The glamorous life of the grad student

Kei asked me to describe what's in my bag: suffice it to say my bag is also silver and shiny, and also contains a mix of makeup--at the moment, Make Up For Ever lipstick (#409, for the curious/very bored) and Serious Readings (my readings for class, which are too many to count, and an excellent book my prof recommended on name-changes in France). Also somewhere in there are my students' just-handed-in essays; an intermediate French textbook; a wallet with however much cash I had in the morning, minus what a falafel and iced coffee cost, which hopefully adds up to enough for the same tomorrow; a cellphone and iPod (which is to say, my phone is of the ancient variety that does not also function as an iPod); a notebook from my favorite store in the world; a pencil case (also shiny, silver-colored) from the same; a planner from the same; and receipts for more sub-$5 purchases than I care to think about. Oh, and, I hope, my keys.

I suppose at this point I realize that she and I have somewhat similar personal style, but I was still surprised to notice that Kei also relied for ages on "Hard Candy's Galaxy eyeliner." The stuff is amazing, although I'll have to confess that I, like Kei, have gone from using only that plus mascara to purchasing such assorted items as blush and foundation (which greatly improve how I look, but which I often forget I own, probably because I don't know how either is meant to be applied) to powder (which I've worn just once or twice--I remember it making me sneeze) to concealer (which is extremely important for those of us who are very pale and don't like being asked if we got enough sleep). Silver, turquoise, and liquid eyeliner all seemed like good ideas at the time. The official best beauty product ever is of course one of those things that neither Duane Reade nor Sephora nor any other convenient (i.e. non-Belgian) store seems to offer, namely this Biguine eyeliner that's between a pen and a pencil, that's twisted rather than sharpened, and that is maybe a bit too long-lasting. Still, if anyone is reading this and still awake, and was wondering what eyeliner to get, and happens to live in Europe, the stuff's highly recommended.