In My Makeup Bag
If you need to draw the cat-eyes sharp enough to kill a man
I got into makeup when I was pretty young and it was all because of my grandmother. She was very much a don’t-leave-the-house-without-makeup-on kind of Southern woman. She was also only 40 years older than me, so when I say “grandmother” I’m not talking about someone with a curled perm and lots of powder—she was glamorous, very cognizant of trends, and loved reading fashion and beauty magazines to learn about the latest techniques. I remember her taking me to the Lancome counter when I was in fourth grade, where they gave me a full makeover and I bought my first bottle of foundation. I wore it the next day to school, with no blush or anything over it, and a boy told me I looked like a ghost. I cried and didn’t try it again for months.
Then Bobbi Brown came on the scene. I recall one weekend in the mid-’90s when my grandmother threw me and two friends in the car and drove us two hours to Orlando, because the Saks Fifth Avenue at the Florida Mall had a Bobbi Brown counter. We all got makeovers and we left with the brand’s signature foundation sticks and lipsticks.
I definitely don’t wear makeup every day. In fact, most days I don’t, because I am almost always sitting in front of my computer working (and my MacBook Air doesn’t care about my dark circles). But I still love makeup. The ritual of it, the smells, the feel of a powder puff in your hand and the artistry of blending blush on your cheek so it looks like the sun hit you just right.
This week, I decided to round up my favorite products—the stuff I wear when I do wear makeup and the stuff that I keep in my makeup bag whenever I travel.
I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago for the Atlanta Home Show and found myself faced with something of a conundrum: I had an early-morning appearance on a local talk show, then had to head to the Home Show and do two speaking engagements at various times later in the afternoon. I needed my makeup to last (and to look good on camera). So I did what my grandmother would have done: I went to Saks Fifth Avenue, and pleaded with someone at the makeup counter to help me. The woman at the counter deftly pulled out a chic white bottle and began blotting it on my face. See?, she said, gently pushing my face in front of the mirror, Perfect. I purchased it immediately, “it” being Sisley’s Pore Minimizer Concentrate. I’m not going to pretend this stuff isn’t expensive. It is. But it works so well. I apply it after moisturizer and before concealer, foundation, etc. It creates this kind of blurred-to-perfection, natural look and really does minimize pores and imperfections. You can also wear it sans makeup.
I held off on purchasing the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation for years, despite hearing everyone rave about it. I kind of stopped wearing foundation until I started doing these public-facing events, when I found that I needed to step up my game. Wow. This stuff is incredible. I blend two shades together — 3 and 3.8 — and the result is incredibly natural, not-at-all-cakey, and very even. I will repurchase this forever.
I’ve written about Saie before but I will continue to extoll the virtues of this brand because its liquid blush is so great. I use it on my cheeks, my lips and the bridge of my nose.
Another Sisley fave: this genius mascara, which curls while it’s being applied. (And this eyeliner pencil is it if you want a bold line.)
Charlotte Tilbury’s Pillow Talk is the ultimate is-she-even-wearing-lipstick-or-is-that-her-natural-lip-color product. I use it with Make Up For Ever’s liner in Anywhere Caffeine (which is apparently a favorite product of Hailey Bieber, and I can see why).
For highlighter, I like Chantecaille’s Liquid Lumiére Highlighting Fluid. I just put a little on my upper cheeks and sometimes in the corners of my eyes, to look more awake.
And for concealer, I was turned on to Tarte’s Shape Tape when I realized it’s what all of the big beauty editors use. I dab it on under my eyes, around my nose, and to cover up any other little bumps or red spots.
As far as makeup bags go, this one is pretty great—and comes with a roll-up makeup brush organizer, to boot.
A few other things I’m into this week:
The latest Barbie trailer made me really excited to go to the movies with girlfriends. The shot when she takes her shoes off … just perfect.
The Cut dug into why everyone is so obsessed with preserving obsolete vintage fashion and I really appreciated this. I get comments every single day (always from someone with a private account, always with an avatar instead of a photo) from people saying “the original fabric was better” whenever I share a before-and-after of a reupholstered furniture piece. I get it, everyone has an opinion. But here’s a fact: some fabrics are simply better than others—more nicely made, with a better weave, for instance. When you take an item made in a factory in 1995 and give it a glow up by re-working it in a more skilled manner (and recovering it in fabric that was hand-made by artisans) you’re making it better.
Vogue has weighed in: it’s time to start wearing everything backwards. (I went through a phase of wearing things backwards when Kriss Kross burst on to the scene in 1992 so I’m fully down with this trend.)
And I’ll leave you with this…