The Beauty Industry's Least-Favorite Newsletter

Hello! Welcome to The Unpublishable.

Welcome to The Unpublishable!

Here’s what people are saying about this weekly(ish) beauty newsletter:

• “Yanking consumers out of the matrix made by the beauty industry.” - HuffPost

• “[From] the woman the beauty industry fears the most.” - The Sunday Herald

• “Examines the beauty industry’s tight grasp on consumers and popular culture, from evolving beauty standards to the deft marketing tactics used to sell people more products.” - New York Magazine

• “Jessica DeFino covers the beauty industry the way Woodward and Bernstein covered Watergate.” - Val Monroe

• “DeFino’s [work] is a reminder to question our relationship with beauty. Why do we do what we do? Is it being defined by society or driven by our authentic self?” - Dua Lipa

• “A newsletter focused on the darker sides of the beauty industry.” - Vox

• “A tantalising series of beauty stories … Subscribe for witty, BS-free content.” - The Sunday Times

Hi! I’m Jessica DeFino, a freelance beauty journalist for The New York Times, Vogue, WWD, Allure, and more.

This newsletter is a place for my most “unpublishable” pitches: the beauty-critical content that publications can’t, won’t, or don’t cover — whether that’s to appease advertisers, preserve brand relationships, or cling to the conventional wisdom, outdated ideals, and marketing myths that keep consumers consuming. Trust me, it all influences what information makes it to the mainstream.

Basically, it’s what the beauty industry won’t tell you — from a reporter on a mission to reform it.

Featuring articles like…

• How The ‘5-Minute Face’ Became The $5,000 Face

• The Beauty Brands Backing Abortion Bans

• You Have Fossil Fuels On Your Face

• Where Are All The Brown Hands?

• Skip The Niacinamide Serum

• Beauty Culture Is A Public Health Issue

• Eat Shit, Kim Kardashian

• Meta Face Is Coming

• Skincare Culture Is Dewy Diet Culture

• “Look Like You Slept 8 Hours!”

• Madonna’s Face Is Not Subversive

• Erasing Your Wrinkles Isn’t Empowerment

Paid subscribers get:

• Access to all past and future articles from The Unpublishable

• Bi-monthly editions of “The Don’t Buy List” — AKA, a roundup of product-free content, curated to broaden your understanding of the beauty industry and help us all break free from beauty standards

• The ability to post comments and participate in subscriber chats

• The joy of facilitating the creation of beauty content that doesn’t push products on people

Here’s more information about how The Unpublishable’s paid subscription is structured and why, along with a free sneak peek at The Don’t Buy List.

Every month, a portion of proceeds from paid subscriptions is donated to The Beautywell Project and Slow Factory.

Subscribe to support independent beauty reporting that isn’t beholden to brands, advertisers, algorithms, or affiliate sales.