the cult of beauty and wellness

“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

That said, it’s hard not to notice the irony of obsessively purchasing and using these products. The amount of times a person feels they need to reapply or restock on lip gloss seems to undermine their exact purpose of keeping your lips moisturized for long periods. Beauty columnist Jessica DeFino explored this paradox in February in response to a ... See more

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

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

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

“We’ve heard of the ‘lipstick effect theory’ in culture, where sales in affordable luxuries, like lip products, skyrocket in times of economic distress,” she says. “These small ‘treats,’ if you will, bring a big impact physically and emotionally.”

Admitting that the motivation behind losing weight is to look better first and that health is a secondary concern feels in part like betraying a sacred liberal feminist covenant that insists we must love ourselves the way we are.