I was a fat kid. I haven't written about this before, telling myself it's because I write primarily about beauty, and I'm wary of conflating weight and beauty. That's true, but the real reason I haven't written about having been a fat kid is that--listen, I know writers are supposed...

Years ago, I dated a bona fide good dresser. Actually, it wasn't so much that he was a good dresser as it was that he knew what look he wanted to embody: a 1950s career man, one who wears a suit to the office and definitive leisurewear on the weekends....

When I was 11, I decided I had a crush on Robby B., whom I now suspect I targeted because he was neither popular nor an outcast and therefore might consent to "go with" me. In the style of the age, I asked my best friend to tell him during...

More than a year after I did my first month without mirrors -- and months after my blogging buddy Kjerstin Gruys finished her yearlong experiment of the same nature -- the concept of going without mirrors by choice been getting a fair amount of press. Gruys (who is...

More than a year after I did my first month without mirrors -- and months after my blogging buddy Kjerstin Gruys finished her yearlong experiment of the same nature -- the concept of going without mirrors by choice been getting a fair amount of press. Gruys (who is...

If I use the phrase "addicted to makeup," I'm usually referring to how uncomfortable I feel going out in most social situations without the stuff. The reasons I'm uncomfortable are a post of their own, but they boil down to the same old story: feeling as though what I'm bringing...

I was recently diagnosed with a medical condition. I've got a mild case of it, but it brings a few troublesome complications regardless, nothing serious. And as one might well do, the first thing I did when I got home upon receiving my diagnosis was Google it to learn more....

I spent more than 10 years in women's magazines, and I write a beauty blog with a critical slant. But my real qualification for sharing my thoughts on beauty is 35 years of womanhood. From dabbling in my grandmother's makeup kit at age 5 to trying anti-aging creams...