Ed's Picks

Please bear with me: I'm having a beauty moment.

Andre has repeatedly suggested that given my current milieu, I should share some of my favorite products. And I am in no way the epitome of groomed perfection--i tend to think a bit more along the lines of the rumpled hair and pared makeup if at all whereas other people in my office are bona fide experts. But I also don't make a concerted attempt to look unattractive.* Maybe this is self-indulgent or not, I have no idea and no sense of who reads this, but I promise you I try A LOT of products and end up giving nearly everything away except for the few that really really work. I know one day this perk will come to an end, and so here are the products I will actually spend money on. So in no particular order, here goes. The proverbial contents of my medicine cabinet. And please forgive my tone if it becomes magazine-y and gushy like a middle schooler. It kind of comes with the territory.

Nail Polish:

Grunge by Rescue Beauty Lounge is a greige with a hint of nude-lilac and i have about 4 bottles, in case it ever gets discontinued. Kind of corpse-like, a bit matte, and like the chic-est coolest color to exist, ever, in history.** Ji Baek's line of polishes for Rescue Beauty Lounge really have the best, edited colors I've ever come across--like if you are looking for a teal, it will be the perfect teal, not seven shades approximating the one you really want--and they last much longer than most other brands you choose for color over quality (i.e. most luxury nail polishes sadly--Deborah Lippman's polishes, M.A.C., NARS, even Chanel). Though with Nars, I am willing to put up with the chipping because Hunger is an amazing orange-red, (named after the Deneuve-Bowie vampire movie). So yeah, regular rotation between Grunge and Hunger. And honorary mention for You Don't Know Jacques by OPI which is a khakier, darker taupe and also very good-looking.

Skincare:
Weleda's Skin Food was actually recommended to me by a model i worked with--kind of the secret, ubiquitous product in all makeup artist's bags. It's a really thick, natural, citrus-y smelling intense moisturizer that i started using in the summer, however counter-intuitive. Although its for dry skin, which i don't have, i use it daily--it gives your skin this dewy glow that i haven't seen any other product replicate. It might be too heavy for some people, but I really like it and it's also inexpensive. I feel like it's healing, though that might be my immediate reaction to anything found in the organic aisle at Whole Foods. On the other end of the spectrum is the SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic Serum. I'm not going to even mention how much this costs--its billed as the one antioxidant anti-aging serum that works wonders and i've been using it for two years and i think it works really well...I once (ONCE people, just once) got a facial and the facialist Joanna Czech told me i had amazing skin and i was lucky i didn't smoke.*** But the truth is just after using it, the terrain of your skin is unearthly smooth and pores don't exist. But for the same cost as ten tanqueray martinis (with three olives, up), well, the choice is yours... You could make up for the cost by washing your face with good old Cetaphil or Dove soap. Tried and true. These are the three things I use every day.

Mascara:
I've had to test a whole lot. I've found--and most everyone i work with agrees--the absolute best, most worth-the-price mascaras are: Lancome Definicils for day (fanned out, defined, long lashes), DiorShow for anything where you want dark, full, and glossy lashes in a more obvious way. Both don't really smudge and wash off without putting up a huge fight.

(This post will be continued)
*See link on Lidov's perfectly articulated Thoughts on Hipsters. Totally on the mark.
**The depths of my obsession with this color have been chronicled. And here
***I have since, quit.