Now Hear This: A Blog Update With Surprisingly Good Beauty Products!

Yes, I am aware—it's been a hot minute. But you'll be pleased to know that I am not, in fact, dead.

I'm actually sitting at Heathrow Airport as I write this, which I imagine is a lot like being dead, only instead of a sudden understanding of the interconnectedness of all that is shape and matter, you get to dispassionately sip coffee while observing the great British pastime of pints at zero dark thirty.

But I digress.

From getting stranded abroad for nearly a month due to flight cancellations in the Middle East, to the breakdown of my nearly seventeen-year marriage for reasons (unrelated to the aforementioned being stranded abroad), these last few months have been a whirlwind of life's not-so-greatest hits. The good news is that I've still been chipping-away at book two in my Viking Age Historical romance series, and despite everything, hope to have it out in June. A bit later than intended, but this is simply the way of things.

Side note: I am not after pity here, or adulation, or anything else other than your loyal and adoring readership, should you deign to give it. But I do want to talk about something fun for a minute—something light and fluffy and which has absolutely no serious lasting ramifications for any of us.

But because it has been so long since I've posted, I think perhaps a bit of fanfare is in order. Since I have spent the better part of the last two years immersed in medieval book research, I have elected to announce my latest post with a ceremonial blast of Ye Olde Medieval Butt Trumpet...

Phoot! Braaap! Ta-Daa!

This brilliant piece of "butt trumpet art" is a medieval marginalia - an illumination that would appear in the margins of medieval texts - this particularly famous one appears in Froissart's Chronicles.

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Ye olde surprisingly good beauty products

This post came about completely as a result of my very own one woman qualitative study of the efficacy of products that have been sitting in my cosmetic drawer for a while. These are products that have sort of quietly achieved go-to status while I was distracted by other things. They're not fancy, and won't get in your way while they do their good work. We could all use a little more of that type of quiet competence in our lives right now, amirite?

Let's get into it.

This surprisingly good beauty products post was born of the fact that I recently received complements about my skin (not my makeup, mind you, my skin) on two separate occasions. Both times I was wearing foundation (not an everyday thing for me), but each time it was a different foundation.

I did realize, however, that there was one common denominator on those days I was wearing foundation—my primer.

I don't wear primer often, but the few times that I have worn this primer, I was beset by complements. This Laura Geller Spackle primer in Bronze does contain silicone—dimethicone, to be exact, something I usually avoid in products because I don't like the feel, not because it's inherently unsafe (it's in pretty much in everything). However, this primer does not have that eel-like silicone slip of some of the drugstore brands out there, and is worth a look. It goes on light like a wash of watercolor, and feels hydrating on your face. The color it gives you is subtle, and while there is definitely a glow to it, it does not end up looking like a bunch of glitter sitting on top of your face—a common failing of products made for those of us of a certain age. I'm not saying that this product was the cause of those complements I got—only that I just so happened to be wearing it each time they occurred.

This is, after all, science, where correlation ≠ causation. But it did happen twice, so. Experiment reproduced x 1.

Just sayin'.

The second product that has quietly earned my reluctant, begrudging respect is the NYX Lip IV Hydrating Gloss Stain. I really had no expectations when I purchased this, other than I was hoping for something with a bit more staying power than my usual favorite sheer lipsticks and glosses, but I was unwilling to resort to drying matte superstay type products that never seem to wear well on my lips and always leave me looking like I've been drinking red wine—all of the staining around the inside of the mouth with none of the fun.

I admit, this product delivers. A little goes a long way, but it is easy to control how much you put on by just dabbing it on lightly with the applicator, so you can wear it as a soft stain, or add more to create a more opaque look. The color of this gloss stain also builds up over the day as you reapply the product. In fact, the first time I properly used this gloss I was on an airplane, so when I finally deplaned eight hours later (after a few mid flight re-applications), I was shocked at how much color was still on my lips.

The texture of this product also feels more moisturizing than any lip stain I've ever known, and for me that is its true superpower. There are tons of good stains out there (the Wonderskin Lip Stain is pretty darn good too), but every other one I've tried, without exception, requires some lip prep beforehand, and a lot of balm while it is on to keep it from feeling and looking dry. Not so with the NYX. This one was one and done, and for me that is an immediate win.

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to the Morphe Wakeup Artist Undereye Correcting Concealer (UK link here). Until this product came along, I had always wanted to like those pink-based undereye "wake-up" type concealers, but found them far too light for my coloring, or too sticky, too opaque, didn't do well with having foundation or other concealer over the top of them, or were just too sheer to the point of not having any effect at all.

The Morphe product comes in something like four different shades, so you can get a better match to your actual skin tone—it's actually sort of shocking how few companies are putting out shades for this particular type of color correcting undereye concealer in this, the year 2026, but here we are.

My shade is "peach" (pictured), perfect for medium and lighter olive complexions, and when I put this under my eyes, whatever circles I have are gone. I mean, sure, my undereyes aren't perfect...I'm 54 for goodness sake, but this stuff just cancels out the shadows so beautifully, I've taken to using it on other areas of my face that are shadowy as well. It is light, blends well, and is very buildable. It is also blendable enough you can put other makeup over the top of it, although I find that after I use it, I often forget to put on my actual concealer. That's how good this one works for me—and it's fairly inexpensive too. I absolutely love this product, so if you're looking for a color corrector concealer that actually works, give it a try. I promise you will be surprised by these.

Surprised in a good way...not like these two.

Oh my....now that is awkward.

This bit of marginalia needs no explanation, apart from telling you that it is a scene from Roman de la Rose, a French allegorical poem by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, in which Vulcan discovers his wife Venus in bed with Mars. *clutches pearls

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