Donora—
I am working on a compilation of women posing as dead animals for BEAUTY BY HTMLGIANT. If you would like to participate, please email me at donora.ann@gmail.com. Here I am as a dead skunk.
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BEAUTY BY HTMLGIANT: Leesa Cross-Smith
I was raised on Clinique and wet n wild, Chanel No. 5 and Love’s Baby Soft. I love super-fancy makeup and the cheap stuff. I got fussed at in high school theatre class because I didn’t put on enough makeup. That oil-based stuff made me feel like I was suffocating.
I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but I do love lipstick/lip gloss and eyeliner. I rarely leave the house without those. If it’s early, I’ll only line my top lid. If it’s later, I’ll line the bottom lid, too. A smokey-eye for nighttime. Winged eyeliner is a part of my personality. I’ll also wear a little under-eye concealer and powder. If I don’t feel like doing anything much at all, I’ll wear extra red lipstick and put my sunglasses on.
Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede is my favorite cheap lipstick of the moment, and I always have Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick with me. It looks good on everyone! I also love Benefit’s Sugarbomb. I have about 25 lip glosses in my purse because if I see one I even think I might like, I get it. I once read that your lips can get “addicted” to lip gloss, so that’s obviously where I am. I stash them all over the house: on the kitchen sink, on the living room table, next to the toothpaste, next to the bed. I’m the same with bobby pins. My earrings, too. I can go from room to room and reach my hand out and find a pair of earrings, a bobby pin, and a lip gloss.
BEAUTY BY HTMLGIANT
I visit beauty sites quite often. This is a thing to do when one’s life is a sequined distillation of anxiety or tragic Debbie Gibson video. While looking for an eyeliner with sufficient grit, I thought of curating a series of interviews for HTMLGIANT on beauty and health. I tweeted that I thought it would be cool and sad, especially regarding the grooming habits of writers in whatever mundane/metaphorical/actual ways they manifest themselves. I talked to Gene about it, and he had just upped his routine to something containing algae, and BEAUTY BY HTMLGIANT was born. The first installment will feature Leesa Cross-Smith, author of EVERY KISS A WAR. It is expensive to be sane.