I did something! How to look absolutely divine and regal, and yet at the same time very pretty and rather accessible. (via Make Yourself Up Like The Most Underrated Elizabeth: Queenie From Blackadder | xoVain)

Just got the audiobook version of I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan today.

It is, of course, read by Steve Coogan in character. And we are listening. Now.

Right now.

Eek eek eeeeek.

Mongrels // "Middle Class is Magical"

Are you watching Mongrels yet? (Don't worry, skeptics: there's only one song per episode. The rest is just plain puppet comedy about anthropomorphic urban wildlife -- a scheming cat with a foreign accent, an erudite fox, a vain Cockney Afghan hound, a psychopathic pigeon, assorted rats, badgers, chickens, etc.) It's on Hulu.

P.S. I won't insult your presumed intelligence by explaining how "middle class" means something slightly different in the UK vs. the US.

Orange Crush

I really upped my makeup game in 2011. I discovered how filling in my brows can change my face for the better, especially for nighttime and vintage looks. It's the finishing touch I just never knew I needed. Blammo. I found my new favorite black liquid eyeliner and the best super-nude eyeshadow duo to wear it with. I also started using a concealer brush, which I didn't want to believe would be such an improvement, but damn -- it's leaps and bounds beyond simply using my fingers to blend. Bonus: I've noticed I don't have to use as much product with the concealer brush. Recession-era win!

So, a couple of weeks ago, I took it upon myself to add one more notch to the bedpost. Sean and I were in the middle of our annual viewing of Blackadder's Christmas Carol (it just ain't Christmas without it). I've long found Miranda Richardson's Queenie (that is, Queen Elizabeth, but the daffiest, most childish, immature, ridiculous send-up of Queen Elizabeth that you'll ever see) to be one of my favorite characters, not just in comedy, or television, but really, of all time. She is equal parts adorable and repellent, sweet and sickening, goofy and tyrannical. In other words, the best.

The idea came to me that I might want to try to recreate her look, or at least a version inspired by ol' Queenie. I'm not a ginger like Richardson (I wish), but I figured I could pull it off with the right combination. The only part that gave me pause was her orange cheeks.

With a little help from my makeup artist friend Gia, and my friendly neighborhood Sephora, I chose Givenchy's Le Prisme Blush in In Vogue Orange.

Gia also recommended ("The cheeks and lips should sell it"):

Now, I haven't tried the full look yet, but I will tell you this: orange blush looks awesome.

(All this, mind you, from a girl who fully and resoundingly rejected makeup in high school, condemning it as a tool of the patriarchy and wondering why we all had to cover up our real faces in order to be viewed as beautiful.)