Destash, Part 1

     I bought a new lipstick the other day and, having posted it on Instagram with the requisite hashtags, came across an IGer called Auxiliary Beauty, and so decided to follow the link to her beauty blog.  She, like me, has a propensity towards bold lipstick.  She's also got a real talent for prose and a refreshing point of view on social media "realness" (or realness, sans parentheses; click the link for more on that), thus proving to me that I can, in fact, be entertained by a millennial grad student blogger and the politics that come henceforth, as long as the writing is both beautiful and relatable.
     Anyway, tucked amidst her new lippie and face of the day documentations was a destash post.  Now I'm not one to hoard in the first place, but I do have a fairly sizeable makeup collection that can use some trimming, especially since I haven't worn a full face in at least two years (during which time the definition of "full face" seems to have grown exponentially... see "Instagram Face").  Mostly though, my destash consists of lipsticks that are not red, with a small smattering of varied eye and face stuff.  Here's a shot of this round.

Destash

     Clockwise from the top-- NYX True Taupe eyeshadow single.  I was looking for a different NYX taupe shadow and ended up settling for True Taupe (because you can't just leave Ulta empty handed, you know).  It's probably best as a barely there base color, but I tried to make it work as a summer counterpart to my beloved NARS Lhasa shadow.  True Taupe was practically non existent on my eyelids though, which led me to wonder, why bother?  So, I stopped.

     Revlon Photoready creme blush in Pinched.  Taking this out and doing one last arm swatch almost made me change my mind, because it's such a perfect peach creme, but I'm just not a blush wearer.  When I do, I rarely deviate from NARS Orgasm, or Milani Blossomtime Rose.  I still have five or six blush compacts besides these sitting around, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

     e.l.f. Mineral Pearls.  I just don't get it, and I never cared enough to look up tutorials on what, exactly, I'm supposed to do with this stuff.  They're pretty in their container, I will say that.

e.l.f. Mineral Pearls, Revlon Photoready Creme Blush in Pinched

     Maybelline DreamLumi Touch Highlighting Concealer.  Not too terribly long ago, I thought this stuff was a Godsend for my German birthright undereye circles.  I bought a fancy Sigma brush with which to properly and flawlessly blend this stuff, and until I decided I didn't have the time or energy to devote to face makeup beyond primer and powder, they were two of my favorite routine essentials.  I can't give up the brush just yet.

     MAC False Lashes mascara, sample size.  It's got a nice, plush brush.  It's a great brush.  I think I tried it once and determined it wasn't as good as whatever volumizers + lengtheners I had in my stash at the time.

     L'Oreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black.  I love the liquid eyeliner look but I don't do it often enough to be good at it, and black is particularly unforgiving.  Nevertheless, this particular formula and felt tip liner is easy to use and manipulate, allowing me to draw decent lines I was willing to step outside my front door in.  It served me well for years until I learned about Maybelline Stiletto Eyeliner in Brownish Black.  I like having classic black in my stash, too; basically, this tube has been sitting around for too long and needs to be replaced.

Really Blurry Swatches (follow the order of these now, not the first photo)

     Milani Matte Love.  I was on a quest for my perfect vampy wine matte, and I knew I loved the Milani Moisture Matte formula.  Wine, as it turns out, is a much harder color for me to fit into than red.  I swapped out Milani Matte Flirty for Matte Love and regretted it as soon as I applied Matte Love.  First off, it pulls a little too purple on me for my taste.  Second, it's got tiny little glitters in it.  I initially thought I'd somehow gotten glitter on my lips from some unknown outside source, then saw them despairingly visible within the bullet.  I wanted to like it, and I hoped it would grow on me, but I just couldn't get past those glitters.  Now that I've found two matte/satin blood red/wine shades in redder tones and without glitter, I feel I can reasonably give up on trying to make Love work (ha).

     Buxom Lips Sugar.  Another sample.  It might have been a Sephora birthday present.  I don't really do lip glosses and there's no reason I'd buy a nude one, but I somehow feel compelled to keep these free samples around, you know, just in case.  Somewhere along the line, I wore this enough to put a sizeable dent in the miniscule tube, and I think that's why I've kept it around as long as I have-- I might have once sort of liked it.  But I don't think that's the case.  The gloss consistency and longevity in general bug  me, and that cinnamony, prickly sensation those Buxom glosses impart in effort to produce nice, plump, bee-stung lips is downright intolerable.  Do these glosses still do that?  Is that kind of lip plumping even still a thing?

     Milani Pretty Natural.  Milani really is one of the best drugstore brands and their lipstick formulas are all just lovely, from their Moisture Mattes to their cremes.  This creme is truly a joy to apply and wear, but I'm just not a dusty rose type of gal.  Since dying my hair red back in 2011, finding a good my-lips-but-better shade to match my quite unnatural hair color has been a struggle.  I used to live for pinky browns and I think pre-fake red, I would have gotten a lot more use out of Pretty Natural.  I wish Milani's color palette wasn't so hit or miss for me, emphasis on the miss.

     L'Oreal Colour Riche Le Gloss in Nude Touch.  Another sample.  I think I want to like these shimmery nude glosses, otherwise I wouldn't hang on to these silly samples for so long.  And I never do, otherwise I would have moved onto full size by now.  They look so pretty and promising in their tubes.

     Maybelline Color Elixir in Caramel Infused.  These Color Elixirs were highly pigmented color balms with doefoot applicators, sort of a precursor to the matte liquid lipsticks so prolific today, but infinitely more comfortable.  They were moisturizing and long lasting, and I have no idea why Maybelline ended up axing this line.  Anyway, Caramel Infused is the closest I've ever come to loving a nude glossy type thing, because of the aforementioned merits, and probably the lack of visible shimmer, come to think of it.  And back to my hair-- as I've gone redder and redder, the pinky nudes I wore with ease during my brunette and auburn days began to look washed out.  It's time I start coming to grips with that.

     Revlon Rich Girl Red.  Before I learned that there is indeed a matte red for every season, I was hot on the trail of a sheer, summery red tint.  Most of what I found wasn't red at all, but sort of fucshia, and I settled for a L'Oreal Color Pop Balm that I've actually used quite a bit.  Some Revlon campaign last summer that clearly made a huge impression on me drew my attention to Rich Girl Red (HATE that name.  Hate it.).  It's a truer red than any sheer I've tried, but that ended up being half the problem-- it's a rather horrible shade on me.  The Revlon sheer formula is slippery as all getout, too, and I've used much of the bullet simply by virtue of the fact that it requires constant reapplication, for color as well as comfort.  My quinacridone L'Oreal Balm has a better color payoff and is significantly more moisturizing.

     NYX True Taupe and Revlon Photoready Pinched.  See above.

     THIS JUST IN!!  Auxiliary Beauty also happened to introduce me to a new company called Glossier (pronounced like dossier), and I just purchased a couple of their apparently phenomenal brow setters.  Expect another destash post in the not too distant future, this one heavy on the brow products.  I've got high hopes for this Glossier stuff.

Requisite Spring "Fashion" Post

     Instagram is currently the only social media platform I actively use.  I like it.  It's fairly quiet, compared to the loud, obnoxious, inane waste of uninformed time and space that is Facebook.  It's a lot easier to control your feed on Instagram, too.  I've been off Facebook since the night before Inauguration (if that tells you anything) and I have no designs on going back.
   
     But I digress.

     Instagram has its own little wierdisms, like medium sized accounts looking to grow who stalk small accounts, like a couple photos, follow, then unfollow, lather, rinse, repeat.  I checked out the account of a chick who did this to me over the last couple days, and it led me to her blog.  Apparently, she's a fashion blogger of sorts, because her most recent post was a What to Wear this Spring thing.  Whatever floats your goat is my mindset, and these bloggers who try and tell everyone what they ought to be wearing always kind of turn me off (which is why I don't follow fashion bloggers; I do what I want and so should you.  ... Wait a minute...).  To me, it's more of a language thing.  Anybody acting as if they are some sort of authority on what you "should" or "need" to be doing or wearing at any given time, is propagating homogeneity.  Rather than "What You Should Wear", I prefer "Here's What I'm Wearing.  So.  Here's what I'm wearing right now.  Take it or leave it.

my Spring uniform

     (L to R, top to bottom)
   
     Screen print tee shirts.  I prefer those featuring my favorite bands and novelty tees from things I've done or places I've been.

     Chunky cardigans that don't match the tee shirts they're going over.  I'm a big fan of stuff that doesn't match.  Plus, novelty cardigans are really cozy.

     Seven For All Mankind Dojo jeans.  The silhouette for the past several years has been leggings, skinny jeans, and the slight deviation to a little bit baggier with boyfriend jeans, and it's just kind of tiring me out.  These Dojos have a higher waist than in years past, which is cool; I don't really miss low rise jeans.  Sevens run long in general, even the tailorless, shorter inseam styles.  The trick is finding heels that the super wide legs don't completely obliterate, JNCO jeans style (remember those?  I never wanted a pair).

     Retro style cateye sunglasses.  Vintage is cool.  Too much of one era is costumey.  This is like, vintage lite.

     Black leather pumps.  Oddly, I've never owned a pair.  I've gotten variations-- patent leather, platforms, embellishments, etc. but never just a classic, no frills pair.  I got these to go with a little boutique dress I picked up back in February but haven't had opportunity to wear yet.  They're high, four inchers, so I think they'll work nicely under my Dojos, too, until it's warm enough to break out the platform wedge sandals.

     Blush pink spring coat.  It's a lot less structured in real life and sort of puts off an '80s vibe.  It's kind of like wrapping myself in a blanket, so I don't mind the boxy silhouette too much.  Besides, it didn't cost a fortune and the color is just gorgeous.

     Brahmin handbag.  Brahmins are awesome.  They're sturdy, well made, beautiful, and not on the arm of every other person.