Don’t Be a Makeup Chicken

I know that some of you use DHC’s cleansing oil. I recommend to you M.A.C. Cleanse Off Oil.

Because it’s AWESOME. It rocks like a boat on the high seas, y’all. For serious.

The thing I like most about this cleansing oil is that it’s lighter and fresher than DHC’s. Also, unlike DHC’s, I don’t have to use another cleanser afterward–the oil turns into a light-milky wash when you finally add the water. I would still recommend that you see how your skin reacts; you still might need to use a follow-up cleanser. I have oily skin, however, and haven’t had a single problem with it. It isn’t breaking me out. It washes more clean than any other makeup removing agent I’ve experienced.

I’m not normally a huge fan of M.A.C. skincare products, but there are a few exceptions and this is one of them.

If the wipes don’t remove it all for you, or if you like rinsing with water, try this.

The M.A.C. Daddy. Of Cleansing Oils.

I got my Detrivore Cosmetics order in and, I have to say, these shadows ROCK.

Marianne has already reviewed Detrivore, but I just thought I’d add my two cents. First, I highly recommend Swine, a pink color that has some serious mileage possibilities. It’s a bright baby pink with a touch of salmon in the package, but the color payoff is much more baby-pink with a punch. Also? Today, I am wearing Swine with Weaponry, which I can only describe as lavendar with a punch.

The color payoff on these is pretty high quality. Do they replace M.A.C. pigments? Not at all. But I still suggest you try them.

Edit: This pic does no justice to this look–it’s a webcam and it has washed the pic out. Trust me: the shadows are HOT.

My eye this morning:

Detrivore Swine on the lid and Weaponry on the outside, blended with M.A.C. Digit on the top and lined with M.A.C. pigment in blue brown.

I know my post from yesterday is going to raise some eyebrows, but I hope y’all know that I’m still learning.

And no matter what, every blogger, reader and challenger is cared about by yours truly. Because these issues really matter to me. And hey! So does my best friend.

In love and solidarity,

JT

I associate the term non-fat with generally less-nutritious, bland and unsatisfying food. It’s different, but not in a good way.

I am non-fat on this blog. My non-fat status has caused me to pause for a moment and consider my place on Makeup Chicken and also what it means to feel marginalized. Essentially, fat women feel this way most places they visit–from airplanes to clothing stores to the doctor’s offices they visit. And here I am a member of a blog that has the potential to turn that world on its axis. It has the potential to be axiomatic by marginalizing thin, here. Though, like Soul Man*, I know what it’s like to escape the confines–I simply shut down my blog.

But I am a strong ally. Marianne Kirby, one of the most intelligent and inspiring people I know, has been my friend since I was 23 years old. 10 years of ups and downs and love all around. And I’ve seen some of that struggle, even if I have witnessed it from a position of privilege.

What I would like to say is that I recognize the axiomtic nature of this blog and that I am proud to walk the walk of being an ally, of being someone who defends fatpol and likes to consider herself a part of it–even if being non-fat means I don’t get to participate in the same ways fatpol women and men do.

So, listen. I’m non-fat, but I’m here to back y’all up in any way I can. And we should totally have a contest to see who can make the best logo for allies. Can we get a widget? Can we get some recognition over here? Let’s make being an ally something the non-fat can declare everywhere–publicly, on their blogs, to others who aren’t aquainted, to trolls, to haters of all kinds and to non-advocates.

I am an ally. Are you? Got something you wanna do about it?

*Yes, the cheesy ’80s film.

It’s not just for texts–it’s for everything, really, including your face. Not that your face isn’t a text, something that is read.

As you may have noticed from my photos, I am very pale..and blonde….with blue eyes. So, yeah. Pale. What this means for me, living in Ye Olde Florida, is that sun damage is a very real issue. I was never a sun worshipper, but I spent my fair share of days in the surf, hunting for shells, musing over life with my friends as I walk down the beach, getting drunk in the McDonald’s bathroom. Things most people do on the beach, right?

Consequently, I have hyperpigmentation all over my face. It sucks. It makes me look older and it complicates my foundation color choices…and so on. I’ve had it for about 6 years now.

So, when my esthetician suggested this, I figured: Why the hell not? It was not cheap–$160 for the system of 3 products. It was worth every little penny that cried as it left the warm confines of my wallet and was handed over slavishly to the receptionist.

Why? Because it is radically revising my face. Honestly, I’ve never seen results like this. I first noticed it when I looked in the mirror for my morning ritual a few days ago. My face was, indeed, brighter and then…..BAM….I noticed these two extremely pinky-healthy-pale areas on the sides of my nose, sitting there amongst the age spots. I stared at it for a moment.

It was a revelation. Seriously. I’m not overstating the issue!

I’ll write more as my face changes, but here’s a start for you, if you’re interested: http://www.resultsrx.com/

So, I have to tell y’all about India. But first? I have to tell y’all about Radical Revision. Yep. I capitalized it because it’s PROPER.

Radical Revision is just what it sounds like. It’s when you break up and want a new haircut. Or you decide that more eyeshadow is your new approach. Maybe you decide that you’re funkier than you’ve been giving yourself credit for. And so on. And so on.

I am newly single, so here’s what I’ve done: Completely new hair and tons more eyeshadow; I’m getting up earlier and feeling better about myself in general.

Sometimes Radical Revision is what you need to change things in your life. I’ve been going back and forth about my hair, but then I settled into it and thought, “I need to keep moving forward, not backward.” And that thinking has manifested itself as a completely different look. That I’ll be keeping.

Not the best pic, but a start

Tonight, I’m flying on a jet plane. To India. I’ll be in Delhi and Bangalore and out into Karnataka for 2 weeks.

My plan is to post as much as possible from India and include pictures. I’m hoping to explore questions about how another culture uses makeup to express themselves, how color is used to represent aspects of the culture and hopefully become inspired.

Now, appropriation is an issue we’ve discussed already, so it will be interesting to explore this issue in tandem because we can ask: Are things like color an exemption from this issue? Is it appropriation if I wear a style I see while I’m there? Or: Why can’t I appropriate some aspects of cultural expression in makeup? Or is makeup depoliticized in this area and separate from products that appropriate, like the Harajuku bottle?

I guess what I’m asking is: Is being inspired and wearing another culture’s style in makeup appropriation? And if so, to what degree? If not, why?

I’m so stoked about this trip, y’all.

So, who the hell do I think I am? I think I’m JT Taylor–struggling dissertator, copywriter, makeup and skin care enthusiast, and last but not least, a melancholy baby. Like my list of labels? No? They’re just a place to start.

I’m writing my dissertation on Martyrdom and another subject I will not release into the ether just yet. I’ve been an academic on and off for about 10 years, if you include my over-achieving final years of college. I would ramble off the rest of my CV, but nah. I’ll talk to you about my dissertation and your eyes will glaze over, or you will just pick on me for months on end about it and I’ll get annoyed. *nervous chuckle*

I work as a copywriter for a major university in Orlando. We’re a force for economic certainty. We’re……oh, wait. This isn’t a brochure. I’m marketing ME. Yes. Right.

Moving along.

I come from a working class family in the back woods of Florida. No one ever showed me how to take care of myself, so things were sprung on me as life happened. No makeup counter visits. No shopping for pretty bras. No telling me to shave, and when to or how. Makeup, for many years, was a mystery to me. Something rich people did. And while the degrees to which I was right are rather high, I can afford it now and so I do.

I think aesthetics have the power to be political, and I’m revealing myself here to some degree, partially because they are personal. They are personal choices we make, and often make every day. Part of the point of my presence on this blog is to join with you in talking about the cosmetic world in not just an aesthetic sense, but a political context. It’s cultural. It’s class restrictive, but isn’t really restrictive in and of itself (Oh, Marx, you’ll have to wait to talk about capital until another post). Its meaning is invested, not essential. That thought is liberating to me, though I find myself conflicted in the fact that it is very much a class marker, and yet I tend to buy the most “status” makeup and skin care of anyone I know. (See: Freud.)

Think I’m getting too cerebral about makeup? I don’t, but if you do, wait ’til you hear my theories on Silence of the Lambs.

I went to Sephora about a week ago on a mascara mission: to find a really good, long-wearing mascara. I bought two mascaras to try with mixed results on one and ‘Like Whoa’ results on the other.

I walked in and immediately I was practically attacked by a makeup artist for Givenchy. He was…..really quite cheerful. Anyway, he begain explaining the many virtues of Givenchy’s ‘Phenomeneyes’ mascara, one I’ve been wanting to try. So, I listened and let him put it on me.

Hot damn, it looked…..well, hot.

So, I talked to him about the whole long-wearing issue and he said Phenomeneyes would last, but not like Le 2 de Guerlain. So, I bought the Phenomeneyes for the look and the Guerlain for the long-wearing.

Here’s what I think:

Phenomeneyes

Wanna mascara with a wand like no other? Phenomeyes has been out for a while, now, so this is no new information. Maybe you haven’t tried it. Let me tell you, this mascara will make your eyelashes look like no other. The wand  is designed so that you don’t have to use it horizontally. And you can get to those teeny weeny lashes on the outside and inside of your eye without having to hold the wand strangely.

However, long-wearing it is not.

I wore this to work and it was under my eyes by 2:00. Keep in mind that I do have oilier skin than normal, so that certainly contributed. But 2:00? I tried it again for 3 days in a row. 3:00. 2:30. I gave up. I can wear this mascara to meet friends for dinner, but just….not to work.

Le 2 de Guerlain

Here’s the thing: this mascara is not waterproof, so it isn’t that harsh on your eyelashes. Yet, it will still take more effort to remove than most mascaras.

Here’s the other thing: this mascara rocks no matter what I say about removal. It is a 2-sided mascara–2 wands with 2 different purposes. One is a regular-sized wand and the other is a cute little one, in case you need to reach those teeny eyelashes I was talking about. It takes a tad longer to apply (if you use the teeny brush), but it is so worth it.

It lasted beyond 5:00. It lasted until I got home from running around like a chicken forlorn over the loss of its head (to DIE! In the RAIN!).* And it made my lashes long and slightly curved at the end. I didn’t even need to use eyeliner because the black defined my eyes so well.

Like whoa, Indeed.

* Rest of the joke: Why did Hemingway’s chicken cross the road?  (And don’t you love getting the punchline first? I know, I know)

I’ve never been a huge fan of Gwen Stefani. I like her, but to be honest, I’ve never dug the general aesthetic she presents, and presents well. The Harajuku dancers in her video and the small dolls she has used for her perfume sit wrongly with me in general because I see this as appropriation.

From Wikipedia: Cultural appropriation is the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different cultural group. It denotes acculturation or assimilation, but often connotes a negative view towards acculturation from a minority culture by a dominant culture.*

Now, some theorists read appropriation to only be negative if the individual rejects the people of the culture they are appropriating. As far as I know, Stefani hasn’t been in Japan giving time and money to Japanese people. I don’t know. Educate me.

Yet, ultimately, I can’t help but feel appropriation is a much wider issue. Stefani is not a member of Japanese culture. Appropriating Japanese culture in this manner is not entirely ok with me.

I’m sure we can all agree that this isn’t a finely defined problem–this is a very complicated and grey-area issue, so it’s not like I stand against appropriation unequivocally. I’ve had a long-distance love with Japanese and Indian culture for a long time, now, myself. Which may have actually been a factor in my even picking up a bottle of Gwen Stefani’s ‘Lovers’ perfumes. So, there’s my confession.

Reader, I picked up the little Harajuku doll, took off the cap and fell deeply in love with the ‘G’ scent.

Here’s the big question: What do you do with the emotion involved in a moment like this? Our emotions often tend to rule decisions we make, and in a way, by purchasing a bottle of the scent, I have supported her appropriation of Harajuku (and Japanese culture in general, really). On the one hand, I feel like I’ve betrayed my sense of justice, and on the other, I’ve just bought the greatest scent. And I stopped wearing perfume years ago! So, that’s how much I love it.

I may be belaboring the issue and taking it a bit seriously.

So, reader, what does one do in a moment like this, huh? Take it back? Keep it? Talk to me.

*Wikipedia is just a start, here! Hit me with your definitions of appropriation.