• I am a huge, huge snob. Just ask anyone. It is one of my intolerable qualities. One of the reasons why I can champion minimalism is because I think people who like everything have common taste. Nothing makes me happier than to slam a sainted Serge Lutens, much less the latest bi-monthly MAC collection. So let me make this clear. When I approach a company, asking to do a feature, you can be damn sure that it is a company that I admire for some reason, and are usually small and independent companies to which I am happy to draw attention, let's call it discriminating taste and a dim sense of morals. But when it comes to swag: I absolutely loathe clutter.


• Sometimes, the companies contact us. Colleen and I usually titter at it. (Once we got an email about a lipstick with a flashlight in it, so that you can... examine people's dental work, I suppose.) On a very rare occasion, we like something about the press release to post. This rarely amounts to anything beyond said press-release and some images. If you want to complain about swag-happy writers who write crap, why don't you shoot down Jean Godfrey-June of Lucky magazine? No great secret that magazines are advertisements disguised as sub par editorials; they're just glorified catalogues. We're not making a profit off these products. We have to work at it, to get our name known, to get products to review, and then, seriously, agonize over writing of the reviews. I've been depressed with self-loathing this entire week (drinking by myself, watching BBC-miniseries) lest I not do The Perfumed Court justice. So, do you want to join the ranks of glamorous beauty bloggers, do you?


• The only people who have invited me anywhere have been the sweet people at The Powder Group, and these have been workshops in cities I can't quite afford to travel to. Nobody fêtes me with champagne, I wish. Before the top journalist Ms. Schaeffer lets her experts rattle off the well-researched figures of "thousands" of beauty bloggers who all must be vicious exploiters of the corporate lunch, I think she might have made a little more effort.


• And as for my journalistic credential, I think if that means that I'll be classed with Ms. Schaeffer, I'd rather not. I'd prefer to cater to our modest handful of loyal readers, who presumably read this blog because it is real people with real opinions (as a result, we make rather a lot of mistakes). If you want my educational credentials, here you go, love:
  
  Graduated Lexington High School, May 2003, GPA 3.8.
  Graduated Yale University, May 2007, GPA 3.5. Major in English Language and Literature. Was also resident pothead at Jonathan Edwards.
  Languages known: English, Korean, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, German.
  No experience in professional journalism. Reason stated: I don't like anything dumb.

Labels: beauty notes, internet