I hate to admit it, but I much preferred the old name PLEASE DONT HATE ME! It felt radical, rebellious and strong. I get the need to refer to beauty in the title in this content-saturated world.... how about The Unpublishable Beauty Review? Or Unpublishable Beauty? Or just Beauty Can Kiss My Patootie...
I agree! I loved the name The Unpublishable, but will continue to be a paid subscriber under whichever name you choose. I find The Unpublishable more intriguing a name than The Review of Beauty, and less likely to pass up before reading what your content is really about.
Same here! The new name lacks punch. I loved the old name. Never too late to make a change. Will continue to subscribe regardless because it’s my favorite newsletter!
Too late to change the name back? I’ve been a subscriber since 2021 and will continue to be, but I don’t think your new name encapsulates what your content is about for someone just coming across your newsletter.
Happily paid subscriber here! I'll admit, as my own paid subscriptions have increased over the past two years, I've thought of going unpaid on a few. But I keep coming back to wanting to support with my dollars, not just with my eyeballs, the work of women that I find helpful, meaningful, and aligned. And that includes here.
Speaking of aligned: Granted, marketing isn't my thing, but as a consumer of another newsletter that has had multiple rebrands/new names, I personally love when the humanity of trying to align closely with one's intentions triumphs over the "shoulds" of the marketing world. Re-rebrand if you wish!!! I'm here for it.
PS. I'll second others here and share that I find your writing radical and subversive, and so if quickly tasked with naming the newsletter, to my mind, it's The Beauty Rebellion. (Freely yours to use in any manner, no strings!)
Lord help me, I clicked through to the "concealer that isn't concealer" and nearly checked out with $70+ worth of makeup and acne cream. Lmao.
It's so tempting to give in to the fantasy that I can purchase a magic solution that won't require me to actually change my behavior. Drinking more water, eating more fruits and vegetables, and going for walks occasionally will probably improve my skin as a side effect of being a healthier lifestyle in general. But that's so much more work than clicking "add to cart".
I've been trimming back newsletter subscriptions because you're right, the market is TOTALLY saturated. There are so many writers I want to support, but even the $5 monthly subscriptions add up so quickly. I cancelled all my paid Substacks for a while this year, but I missed your work too much - it's a shining ray of sanity and clarity in an increasingly bonkers media world. Thank you for doing what you do!!
Oh and btw, I do miss the old name, but I also thought at the time that it was a little too vague to reach people who are looking to read about beauty culture. Totally agree with others' suggestions to meld the two names into something like "The Unpublishable Beauty Review"
All of this sounds gross. Count me out of these trends. I turn 60 next year and take decent care of myself, but all of this artifice just makes me feel ill.
Such great work and excellent writing! Congratulations on an amazing productive year. I get your frustration about non-paying readers and the name change issue, but I’ll be a fan of your work no matter what name you write under and I’m sure others will as well. Happy 2025!!🎊
Just upgraded to paid 💗 and completely agree with all of your predictions, unsurprisingly! Personally have had my eye on all things cyborg and jelly. Thanks for your amazing work.
Yours is one Substack I will continue to pay for because as the mum of a 9 year old daughter and in my late forties, pretty much every article has something for me on either my individual or parenting journey (and those worlds collide often!). So much good info and also consistently turning things inside out to show how connected and in some ways shallow they are.
Just referencing the Surveillance State prediction - do you think that real issues being detected earlier (like skin cancer) are a good thing to utilize these tools? Or is the focus going to be solely on marketing for surface beauty?
sure, there are useful ways to use (almost) any beauty tool or product or procedure — what ends up happening is that the sometimes-useful tool is more often used for aesthetic/non-health purposes
I am paying regardless of your moniker — but I concur with everyone here that rebranding is a great idea as your strength and spirit were far more fierce in the previous name (or in another alt that speaks to being more than a "reviewer").
I, too, have zero affiliates or side income partnerships despite writing about fashion/beauty through the lens of aging — it's undoubtedly a lucrative market, and I have the contacts, but no income is worth my authenticity. My readers deserve an unadulterated perspective.
so funny that you mention hands being the new thing for 2025... liana satenstein just posted this today! "If You Make One Resolution This Year, Take Care of Your Hands" : https://substack.com/home/post/p-153957526
Ohh these predictions are so bleak🫣 but they are already happening so none are outlandish.. I am so happy to be a paid subscriber! Have been for over a year and it is the best. Cannot wait for 2 podcast episodes a month! Honestly I support whatever name you have and the review of mess is such a fun mashup of your and Emily’s Substack names.
I found your substack by looking for your name, not the name of your substack, and I didn’t even notice when you rebranded. By all means, rebrand!
I follow a mom of daughters on IG and she’s shared one of her tween daughters’ beauty stash. It was an entire bureau of product and I was slightly appalled. The daughter recently unboxed gifts for the holiday and that pushed me into the “frankly appalled” zone. She loved one of her gifts because the packaging was similar to Drunk Elephant. She’s 10-11 years old.
these predictions seem pretty prescient!! a part of me is curious if you'll be proven correct while another, larger part of me is worried about that & the implications for everyday people. also agreed with others that i liked the old name, could see you changing it to something like "unpublishable beauty truths" or something like that, maybe "unpublishable: the beauty secrets they don't want you to know" if you're trying to tap into bipartisan conspiratorial thinking
Sorry to hear you've lost paying subscribers. I don't know anyone else out there who's doing this work and find it invaluable for trying to stay grounded and sane in the face of the unrelenting messages of capitalism/patriarchy/white supremacy telling me I need to change how I look. This is a friendly suggestion to provide a link to leave a tip or buy you a coffee--or maybe have an option to subscribe at a "supporter" level. I, for one, would pay more for your content than I am now.
As for the newsletter name, I say--fuck it. Do what you want. People are following you more than a newsletter!
I hate to admit it, but I much preferred the old name PLEASE DONT HATE ME! It felt radical, rebellious and strong. I get the need to refer to beauty in the title in this content-saturated world.... how about The Unpublishable Beauty Review? Or Unpublishable Beauty? Or just Beauty Can Kiss My Patootie...
I agree! I loved the name The Unpublishable, but will continue to be a paid subscriber under whichever name you choose. I find The Unpublishable more intriguing a name than The Review of Beauty, and less likely to pass up before reading what your content is really about.
I also loved the old name! It’s never too late to do anything!!
I also liked the old name too! *sorry*🫣🫣🫣
Same here! The new name lacks punch. I loved the old name. Never too late to make a change. Will continue to subscribe regardless because it’s my favorite newsletter!
Too late to change the name back? I’ve been a subscriber since 2021 and will continue to be, but I don’t think your new name encapsulates what your content is about for someone just coming across your newsletter.
Happily paid subscriber here! I'll admit, as my own paid subscriptions have increased over the past two years, I've thought of going unpaid on a few. But I keep coming back to wanting to support with my dollars, not just with my eyeballs, the work of women that I find helpful, meaningful, and aligned. And that includes here.
Speaking of aligned: Granted, marketing isn't my thing, but as a consumer of another newsletter that has had multiple rebrands/new names, I personally love when the humanity of trying to align closely with one's intentions triumphs over the "shoulds" of the marketing world. Re-rebrand if you wish!!! I'm here for it.
PS. I'll second others here and share that I find your writing radical and subversive, and so if quickly tasked with naming the newsletter, to my mind, it's The Beauty Rebellion. (Freely yours to use in any manner, no strings!)
Agree!
Lord help me, I clicked through to the "concealer that isn't concealer" and nearly checked out with $70+ worth of makeup and acne cream. Lmao.
It's so tempting to give in to the fantasy that I can purchase a magic solution that won't require me to actually change my behavior. Drinking more water, eating more fruits and vegetables, and going for walks occasionally will probably improve my skin as a side effect of being a healthier lifestyle in general. But that's so much more work than clicking "add to cart".
I've been trimming back newsletter subscriptions because you're right, the market is TOTALLY saturated. There are so many writers I want to support, but even the $5 monthly subscriptions add up so quickly. I cancelled all my paid Substacks for a while this year, but I missed your work too much - it's a shining ray of sanity and clarity in an increasingly bonkers media world. Thank you for doing what you do!!
Oh and btw, I do miss the old name, but I also thought at the time that it was a little too vague to reach people who are looking to read about beauty culture. Totally agree with others' suggestions to meld the two names into something like "The Unpublishable Beauty Review"
All of this sounds gross. Count me out of these trends. I turn 60 next year and take decent care of myself, but all of this artifice just makes me feel ill.
agreed — hopefully it comes through that i in no way *support* these future trends, i just predict them
Such great work and excellent writing! Congratulations on an amazing productive year. I get your frustration about non-paying readers and the name change issue, but I’ll be a fan of your work no matter what name you write under and I’m sure others will as well. Happy 2025!!🎊
Just upgraded to paid 💗 and completely agree with all of your predictions, unsurprisingly! Personally have had my eye on all things cyborg and jelly. Thanks for your amazing work.
Yours is one Substack I will continue to pay for because as the mum of a 9 year old daughter and in my late forties, pretty much every article has something for me on either my individual or parenting journey (and those worlds collide often!). So much good info and also consistently turning things inside out to show how connected and in some ways shallow they are.
Just referencing the Surveillance State prediction - do you think that real issues being detected earlier (like skin cancer) are a good thing to utilize these tools? Or is the focus going to be solely on marketing for surface beauty?
sure, there are useful ways to use (almost) any beauty tool or product or procedure — what ends up happening is that the sometimes-useful tool is more often used for aesthetic/non-health purposes
I am paying regardless of your moniker — but I concur with everyone here that rebranding is a great idea as your strength and spirit were far more fierce in the previous name (or in another alt that speaks to being more than a "reviewer").
I, too, have zero affiliates or side income partnerships despite writing about fashion/beauty through the lens of aging — it's undoubtedly a lucrative market, and I have the contacts, but no income is worth my authenticity. My readers deserve an unadulterated perspective.
thanks for the feedback :) also love to see another non-affiliate newsletter!
We are a rare breed xx
so funny that you mention hands being the new thing for 2025... liana satenstein just posted this today! "If You Make One Resolution This Year, Take Care of Your Hands" : https://substack.com/home/post/p-153957526
lol omg i saw this and was like "SEE?!?!"
Ohh these predictions are so bleak🫣 but they are already happening so none are outlandish.. I am so happy to be a paid subscriber! Have been for over a year and it is the best. Cannot wait for 2 podcast episodes a month! Honestly I support whatever name you have and the review of mess is such a fun mashup of your and Emily’s Substack names.
I found your substack by looking for your name, not the name of your substack, and I didn’t even notice when you rebranded. By all means, rebrand!
I follow a mom of daughters on IG and she’s shared one of her tween daughters’ beauty stash. It was an entire bureau of product and I was slightly appalled. The daughter recently unboxed gifts for the holiday and that pushed me into the “frankly appalled” zone. She loved one of her gifts because the packaging was similar to Drunk Elephant. She’s 10-11 years old.
Thank you for all of your insightful writing this year! I love reading and learning from your work. Wishing you and yours a happy new year!
these predictions seem pretty prescient!! a part of me is curious if you'll be proven correct while another, larger part of me is worried about that & the implications for everyday people. also agreed with others that i liked the old name, could see you changing it to something like "unpublishable beauty truths" or something like that, maybe "unpublishable: the beauty secrets they don't want you to know" if you're trying to tap into bipartisan conspiratorial thinking
Christ.
Sorry to hear you've lost paying subscribers. I don't know anyone else out there who's doing this work and find it invaluable for trying to stay grounded and sane in the face of the unrelenting messages of capitalism/patriarchy/white supremacy telling me I need to change how I look. This is a friendly suggestion to provide a link to leave a tip or buy you a coffee--or maybe have an option to subscribe at a "supporter" level. I, for one, would pay more for your content than I am now.
As for the newsletter name, I say--fuck it. Do what you want. People are following you more than a newsletter!
Sending you a huge THANK YOU for your work! 🙏🏽❤️