Follow-ups on recent articles

Now Lancome has come out with its own vibrating mascara. I received notices through Glam.com, Sephora, and Lancome itself hyping the new mascara. I'll wait and see if L'Oreal will come out with a similar product for less: Lancome is part of the L'Oreal Group and L'Oreal products are often knockoffs of Lancome products.

This article General Counsel: Fashion Fuels a Friendship from WSJ.com (the companion webiste to the Wall Street Journal) is about dressing appropriately for the workplace, but it confirms what Poppy King said about Hillary Clinton. The article states,

"Yet if looking womanly can seem unprofessional, it's also possible to not look feminine enough. Massive amounts of time and print space have been devoted to analyzing Hillary Clinton's power lapels and pantsuits. Now, some voters wonder if a softer message might have been better received."

Of course, there were other things (Hillary's lack of connection with prospective voters, Bill's temper tantrums) that derailed her campaign.

I'm a sinner, I'm a saint ...

Lipstick Queen is a brand founded by Poppy King, who previously had her eponymous line and then, after her Poppy line collapsed, joined Prescriptives as its creative director.


Poppy King

As with her former line Poppy, Lipstick Queen is limited to lip color. Poppy King describes her Sinner lipsticks as "opaque, rich and creamy with a matte yet silky finish" and her Saint lipsticks as "The sheerest, moistest, most serene lipsticks you have ever tried."



I tested lipsticks in both Sinner Rust and Saint Rust at the Soft Surroundings store in St. Louis, after the saleswoman told me that warm tones suited my complexion than cool tones and dissuaded me from wine or berry shades.

Sinner Rust was very matte, but not "creamy" or "silky," as Poppy King described. I found the matte lipsticks very dry. I prefer lipsticks that are between cream and matte, with some luster.

Saint Rust is more a lip stain, and therefore not sheer. It is a little more creamy that other lip stains I've tried (Laura Mercier, Underground by Rimmel).

These lipsticks do not match Poppy King's descriptions. Still, I like the Saint lipstick, but I'd be reluctant to shell out $20. I'd pass on the Sinner lipsticks.

UPDATE: The JC Report interviews Poppy King. She says, in words surprising for a beauty entrepreneur, " Feminine is a construct, whereas female is a fact ... To be in fashion right now means to understand the difference between feminine and female and to get the balance right: too feminine and we are back in the submission of the '50s, too confrontational and it becomes '80s power woman. ... Perhaps if Hillary Clinton had got this sense of female right it may have turned out differently for her."

It is not surprising that Poppy King would comment on politics: in Australia, she was part of the Australian Republican Movement.