Do it Nathalie!

That said, I usually never wear mascara when I’m wearing glasses, as my lashes often brush against the glass and leave little black streaks. Boo.

Yana! Having a good holiday yet? Yay for long lashes though—look at it that way.

Hey Suzy! Holiday is good—despite missing the family. But I have shiny new MAC makeup to keep me happy! x

I used to love to rock the red lipstick and nails but boy has since said it’s ‘cartoonish’. He’d probably feel the same about vamp-y polish.

I actually asked him to buy me some new knee-high boots and he said he didn’t like it when I rocked the “emily strange” look when we went out. wtf? :(

wasn’t vamp like only six years ago?

I second that wtf, sam.

Yeah. I hope you got knee-high boots anyway and then kicked him up the arse with them.

I was at Bellacara in OT yesterday and I ended up buying this Kiss Me Mascara with new and improved “tubing” action. When I tried it on in the store it didn’t get all clumpy and my sister was like it’s made in Japan you have to buy it. I’m no expert but I like it so far.

http://www.amazon.com/Blinc-Kiss-Me-Mascara/dp/B00021BEWU

My problem with eyeshadow: When I wore it in high school I would come and all of it would have migrated to the crease. Poor product again?

Also, DC peeps, my sis bought that dress from the American lady in Paris who doesn’t let you touch her clothes; remember the one, that was like diaphanous brown-blue with little fur detailing? I think daria liked it.

If some man out there preferred me bare faced to made up, I’d have to call him insane, because I have like three hideous phases of no-makeup face:

1) Post just-washed-face bare face. For some reason right after I wash my face, it turns bright red and I look like an albino guinea pig.

2) Just woken-up washed face, when I’ve been sleeping on half my face all night and the lines from the sheets have tranferred to my face. Again, somewhat resembling an albino guinea pig.

3) Sunday face, when I go a Sunday w/o makeup, by 3pm I am a waterfall of grease. It’s very reminiscent of being 13 and supremely hormonal.

Eye shadow is tricky, I have some problems with migration too and have never found a great way to solve it.

Virtually the only kind of shoes I wear are knee-high boots as basically everyone who has seen me in person within the past 3 months can testify. Sam, I am sure your man is lovely but that is such a crazy thing to say.

Also Marianna OTM re: skipping makeup post fake-sick-day to garner sympathy, always works.

Yeah. I hope you got knee-high boots anyway and then kicked him up the arse with them.

haha, yes this is probably a good plan.

TBH I was guilty in the past of often wearing little cutesy emily strange and paul frank shirts over miniskirt, bright fishnets and boots while carrying a lunchbox-type purse. Although I enjoyed this immensely at the time I realize I am now over 30 and this is cute to no-one but myself.

I more envisioned new boots being worn to work with cute skirts to look stylish and more professional than jeans. Perhaps G. is just going with my past usage and would approve the forward-looking style.

that is a great trick. i would never have thought of it. (xpost!)

hmm, maybe I should start wearing makeup just so I can do the no-makeup trick on sick/depressed days.

I really want boots but I am so picky about them. I want some that actually have a flat heel of sorts (or 1–1.5“) that will fit my fat-ass calves.

It helps to go to work with no make-up the day before your sickie too, increasing the effectiveness of the cough cough not feeling too clever today maybe I’m coming down with something blah blah.

Re. toner talk upthread, Liz Earle’s is amazing.

Mandee, I just bought a pair of knee-high boots from Kenneth Cole Reaction that fit my fat-ass calves! the heel is about 1.5 inches, I think! they were on sale, too, at DSW.

okay so i found some i kinda like on zappos, but i broke right now. does zappos ALWAYS say they only have 3 of everything left in stock to try and create urgency?

haha, laurel and i were talking about that just the other day! i think they do it on purpose to create urgency, yes, but we can never know for sure. bastards.

i smell bullshit! either way i cant order them now, i will find out in 2 weeks if they were LYING

Yes, they told me I got the last pair of my boots...which then didn’t fit.

:(

I just spent about $300 on shoes..

cute, right? delman—they’re very well made. i wanted oxfords.. really what I’d like most is sort of wingtip brogues type shoes but I can’t seem to find any women’s. I just thought maybe I should’ve gotten light beige but I usually only wear black shoes

I also got these:

and some black patent leather vintage ferragamos off ebay for like

$30. hooray shoes.

i very seriously need to go shoe shopping

I feel kind of guilty, but on the other hand I’ve been wearing the same boots and same black heels for six years & these pairs will last at least that long. I usually hate shoe shopping cause I wear size 10.5 and the stores are always full of these cute strappy heels but on me they look like drag queen shoes

oh yeah—ferragamo! shiny patent! cheap! thx ebay

I really need to start utilizing eBay more.

ok I think I made the right call re: color of those oxfords, the beige pair would be nice if I were tan but I’m not

You guys, I’ve gained five pounds (blame: microwave plus mom food straight onto my arse) and have only bought one pair of cheap shoes and one pair of Levi’s while I’ve been here but O JOY, N3lli3 got me Kiehl’s for Xmas.

Daria, good Ferragamo action!

I’m not buying any trousers right now b/c probably I weigh a few pounds more than normal for the same reasons, esp moms buying all sorts of junk food and guilting us into eating it..

I hope the ferragamos fit! they should, in theory.. guess I can always resell to a vintage shop if no. What I would really dig are some crazy platform heels a la carine roitfeld but this is DC, I’d feel terribly out of place so i stick to basics. . i’m not wild about the delman kitten heels but they’re for work, my fave kenzo pair are about wrecked and anything taller wouldn’t go with any of my trousers

tempted to buy some penny loafers for spring/summer, these look so preppy..

ebay is mostly garbage it seems, but every now and then hours of wasted time will land a decent find—I got a club monaco purse there for under $50 which is about the right price for an everyday bag that’s so ugly it’s cool

This season there are some fab Marc Jacobs wedges which would not look at all out of place, in matt black and patent.

look at the heel of the penny loafers! damn. pretty sure they’re men’s and she put them in the wrong category.

Marc Jacobs patent? hmm. like this, or sandals?

OK, I need to go do something productive now instead of buying more shoes.

That’s right—my friend T3ssa has those in the matt black, but at Macy’s I saw a lower heel as well.

These threads make me wonder if I missed “being a girl” school as a kid or something :(

You and me both, Trayce.

It’s never too late! Unless you don’t enjoy any aspect of the “being” a “girl” as played out in these threads...in which case, NEVER CHANGE, BABY, NEVER CHANGE.

quincie is totally right about men assuming women wearing “natural” makeup are wearing no makeup and finding that more attractive than women actually wearing no makeup. but whatever.

the fact that some or many men might mean skin/hair-tone-appropriate-light-makeup/lipstick when they say ‘natural’, and the fact most men might prefer a makeup look to a no makeup look (or might be unwilling to tell someone else that they prefer the no-makeup look because they are expected to like the makeup look) doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of guys who are at best indifferent to if not actively disdainful of makeup (usually depending on whether it’s done well or not), and who really do mean ‘no makeup/lipstick’ when they say ‘natural’

I almost never wear makeup cause I feel icky in it. It rubs off, it stings my eyes. Every bf I have had says they prefer me without makeup on (and I mean totally without).

I think I missed lots of “how to be girl” stuff too, but I always had a thing about shoes. more than anything else as a kid I wanted a cool pair of cowboy boots. then I got these awesome black granny boots in the 80s and probably first started to srsly question authority when they wouldn’t let me wear them to catholic school because for some stupid reason the principal decided they didn’t count as dress shoes. they looked really stylin with the uniform, that was some bullshit

nine west has some platform wedges much like the marc jacobs ones except no anke strap (I don’t like the ankle strap, truthfully). I still think my feet are too big to ever walk around w/big slabs of black patent attached.

i am pretty much against all those shoes

the wedge, the platform and the patent are tricky! so many bad versions out there

Srsly how does anyone walk in such chunky/high shoes? I guess I’m cursed with wonky ankles :( Forever doomed to Docs and maryjanes, me.

One of the marks of good shoes is that, while yes, some styles are just ridiculous in any size, wearing your proper size shouldn’t make your feet more gargantuan than they are (or you think they are). Even platforms! It’s a matter of proportion and careful design.

totally! blame the shoes, not the feet!

just got feet, don’t got shoes

Okay after rocking the eyeliner and lips for the night out, I got back to the reality of why I gave up on makeup—it takes me forever to get it off my face. But I also don’t have proper cleansers/removers anymore, I don’t even use soap on my face now unless I’m really grimy from work. Maybe it’s lazy, but I’m claiming it as “simplify, simplify” :) But I love that makeup/gorgeous clothes/fab shoes and accessories are all available girly options.

Wow, really? No cleanser? I wonder if that would spell disaster for my pores or would re-balancing be the magic bullet for breakouts? I don’t think I’m willing to take that chance.

Also: regular lotion rubbed in and wiped off with a tissue will take most eye make-up with it!

It seems like anything I do to my face anymore (that’s not just plain water) makes it break out. I’ve had the best luck with some of the Neutrogena products in the past, but fear I’m getting more wrinkly than necessary due to sun exposure sans sunscreen :(

are you drinking enough water? do you have a slight diary allergy? having regular milk instead of soy makes my skin break out

also, le coq sportif: hot or not? shouldn’t spend more $$ but my basic black adidas are about falling apart too

I find buying cute shoes really depressing lately, one of my feet is so much bigger than the other that shoes without ankle straps are always slipping off the smaller foot. Not all cute shoes come with ankle flats. Boo!

er, flats? i meant straps.

but i miss out on a lot of cute flats because i can only wear mary jane type ones!

i bought these a few weeks ago because they were super cheap. they offer no support but damn it, they are shoes with ruching!

damn that’s a huge pic

I own two pairs of shoes and two pairs of trainers I actually wear (I have some sandals and dressy shoes and stuff that only come out for holidays and “occasions”—i.e. virtually never,so I don’t think they count and none of them cost over £10). One eyeliner, one lipstick, one bottle of foundation (virtually unused), I had a mascara but I can’t find it and I don’t care. I totally fail at being a girl.

I am glad someone else admitted to not having a cleanse/tone/moisturise routine. Do I get away with just a bar of soap / once a week face pack thing because I don’t wear make-up?

maria—insoles! when i was going through awkward pre-teen growing my feet were like half a size different for a bit—insoles work—you can get ones just for the heels, the toe, the arch or the whole foot (okay you prob know this but still)

jaq, i hear you on the skin probs—my skin used to react to everything too, kinda still does, but i’m pretty good at choosing products now and knowing what foods/environments i react to. if just water’s working for you, then so be it! it’s not enough for me though—but i wear (minimal) creame and makeup—i alternate btwn cetaphil bar soap (not the cleanser stuff—that kills me) and quite like the mychelle products, though even their fruit cleanser, while good for my skin, can’t be used often around my eyes (clinique makeup remover seems to work fine for that—haha and i’ve never bought a full bottle! all samples ever)

ok it’s all cheesy and infomercially, too, but all the women of my family have gotten hooked on the bare minerals makeup stuff. i was lagging behind, so someone gave it to me for christmas. it’s actually kind of cool because it doesn’t look overly makeupy (i think) and you feel so much freer pore and skin-wise than when wearing a liquid makeup. i have yet to watch the included dvd to really find out all the tricks, though! lol... makeup with an instructional dvd!

yeah, i hear good things! i’ve tried psychician’s formula mineral makeup but didn’t like it so much—is the one you’re using actually called ‘bare minerals’ or is it barecscentuals (or whatever it’s called)? (i have missed out on infomercial land!)

i tried the neutrogena mineral one but all the neutrogena stuff is too dark for me, plus the applicator was fuxored and stupid (powder in the brush, it was weird).

the one i got is the id bare minerals. i think actually it might be a tad dark, too, but they have 1 lighter shade that i will probably go pick up and my sister said i can mix it with mineral veil to lighten it up (the starter kit thing comes with the 2nd and 3rd lightest shades, and there isn’t a kit with the lightest shade in it, but i wanted the brushes so i kept it).

Yes yes yes about insoles! There are little cork pads that go under the balls of yr feet or in the heels to take up space (but putting pads in the front is better for natural heel fit). Ask for them at a good shoe store or repair place, they might not be a regular drugstore kind of product like Dr Scholl’s. No one’s two feet are exactly the same size!

i tried bare minerals and could never find a shade light enough for me.. their lightest turned orange on me. :( i then tried mineral makeup from another company, they had super pale shades, but i realized i dont like the way mineral makeup feels, at all! it really feels DRYING. i went back to my cargo foundation after 2 days of experimentation.

robyn, i tried mychelle recently too because my co-workers are always raving about it and it’s a local business, but i found the pineapple facial cleanser smelled SO fake it turned me off. but that was the only thing i didnt like, it did a good job of cleanin’ and stuff.

can i direct you all to makeupalley.com for great cosmetic and makeup reviews? i get really addicted to it at times.

I have flat feet, and size 11 too! Mind you, I’m 5’10, so it’s fairly proportional. If my shoes don’t have the right amount of support for the puddle jumpers, I’m crippled up like an old woman. I only wear heels on special occasions (save these uber cute brown kitten heels from nine west), as they WRECK my feet. My daily shoe routine usually consists of Wallabees from Clarks. Mind you, work has no problem with me dressing in jeans and sneakers every day.

One of my gay boyfriends tries to get me to wear heels more often (coincidentally, he taught me how to walk in heels too) as I should “work” the tall thing. I can’t help but feeling a little self-conscious when I’m a teetering 6 feet tall.

Maybe you just need to get used to being looked at? Being that tall commands a lot of attention — head up, girl.

No, it’s not that. It’s that I’m super-wobbly when wearing heels. I’m afraid I’m going to fall over.

There is NO WAY the shoes I was going to wear will stand up to the rain we’ll be getting. Let’s talk about wellies.

Ooh! I have a very cute, sensible pair of black wellies. It’s raining here too, and not a bad idea to wear when I trudge over to a friend’s party this evening. But, I’ll have to carry other shoes, which is a bummer. I wish there were wellies that one could wear all the time and not have to take off due to WARM FEET.

I used to use Almay one coat back in my goth days...

Well, that just takes a little practice to get over. xpost

Seeing as I’m wearing green it’s even more sad than usual that they don’t make those green frog wellies for grown ups cos they’d even match and everything.

Sarah! They do!

I can’t help but feeling a little self-conscious when I’m a teetering 6 feet tall.

You should join the DCchixors in xtreme towering. Ally, dar1a, and I are all v. tall and all rock the heels on a regular basis—except maybe dar1a? I can’t remember the last time I saw you in heels, dar1a. But also we are usually sitting at bar with feet hidden, so hard to say.

I just spent way more than usual (but half-off original price!) on brown Stuart Weitzman pumps with the most beautifully shaped heel I have ever seen. Can’t wait to wear!

Well, that just takes a little practice to get over. xpost

But the pain! Is this a normal occurrence with heels or is it my miserably flat feet which make it terrible to walk, stand, etc.

I actually find heels to be easier on my arches (which are high-ish) than flats, but heels definitely shift pressure onto the ball of the foot, which is where good design and ball-of-foot cushions come into play. But in flats I have way more of a tendancy to pull my arches, which hurts like a motherfucker and takes forever to heal.

me too, i’ve only just broken my running shoes in to the point that i don’t get horrible cramps in my arch after the first mile! i suppose as insoles make up for differently sized feet, arch supports make up for flat feet in flats, but i’ve not got around to buying any of either. didn’t know they made special insoles for the ball of the foot, the full-length ones haven’t worked for me.

They’re not proper “insoles”, they don’t absorb shock or support yr arches, they just make shoes fit better. I mean, since they’re cork they probably absorb SOME impact, but not like athletic insoles. They’re just err...kind of teardrop-shaped cork pads that go under the balls of yr feet and push you back a little bit into the heels.

good enough!

Yeah, I get the horrible cramps in my arch that then shoot up my shins. Major buzzkill.

regarding eyeliner that won’t come off, which rosalind was wondering about upthread: i got some mac liquidlast eyeliner in a really nice shade of plummy burgundy, and after washing my face vigorously, using moisturizer on a cotton ball, and trying two different kinds of eye makeup remover it was still on. and not faintly, either—it was like nothing had touched it. the next day i got an old fashioned oil-based remover, which seems to be what this stuff needs.

Baby oil. That seems to work for eye make-up removal. I’m not sure if it’s bad to put that stuff around your eyes, though, hence my purchase of proper Almay eye make up remover. Although, I find that baby oil works much better.

q, I do wear heels.. just not so much for walking around the city.. it’s a problem b/c most of my trousers except the zara ones are from club monaco and only long enough to wear with flats. I got a great pair of charles david ankle boots that have 3.5“ heels plus a little platform so with those I’m about 6’1” which is awesome

how bad can baby oil be? it’s for babies!

Probably not bad at all, but I just feel weird putting something around my eyes that should be going all over babies’ skin. This is probably just my own neuroses talking.

anyone know how long apc trousers run & sizing in general? looking for at least 34“ inseam. hmm

on the makeup front, I recently discovered that Loreal has a faintly ridiculous new line for women of color called HIP, which stands for “high-intensity pigment” (ridiculous #1), wherein all the lipsticks are named things like “feisty” and “daring” and “don’t fuck with me or I’ll cut you” (ridiculous #2; seriously, not a single one of their lipsticks has a descriptive-of-the-actual-color name). I have a problem with lipsticks not looking on me the way they look in the tube, though, so I bought lipstick “daring” and lip gloss “tempting” (translation: red) and they are actually very pretty. fyi.

okay, I just double-checked and the lipstick I bought is “brave,” not “daring.” it’s a nice, deep, not-at-all-orange-y red.

Maria, in answer to the baby oil thing a lot of people don’t like lanolin products.

Standard issue baby oil is just mineral oil (a petroleum product) and fragrance.

Oooh sorry, i misunderstood about the pain thing; I thought you just meant it was difficult to walk or balance in the shoes. I have extremely high arches so heels are more comfy to me than flats (I am another one who tends to get blistered and cramped wearing flat shoes). You could probably get insoles and etc but that all seems very trial and error, and maybe not worth it unless you really, really want to wear heels. :\

I would definitely buy any lipstick called “Don’t Fuck With Me or I’ll Cut You.”

I’ve always used baby oil or just old Vaseline to remove eye makeup! Though I don’t wear waterproof make up anymore due to irritation and lash breakage issues, so nowadays my Cetaphil does the job decently enough.

I totally want lipstick called “don’t fuck with me or I’ll cut you”.

I imagine it would have to be blood-red.

I do kind of hate that, though, you are right. Stila does that too which can make it a huge bitch to order their shadows without actually going into the store and looking them over. I mean, how am I meant to know that “Barefoot Contessa” means plum and “Kitten” means sparkly beige? Also, why is my kitten not sparkly!?

yeah, mostly I thought it was hilarious. like, I could imagine the marketing meeting. “you know these colored girls, all ‘fierce’ and filled with ‘moxie’!” (“fierce” and “moxie”=actual HIP lipstick names. not a “demure” or “on-the-job-market” in the bunch.)

i missed out on being a girl too and now i have to buy fancy suits and shoes and crap (LAWYERING) but i gained 10 pounds this semester (might be good? i was too skinny in the summer) and i need to shop NOW but how do i know i won’t lose it again? i imagine i will. but i don’t want to buy a 6 knowing it doesn’t fit just because i believe i will shrink back to normal. i also need like a 34“ inseam and i’m having a horrendous time finding anything like that that i like.

oh and shoes, i have narrow size 11 feet (so a typical 11 falls off my feet) and don’t believe in high heels i guess. i don’t know how to be fancy.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Carey put on my eye make up in a sixties stylee and I made her put on my mascara too but I think it kind of looks like I have spider eyes because the mascara makes certain lashes stick together and spindle outward in a frightful fashion.

I’m sure that’s lovely! I’m wearing like a quarter inch thick line of eyeliner.

flats and i are BFF. although, the lack of support sometimes makes me knees hurt. i am a geriatric before my time.

sometimes, i just want to get my eye make up to look like this:

I can’t walk in heels, even little tiny ones. Platforms are easy though.

wait can someone explain this to me? i went shoe shopping with my mom and she picked up heels and i was like NO, so bad for my feet. then she said flats are bad for your back? they are also bad for your knees? what is this? i just don’t want to wear heels, i’m too tall and they just look so uncomfortable and wrong and um, like, patriarchal. like guys never wear them and their knees are fine, right?

My mom is very anti-stiletto due to the heels she wore in the late ’50s/early ’60s. I didn’t actually wear heeled shoes until I was 30 owing to the prevalence of brothel creepers, Chelsea boots and Doc Martens in my shoe collection until then, and then it was all about granny shoe low heels and Patrick Cox loafers until people started busting out the kitten heels. I love all sorts of different wedges as a compromise because they give the arch support that normal heels just do not. You’ll all be thrilled to know that Cuban-heel WINKLEPICKERS are the coming thing according to my colleagues at the Edgy Style Mag, who are BTW still wearing impossible towering platform wedges, particularly if they are already tall girls.

Fucked knees are kind of an equal-opportunity injury. Just make sure you play shoe roulette and all should be good.