When the Revolution Comes, These Lipsticks Won’t Save Us
AMG asks: Who wants a lipstick inspired by the tanking of our reproductive rights? Plus: A TikTok beauty trend that Lesa already embraced! And can somebody explain "competitive research" to Gwyneth P?
When the Revolution Comes, These Lipsticks Won’t Save Us
We All Lose When Beauty Brands Pay Lip Service To Serious Issues
I spend A LOT of time thinking about beauty product names—largely because I’m paid to do that, but also as a longtime consumer and critic of these things. I would argue that having a well-named product is maybe more important than the product itself. NARS Orgasm is a good shade, but nobody would care about it nearly as much if it were called “Peach Climax.” (Don’t steal that name, Tom Ford Beauty!) When I say “Vamp,” you have an immediate association with it. Same with Pillow Talk, Ruby Woo, Kitten, Lincoln Park After Dark, and on and on.
Names mean something—that’s why I did a double-take when I saw the launch of Sarah Creal Beauty’s new Speak for Yourself lipstick collection. Some of the shades gave me pause: Invisible Labor, Pay Equity, Pink Tax, Double Standard, and most jarringly, Red v. Wade. You know, a play on Roe v. Wade, which was gutted via the Dobbs decision in 2022.
Quick backstory on Creal: She was the product developer behind the first iteration of Prada Beauty in the 90s (rad) (LH note: extremely rad, especially in comparison to how L’Oreal has shit the bed with the relaunch.), and Victoria Beckham’s original collaboration with Estee Lauder. She continued working on Victoria Beckham Beauty (phenomenal) (LH note: agree it’s phenomenal and a brand I feel is aimed at the 40+ without explicitly saying so) until she left in 2022, and developed her own brand. It launched this year with a focus on consumers over 40, whom the brand refers to as “babes” (not for me, but okay), and recently rolled out to Sephora. (Full disclosure: Sarah Creal Beauty sent Lesa and me a few things to try from the collection, and they’re generally fine. We haven’t tried the lipsticks—those came out recently.)
The creative for Speak for Yourself is an exercise in cognitive dissonance: Here’s a range of $50 lipsticks aimed at women 40+, inspired by and named in part after economic and other disparities women face every day. The shades are merchandised, both on site and in Sephora, alongside a diverse casting of age-appropriate models, which is great to see. But there’s no way they could have known they’d be laughing and smizing on a product page for a lipstick called Invisible Labor. And honestly, how SHOULD they look? Sad? Concerned? Angry? No ma’am! The show must go on—those Sephora gondolas don’t pay for themselves. The less-incendiary names in the collection are still not my faves: Mansplain, SHE.E.O. (ugh), Sugar Mama, Main Character, and Madam President (sigh). My beef with those is that they read like holdovers from the Girl Boss era, not for a brand that claims to meet the “higher needs of women 40+.”
Creal has done some specific IG posts about the collection, referencing empowerment, wearing a Lingua Franca “Madam President” sweater, and voicing her support for Kamala Harris in the upcoming US election. But aside from a modest charitable initiative for Red v. Wade (the brand donates 15% of the shade’s net sales to Planned Parenthood), there is no additional educational component in the copy on the brand’s site about why that matters—or why ANY of this matters. That feels like a missed opportunity. Maybe there’s a broader messaging campaign coming, maybe they’re looking into lobbying, etc. etc. However, in our current political climate, Speak for Yourself as a concept feels, at best, underdeveloped, and at worst, hackneyed.
In complete transparency, I hesitated even writing this. I wrote something like, five drafts before sharing it with Lesa and talking it through. (How lucky I am to have an actual editor!) I wanted to be sure I wasn’t punching down, especially because I DO appreciate that Sarah Creal Beauty is acknowledging my age group’s existence. Also, in many respects, it is still a niche, relatively unknown brand. But now that it’s entered Sephora, the game has changed. Sephora means scaling, growing, having a big platform. My thought process was: On the one hand, at least this brand is attempting to do SOMETHING good with Speak for Yourself! But on the other, the execution is so disjointed that I’m not sure the good even makes it to the surface.
So while I have tried to make sense of what I believe was a good-faith attempt at drawing attention to these inequities, what I keep coming back to is that women, the literal core audience for this whole thing, already know. WE FUCKING KNOW. (Maybe they want to send a couple hundred samples of Pay Equity to some dudes in the US Senate? Because why would I want to wear it?) And Red v. Wade—the brand bizarrely refers to it, a $50 beauty product, as “a movement for women's choice.” That doesn’t feel like a choice or a movement. It feels empty, depressing—like, THIS is what we get in the year of our lord 2024 while our health care options are being whittled away? We get a nice-looking, expensive blue-red lipstick, shown on a chic model with very good cheekbones. If that’s what meeting the higher needs of my generation looks like, speak for yourself, seriously. — AMG
I STOPPED WEARING BLACK MASCARA DAILY YEARS AGO
My hate-on for beauty trends born on TikTok is well documented. Often that is because they are straight up idiotic (‘sunburnt makeup’ are you f-ing kidding me?) and/or have no connection to what’s going on in the real world (mob wife beauty was just so…random). Oh and because the media (those that are left in this tire fire of an industry) then has to take it seriously and report on it like it’s legit for the love of god. But when I read about the latest one—the death of black mascara–I have to say that I nodded in agreement. That’s because I was already on board with it going back over ten years.
In 2013, I remember reading that some makeup artists at NYFW were forgoing mascara at a few of the shows. Diane Kendal, James Kaliardos, even Charlotte Tilbury the woman who loves to pile it on, were giving it a miss. Instead she and Kendal were opting for thin black cream liner to create definition at the lash line whereas Kaliardos was leaving eyes bare. “A lot of designers and stylists think mascara looks 'commercial,'' Kaliardos said at the time to Into The Gloss. “They've said that a lot: 'No no no no no mascara!' They're really strongly adamant about that.’” I marinated on the idea of it being commercial and could see their point. I also think stylists and designers are the ones who push forward a new idea. And even if it seems weird at first, our eyes start to adjust. (Like suddenly we are all wearing culottes or barrel leg jeans). The fact that absurdly full, fake lash strips were starting to be seen everywhere on the street in broad daylight also put me off and made mascara feel pedestrian.
That season, I was also home with a newborn so the thought of wearing any makeup was just not a priority. But as I eased back into being myself and returning to the outside world, I still didn’t care about returning to mascara. The additional reason was because it's a pain in the ass to remove at night. Besides wetting a cotton pad with micellar water to wipe it off, sometimes there are, ugh, weird strings of product that migrate inside your eye and you have to pull them out with your finger. [AMG note: Okay, but hear me out — TUBING MASCARA lolol] It was another incentive to be done with it. I just wanted to wash my face, do my skincare and go to bed.
Eleven years on, I do wear it from time to time (my fave for the last few years has been Ilia Limitless Lash) but it will never be a daily thing like it used to be. And Diane Kendal is still downplaying lashes as evidenced by what she did for Spring 2024 shows. I also recently watched the Kate Winslet movie Lee about photographer Lee Miller, and in a few scenes before she heads off to WWII and is meeting with British Vogue editor Audrey Withers, I noticed them both wearing a bright, saturated lip colour with bare eyes (sadly, my photo research yielded no images of them) and I just loved how it looked, thus reaffirming my rejection of daily mascara. —LH
(Disclaimer: I still adore the look in a 60s context, and when paired with bottom lashes like Twiggy, be still my heart)
Not AGAIN, GP!
The old chestnut founder story of “I couldn’t find what I wanted so I had to make it” immediately makes me tune out and walk away especially because it is so often applied to things that have little to no difference to what already exists on the market. [AMG Note: Srsly, if you saw our texts about this, you would worry about our collective blood pressure ahahahaha] It’s the line of reasoning Gwyneth Paltrow almost always leans on when introducing a new product to Goop Beauty. Most recently, it was this regarding the new mascara in an IG reel: “I have searched high and low for a really wonderfully performing clean mascara and I could not find one…” OH COME ON.
What makes her reasoning even worse is that she sells plenty of other competing brands on her site. Ones that presumably were…. part of her high and low search? So, she deems them worthy enough to sell on goop.com yet at the same time thinks they actually suck so much she had to make her own? OK, just checking. —LH
What we’re listening to as we try to live our best lives.
AMG’s Picks
Single: Matthew Sweet, “Sick of Myself”
A friend alerted me to the recent news that 90’s power-pop genius Matthew Sweet had a massive stroke while on his current tour, and is in not great shape. His team posted a GoFundMe to help with expenses related to his medical care and what looks like a long road of treatment and rehabilitation. Sweet’s music was a major part of the soundtrack to my teens—this song, from his 1995 album 100% Fun, is a personal favorite. I used to sing it at the top of my lungs while cleaning up after my night shift in my co-op dorm’s snack bar. Wishing him a complete recovery.
Video: Sturgill Simpson’s cover of “Purple Rain.”
If you are familiar with Simpson, you know he does great covers. His version of When In Rome’s “The Promise,” a song I ADORE (LH note: ME TOO) that I didn’t think could be improved on, tweaks the original’s New Wave perfection and turns it into a smoke-filled lament of regret. Simpson is currently on tour, and last month in LA he delivered his take on “Purple Rain,” a cover that could go REALLY wrong. It starts out with a Prince by way of Pink Floyd face-melting guitar solo, then settles into a pretty faithful rendition, one that our dearly beloved Purple One would probably appreciate (ignore the terrible audience participation near the end).
Radio Stations: East Village Radio and The Lot Radio
I don’t know about you, but I find discovery of new music to be kind of difficult in the streaming era. There has been a lot of discourse on music social media about why this is. (Record Club favorite Derrick Gee has done some deep dives on why Spotify is such a drag these days.) So if you’re feeling bored, may I suggest Internet Radio? I know! It feels like a complete throwback. But what’s fun about these stations is that you’re getting human-curated selections of music, across many genres, each time you tune in.
Lesa’s Picks
Album: Mo Dotti—Opaque
If you loved Lush before they tried to keep up with current tastes and went Britpop in 1996, check out this Los Angeles quartet. Mastered by Ride’s Mark Gardener, their first full length album is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve heard this year. It’s noisy but pretty dream pop, all swirling in your ears with the beautiful vocals of Gina Negrini floating on top.
Album: Humdrum—Every Heaven
Sometimes I really struggle to describe music so when I saw this on Threads in reference to Humdrum’s new album, I had to steal it: “like the bastard child of Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Run/Side A of Brotherhood New Order”. I definitely see the POBPAH (please go listen to their song “Gentle Sons” now and agree with me that it sounds like it should be on a John Hughes soundtrack) comparison and if you love that kind of poppy, jangly vibe/Sarah Records influence, this will so be your jam.
Single: “Across That Fine Line”—Nation of Language
If you have any kind of soft spot for 80s synth, then you have NO excuse for not listening to Brooklyn's Nation of Language. The three piece has been going strong since 2020 and I just saw them for the third time; they are SO GOOD LIVE. This song was their encore, which I made my tired, middle aged ass stay for and it did not disappoint. If you don’t feel compelled to dance when the chorus kicks in then I regret to inform you that you must have a medical condition, zero taste or just don’t know how to have fun. (The band also share a mutual admiration with Slowdive which just makes me really happy to see).
I can’t believe a woman thought those lipsticks names were a good idea or in any way necessary. How patronising.
The thing is... women who can afford a $50 chic lipstick are more likely to be able to afford to travel elsewhere to get reproductive healthcare. This might have worked if it was an indie brand with more of a grassroots effort. I think women are also tired of the aesthetic labor we've been putting in and still have to put in just to participate in society. This might be a reach but having this brand marketed as an empowering brand feels like it's telling women to put more effort into our looks to what.. get our rights back? Get paid equally? Be treated fairly? I understand that beauty brands try to get consumers to create an emotional connection with their products. The emotions this is evokes are not ones that get me to drop $50 on a lipstick, unfortunately.