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Posted by Dain, Wednesday, May 04, 2005 2:23 PM (Eastern)
This I've written before, as a post and then as a review, but this is really quite an article, so hopefully you'll forgive me for redundancy.
Copied and edited from my post of August 10, 2004
O, everyone should own Powersurge. It is like... the potato. Before you murmur at my stupidity, I totally mean it pretentious-literary-like. In M.F.K. Fisher's first book, Serve It Forth (which is a great book, so read it!), my favorite chapter is dedicated to the potato. The whole premise of the chapter is that she attacks the American (and European, for that matter) aesthetic of meat-and-potatoes, where the potato is totally unappreciated, but simply "expected", as a given and a prerogative.
Instead, she suggests that it be eaten with true appreciation. Of course, for its own innate goodness:
"A potato is good when it is cooked correctly. Baked slowly, with its skin rubbed first in a buttery hand. or boiled in its jacket and then 'shook', it is delicious. Salt and pepper are almost always necessary to its hot moist-dusty flavour. Alone, or with a fat jug of rich cool milk or a chunk of French Gruyère, it fills the stomach and the soul with a satisfaction not too easy to attain." (To this day, I cannot eat a baked potato with proper enjoyment unless it is with a glass of milk, though I tried the Gruyère thing and found it repugnant. And "moist-dusty", jesus, that is what a potato tastes like, huh?)
But even more so for its utter perfection as a complement:
"If, French fried, they make a grilled sirloin taste richer; if, mashed and whipped with fresh cream and salty butter, they bridge the deadly gap between a ragoût and a salad; if, baked and pinched open and bulging with mealy snowiness, they offset the fat spiced flavour of sausages—then and then alone should they be served. Then they are dignified. Then they are worthy of a high place, not debased to the deadly rank of daily acceptance. Then they are a gastronomic pleasure, not merely 'tubers used for food'".
Anyway, what has this got to do with make-up? Well, Powersurge is exactly like that. It's pretty on its own, of course, a lovely bronze with a smooth finish of gold—very nice against the skin and peeking through lashes (and for subtle definition). But its especial genius is how it combines with other shades, especially [coughs] Nars duos. Nars tends to be cool, even with his warmish-seeming duos, and Powersurge softens them somewhat by adding a little warmth. Plus, it allows the liner to really "grab onto" the skin, for improved longevity (which any creamy pencil will do but Powersurge does especially well because it melds so well into the skin). But most all, it somehow harmonizes (and as much as I try, I can't say why) shades beautifully—especially if they are colors for the sake of colors and rather discordant with the skin's natural tones. I find this true with both Babylon and Cleo, which sit a little rough and chalky on the skin without the aid of Powersurge. It is somehow a supreme complement, and that's the magic of it.
I must truly be insane by this point. I rationalize everything in terms of Nars duos now! So, who knows? Perhaps it is not so great in real-world terms. But it does look smashing against oceanic colors as a general rule... periwinkle, sea blue, mermaid green, lavender, sand. All the colors one would find at the sea, basically (including at sunset).
A picture of Powersurge and what it looks like:
Labels: beauty notes, eyes, mac cosmetics
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