At the risk of sounding like a broken record: Anastasia Gel Pomade $18, their perfect brush with spoolie also $18. Done and done.

I wish it was more moisturizing though. Why can’t anyone make a matte lipstick (my faves) that isn’t so dry? Semi-matte suggestions, anyone?

I’ve just discovered Marc by Marc Jacobs (or some such bullshit) lipstick in Je T’Aime. A strong, perfect rose. True rose is hard to find (I still lament the death of Lancome Bordeaux/Something-Something). I can’t wear pastels and detest orangey. I love Je T’Aime (ha!) and have been ignoring my NARS Cruella, MAC…

A cute young clerk at the local Whole Foods wears high-pigment color. She told me to get a NYX eyeshadow base crayon in Milk. It’s white and makes her eyeshadow color pop like nobody’s business.

Sephora has a sale section?!

Anastasia! (Get their brush, too.)

I use the Sephora samples to get me through this period of unemployment and stay semi-stocked in Hermes Le Jardin sur le Toit. One time this spring I stopped in Greenville SC one store and the woman only filled the little vial one-third full. So unlike all my other trips to Sephoras in PA, FL, NC, and IN.

I know how eyebrow gel changed everything. Anastasia! I cannot leave the house without it. I was using Clinique brow powder for years—years!—but it was too browny. My chestnut hair is getting darker and darker as it grays, and Anastasia Gel Pomade in Granite is perfect (it’s not gray, but quite dark). Don’t forget the…

Acne is sooo hormonal! I suffered stupid breakouts my whole life. Now I’m 61 and people compliment my skin regularly. And I haven’t done sunbathing in decades. Also: Aveeno sensitive skin face wash and moisturizer. But my skin’s clear enough now I can try different products, face washes, moisturizers, foundation…

I picked up my Ulta birthday-month freebie: Urban Decay Perversion mascara and I’M SO HAPPY. I have short, curling-but-sparse eyelashes. This product DELIVERS. Usually I worry that my mascara isn’t making my lashes dark enough at the base to get the proper meld with my black eyeliner. This stuff does it!

Too bad I keep the hammer and roofing nails in the garage!

Looks like the pants were too long so they rolled the waistband. Ewww

…carved out using PhotoShop.

Ask for Toradol (sp?) instead. Quick healing for ya!

I lost a job and a boyfriend in one 24-hour period this week. So I went to bed at 6pm on Friday night and didn’t stir ‘til 9am today. So meh.

Paint. Sand between coats of your perfect cream-colored Ball & Farrow (Farrow & Ball?) paint. Make them look powder-coated.

Whoops, my mishtake!

I adore clean scents. I’ll try those Hermes ones because Hermes junkie.

Amazing I can still remember many of those scent phases. Some that come to mind are (in roughly chronological order) Jean Nate (early teen), then 4711. Chanel No. 5, Anais Anais, Paco Rabanne for Women (brought back by a friend from her visit to Sweden), Clinique Aromatics Elixir, Opium, Ralph Lauren (one very doomed…

You can get lipstick in pots from Besame, a vintage-inspired California lipstick maker. http://besamecosmetics.com