seeing the language laid so bare makes me see it for what it really is, sad attempts at marketing things we don’t need and taking advantage of our social needs. being aware of the intent and patterns of beauty marketing language helps a lot to deprogram from the cult of beauty. thank you as always for your work jessica! 💖
Your point on beauty products and sex is SO not a reach for me. This line: "We look “sexier” than ever and are having less sex than ever… It just seems suspicious is all I’m saying!!"
This rings so true for me. I struggle with this in my own relationship - I work so hard to look 'perfect' yet I don't want anyone to touch me... what's that all about?!
I also got a free sample of "Better than Sex" mascara with a Sephora purchase the other day and was incensed. Now THAT is a reach...
"I work so hard to look 'perfect' yet I don't want anyone to touch me" You just put a feeling into words that I haven't been able to articulate. Thank you!
A key rule of marketing is presumably that consumers should either want to eat it, fuck it, or remove stains with it. Everything fits at least one category.
Why is it that every celebrity now has a beauty line? I was a 90s kid & can remember when a beauty line meant a celebrity was well-past the prime of their career.
I’m beginning to think they all now exist to push your buttons Jessica because the absurdity has become ridiculous. Carry on you precious beauty culture queen carry on. 😘
i’ve been getting a bunch of ads on reddit about alicia keys being “the literal face of the #NoMakeUp movement” that i always scrolled past, so i guess now i know what they’re about. what a weird intro for an ad about her new makeup line
yeah i figured the ads were just talking about her decision to stop wearing makeup and maybe trying to get others to join in, def did not expect it’d be promoting her makeup brand lol so strange
I was a ‘70’s kid. That’s right - I could probably your grandma. All I ever used was a bar of soap, a washcloth, and maybe some Suave lotion on my face. I proudly wear my makeup-free face.
Me too! When did it become taboo to use soap and a washcloth to clean your face? It's unheard of these days, at least by women. There are now so many holy potions for cleaning one's face. I think I have pretty darn good skin for my age, and I also don't touch makeup.
There’s also that “invisibility of the older woman” thing. I love it! I go out to do my errands makeup-free, hair in a messy bun, and it’s so freeing! I sincerely hope the young ladies don’t buy all that unnecessary stuff.
Yup. I have a very wise friend who once said to me: "You don't owe beauty to anyone." It's very liberating when you let go of the need to fulfill society's expectations of "beauty." I wish younger women could stop being so concerned about their appearance. We all like to feel attractive, but we don't "owe" it to anyone.
Barb, respectfully, pitting women against each other because of generation and self-proclaimed "mental fortitude" can most charitably be interpreted as condescension and least charitably as you waiting with bated breath for younger women to be emotionally broken by the inevitable loss in the war against aging.
You need to chat with my MIL. She is OBSESSED with them to the point that she will chase down hotel room cleaners with their trolleys and ask for 20 washcloths (she uses one once and then into the wash it goes)!!. She also travels with Lysol in her suitcase so *shrug*
Does anyone have any other recommendations for articles (here or otherwise) or books that talk about the growing connection between spirituality/religion & beauty?
I just started Self-Made by Tara Isabella Burton and there's some overlap in there! It's not specifically beauty-focused but still very useful for understanding the beauty/religion relationship:
Yesss I got carried away with my rant lol, I think I more so meant like "it's a stretch to say naming this mascara primer 'foreplay' is part of the problem" but it didn't come across that way. This is the article: https://bloodknife.com/everyone-beautiful-no-one-horny/
My post next week -- precipitated by a NYT story unrelated to appearance-- is about inner beauty (the real kind). But maybe I was also prompted unconsciously by the pr you mention? Hope not. xo
I think your Substack is the best one I've ever subscribed to. I'm a non-binary person who grew up socialized as female (born in the 90s) in the US and, though I grew up very "tomboy" and was often actually mistaken for a boy for much of my adolescence (and I was into it!), in high school and college, I was obsessed with YT makeup tutorials. I couldn't walk into a Sephora without buying like $100 worth of stuff, and I also couldn't *really* afford it as a broke college scholarship student. Once I realized I was non-binary, and I was performing gender -- and so obsessed with beauty in part because I realized "performing high femme" was one of the ways I felt like I was "being a woman the right way" -- my whole sense of identity and use for makeup changed. It brought me joy, sometimes, but it largely brought me anxiety and financial distress. I now don't wear makeup of any kind because I've realized I want financial/mental/physical permission to just be an undecorated human body who prioritizes things that benefit *me*. (I do have privileges that make that easier, like being white, still sort of young, and having naturally fairly unblemished skin, and I know it would be harder if those things weren't true.) Your Substack validates all of the anxiety and rage I struggled to sort out around the beauty industry - I was so bought into it, and I hated it, and I felt trapped by it - and I find the way you write, so intersectionally, (unfortunately) rare in today's media. Thank you for your work.
Love the harsh light. If anyone actually cared if products work or what they do - it would be commoditized, effective and affordable. The US is in for a harsh awakening in the next five year.
seeing the language laid so bare makes me see it for what it really is, sad attempts at marketing things we don’t need and taking advantage of our social needs. being aware of the intent and patterns of beauty marketing language helps a lot to deprogram from the cult of beauty. thank you as always for your work jessica! 💖
I saw an absurd ad on the subway last week that promised to "elevate inner confidence"... through liposuction and eyelid surgery. So so sad.
that is really sad, i hate seeing ads like that it’s so manipulative and exploitative 😐
It’s so sad. It feels so blatantly manipulative for me but of course we know people fall for it 😢
Your point on beauty products and sex is SO not a reach for me. This line: "We look “sexier” than ever and are having less sex than ever… It just seems suspicious is all I’m saying!!"
This rings so true for me. I struggle with this in my own relationship - I work so hard to look 'perfect' yet I don't want anyone to touch me... what's that all about?!
I also got a free sample of "Better than Sex" mascara with a Sephora purchase the other day and was incensed. Now THAT is a reach...
I do have to say that the mascara IS better than some of the sex I’ve had. 😂
LOL. I will have to try my sample!! In for a wild night ...
"I work so hard to look 'perfect' yet I don't want anyone to touch me" You just put a feeling into words that I haven't been able to articulate. Thank you!
A key rule of marketing is presumably that consumers should either want to eat it, fuck it, or remove stains with it. Everything fits at least one category.
All at once! Fuck the donut! Be the donut!!!
“be stain-free like the donut!!!!” and it’s ultimately like....i don’t want to be a donut.
Speaking of the donut, I got an ad recently for "glazed donut hair" and thought of this Substack. These are not my goals.
idek what glazed donut hair would mean companies are literally just making insecurities up 😭😭
Why is it that every celebrity now has a beauty line? I was a 90s kid & can remember when a beauty line meant a celebrity was well-past the prime of their career.
I still associate it with celebrtity retirement!
Thanks for naming names. I always wonder where your inbox poems come from and which companies are plugging these bizarro products.
I’m beginning to think they all now exist to push your buttons Jessica because the absurdity has become ridiculous. Carry on you precious beauty culture queen carry on. 😘
i’ve been getting a bunch of ads on reddit about alicia keys being “the literal face of the #NoMakeUp movement” that i always scrolled past, so i guess now i know what they’re about. what a weird intro for an ad about her new makeup line
yeah i figured the ads were just talking about her decision to stop wearing makeup and maybe trying to get others to join in, def did not expect it’d be promoting her makeup brand lol so strange
I was a ‘70’s kid. That’s right - I could probably your grandma. All I ever used was a bar of soap, a washcloth, and maybe some Suave lotion on my face. I proudly wear my makeup-free face.
Me too! When did it become taboo to use soap and a washcloth to clean your face? It's unheard of these days, at least by women. There are now so many holy potions for cleaning one's face. I think I have pretty darn good skin for my age, and I also don't touch makeup.
There’s also that “invisibility of the older woman” thing. I love it! I go out to do my errands makeup-free, hair in a messy bun, and it’s so freeing! I sincerely hope the young ladies don’t buy all that unnecessary stuff.
Yup. I have a very wise friend who once said to me: "You don't owe beauty to anyone." It's very liberating when you let go of the need to fulfill society's expectations of "beauty." I wish younger women could stop being so concerned about their appearance. We all like to feel attractive, but we don't "owe" it to anyone.
Absolutely this! ❤️
They will all grow old all too soon…. And they won’t have the mental fortitude we Gen Xers do
Barb, respectfully, pitting women against each other because of generation and self-proclaimed "mental fortitude" can most charitably be interpreted as condescension and least charitably as you waiting with bated breath for younger women to be emotionally broken by the inevitable loss in the war against aging.
this just made me miss washcloths...
You need to chat with my MIL. She is OBSESSED with them to the point that she will chase down hotel room cleaners with their trolleys and ask for 20 washcloths (she uses one once and then into the wash it goes)!!. She also travels with Lysol in her suitcase so *shrug*
Haha that is amazing. They make me feel nostalgic and cozy! Traveling w Lysol on the other hand.. 🤣
Does anyone have any other recommendations for articles (here or otherwise) or books that talk about the growing connection between spirituality/religion & beauty?
I just started Self-Made by Tara Isabella Burton and there's some overlap in there! It's not specifically beauty-focused but still very useful for understanding the beauty/religion relationship:
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/tara-isabella-burton/self-made/9781541789012/?lens=publicaffairs
Sweet, thank you so much!
Hi Jess, didn’t you once post a link to an article about how everyone is beautiful but no one is having sex?
Yesss I got carried away with my rant lol, I think I more so meant like "it's a stretch to say naming this mascara primer 'foreplay' is part of the problem" but it didn't come across that way. This is the article: https://bloodknife.com/everyone-beautiful-no-one-horny/
My post next week -- precipitated by a NYT story unrelated to appearance-- is about inner beauty (the real kind). But maybe I was also prompted unconsciously by the pr you mention? Hope not. xo
I think your Substack is the best one I've ever subscribed to. I'm a non-binary person who grew up socialized as female (born in the 90s) in the US and, though I grew up very "tomboy" and was often actually mistaken for a boy for much of my adolescence (and I was into it!), in high school and college, I was obsessed with YT makeup tutorials. I couldn't walk into a Sephora without buying like $100 worth of stuff, and I also couldn't *really* afford it as a broke college scholarship student. Once I realized I was non-binary, and I was performing gender -- and so obsessed with beauty in part because I realized "performing high femme" was one of the ways I felt like I was "being a woman the right way" -- my whole sense of identity and use for makeup changed. It brought me joy, sometimes, but it largely brought me anxiety and financial distress. I now don't wear makeup of any kind because I've realized I want financial/mental/physical permission to just be an undecorated human body who prioritizes things that benefit *me*. (I do have privileges that make that easier, like being white, still sort of young, and having naturally fairly unblemished skin, and I know it would be harder if those things weren't true.) Your Substack validates all of the anxiety and rage I struggled to sort out around the beauty industry - I was so bought into it, and I hated it, and I felt trapped by it - and I find the way you write, so intersectionally, (unfortunately) rare in today's media. Thank you for your work.
Re: Too Faced's "Better Than Sex" Mascara.
I've definitely had better.
This is so horrifying 😭 and I think you’re definitely on to something about the less sex & feeling sexier bit
There’s a reason why some people want less/no sex in movies because it isn’t “important” to the plot and actively avoid it!🤦
The quote from Walter Benjamin says it all.
Love the harsh light. If anyone actually cared if products work or what they do - it would be commoditized, effective and affordable. The US is in for a harsh awakening in the next five year.