The Beauty Culture Edit #1

Here's a digestible selection of beauty culture news on my radar right now...

Anyone else feeling a tad overwhelmed at the moment between the constant bad/sad news cycles and Tik Tok ads? If you’re just looking for a few new things to read/watch/enjoy/think about, here’s a short selection from beauty culture (and the wider world) that I’ve felt enjoyed recently. And a couple I really haven’t….

THE GOOD STUFF

Queen of the Tradwives….model Nara Smith.

1.LISTEN TO: You’re Wrong About - Tradwife Rises
After listening to this episode of You’re Wrong About, I sent it to about ten friends - it was that good. I love this podcast anyway, but this episode in particular so insightful on the rise of tradwife culture on social media (above). Tradwives - put simply - believe in and practice traditional sex roles and marriages with women staying at home to raise children homemaking role within their marriage. The episode explores the rise of tradwives as a reaction to ‘girl boss/hustle’ culture, and examines other interlinked ideas on modern feminism, pre rights womanhood and touches on what their ‘aesthetic’ is really selling us. Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Could this season of Bridgerton be the best yet?

2.WATCH: Bridgerton season 3 because Nicola Coughlan is a legend
During a recent post-screening Q&A with Bridgerton actor Nicola Coughlan (who plays Penelope Featherington) a journalist remarked that Coughlan was ‘very brave’ to bare her body onscreen for the role. She replied, “You know, it is hard ’cause I think women with my body type, women with perfect breasts—we do not see ourselves onscreen enough…I am very proud as a member of the perfect-breasts community. I hope you enjoy seeing them.”

Sometimes comments like these speak of the interviewer’s own insecurities, but often they’re thinly veiled beauty standards that are levelled at people who don’t fit the beauty standard to take them down a peg or two. It was a brilliant retort, but the one thing I keep thinking about is whether it was fully off the cuff - she’s funny, smart and witty so that’s not out of the question. But I also wonder whether the PR team at Netflix had prepped her for comments on her appearance which I think is very likely - and a sad reflection on how far we have to go in terms of body inclusivity. Either way, Nicola is brilliant in the show and off it.

Such a good read!

3.READ: Conde Nast Traveller:  “Wearing eyeliner is the ritual that connects me to my heritage…”
I’m slightly biassed as I commissioned this feature, but Zahra Hankir, author of Eyeliner: A Cultural History, writes so beautifully about the role of eyeliner across the globe as a cultural and subcultural practice and what that represents. This is just a small snippet of some of the topics she uncovers, alongside her own experiences, and it’s fascinating stuff - I learnt a lot reading it.

Would you shop here?

4.VISIT: Selfridges has revamped the beauty hall in London
Honestly I find the majority of beauty halls very off putting and overwhelming. They’re noisy, garishly-lit, busy and are a neurodivergent nightmare. Selfridges has just overhauled the main beauty hall with lower ceilings so it feels a bit more intimate, lighting that’s been chosen for the best shade matching results and the best part for me is that there’s a new quiet hour 10-11am across the whole store, every Wednesday so those with sensory issues can shop more comfortably. I mean, I’d just ban all music in shops and cafes personally, but that’s just me. ;) I think it’s a nice move, but also serves as a little nudge to all brands and stores to think about their neurodivergent customers much more.  

BEST.BLUSH.EVER

5.BUY: Milk Water Jelly Tint Blushes
It’s astounding how regularly I’m sent blushes that barely show up on dark skin, show up way too much and look clowny, or just seem to last five minutes before disappearing. In the past I’ve layered cream plush with powder blush over the top which is a laborious endeavour, but I can honestly tell you that these pigmented gel blushes are incredible. They last all day, show up on all skin tones and are pigmented but not so much that the blush wears you. The translucent finish means it looks really natural too. Obsessed doesn’t come close…

DON’T BOTHER WITH…

With the good (above) comes the bad (below…)

Queenie, utterly underwhelming.

1.Queenie - on Hulu and Channel 4
I was expecting great things from showrunner Candice Carty-Williams’s novel on the screen, but was really disappointed. I felt it lacked depth, humour, pace and didn’t feel fresh or new in any way, which is such a missed opportunity. This review in The Guardian nails it: “Queenie’s wildest shenanigans would make for decent dinner party chat, but they cannot sustain decent television. It also becomes increasingly unclear who this show is trying to appeal to. Its depictions of Black womanhood are so basic that it is hard to imagine Black female audiences being impressed by its insights…this broad approach feels like a big step backwards.” 

Panic-inducing headlines without the science

2.The new research on tattoos and cancer
The attention grabbing headline is that there’s a newish (2021) study on a potential link between tattoos and a type of cancer called malignant lymphoma making news headlines.

Researchers from Lund University studied 12,000 people in Sweden and using population registries, they identified everyone who was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma between 2007 and 2017 which was almost  3,000 people. They then matched them with a group of the same age and gender who didn’t have cancer, asked both about different lifestyle factors and identified that the risk of malignant lymphoma was 21% higher among those who had at least one tattoo. But, they didn’t find any evidence to suggest that there was an increased risk if the person had more tattoos. One of the study authors suggested that it could be that tattoos trigger a low-grade inflammation in the body which could trigger cancer.

So here’s where we need to interject. This isn’t a proven ‘link’ - it’s a single study finding and another smaller study in 2023 found that there was no link between tattooing and cancer. This study is also very likely to have been done on mostly caucasian skins. From what I can tell, other factors that are linked to this kind of cancer, like some immune suppressing medications, secondhand smoke, some viruses like HIV and Epstein-Barr infection and chemicals like pesticides, haven’t been studied as a cross reference on the group. Other experts are saying this is too anecdotal and more studies would need to be done before it’s anywhere near concrete evidence. So don’t panic.

One stupidly named trend too far HB

3.Aperol Spritz beauty
Maybe this is just me being a cranky old Millenial goth, but I find the internet’s beauty trend cycle quite galling at the best of times but particularly when a trend is given a stupid name like glazed doughnuts, latte make-up, mermaid aesthetic - the list is endless. You’ll be hearing Aperol Spritz as a trend a lot because (famous for nothing….) Hayley Bieber coined it….to coincide with a make-up launch for her beauty brand Rhode, that is. So maybe I should say her marketing team coined it and then she just said it. (CONSPIRACY THEORY ALERT.)

Either way, this is essentially peachy orange and coral make-up which I am actually down with. I just hate the dumb way trends are created and reported about now without questioning motives or legitimacy because everyone is just chasing clicks. If you want to do orange make-up then go for it, and maybe rename it something else. Irn Bru beauty? Cheetos beauty? Traffic cone beauty? The world of orange make-up is yours to name something totally daft…