We have lift off! Welcome to Starving for Beauty

“What we really need are content destroyers” @hipearlrose

It’s finally happening! I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a newsletter for a few years now but I wanted to do it with a friend and the two I asked both said no :(  So I shelved the idea. But I got the itch again and I asked my friend Anne-Marie Guarnieri to be my wing woman and to my delight, she was like, yeah bitch. 

That time AMG made me breakfast in her Manhattan apartment, June 2023

I met AMG years ago in NYC when we were both working at magazines and reporting on backstage beauty at NYFW. She was one of the only American editors who was warm and welcoming (a lot of them looked at you with disdain if you tried to speak to them) and we hit it off immediately. Neither of us are beauty editors anymore–I am freelance (sad trombone) and she works for a beauty brand—but we still follow the industry and have LOTS of opinions.

We frequently message each other on Instagram about them, like how the packaging of Prada Beauty is just so utterly disappointing. Because we are also Gen X and therefore middle aged, we are banging our cane and yelling at the clouds a LOT. [AMG Note: And also, women in this age bracket are utterly overlooked by the entire traditional media establishment and most of the mainstream beauty world! But then again, being ignored is v Gen X. We are nothing if not on brand.] So I thought, why not bring these opinions and conversations to a newsletter? We also share a lot of music in common: a bit of shoegaze, a bit of Britpop and a whole lot of 90s. And because “content creators” have changed the media landscape forevermore, we’ve decided we need to be “content destroyers” hence the quote used above.

So we’ll mostly be talking about beauty (and beauty adjacent people) but also music, and while there may not be a marketing-friendly Venn diagram where there’s a demo of readers who wanna know what’s a great cleansing balm, why “mob wife beauty” is stupid, and what’s a cool band you should check out, we don’t care. This is the zine we want to do in our 50s and zines can be whatever you want them to be. But because we also miss the glory days of mags, we’re structuring this in a similar fashion, like with regular sections. And we’re calling it Starving for Beauty–the same name I use for my shoegaze radio show–because it still works. [AMG Note: And also, a riff on an iconic quote from the late, great Andre Leon Talley.]  We are constantly on the hunt for beauty in our lives, whether that’s a really rad lipstick or a song that we need to hear on loop. We’ll aim to do this monthly but because we are Gen-X, it’s likely we will be slackers. Ok that’s our pitch. Byyyyye. —LH 

Cheryl! I asked her not to get all Beyoncé about her photo.

THE SAME 5 QUESTIONS WE ALWAYS ASK
A concept we are directly stealing from Jane Magazine, which used it to interview celebrities. We’re only stealing two of the questions though.

In a world where now everyone is a beauty “expert”, how do you know who you should really listen to? We will tell you. First we must travel back in time children, because things used to be a lot different. Tik Tok didn’t exist, the beauty looks on runways mattered and people knew who Pat McGrath was. There were beauty editors walking among us and some were writing really amazing, well reported stories.

That brings us to Cheryl Wischhover, who used to be a nurse practitioner and switched careers to become a reporter covering fashion and then the beauty industry. I first noticed her bylines on the new defunct website Racked (still online) such as a piece on Obsessive Complusive Cosmetics who also no longer exist but had a product called Lip Tar that I was absolutely obsessed with. [AMG Note: OMG OCC Lip Tar, I miss it so. The demise of that brand was so weird and abrupt.] She also did some deep reporting on the late Brandon Truaxe, the founder of Deciem. [AMG Note: Her coverage on Brandon/Deciem was so good.] She then started writing for Business of Fashion but these days prefers birding, weight lifting and “part time hyperlocal retail and human interest reporting in NYC”. —LH 

What secret urge do you get but never act on?
To tell random strangers that I hate their outfits. [LH Note: ME TOO]

Who is on your celebs to make out with list?
In the '70s/'80s: Harrison Ford (LH Note: Hell yes]. Han Solo was my sexual awakening, even if I didn't quite know what I was feeling the first time I saw his cocky insouciance in this scene.

In every decade: Keanu Reeves. If you need an explanation for this, I can't help you.

What do you consider beauty snake oil?
When this question came to me, Lesa and AMG gave me "eyelid primer" as an example of a category I could hate on. Excuse me, this is a useful product!!! I use it (Hourglass Veil Eye Primer) all the time when I need eye shadow to stick on my crepey and yet somehow also greasy lids. [AMG Note: OK, fair. Maybe *I* hate it because I don’t like any of them, but I will try this one.] It's great with both powder and cream/stick shadow, which is what I mostly use. Shout out to Charlotte Tilbury's Eyes To Mesmerize.

But back to the question. Since I'm one of the first people to answer this here, I'm going to go for the low-hanging fruit: neck cream. What a scam. Please know in general that no cream can combat wrinkles and loose skin, which is essentially what a middle-aged neck is dealing with. I'll admit I've used them and even recommended some, delusionally. But now at the age of 53, I'm here to tell you definitively they don't do shit. I'm sorry if you ever bought one because of me. Just use the same moisturizer that you use on your face. As a runner-up and sort of related, I'm offended by the condescending marketing of all the so-called "menopause beauty brands." Yes, I want brands to take older women into account and to market to us with appropriately aged models and non-cringey social media. But products like Vag of Honor and Let's Neck are not it.

What beauty product do you re-buy. Like you likely received free at one point but it's so amazing so you will pay for it now

It smells DIVINE.

I’m sorry to report that Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum is fantastic. [AMG Note: Dammit, Cheryl! But it’s true.] First of all, it’s an oil, not a serum, at least texturally. I’ve tried so many face oils, and a lot of them honestly feel like gooey olive oil or smell terrible. This one smells great and as an occlusive layer, it is never skin-smothering. I reserve it for the winter because it’s rich, and a few drops goes a long way. I buy one bottle a year and either mix it in with Cerave Moisturizing Cream or use it as a last layer on top of whatever I’m using.

What's your beauty media diet? 
I went on a bit of a beauty news moratorium for a while because I was tired of everything about the industry and needed a break. I got rid of a lot of subscriptions, including for publications that I used to write for. But I can't resist the gossip, and I love to know when brands get acquired. I follow Kirbie Johnson on IG religiously (she also has a newsletter and a podcast ) for intel on new brands and products, and for celeb/influencer-adjacent beauty news. And I try to read everything my former Business of Fashion colleague Rachel Strugatz writes. She and my former Fashionista editor (and the reason I had a career as a beauty journalist) Lauren Sherman do fantastically juicy and newsy beauty and fashion dispatches for a newsletter called Line Sheet via Puck, which I subscribe to.

ANNOYING BUT EFFECTIVE
Things we love, things that work, things you should try, but they’re kind of a PITA

L’Oreal 8 Second Wonder Water: Have you ever desired a hair product that turns freakishly warm in your very hands AS you’re applying it AND smells like Watermelon Four Loko? No? Welp, I hate to break it to you, but if you want shinier, less-frizzy hair, from the comfort of your shower, in literal seconds, you’re going to have to ignore the sensory assault that comes with using this and trust the process. Wonder Water, in the simplest terms, is not a conditioner. You use it 2-3 times a week in place of your regular conditioner. It’s also not so much a treatment (like a hair mask) or even, technically, water? (Water is like, the 5th ingredient.) Basically, it’s made with lamellars, amino acids and lipids that bind to weak spots in your hair (e.g., thin, dry, damaged areas), and fill them in, which makes hair look bouncier, glossier, and smoother. 

ANNOYING: The application part is kind of clunky–the bottle has a nozzle (LH Note: and a tiny cap for said nozzle which always drops in the shower and is just an annoying piece of plastic, ugh), and you squeeze out a recommended amount; there are suggestions based on your hair length and type printed on the bottle. It is a real crapshoot to see, WHILE you’re using it, how much you’re using, especially if you don’t have the best vision. Then you massage it through your hair for 8 seconds and rinse it out. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well hold on, because the massaging motion activates (???) the lamellars and creates heat, which, if you aren’t expecting it, is frankly kind of startling. It’s not unlike when you crack open a hand warmer. L’Oreal’s own explanation for this is more or less, “That’s how you know it’s working!!” (It bothers me less now, but YMMV.) 

And then there’s the SMELL. I am a hair-product-fragrance obsessive. If you don’t have a frame of reference for Watermelon Four Loko, you probably never spent any time at the McKibben Lofts and have a gorgeous liver. Other references: Watermelon Jolly Ranchers, Watermelon Little Trees, spring break regrets, etc. This scent does not fit in my life.

EFFECTIVE: This allegedly works on a wide range of hair types. From reviews I have read, it seems to be true? I have fine, curly hair, that also used to be damaged from frequent bleaching, but I said fuck it all to that during the pandemic and entered my Miranda Priestly era. However, my texture is still prone to frizz, especially during New York’s gnarly summer months. This…stuff obliterates all traces of frizz and dullness, and the effect lasts for a few days between washes. It doesn’t weigh down my curls, because it’s not a cream or a lotion. The smell doesn’t linger at all, thank the lord—for me to keep using Wonder Water despite its aroma should tell you how good it is. And it’s $10.99! I KNOW. Could be annoying: Whether that’s a good value depends on how much you use it, which also depends greatly on your hair length. Typically, I only reach for it during warmer weather or in the weeks leading up to a haircut when my ends are looking rough. But if you used it regularly, you could for sure blow through the 6.8 ounce bottle in a few weeks. — AMG

LOVE NOTES
Truly special scents made by people who actually know what they’re doing. This is a dupe-free zone.

During the peak Jenna Lyons years (sequins + chinos = bliss) at J.Crew, the retailer expanded into fragrance with two: No. 57 Whiskey on The Rocks and No. 31 Plum Rose Cocktail. Created with fragrance developer Carlos Huber, both scents were inspired by American art collector Peggy Guggenheim’s West 57th Street art gallery. “I found out that Peggy’s gallery held the first all women’s exhibition in the world in the 1940s,” says Huber when asked by email. “It was a very cool avant-garde space on 57th, where the gallery walls were covered in curved wood panels, and the art focused on colourful, abstract-expressionist, and surrealist paintings.” No. 57 represents the gallery itself with notes of cedar wood, oak, cinnamon, vanilla and whiskey and No 31 embodies the artists and cocktails served at the opening. It smells of damson plum, rose, champagne and red vermouth.

When I sniffed them back in 2014, I immediately adored both. My bottles from then are long since dead, and I assumed the scents ceased to exist in the same way Jenna’s influence on the clothes at Crew has long since departed. [AMG Note: If you’re in the NYC Metro Area, I recently donated the last of my Jenna-era J.Crew stuff to Housing Works. If you want some cashmere sweatshirts and that iconic camo windbreaker, be on the lookout!] But lo and behold, Arquiste STILL sells them! And even more incredibly, they still sell very well. “I think they’re a bit ‘cult’,” says Huber. “And I have plans to incorporate one of them into the main Arquiste collection. More on that soon.” Carlos, you know how to reach us….. —LH 

SFB RECORD CLUB
What we’re listening to as we try to live our best lives.

Lesa

Song: “Aro” by Sunstinger. Full disclosure: I provide the spoken word on this song that starts at the 1:30 mark. BUT even if I didn’t, I would still have this on repeat. They’re a Scottish band that’s equally noisy and melodic and I just don’t understand how they don’t have a bigger following. (I’ve played them on my radio show so we are friendly, and they asked me to do the spoken word, in case you're wondering how that all happened)

Song: Eliminator Jr. by Sonic Youth. I never really got into SY in the 90s. I love “Swimsuit Issue” from Dirty but the singles never really grabbed me so I never delved further. But I’ve always respected Kim Gordon; I read her memoir which in turn made Thurston Moore dead to me forever. (Dude, you don’t respect a legend like Kim like that.) [AMG Note: HARD AGREE.] But when AMG said she was digging Kim’s new single, I thought I owed it to the septuagenarian to give SY another chance. And I’m starting to get it now. “Theresa’s Sound-World” is a banger but this song? Damn. Immediately added to my cycling playlist. 

Album: Torrey, Torrey. A lovely mix of shoegaze and melodic jangle pop, Torrey’s second album is their first on Slumberland Records, a label I’ve faithfully followed since the 90s for having bands like Henry’s Dress, The Ropers and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. Three songs in, I was hooked and kept hitting repeat. 

AMG

Podcast: One Song, hosted by Diallo Riddle and Blake “Luxxury” Robin:
If you have spent any time on music TikTok, you know Luxxury as the guy who whispers, “INTERPOLATION” before proceeding to break down the sample origins of a given song. It’s mind-bending stuff. At any rate, One Song is truly for the nerds who care about not just sampling, but also what instruments/pedals/amps etc. were used to get specific sounds and other related granular info. I barely know what they’re talking about! But the Madonna “Get into the Groove” episode is what got me hooked. 

Song: “BYE BYE,” by Kim Gordon: It feels weird to compare this iteration of Gordon to early-2000s Brooklyn darlings Sleigh Bells, but if you liked “Infinity Guitars,” you will probably also like “BYE BYE.” It has that same noisy, propulsive vibe, while underneath it, Gordon intones about mundane, everyday things like packing and her to-do list (“Sleeping pills, sneakers, boots, black dress, white tee, turtleneck, iBook, power cord, medications, button down, laptop…YSL, Eckhaus Latta, eyelash curler, vibrator, teaser, bye bye, bye bye”). Relatable.

Album: Roseland NYC Live, by Portishead: One of my biggest life regrets was that I never saw this band in its prime. Largely that was because I suspect they never toured Ohio, which is where I was living in 1998 when this was recorded. Or if they did, I didn’t know about it! How did you know about any cool shows in the 90s? You either had a plugged-in cool friend, or you saw something in your local alt weekly. This was one of those bands that meant A LOT to me, and I burnt myself out on everything they ever recorded. Revisiting it now, it’s just as potent, just as innovative as it sounded 26 (!) years ago.