How To Fake Longer, Thicker Lashes — Authentically!
(JK.) The Don't Buy List: Issue #44
Hello, dewy dust bunnies, and welcome to another edition of the The Don’t Buy List! Behold, the beauty industry’s latest bourgeoisie attempt at bottling proletariat aesthetics for profit (e.g., the bougie fake orange tans of socialites in the late aughts): Coal Mine Contour.
Like… Coal miners said “labor strike” and makeup artist Terry Barber — using MAC Cosmetics for the Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY runway — said “aesthetic labor to commercialize the aesthetics of labor!” How is this real? How are beauty professionals posting comments like “brilliant!” and “loves it”?? How can I continue to believe in a benevolent universal force guiding us toward goodness???
Anyway.
I was interviewed by German outlet ZEIT Magazin last week. The title of the article is “The beauty industry sells consumption as self-care,” which I think says it all, really. Welcome to any new readers from Germany!!
I also did an Instagram Live with The Guerrilla Feminist the other day. You can watch the replay here for my spiel on why most cosmetic surgery cannot be categorized as “feminist” (and why so many of us feel the need to pretend our individual acts of conformity are somehow collectively liberating).
This is the only GRWM makeup tutorial that I will ever, EVER endorse, featuring the brilliant and heartbreaking writing of for :
*begins to pour foundation on the back of my hand, whips out hot pink beauty blender*
So before I start I just want to let you know that I’M VERY AWARE that this color foundation does not match my skin tone. I bought it online in a hurry when I saw everyone else was buying it. I thought I matched myself well but now seeing it on me it’s obvious it’s a few shades too dark. I will try my best to have this come together with the contour and the bronzing and the blush and the eyeshadow and the lip liner and the concealer and I have also considered holding my breath until my face turns blue so that it softens the overall reddish tone of my face. Anywaaaaays, I love having anxiety because there is something about being alive for the past three years that just always has me thinking about death!
Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing here.
The Cut published an article on the rise and fall of facial fillers: “The Big Dissolve: They blew out their faces. Now they’re melting them down.” I think this piece says a lot about the current state of the beauty media — but maybe not in the way you think.