In My Makeup Bag.

This is a spread of my favorite makeup on my foundation-spattered desk-turned-vanity. After my big, black vinyl Sephora makeup bag died a moldy death in the great sink flood of 2007, I thought I'd never find another awesome makeup bag. But I just love this sparkly silver, black, and pink VH-1 Save the Music bag. It's the perfect size for holding most of my favorites, bringing on trips, and fitting into one of the desk/vanity's cubbies. Posts like this make me wish I were a better photographer with a better camera, but oh well.

I don't think this particular version of Revlon Colorstay foundation exists anymore, but it rocks. It doesn't feel heavy, yet it does come off. My beloved Urban Decay Marshmallow body glitter also perished in the Great Sink Flood, but my brother replaced it a couple of Christmases ago. The white glitter is subtle, and the light marshmallow scent is better than perfume.

This is Too Faced Snow Bunny bronzer from the Enchanted Glamourland fairy-rific palette. My mom gave me the palette as part of a vanity-themed Christmas bundle last year, along with the antique mirror you can see a bit of in the previous photo. The bronzer is a perfect blush for me: shimmery but light enough to not look absurd on my pale skin. It made me repent of my refusal to use blush.

I don't have a standby mascara right now. I've mostly been using free samples, like this Sephora mini mascara. I love Too Faced Metallic Eyeliner in Metallic Mermaid. It's dark teal green, and makes me feel exactly like the name--some kind of mythical rock star. I've nearly used up my Hard Candy Glitter Eye Pencil in Hyper, which is brown with gold glitter. I'll have to find another brown/gold glitter liner since Hard Candy doesn't really exist anymore. Mom got me these tweezers just 'cuz. I've seen them at various little gifty stores like Francesca's.

With most eyeshadow, I'm a quick creaser. Too Faced Eyeshadow Insurance helps quite a bit. It doesn't work for the entire day, but it gets me through work. Urban Decay eyeshadow in Uzi is my signature. It looks silver but just goes on as silver glitter with no real color. When I was a junior in high school, I noticed the best glitter eyeshadow I'd ever seen on a girl I ate lunch with. I think her name was Evelyn. Anyway, she told me the name of this shadow, and I've been using it ever since. I don't wear overt glitter to work, but I wear this any other time I put on makeup. It's kind of iconic to Josh too since he remembers noticing sparkles under my eyes when he first saw me. I don't understand why girls whine about "fall-out" with glitter shadows--that's half the fun. Also from Urban Decay are these Ink for Eyes cream eyeliners in Empire (purple) and Demolition (brown). This liner and its angled brush are very forgiving, and using them feels fancy like like calligraphy. My old friend Meegen, who works as a makeup artist, got Empire for me, and Mom supplied Demolition with the vanity-themed Christmas (she's hooked on the eyeliner too).

I have a few of these Maybelline Eyestudio sets, and they are the best drugstore shadows I've found as far as rich color and real sparkle. On the right is Sephora's Magic Eye Shadow Palette in Cool. These colors make me feel like a snow queen. Mom and I theorize that girls gravitate toward makeup sets and palettes because of their enduring love of and longing for doll trunk sets--all the little, colorful treasures hidden in drawers.

Here's another look at the Ink for Eyes along with my two favorite lipsticks--the only ones I use, really. Jane Haywire (soft brown), which probably doesn't exist anymore, is my warm weather color, and Ulta Romantic Red is my cool weather shade. Lipstick makes me feel confident, especially at work.

Hard Candy was my first love in fancy makeup. Luckily, I was able to snag several of the Eyeshadow Quartets for half price before the company ceased to exist in that form (a version of Hard Candy is now at Wal-mart). These are my three favorite quartets: Sushi, Star, and Frigid. The tiny angled brushes are perfect for lining. These are great metallic, iridescent, and glittery shades. I want to squeal just thinking about them.

Makeup bags are fascinating. One could probably develop a whole personality study best on them, like handwriting interpretation. Do you care about fancy makeup? What brands and colors do you like best?