Happy Friday!
In the first episode of Issa Rae’s new HBO series, Insecure, the protagonist, a 29-year old struggling in work and love, prepares for a night out. The character, also named Issa and played by Rae, faces herself in the bathroom mirror. She swipes on a matte, cherry-red lipstick. “Hi, I’m sexy,” she coos. “Let’s get outta here.” Then she tries a fuchsia one; her voice climbs: “You’re a music producer! Do you know Beck?” Then a black lipstick: “I don’t make love. I fuck.” The short scene exhibits Rae’s range—and the multitudes that women contain, and sometimes try on in the course of a single day. (In the end, she smears on some Carmex.)
I can’t wait to see what happens to Issa, her lukewarm live-in boyfriend Lawrence, and her best friend Molly—and what the real-life Rae does with her position at HBO, where she has the network’s support to develop shows with other female and minority creators for the next two years.
For now, you don’t have to subscribe to HBO to watch the first episode free online. Insecure is also putting each week’s soundtrack (created with Solange Knowles’ consultation) on Spotify. Highly recommended for lip-syncing in the mirror.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie probably would have gone for the red lip. The novelist and We Should All Be Feminists author has stated her appreciation for a good red lipstick in the past, and is now making her endorsement official, on behalf of the UK-based drugstore chain Boots.
In an ad that debuts on television today, Adichie declares, “the truth is makeup doesn’t actually mean anything.” Kind of an odd tack for a cosmetics ad, but as Adichie has said, the trappings of femininity shouldn’t preclude a feminist from being taken seriously.
Regardless of their gender. We’ve been hearing about guyliner lately, thanks to CoverGirl’s appointment of its first cover boy, James Charles, a 17-year-old high school senior and makeup artist whose YouTube tutorials—which include steps like glitter application with lash glue—are impressive, but not quite “easy, breezy.” As men’s makeup inches closer to the mainstream, products for guys who are want to look more boardroom than ballroom are likely to emerge.
Tom Ford—whose lipsticks are outstanding—already markets concealer for men, but guess what? All concealer aims to look invisible, so if you’re a guy trying to cover sad under-eye circles or blemishes, you could just use what women use. For me that’s currently Glossier (sheer and dewy) when it’s nothing too serious, and Clé de Peau (expensive, but effective) when it is.
The product most consistently on my lips: Lucas’ Pawpaw Ointment. My sister used to bring me this drugstore staple from Australia, but now it’s available on Amazon. It’s as hardworking as Aquaphor, so when radiator heat starts to ravage my skin I even put it on my hands. I keep one of these sexy red tubes in my purse, desk drawer, and travel bag.
For weekend reading on the topic of empowerment through cosmetics, you might check out Alicia Keys‘ manifesto for Lenny Letter about why she’s leaving it behind; Nitasha Tiku’s Buzzfeed feature revealing how Glossier founder Emily Weiss and her fresh-faced Instagram evangelists are writing the marketing playbook for millennial women; and a new Racked piece which sees writer Claire Carusillo immersed in a three-day Tyra Banks-hosted conference for Banks’ beauty brand’s direct sellers.
The internet loves a good face. This week Arshad Khan, a Pakistani tea vendor (also known as a chai wala) followed in the footsteps of Jeremy Meeks, aka the hot mugshot guy, to become famous overnight for his intense, blue-eyed gaze.
As the chai wala closes modeling contracts—and the meme-ification of private citizens continues apace—we might be wise to refer to Quartz’s Meredith Bennett-Smith’s cautionary essay about Ken Bone. The mustachioed, red-sweatered coal plant worker charmed the internet during the (otherwise charm-free) second US presidential debate—and was torn down within days for failing to be the person the media had invented.
“It was cruel to build the legend of Ken Bone—and even crueler to tear it down,” she wrote. ”These walking zeitgeists are imperfect, complicated human beings with characteristics we may not in fact approve of.”
A face can only tell us so much, but Barack Obama’s at his final state dinner on Tuesday—alongside his wife in a floor-skimming gown made of rose-gold chainmail by Atelier Versace—pretty well sums up my feelings about this Friday’s arrival.
Have a great weekend!
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Try a Nasty Woman this weekend! This cocktail I invented for Quartz’s Friday happy hour is a little sweet, a little tart, and 100% nasty. Also it’s dark pink. Try this: three parts silver tequila (preferably made by bad hombres), two parts cherry juice (I like this one from Trader Joe’s), one part lime juice, and top it with sparkling wine or sparkling limeade. This gets a wedge of lime. I’m too nasty to fuss with a twist.