cream -- How many tubes of this stuff have I actually gone through? It has to be at least three. I can kill a one ounce tub of this stuff annually because I use it for so many things: as a natural cheek highlight, as a glow-boosting moisturizer under my foundation, and as extra shimmer to mix in to my body lotion. MAC recently came out with a range of shades for this product, making it wearable for a variety of skintones.

MAC Lipsticks -- Let's be clear: MAC hasn't made my absolute favorite lipstick formula for about a year now. They've been usurped by Besame, because their lipstick formula is w389hvn2o3unrlasdjf AMAZING. That said, I still love MAC's Matte, Satin, and Amplified lipsticks, and their color selection is hard to beat. Also, it's always fun to get a free lipstick when you return 6 empty plastic products for the Back2MAC program; that's how I got Rebel! Which I...don't think really flatters me, but hey, I love the formula and it was free!

Wet n' Wild Color Icon eyeshadow in Brulee -- I'm on at least my second pan of this $2 eyeshadow, which is the perfect "nude lid" shade for me. The formula is quite soft, so it'll smash out of the pan easily, but that's a minor quibble. I like to use this when I'm wearing no other eye makeup to mask the blue veins on my lids and give me a more "finished" look. On the rare occasions when I wear stronger eye makeup, this is one of the only browbone shades I'll wear. I think Wet n' Wild has stopped making a lot of their eyeshadow singles, which is kind of a bummer, but this perfect pan is still readily available.

Becca Beach Tints -- The Beach Tints are my reference point for all other liquid blushes. If you can't compare to the Beach Tints even a bit? You're not worth my time. What always shocks me about this formula is how liquidy and blendable it is, and yet how much pigment you can get from the tiniest drop. They're great on bare skin or over foundation, which natural looks or more glamorous makeup. Watermelon is probably my most-used shade, since it's a medium pink that mirrors my natural flush, and I've actually used up a full tube of it.

REVIEW: Maybelline Dream Cushion Foundation

I stopped wearing a full face of makeup to class for a very specific reason: one day, when I was teaching with my usual assortment of gesticulations and hyper-active movements, I managed to swipe the sleeve of my white blouse right across my fuchsia lipstick. I didn't have time to run to the bathroom and fix the problem, so I finished class with my lipstick applied a la The Joker and a ruined shirt. After that, I decided to go to campus bare faced or barely-made-up.

But I started a second job this month, and since wildly waving your arms around medical equipment is generally frowned up, I figured it'd be a safer place to wear makeup. I'll still be waking up at 6:30am, so I wanted to try some products that promised fast and easy application. A friend recommended the Maybelline Dream Cushion Foundation, a western take on Korean cushion foundations. (Sidenote: I know that Korean cushions are often similarly priced and come in cuter packaging, but every one I considered contained one of my DO NOT TOUCH ingredients or didn't have a shade match for me.)

I bought the Maybelline Dream Cushion in the lightest shade, 10 Porcelain, for $12; prices may vary in your area. Like most cushion foundations, this product comes in a plastic compact with a puff for application and an inner lid to keep the foundation drying out. It's decently sturdy packaging and, as promised, mess-free. The only issue is that the puffs are very hard to clean; I know some people just buy replacements on the regular.

There's 0.5 ounces of foundation in this product versus the standard full ounce for liquid foundations. You might want to write that off because it doesn't seem like a traditional liquid foundation, but...that's actually exactly what it is. You've just got a sponge on top of the liquid foundation to alter the application. That said, you're expected to pay a bit more per ounce for the convenience and travel-friendliness.

Flash on top, natural light on the bottom. From left to right: Maybelline Dream Cushion Foundation in 10 Porcelain, Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Pen in Ivory, NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Siberia, MAC Full Coverage foundation in W10.

Porcelain seemed to be the lightest shade, but when I swatch it, it actually looks relatively neutral to me. It's certainly darker and less yellow than my go-to shade match NARS Siberia. I'd peg this one at roughly N15 on a MAC scale. I wish Porcelain was closer in color to the Maybelline Dream Lumi concealer in Ivory, but eh, it's doable.

As a whole, I'd say the shade range is pretty "meh." There are plenty of light and medium shades, but the deeper end of the range disappoints me. It's especially unfortunate when you consider how broad Maybelline's Fit Me range is.

I'd been told that the Maybelline Dream Cushion gave "next to no coverage," but that's not how it worked for me. In the before-and-after photos above, I dabbed the provided sponge on to the cushion, then pressed the product in to my face using quick patting motions. I'd consider this a relatively solid medium coverage: my skin tone is completely evened out, and my blemishes and redness are covered. At the very least, it's on par with my Buxom Show Some Skin Foundation.

On the other hand, applying with the sponge seemed to make the foundation a bit thicker than I wanted. It didn't look bad, per se, but it kept sliding in to and emphasizing the fine lines on my forehead and around my mouth. It could also look a bit makeup-y. So the next time I tested the foundation, I tapped a buffing brush in to the cushion, then buffed it in to my skin. This prevented the settling in to fine lines. However, it also gave me lighter coverage, streaked a bit, and still looked a little makeup-y and fake up close. Obviously, most people aren't going to get that close to me, but I noticed things like this creasing above my lip:

And that bothered me.

Another issue I experienced in person: oxidization. You can't notice it in photos like these, where I've applied the foundation less than an hour ago and it's photographing beautifully, but this foundation definitely went orange on me. Halfway through the day, I was practically a kumquat. A glowy kumquat, but a kumquat, nonetheless. While it's relatively rare for a foundation to oxidize like that on me, I noticed a decent number of "this got really dark on my face" comments in other reviews.

In terms of staying power, I got some shine throughout the day on several parts of my face, and there was no product on my oily nose by the 6 hour mark. That's an average performance from a satin-finish foundation, but if you're oily skinned, you'll definitely want to take a pass on this one. I also had some trouble with this foundation transferring throughout the day, though only if a decent amount of pressure was involved. The nosepads of my glasses and the inside of my hoodie, for instance, had tiny swipes of foundation on them, but my cellphone and my cat were fine.

Overall, the Maybelline Dream Cushion foundation didn't live up to my expectations. It photographs well, no doubt, but the oxidization is a deal breaker for me. More importantly, this is not as fuss-free to apply as a cushion should be. Add the mediocre shade range in to the mix, and I'll take Maybelline's Fit Me Foundation over this lackluster cushion any day.

RATING: 3 out of 5.

You can purchase Maybelline products at Ulta.

Here's a Post About June

I thought I'd be insanely bored without blogging this summer, since it's probably my current favorite hobby. However, I ended up being totally immersed in Stereotypical Summer Fun with my partner, and I had quite a few products on my to-test list that kept me busy. (Actually, I still have a big list of products to photograph and document...why does this take me so long?!)

First, let me run over a few of my MVPs from this summer. I managed to snag one of these Sephora Chic It Easy sets when it went on sale for $25, which is a crazy awesome deal:

I gave the nail polish to my cousin's daughter, since I already have that shade, and got rid of the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer (not my shade and my mom still has half a tube) and Caudalie mist (contains alcohol). Everything else stayed with me. I was especially excited to have this small vial of Atelier Cologne's Orange Sanguine fragrance, which smells like a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice. I'm not usually big on citrus fragrances because they're so fleeting, and this Atelier offering is no different, but it's been perfect for carrying around in my purse this summer.

I've been continuing my use-stuff-up journey as well, and I managed to finish a deluxe sample of the Kat Von D Lock It Concealer Creme in L3. This is still the best color match I've found for my foundation-free face, and as I've gotten more and more in to the no foundation look, I decided it was worth purchasing a full tube. I'm also working through another sample of Clinique High Impact Mascara, a great choice for full but relatively natural volume and minimal flaking or smearing. And while I've been lazy about wearing highlighter when I'm sans foundation in the past, I've honestly been loving the glow I get from Glossier Haloscope in Quartz. (It helps that I've had my hair pulled up almost every day this summer because it's so humid.) Glossier recently posted something on their Instagram stories about wearing all 3 Haloscope shades at once, and I won't even lie, I've been tempted to try it.

Now for a few product-related downers I've experienced. Influenster sent me the new Maybelline Brow Drama Shaping Chalk to test, and the shade 120 Medium Brown was definitely Not Okay. It's a little too dark for me and way too warm; it's so red on my brows, in fact, that when I wore it, my partner couldn't look at my face without laughing. (I removed it as quickly as I could to avoid being banished to the couch for bad brows.)

I will note, though, that I actually like the formula of this product. The packaging is a bit fiddly--it's a loose powder in a tube, so you'll get a few flakes on your desk when you pull the doe foot out--but the actual chalk is super pigmented and gives you a soft, filled-in look in seconds. If I could find a lighter, ashier shade, I'd probably buy another tube and use it for my lazier days.

They also sent me the Brow Precise Micro Crayon in 265 Auburn, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why they sent that shade. Medium Brown in one product, Auburn in another? WTF? Auburn is even more red than Medium Brown, so clearly, I won't be wearing it out and about.

Things have been rough on the face sunscreen front, too. Most of the American and European options I've been testing have irritated my skin, dried out my face, or produced a swath of pimples across my cheeks, so I've ordered four alcohol-free Japanese sunscreens that should be arriving...um, some time this month. In the meantime, I've been using my La Roche Posay Anthelios Ultra Light Sunscreen Lotion Spray SPF60 on my face. The lightweight formula is totally workable for the face if you spray it on to your hands, then rub it in. The only downside is that I have to keep it away from my eyes because it makes them water. Also, my bottle has maybe one spray left in it. $35 for a spray sunscreen galls me in my current financial state, so I've been trying a few others that ranked highly on the most recent Consumer Reports list.

I'M ON A BOAT!!! #boating #canoe #summerishere #sunday #sundayfunday

A post shared by Renee (@reneesanatomy) on Jun 25, 2017 at 4:33pm PDT

Speaking of sunscreen: did I mention that my partner convinced me to try canoeing? I was nervous that I would look like an idiot (because I'm not athletic in the least) or fall out of the boat (DID I MENTION THAT I'M REALLY NOT ATHLETIC), but I managed to keep my seat and really enjoy myself. I mean, I freaked out a little when Kirby shifted his weight and the canoe rocked, but beyond that, I think this could become my new favorite summer activity!

Pittsburgh's Wood Street Gallery has also had a couple of robots scribing religious texts and duplicating a photo of Mars for the past month. I'm a little offended that a freaking robot has better handwriting than me, but the fact that I can still read and understand some German is a fair consolation prize. The robots will be here until early September, so if you come to Pittsburgh, check them out! The Wood Street Gallery exhibits are always free.

Kirby's friends visited the city at the start of July, and we intended to take them to see the robots and a few other art galleries. Then they heard that Pittsburgh is home to the National Aviary, and it was all over. BEAUTIFUL BIRDS! GIANT FRUIT BATS! A SLOTH! Damn, I love the aviary. Here's our friend Krista feeding some Lorikeets, by the way, which is only $3 a person and totally worth it:

Last, but not least, my incredibly generous partner decided to take me to see In the Heights yesterday. I'd give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars: you can tell that Lin Manuel Miranda wrote this before Hamilton, since the latter is superior in most aspects, but it's still a damn fun musical. If you're curious, Amazon currently has a stream of the soundtrack available. I highly recommend "Breathe" and "Carnaval de Barrio."

We're pretending to be cultured today. #intheheights #musical #pittsburgh #theatre #linmanuelmiranda

A post shared by Renee (@reneesanatomy) on Jul 9, 2017 at 3:43pm PDT

Also, I want to take a moment to appreciate the navy blue jumpsuit I wore to the musical. It's the first jumpsuit I've ever found that actually flatters me. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a very clear, super-flattering photo of the actual outfit.) My aunt is a seamstress, and she shortened the pants for my little legs and raised the shoulders a bit so it fit me even better. Seriously, guys, if you want to look your best in your clothes, spend a couple extra bucks on some tailoring for your favorite pieces.

I'm usually in my pajamas when my niece comes over, so when I came home jumpsuit-ed and saw she was visiting, I made sure to snag a photo with my best girl. She'll be a year old this month!

Oh, and have I mentioned that I've managed to tan a bit? Because I have. I've gotten a hair darker on my face, but because I'm sunscreen-obsessed and usually wearing a hat on longer outings, the change is most noticeable on my shoulders. Hence, I currently have an NC5 neck, and NC15 face, and an NC25 set of shoulders. I will be a patchwork for the next few months, and I apologize in advance.

Fair-to-Light Concealer Swatch Fest

In the spirit of this blog and my endless desire to try ALL TEH PALE-ISH THINGS!, I have swatched almost every concealer I currently own. The one exception is my Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer, because I've swatched it a zillion times already and I didn't have enough room on my hand.

The back of my hand ranges from N10-15, depending on the time of year and what I've been up to. I think I'm closer to N10 at the moment.

Direct sunlight on top, indirect sunlight in middle, flash on bottom. From left to right: Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer in Fair Neutral, By Terry Touche Veloutee Highlighting Concealer Brush in 1 Porcelain, NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Light 1 Chantilly, Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer in Radiant, NARS stick concealer in Chantilly, Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Fair.

REVIEW: Maybelline Define-a-Brow Pencil

  

 My biggest beauty-related frustration would have to be my brows. The hairs are incredibly fine and light, so if I'm not wearing any brow product, they disappear in most flash photographs. The front is noticeably thicker than the arch and tail (though that isn't saying much). And because I sleep on my side, my brows often end up looking like cockroach antennae, poking every which way and necessitating copious layers of brow gel to tame them. A lot of beauty bloggers say they skip their brows when they're doing "quick makeup," but for me, that's not an option.

Enter the noble brow pencil--in this case, Maybelline Define-a-Brow, a cult classic some of my friends have used for years.

Maybelline Define-a-Brow comes in a thin, bright green, twist-up tube with the product on one end and a comb on the other. I've seen this product range in price from $2 to $5; I personally got two pencils for $5 and had a $1 coupon to drop the price even lower. That seems like a real steal, but it's worth noting that you don't get a ton of product: there's only .001 oz of brow goodness in there. Compare that to .003 oz in the Anastasia Brow Wiz and the never-ending .14 oz Shu Uemura Hard Formula pencil. Still, the tiny size makes it handy for traveling or tossing in your purse.

The packaging is cute and the lid stays on there, but beyond that, it's pretty lackluster. For starters, you can't retract the brow product: once you've twisted it up, there's no going back. This means you have to twist up a little, start doing your brows, twist up more as you need it, and so on and so on. It's a bit fussy and time consuming. The rigid plastic comb is also absolutely useless, unless you have the thickest, most unruly brows known to mankind. A spoolie would work better for most people.

 The formula of the Define-a-Brow pencil is very creamy, with just a hint of waxiness. Though pigmented, it's hard to overdo, in part because the thinness of the pencil makes it easiest to use quick, small strokes. I was able to use brow gel and brow wax over this product without smearing or pulling off the color, provided I used a tiny amount--too much brow gel will result in bare patches on your brows. I got good wear from this product as well, with no fading throughout the day.

The Define-a-Brow shade range is rather limited, with only 4 shades. 3 of those shades looked very yellow, but the shade I picked--Medium Brown--looked a tad more neutral. As you can see in the above photos, it really, really isn't; it has a definite red cast that looks incredibly fake on my face. I might have been able to get away with this when I had my bright red hair, but as a mousy brunette, it's not working for me.

Here is Define-a-Brow in Medium Brown compared to the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown. You can clearly see that the ABH product is ashier. Not surprisingly, the Anastasia suits me better. Again, you won't find much in the way of ashy shades in this range, so unless you like a warm brow, steer clear.

Define-a-Brow is a decent budget option in terms of the actual pencil, but the shade range leaves much to be desired. The packaging is also outdated and only halfways functional. If Maybelline makes a few tweaks to this pencil, they'll have a much better product on their hands.

RATING: 3 out of 5

REVIEW: Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless Foundation

I don't review drugstore base products all that often. This isn't because I'm a "high end only" sort of person, nor is it because drugstore foundations and concealers and powders and whatnot all suck. It's because I have a lot of difficulty finding something that's pale enough for me, isn't Pepto-Bismal pink, and comes in a formulation that's suitable for dry skin.

"Now wait a minute," I can hear you saying. "'Suitable for dry skin'? This is a matte foundation! It's recommended for 'normal to oily skin!' Aren't you setting yourself up for failure here?"

Not really, my friends, not really. You see, I tried the original Fit Me foundation a few years ago and I kinda liked it. But I had a problem with the longevity: it would transfer if I didn't powder it down, and it didn't seem to last very long on my skin. So I assumed that the matte version would be longer wearing. And at $6, I figured: why not try something that might work for people who are oily skinned? All sorts of people read this blog!

 Natural light on top, flash on bottom. From left to right: Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless in 110 Porcelain, NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly, Paula's Choice Sheer Matte Tint in Level 1, and NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia.

I also hoped that the "Matte and Poreless" version would have the same shade range. The original Fit Me foundations in shades 110 and 115 were quite pale, and in the bottle, the M+P shades look to be about the same. They're actually a tiny bit different, as these swatches show: 110 in the Matte and Poreless Version is around the same shade as NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia, though it's slightly more neutral.

On the skin, M+P 110 darkens up and "pinkens" to around N10 on the MAC scale. Compare that to the original Fit Me 110, which was NC5-10 and stayed that shade after application. It's a very minor difference, though, so if you had a decent shade match in the original line, you can probably wear that same shade in the M+P version.

I normally have pretty good skin. However, I'm fighting one of my Time of the Month cystic chin breakouts, so we can use that delightful redness as a coverage marker. I applied the first layer with a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, working in sections and buffing the product in to my skin. It had a soft matte finish, not chalky at all, and it blended very easily. One layer gave me light coverage: much of my redness and unevenness were covered, but my nose still looked a bit "off" and my chin zits were still visible.

I added a second layer with the Real Techniques brush to get more coverage. This evened out my entire face, though a few particularly nasty chin cysts were still shining through. This may have something to do with the texture of my cysts: they're kind of rubbery, for lack of a better term, and that repels most foundations. No big, I just dotted on some concealer.

Even with two layers, this foundation feels incredibly lightweight, like there's nothing on the skin. It also looks relatively seamless and natural. No surprise, given how thin this formula is.

Here's my face about 20 minutes after I applied the foundation. You can see that this product is definitely matte, but not a chalky matte: it doesn't look too horrible on most of the dry portions of my face. It did cling to a bit of dryness on my chin and inner cheeks, however. This foundation could work for slightly dry skin if you wanted a matte finish, but people with truly dry skin will want to steer clear. (Again, not surprising.)

Interestingly, this foundation does seem to help with pores. I don't have very large pores, no, but I do have sebaceous filaments on my oil slick of a nose that foundation just loves to gather in. Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless kind of glided right over the area and applied very smoothly.

I am so sorry about the drastic differences in lighting. Pennsylvania isn't the best at giving me consistent sunshine. :/ Additional redness in the last picture was caused by a warm bedroom.

After about 2 hours, the foundation had softened up on my skin and looked very nice, albeit too matte for my usual tastes. At the 5 hour mark, I noticed quite a bit of shine on my nose. However, the actual foundation was holding fast: it hadn't faded and wasn't sliding in to my pores. I noticed some fading/wear on my entire face at the 7 hour mark, primarily on my nose. This makes me think that truly oily-skinned people will either want to prime their face before applying this foundation, or will want to add the matching powder to their routine to prevent oil breakthrough.

With this said, 6-8 hours of great wear is perfectly reasonable for a product like this. After all, Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless doesn't claim to be long-wearing. It claims to have a "natural, seamless finish" (check, provided your skin isn't super dry), "match natural skin tone" (check, though that's not hard to do when you're a light-coverage product), and "mattify and refine pores" (check minus). I can actually see myself wearing this in the summer when I want something less dewy and slightly more "made up" than MAC Face & Body. And I'm tempted to try the powder and give the original Fit Me another go.

As it stands, I would recommend this foundation to people with slightly dry to moderately oily skin, and anything in between, who want an affordable, light-to-medium coverage, soft matte foundation. The color range is impressive and should suit a good range of skintones.

My one final bitch? The bottle just has an open lid with no pump. C'mon, Maybelline! Spring for a pump! I'll pay the extra couple bucks!

As a sidenote, I did most of this Face of the Day with affordable products. The only two exceptions? My Shu Uemura brow pencil and my NARS concealer. (I actually don't have any drugstore concealers or brow products on hand.) Proof that we love makeup from all price points here at BOGL!

RATING: 4 out of 5

Messy Wands and Ugly Tubes: Notes on Mascara

I've just now come to terms with my sizable collection of mascaras. While I definitely don't have the biggest mascara drawer out there, I've gathered quite a few tubes of the stuff despite my self-professed eye makeup apathy. Really, brow pencil and mascara are the only eye makeup I wear on a regular basis...but I couldn't finish my makeup without them. I've come to realize that I have a "lips-lashes-skin" philosophy, a la Poppy King: if my skin looks nice, my lashes are done up, and I've got a great lipstick on, I don't need much else.

I decided I should gather these mascaras together and share my notes.

Here's my current line up, from left to right: Maybelline Full n' Soft, L'oreal Voluminous Miss Manga, L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black, Urban Decay Perversion, CoverGirl Lash Blast Clump Crusher, Rimmel Scandaleyes Retro Glam, and Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes. The CoverGirl is water-resistant and Perversion is a sample that's most likely not waterproof. Beyond that, I buy waterproof formulas in the blackest formula available with few exceptions.

For the purposes of this post, the mascaras are referred to as follows:

Maybelline Full n' Soft = Full n' Soft
L'oreal Voluminous Miss Manga = Miss Manga
L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black = Voluminous
Urban Decay Perversion = Perversion
CoverGirl Lash Blast Clump Crusher = Clump Crusher
Rimmel Scandaleyes Retro Glam = Retro Glam
Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes = MGLLL


TUBES: Is there some reason why so many mascaras have to have these ridiculously shaped tubes? Do they do something special for the formula that I'm just not catching? Because Miss Manga, Clump Crusher, and Retro Glam are all a giant pain in my ass to hold. See the big, round middles and the teeny bottoms? They're not ergonomic in the hands, and they can't stand up on their own. If the problem is that you don't want mascara rolling away (admittedly annoying), why not make the tubes square, like MGLLL? All of this aside, I like sleek simplicity with  most of my packaging, so the Urban Decay and Voluminous tubes are the most visually appealing to me. MGLLL is cute, although I'm biased because it's a classic design.

WET OR DRY?: Perversion and Miss Manga have the wettest formulas of the bunch. They take quite a while to dry, especially Perversion, which almost always leads to messiness and clumping. MGLLL is also on the wet side, but it's slightly thicker, more of a cream than a gel formula. I find that it dries faster than Miss Manga and Perversion as well. Full n' Soft is a drier, almost powdery formula, but it doesn't flake or clump, as compared to Voluminous and Retro Glam, which are so dry they actually kind of scrape my lashes. Clump Crusher represents the middle ground, having a gel-like consistency.

SHADE: The advertisements for Perversion are no lie: that is some black, black stuff! It's a shame it's so messy. Really, all of these are quite dark. If I had to pick which was the least black, though, I'd have to go with Maybelline Full n' Soft and Retro Glam, which look softer compared to the rest of this bunch.

BRUSHES: Clump Crusher and MGLLL have rubberized brushes; the rest are of the traditional fiber variety. In terms of shape, we have a small variety here. Voluminous, Full n' Soft, and Perversion all have relatively traditional brush shapes. Of those three, Full n' Soft has the longest brush hairs and Perversion is the most dense. Miss Manga and MGLLL both come to a pointed "spade" shape, but the difference in brush hair lengths is more pronounced with MGLLL. Retro Glam has a wavy shape. Clump Crusher is shaped sort of like a spoon: one side is flat and the other is curved.

BEST FOR A NATURAL LOOK: This award definitely goes to Full n' Soft. You get decent length and volume with this mascara, but no matter how many layers you pile on, it never looks spidery or dry. I've never had any problems with flaking, either, and it's easy to remove. This is my go-to work mascara.

BEST FOR A DRAMATIC LOOK: I don't often go for the super-clumpy, "I'm totally wearing mascara!" look, but if I do, I'll reach for something like Miss Manga or MGLLL. Both of these pitch-black mascaras distribute a ton of product and give me plenty of volume with some length. Clumping is there, but it's minimal.

BEST ALL-AROUND: While Clump Crusher has been temporarily usurped by these other mascaras, it will forever hold a special place in my heart. This product really does give you length and volume without the clumps. At the time of this writing, it only comes in regular and water-resistant formulas, but believe me, that's enough: my only gripe with this mascara is that it's tough to remove. I love that I can get a lengthier, more fluttery look by using mostly the flat side of the brush, or I can get thicker lashes with the round side.

LEAST FAVORITE: Retro Glam is pure trash to me; it does next to nothing for my lashes. Voluminous was a favorite of mine in graduate school, but I'm having a hard time figuring out why; it's a pain in the arse to remove, it flakes everywhere, and it dries out my lashes. Perversion is much-loved in the blogosphere, but I found that it stayed wet for so long that spidery lashes were unavoidable, even with tons of combing. It's also insanely messy.

Drugstore Reviews and Re-Views

I know that I'm pretty bad at reviewing drugstore products, and I apologize. It's not that I don't like them, and it's not that I think luxury products are inherently better. There are a number of drugstore gems I couldn't do my face without. I just don't think to review a lot of those products. Furthermore, drugstore foundations aren't exactly known for their shade ranges--finding something pale enough for me that isn't Pepto-Bismal pink takes a lot of effort.

Recently, I've been testing out two products that are new to me (L'oreal True Match foundation and Flower Beauty Color Play Creme Eyeshadows) and re-trying two products I always liked, but haven't used in ages (Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Black Cherry and Maybelline Full n' Soft mascara).

Here's the HD "face of the day" utilizing all 4 items:

Straight off the bat, I think we all can tell that Revlon Black Cherry is just not that flattering on me. I'm actually wearing it over MAC Beet lipliner to make it slightly more pink, but still, it just doesn't work with my skintone. It also makes my teeth look oddly yellow.

Now, let's be clear here: I recommend the Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick line often because the formulations are creamy, decently long-lasting, and relatively fragrance free. But over the years, I've come to prefer a more matte, long-wearing lipstick, so the Super Lustrous line no longer fits my needs. I give the overall formula a 5 out of 5, but I'm purging Black Cherry because it looks awful on me. I'll probably replace it with something more purple than plum, and in a long-wearing formula.

The Flower Beauty Color Play Creme Eyeshadow in Good As Marigold has been an absolute, 5 out of 5 love of mine for the past two weeks. The formula is extremely wet and creamy, sort of like a whipped mousse texture. Hence, the jar can be a bit messy. Flower staves this off by putting a little plastic lid inside the jar (to prevent the product from slopping everywhere). Actually, I think the packaging is pretty stellar overall; you can see the actual product through the bottom, the lid is air-tight, and the whole thing looks relatively sleek and pretty. A little goes a long way with this stuff. You'll definitely want to use an eye primer under this product, given how creamy it is, but I always use an eye primer anyway.

Naked face on left, one layer of L'oreal True Match in W1 on the right.

I purchased the L'oreal True Match foundation in W1 on a whim: it looked like it was pale with cool-yellow undertones. That's a tough find at the drugstore! And I'd heard good things.

I tried applying this product two ways: once with my fingers, and once with a damp Beauty Blender sponge (which is shown above). Using my fingers was a major fail. This product doesn't have a ton of slip to it, so it's hard to blend without some added moisture. The damp BB made things much easier; I'd assume this product would also work better over a layer of moisturizer. The shade W1 is darker than my neck, lighter than my face, which puts it in the N10 range.

You can get light to medium coverage with this foundation, depending on how you apply it and how much you layer, and the finish is relatively natural. It also feels pretty light-weight. But I noticed three bad things about this product:

• it can transfer, if you put enough pressure on your face,
• the SPF causes some flashback in flash photography, and
• it's full of microshimmer.

The microshimmer and flashback are both visible in this SD photo--take a look at my forehead:

I look terrifying, I know...sorry.

L'oreal True Match's shade range is what's really impressive. And I've heard it's a great "mixer" if you're trying to thin out other foundations. But I personally wasn't wowed, and I've yet to love a foundation that's got shimmer in it. I'd give this one a 3 out of 5.

Last, but most certainly not least, I've been retrying Maybelline Full n' Soft mascara. I've been trying to figure out why I stopped using this stuff. The answer? I got distracted trying a lot of other products. While CoverGirl Clump Crusher is still more dramatic and more iron-clad against rain and humidity, Full n' Soft has reclaimed its place as my favorite "natural" mascara. I can put on one thin coat for a "is she wearing mascara?" sort of look, or layer it 3-4 times for a bit more drama with next to no clumping. Gorgeous stuff, definitely a 5 out of 5.

25 Tops: Bite Madeira

I am so, so lazy when it comes to eyeshadow. If I feel like I'm being too boring with that whole "I just want bright lipsticks!" thing, I try to wear eyeshadow, and it never really flatters me. Not to mention the fact that if I do decide to wear eyeshadow these days, I will almost always default to two stupidly easy options:

1. Slapping on a cream, like Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Epatant, and acting like I put in a lot of effort.
2. Blending a bunch of orange-and-gold junk on my eyes, because it's kinda neutral and it's hard to completely screw up.

Because I don't want to be super-duper boring, I threw on option #2 and whipped out the nude lipstick. Then I realized that this will be the third "25 Tops" post in a row to focus on orange products, and I just gave up.

Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencil in Madeira has always been an "iffy" product for me. On the one hand, I love that freaking formula to bits, and it's the only opaque nude I've owned that doesn't make me look like I ate a messy chocolate bar. On the other hand, I don't think it's the most flattering shade in my arsenal; it's still a bit dark and brown, in my opinion, and I feel like the undertones can exacerbate the sallowness at the corners of my mouth.

But I've been keeping it because, again, I don't own any other opaque nudes (so it fills a niche), and of course, my mom love love LOVES it. (If you're new here: my mom hates my bold lipsticks, but will go bonkers for nudes and soft, girly pinks.) Although I'm a big girl and I wear what I want most of the time, I have a soft spot for makeup my mom actually likes on me.

And it kinda gives me that "supermodel" lip color you see in a lot of 90s photos, which I have a weakness for:

So for now, Bite Madeira is in the MAYBE pile. Joining it is the MAC lipliner in Subculture, which I also worry is a bit brown for me. The 3 eyeshadows I used the most for this look--MAC Woodwinked, Urban Decay X, and Urban Decay Foxy (I think?)--will also stick around, because they don't take up very much room aaaaand I don't have any other orange shades. Also, I should probably purge my flesh-colored MAC Chromagraphic pencil because it's not an everyday product for me, but I'm disgusting and I love that overdone pseudo-60s look, SO THERE.

I also re-tested Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes mascara and the Hourglass Veil primer. Both of those products are "pretty good," in my opinion, and I wouldn't mind recommending them to others. But I just have other products in my collection that I think work as well, if not better, and are more suited to my skin type and personal tastes.

25 Tops: MAC Impassioned

Having recently reduced my stash yet again, and having found the strength to purge lipsticks (LIPSTICKS!), I've decided it's time for a new project. Here's the deal: I currently own about 40 lipsticks. While that's nothing compared to my stash circa 2011 (I owned at least 200; photographs of the collection looked like something from an extravagant makeup counter), it still seems like a bit much for one face. My goal is to reduce my lipstick collection to 25 tubes, tops, by figuring out which shades and formulas best suit my tastes.

My main focus is going to be my lipstick collection, but I'm also going to retry other products in my stash and see if I want to purge those as well. After photographing these products and testing them out for a full day, I'm going to decide what I want to do with them: definitely keep, maybe keep, or definitely purge.

This morning's victim was MAC Impassioned. An opaque, pigmented coral-pink lipstick with a cream finish, it's one of the most recommended and popular products in the MAC range. While I've always liked the shade, I've rarely worn it. I can sort of see why: it doesn't seem to flatter my skintone as much as some of my brighter reds and cooler fuchsias. It appears more blue-toned and fuchsia in real life, but photographs as a beautiful tropical punch sort of color. I don't own anything else quite like it, so for now, Impassioned is going in the MAYBE pile.

Cargo Key Largo also goes in the MAYBE pile. It's a beautiful coral color, and Cargo's blushes are the only powder formula I think I've truly loved. Nothing blends or photographs just like them. But I rarely wear Key Largo because it doesn't match much in  my collection, and I'm inherently drawn to creams, not powders. Definitely going to have to think about this one.

The other two "featured products," Maybelline Great Lash BIG and Benefit High Beam, are getting PURGED. I really like Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes, so my mother tried to buy me a tube as a gift...and accidentally got the wrong product. It's the stuff of my nightmares: wet, sloppy, and beyond flaky. I've been trying to use this tube for almost 3 months...it's time to admit defeat and just toss it. Benefit High Beam remains one of my favorite highlighters, but my tube is at least 4 years old (they no longer produce this "travel size" tube with a doe foot applicator). It's begun to turn and has started to dry up, as evidenced by the patchy application on my cheek. Perhaps I'll repurchase a tube of this stuff one day, because when it's fresh, it's fabulous!

Beauty Sightings: RuPaul's Drag Race, season 5

Does this really need an introduction? Season 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race had some of my all-time favorite queens, including local** favorite Alaska Thunderfuck.

Cripes, I adore her.


The beauty sightings in this season were surprisingly ripe for the picking, although I have to admit that the sponsor brand, Color Evolution, is a bit of an unknown to me. As always, if you can identify a product, please leave a comment!

A blatantly obvious tube of Maybelline Great Lash. This is a super-popular drag mascara because it never dries out and it doesn't gunk up false lashes. Also, Doritos!

Jinx is using Kryolan eyebrow wax. You can also see some Ru Glue, and I think the white pot you can see is Dermablend. Thoughts?

A vanity shot.

The yellow bottle in the middle is a got2be hair product--it's probably the same bottle you see in the next picture. Also, love Coco's face here!

Duct tape and post-it notes abound all over the labels in Drag Race. But the picture, color, and bottle shape give this away as the got2be Glued Blasting Freeze Spray spray.

Jinx using a Sephora palette.

You can see several jars of Ben Nye powder here, most likely Neutral Set or Translucent. The pink hairspray bottle is Suave.

An Aussie product, Neutrogena makeup wipes, and a can of Coke. I think the nail polishes might be China Glaze, but I can't tell.

Ah, the brand blurring: for when duct tape ain't enough! Anybody recognize the products here?

I am LIVING for that neon pink!

Drag Race, honey boo boo child...ain't nobody here dumb enough to miss a bottle of AquaNet.

While you should never use makeup wipes as your only makeup removal/cleansing method, they're good for getting off really thick layers of paint. This makes them a drag queen staple.

Alyssa Edwards and Detox sparkly red China Glaze nail polishes.

10 points to anyone who can peg this concealer!

Pretty sure this is Kryolan TV Paint Stick.

Tons o' bottles and tubes!


** Alaska has moved to Los Angeles and is therefore, technically, not local anymore. But she's from Erie and she was a player in the Pittsburgh drag scene.