I’m taking the week off—long days, fresh sea air, and dripping with humidity. These photos are from two weeks ago, with a bit of Sleek and The Organic Skin Co. (The Sleek Mono Eyeshadows are stellar, and The Organic Skin Co.’s Cheek and Lip Cream is just perfect in Spice.)

There’s a feeling that sits in the early summer, when the weather just won’t settle. It’s always dry in Edmonton, through the smog of neighbouring forest fires and the provincial heat; rain comes in spurts, and the thermostat clicks on and off all day. Everything sits just off-kilter: queer bubbles in a toxic oil pit, a bright orange shock of colour. A thick sludge covers everything, where bugs crawl in and out of dim sum restaurants and all of the gutless pickup trucks have balls.

In the hot days at the beginning of summer, there’s a bit of relief. An ease brought on by dense lilac bushes and short little apple trees, tiny spiders hiding in the corners of your office. The shift is detailed in these soft textures; caramel highlights.

I am here, apart from you, and I am forever incandescent with rage. With growing sentiment, I cannot sympathize with anyone who isn’t constantly furious here: small, and helpless, and soft-hearted.

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This post contains press samples: Sleek Mono Eyeshadows in Impatient, Always Right, Play Thing, and Queen Complex; Sleek Highlighting Elixir in Poppin’ Bottles; Kiss Faux Mink Eyelashes in Boudoir; Guerlain L’Essentiel Foundation; The Organic Skin Co. Cheek and Lip Cream in Spice. Also, the tree is not mine.