FOTD: Red Lipstick, No Mascara

Makeup artists have this incredible ability to make awe-inspiring looks appear easy and manageable. In this age of YouTube, Instagram, and blogs, we have more access to these artists and their work than ever, including tutorials they make themselves. Over the past year, there's been one oft-repeated suggestion that has stuck with me: skip mascara.

"You know," the makeup artists say coyly as they brush up their models' already-perfect brows, "you could leave the eye makeup here. With skin this glossy and perfected, and with brows this full, you could totally skip mascara." Some of them add, "With a red lipstick, this would be so chic and Parisian," which always makes me cringe a bit because it taps in to an idealized, fetishized, commodified woman who doesn't really exist. After that cringe, though, I'm basically sold, because red lipstick. I'm a simple Pittsburghese woman.

As dramatic as it sounds, I've been trying to do this for months, and I just haven't been able to do it. I'd spend a solid 20 minutes perfecting my base makeup and brows, then I'd put on my bright lipstick and tell myself, "Okay, you're done." But I always caved and brushed on some mascara before I left the house. I just felt weirdly incomplete without that mascara.

Today, I forced myself to put away the mascara. And I have to be honest: I kind of like it. It's nice to know that the only things I'll really have to touch up are a dash of undereye concealer and some post-dinner lipstick. There won't be any black smudges or smears or flakes.

Accepting my nearsightedness actually makes me like this look even more. With my very necessary glasses on, you can't really see much around my eyes EXCEPT for my brows--you'd have to get damn close to see my lashes behind the lenses. I've been thinking about buying a few more pairs of glasses and treating them like fashion accessories in and of themselves; skipping eye makeup and pairing them with a strong lip color seems like a great way to emphasize both the lipstick and the glasses.

That said, I'm not going to toss out my mascara any time soon. I still love the look of full, dark lashes, especially if I wear winged eyeliner or glossy shadow. But I'm glad I've finally listened to the makeup artists and tried the sans-mascara look.

BASE: MAC Face & Body Foundation in C1 + White; YSL Touche Eclat High Cover Concealer in 0.75 Sugar; Dolce & Gabbana Perfect Finish Powder Foundation in 50 Ivory [D/C]; Clinique Moisture Surge Spray

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CHEEKS: NARS Liquid Blush in Orgasm; MAC Strobe Cream in Pinklite

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EYES: Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Medium Brown

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LIPS: NYX Lip Pencil in Auburn; Shiseido Modern Matte Powder Lipstick in 516 Exotic Red

ETA 5/26/19: I completely forgot to post about our recent donation--I'm so sorry! With your help, we donated $20.04 to the DNA Doe Project this month. Thank you so much! This summer, I'd like to collect donations for Planned Parenthood.

The Hype Machine: Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat High Cover Radiant Concealer

The Hype Machine is a series that takes a critical look at well-loved, cult classic, appears-in-every-other-Instagram-photo products and asks: are they worth the hype?

A little under two years ago, this same series ranked the original Touche Eclat All-Over Brightening Pen as an above-average product, versatile and lovely, but probably more expensive than necessary. I've continued to use my Touche Eclat pen primarily as an undereye brightener, mixing it with my concealer du jour to get a bit less coverage and a brighter, slightly dewier finish. So when YSL released a true-blue concealer version of Touche Eclat (because, again, the original is not really a concealer; stop yelling at the poor thing), and when it was reviewed positively by bloggers I trust, I decided to bite the bullet and use up my gift cards.

Natural light on top, ring light on bottom. From left to right: YSL TE High Cover in 0.75 Sugar, YSL TE Brightening Pen in 2 Luminous Ivory, NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly, Glossier Stretch Concealer in G11.

What got me a little stuck was the shade range. I couldn't decide between the lightest shade, 0.5 Vanilla, and the second-lightest shade, 0.75 Sugar. After receiving several super-helpful comments on Instagram, I decided to go with 0.75 Sugar, since this is clearly meant to be an undereye/brightening concealer, and I knew the peachy tones of 0.75 would work well on my dark circles.

I'm glad I went with that shade. First of all, yes, 0.75 is DEFINITELY peach-toned, and it definitely works well on dark circles--more on that in a moment. Second, it's closer to the original Touche Eclat pen in 2 than you'd think. See, the original Touche Eclat pen darkens up a bit as it dries: it comes out looking almost identical to the very pale NARS Chantilly, but it ends up being about a shade darker. I'd peg the YSL Touche Eclat High Cover at about NC/NW 15 in terms of depth, and the YSL Touche Eclat All-Over Brightening Pen is maybe half a shade lighter.

The only other product on my face in these photos is a thin layer of the Surratt Surreal Skin foundation, which, LOOOOL, look at that beautiful application right over my top lip. I'M AN ARTIST.

The new High Cover version of Touch Eclat features a nearly identical metal tube and brush tip applicator; the only difference is that the High Cover version includes a black label, which is honestly helpful for differentiating between the two tubes quickly. I love the feeling and the weight of this packaging, and unlike many click tubes, it only takes a few clicks to get the product started.

One click will get you about twice as much product as you see in the above-middle photo. I actually find that a full click of this concealer is a bit much for me, so I just leave the rest on the brush for touch-ups or my next application. However, I tend to wear very thin layers of my base products, I only use this on my undereyes, and I have a sort of small face; you may use a whole click if you're covering more surface area or like more coverage.

Now, the name of this product may make you think this is going to completely blank out your dark circles. I don't think that's the purpose of this concealer. Instead, I think the name means this is a "high coverage version" of Touche Eclat (versus a traditional, maximum coverage concealer). I'd say this is a very natural, beautiful, just-barely-medium coverage concealer.

I can hear you scoffing. "Natural?! It looks like you smeared Vaseline on those undereyes!"

Look, I get what you're saying: my undereyes look hella-glossy in that after photo. But remember that it was photographed with a strong ring light shining directly down on me. In every other lighting situation I tested this in, including the all-important natural light, this just looked like a satin-y, natural, skin-like concealer. See the above natural light Instagram shot for proof!

You can also dust this very lightly with some powder to make it a natural matte texture. I found that powder took away any and all shine, and it prevented a bit of the (inevitable) creasing, but it didn't clump or cake.

Finally, let's answer that all-important question: is it worth the price? Again, I have to give you a wishy-washy "yes and no." For me, it's a pretty stellar product that's easy to apply, works well with all of my foundations, and really brightens up my face. I used to put two products on my undereyes; now I'm down to one. If you're like me and you have a hard time finding a single undereye concealer you like, it's aces. But if you already have an undereye concealer you love, I don't know that this luxury product is necessarily going to top it.

BOTTOM LINE: YSL has created a higher-coverage version of their beloved Touche Eclat pen that delivers natural, medium coverage that really works on my undereyes. If you're looking for a great undereye concealer, this could be the one for you; if you've already got a favorite, feel free to give this pricey pen a pass.

The Hype Machine is a series that represents my experiences and opinions. It is not meant to be a personal attack on a specific company, product, or consumer. I always recommend that you try products for yourself and see how they work for you. Everybody is unique, after all!

No Buy 2019: Almost Halfway

Have we talked about how graceful I am? I'm practically a ballerina. And this past month, I danced right in to my ring flash and snapped the base.

I've also been horrifically busy with work. As much as I love my career, reading piles of student writing and creating 6-8 new lesson plans every week is starting to wear on me. I've spent a lot of my free time in bed, just trying to recover from the weird creative exhaustion.

But I'm back, armed with a new ring flash and my Sephora VIB sale purchases! Let's talk about how everything's been going.

What did I want?

Let's take a moment to appreciate this wants list. First of all, I've X-ed off half of the stuff on the list, meaning reading reviews or re-assessing the product has killed my desire for it. The Jillian Dempsey Lid Tints, for example, look absolutely STUNNING on the many bloggers who have been posting about them, but realistically, I don't need more eye makeup. I'm already beyond lazy with the eye products I have.

Second, I haven't added anything to this list since March. Seriously, for a month and a half, nothing has really tickled my fancy. I actually spent half an hour combing through the "New" sections at Sephora and Nordstrom, and there was nothing interesting enough to add to my wish list.

What did I buy?

I returned the very lovely, but very not my shade, Laura Mercier foundation I tested a few months ago and got the Anastasia Brow Powder Duo and a brush instead. I'm honestly loving this purchase. A brow powder takes a bit longer to apply than, say, a super-pigmented pencil, but it gives me a lot of control, and my brows look fuller without being blatantly drawn-on. Also, I have a problem with my brow products turning very red on my skin; the brow powder stays true to color.

I also made several purchases with store credit and gift cards. Glossier recently released Mango Balm Dot Com (it's okay) and an eye cream called Bubblewrap (haven't tested yet), so I grabbed those along with another bottle of the oil wash. For the Sephora VIB sale, I bought a whopping two things: the Verb Sea Spray and the YSL Touche Eclat High Cover Concealer. I had a rough time buying that concealer because I was sent so many conflicting reports about the shades. After being torn between 0.5 Vanilla and 0.75 Sugar, I went with the latter, since the peachy undertones will likely be better for my undereye circles.

Today, I repurchased the Skin Laundry Daily Moisturizer SPF35, my staple day cream, from Nordstrom. I had a bit of a panic attack when I noticed the product was no longer on Sephora and contacted the company to see if it was being discontinued. They directed me to several other retailers, so apparently, Sephora is just not going to carry it anymore and everything is fine. If they ever discontinue this product, I'm going crazy and buying as much as I can without overwhelming our budget.

How am I feeling?

At the risk of sounding smug, it's crazy to me how easy this has been. Every time I find myself tempted to buy something new, I remind myself that I only have so much spending money, or that I really want to achieve a no buy year, or that I already own a ton of stuff that needs loved. And I feel fine. Again, looking through the "New Products" sections on several websites and feeling zero interest was a wake-up call. I still enjoy makeup, and in fact, I'd say I've gotten even more in to skincare over the past year. But I don't need to buy a ton of it to be happy.

I do think part of what's making this easy, though, is that I've been so busy at work. I'll be visiting my family for a few weeks this summer, then I'm working a very reduced schedule (roughly 8 hours/week) in July. That makes boredom shopping a very real possibility that needs to be curbed.

Anything else?

So I had to pay some of the taxes for that Sephora order out of pocket--$4.62, to be exact. I'm wondering if that counts as breaking my no buy. On the one hand, that seems needlessly strict, since it was just taxes, not another product, and it was under $5 of my own money. On the other hand, I'm worried that that's a bit of a cop-out, and/or that I'll use that excuse to buy things I don't need later in the year.

I'm keeping track of how much of my own money I spend on non-staples, and $4.62 isn't a bad amount, in my opinion. But I really don't want it to creep up to $50+. What do you think? Am I making excuses, or was this a reasonable expense?

PS: Recently, I've gotten a TON of questions about replacements for the discontinued D&G powder foundation. For a variety of reasons, namely this no buy and my personal pickiness about powders, I haven't found a replacement. If I do, I'll let you know. If you find one, please, for the love of all that's holy, hook a sister up.

PPS: When this no buy is over, I'd like to try a new series testing super-expensive products, our finances permitting. It'd be called "I Spent My Paycheck On This," or something of that ilk. Does that sound interesting at all? Is a review of a $200 foundation even on-brand for me?

Spring Cleaning: Products I'm Purging

The beautiful card catalogue Kirby made me only has so much space, and it forces me to keep only what I love. That means I've got to get rid of some products to make room for the new stuff I've tried and loved. I'm actually a bit surprised that I'm getting rid of some of these things, to be honest, because there are some gorgeous products here. But if you're not using something, it's just going to waste.

So let's talk about the really amazing products I'm getting rid of! At the top of the list are these Face Stockholm cream blushes. I stand by my belief that these are some of the best cream blushes on the market; they have a slightly "jelly" texture that blends easily and provides a natural highlight. But I always, always reach for more hygienic liquid blushes in tubes or slap-it-on-and-go stick blushes. Another beautiful, but rarely worn, product is the MAC Amplified lipstick in Nicki's Nude. As pretty is it is, on the rare days when I wear a beige nude, I reach for NARS Raquel.

The list of makeup that's really lovely, but just not my style, includes the Marc Jacobs Dew Drops in Dew You, the Milk Makeup Holographic Highlighter in Mars, and the Fenty Mattemoiselle lipstick in Freckle Fiesta. The highlighters are a tad too sparkly and "makeup-ish" for my tastes, though most people with less ghostly skintones will probably find them natural and beautiful. As for Freckle Fiesta: I absolutely ADORE the color of this lipstick, but I think I have to admit that it isn't flattering on me at all. I keep telling myself it'll be better if I tan up to NC20, but that's turning out to be a lot harder than I thought.

Now for the epic fails. Look, there have been some rave reviews for the Kosas Tinted Face Oil, and it's SO up my alley and I SO want to love it...but it just doesn't work on me. It deserves a better home. The Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer came highly recommended, too, but I found it pretty "meh." It has zero staying power on my dry skin and it can look a bit chalky on my undereyes.

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I tried the new @urbandecaycosmetics brow gel and it was...eek. #urbandecaycosmetics #brows #nomame #beautyproducts

A post shared by Renee (@reneesanatomy) on Feb 19, 2019 at 6:53pm PST

The new Glossier Generation G formula is an abomination, so I won't linger on that. But can we talk about how every other brow product on the market seems to turn bright red on me? I had high hopes for the expanded Colourpop Precision Brow Pencil shade range, but nope, every shade is still too dark or too orange on me. And don't even get me started on the Urban Decay Brow Beater gel. Woof. Maybe if you have decent brows, this will look nicer, but it just made me look like Groucho Marx.

Speaking of brows! Sephora is finally releasing some freebies I want, so I'll be purchasing that brow powder and brush I mentioned this coming week. Beyond that...there's not a lot I want to buy with my birthday gift cards. Don't get me wrong; there's plenty of stuff I'd be interested in trying! But even after this purge, I've got plenty of products in my collection that I'm rediscovering. I think that's one of the best parts of being on a no buy: you have to be creative and use what you already have.

I Refuse to Buy This Until the Freebies Stop Sucking

Apparently, I am one of three people on Earth who actually likes the Sephora rewards program. Granted, spending around $75 to earn a deluxe sample is a bit rich, but at least Beauty Insider points don't expire. Getting actual cash back a la Ulta's rewards program is definitely preferable, but I will never spend enough money in a year for it to be worth it to me. So I do most of my shopping at Sephora, and I wait to push the "checkout" button until there are samples I really want.

Now, I've wanted the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo off and on for several years, and I decided to buy it back in February. But I have a birthday in April, so I waited until this month to place my order so I could use the credit from a return and cash in on my free birthday gift. That's already a big win for me; I never could have waited months to place an order in years past.

Annnnnnd I'm still waiting because the samples suck. One of the weirdly satisfying things that's come out of my downsizing and more conscious spending is that I'm very picky about what samples I'll settle for. It has to be a product I'm genuinely interested in, and it has to be in a shade or a formula I know I'll use. Currently, there's a red Laura Mercier lipstick available with a coupon code. There was a time when I would have just used that code and been done with it, because hey, free lipstick from a nice brand. Now, however, I know that I already have a ton of Besame reds I love, and I'm not actually interested in the formula. I'm actually quite interested in several of the foundation samples they've offered recently, but they're not offering a shade that will work for me. Nope. I'll wait.

Will I eventually just buy the ABH products and get the birthday gift if the samples never improve? Sure. But those Milk Makeup minis will be free to me until the end of April, and that store credit isn't going anywhere. I can wait. And the longer I wait, the more I feel like I'm breaking away from this endless need to BUY BUY BUY.

Speaking of my birthday! If you're interested in getting me a present and you have $3 to spare, donating to my Ko-Fi would be absolutely stellar. This spring's charity of choice is the DNA Doe Project, an organization that uses emerging DNA technology to identify John and Jane Does. While I have mixed feelings about law enforcement and medical organizations accessing genealogical DNA, I am all for it being used to give these people back their names and bring closure to families. You can read more about the DNA Doe Project on their website.

I have not received any donations for the past few months, so my recent donations will remain private.