Welcome to the Lather Rinse Repeat newsletter, by beauty editor Michaela Williams. Sent out fortnightly, it’s a very loose collection of beauty news and general internetness.
The best beauty bits
Savoir Flair’s Best of Beauty hits a lot of my top picks in their annual round-up. Beauty Editor-at-Large, Frankie Rozwadowska knows her luxury beauty inside-out, curating this great condensed primer on what was actually worth trying this year (especially for the more exxy luxury products).
Speaking of Editor’s picks, Christine from Temptalia has long been one of my favourites for clear, balanced reviews, with a weighted score that I find often matches up with my own opinion of a launch. Her best eyeshadow palettes of 2020 round-up is worth a read, especially if you’re on the fence about a purchase
Previously available only on the brand website, Fenty Skin is now stocked at Sephora Middle East. Allegedly, anyway, as the UAE website hasn’t been updated to reflect this, so here’s a link to the US site.
Pinterest has launched its Pinterest Predicts trends report, pitching ‘skinimalism’ as the leading beauty trend for 2021, as “the end of the caked-on makeup look”. Well, duh. Has anyone been bothering with foundation when Instagram filters can do it all?
I’ve recently rediscovered Haus of Gloi’s perfume oils and pumpkin butter. Former readers of my Lather Rinse Repeat blog may remember I was all over this indie perfumery way back in 2012ish, and I’m so happy to see they still stock the Depravity oil. I used to layer its cloves and coconut with the very cumin-y Kenzo Jungle and smelled like a curry in the best possible way.
Why do these woolly knit nails deeply unsettle me?
I know this is like a month old, but I’m dying at how campy villainess Christine Quinn’s custom fragrance is. Davina could never. And while I’ve linked just to the specific perfume mention, the whole thing is hilarious, if just for the “We’re businesswomen. From L.A” vibes.
TL;DR
Girl meets ‘the most hated man in America’. Girl loses her husband, job, the respect of everyone she knows while pursuing him as a romantic interest. Surely there’s an easier way to score a book deal.
US designer and former wunderkid, Alex Wang, was rumoured to be launching his own beauty brand. Not sure how those plans will pan out, now that he’s been accused of sexual assault by numerous male ad trans-identifying models.
Netflix’s Bridgerton has been a fun watch - from the silly Gossip Girl drama, to the Duke’s bare little bum - but I truly hate how the princess waist dresses seem to be slightly too high-cut on every actress who appears in one. Turns out the costumer was deliberately aiming for fug.
I’ve been a little cranky seeing couples in the US carry on with their guest-packed weddings, when literally every other country has (rightly) halted events. Did you know the state of Iowa doesn’t even have quarantine protocols in place? As in, if you test positive, you’re not held responsible for isolating yourself and can freely hold your 50 guest wedding the very next day, just like one Instagrammer recently did. Here’s a frustrating write-up on the difficult position that wedding vendors in another US state are finding themselves in, as Americans find even more ways to kill each other other off.
“Hilaria” Baldwin’s fake Spanish backstory is the low-stakes celebrity drama I needed to see me from Christmas to New Year’s Eve. All we need is an Alec Baldwin meltdown to take us into 2021’s alien invasion.