the cult of beauty and wellness

Today’s Abercrombie has replaced that fantasy with a humble practicality, offering a reasonably priced uniform for the TikTok-adjacent life where every outfit is familiar but unidentifiable, minimalist but just trendy enough. The result is less a rebranding than an unbranding, untethered from any particular aesthetic. And yet this iteration of Aber... See more

This year, the global beauty industry is projected to generate more than $600 billion in revenue, with an 8 percent rise among teen and tween consumers alone. (Whether a 12-year-old actually needs a “visibly firming,” $48 Brazilian Bum Bum Cream is another story.)

On social media, the fitness journey is rarely the purview of men. Instead, it is a deliberate repackaging of weight loss, adding an emotional element.To carve out a new body from the one that previously served you is good for the physical but also for the mental. You will be fine, of course, if you live in the body you currently inhabit, but would... See more

Right now, Gen Z seems to be experiencing a collective crisis over looking old, which has resulted in an interest in so-calledanti-aging skincare for many tweens. That said, it’s not a surprise that young people are running to lip products that offer color and a sheen but promise dermatological benefits. “The fusion of skincare benefits with tradit... See more

“Hot girl food” is about a sense of romanticizing simplicity; like the act of cracking open a can of smoked fish, “hot girl food” is seemingly effortless. But of course, even the things that are portrayed to us as “effortless” require effort; this is the myth of “no makeup” makeup, or the “effortless dinner party” that can be flung together with ba... See more

We all know that beauty trends are cyclical. The popular matte trend of the 2010s has been overtaken by the recent desire for ultra-shiny lips, an obvious resurgence of the makeup looks from the ’90s and early 2000s, when Lancome’s Juicy Tubes and Mac Lipglass were all the rage. For many lip-gloss enthusiasts, purchasing and reapplying these produc... See more