Month: April 2024

In the age of the professional beauty influencer-slash-beauty entrepreneur, brand ambassadors are expected to showcase a significant degree of transparency about the products they are promoting, as well as demonstrate how they work on themselves — celebrity brands aren’t an exception to this rule. Alicia Key’s skincare line, KEYS Soulcare, followed a public decision to ditch makeup altogether in 2016. Keys wore just her glowing bare face at high-profile events and photoshoots, helping legitimise the brand’s claims. Cay Skin, the sunscreen brand from Black supermodel Winne Harlow, was developed after Harlow reportedly experienced “a painful sunburn” that required emergency medical treatment and “permanently altered” the pattern of her vitiligo, a skin condition she says is “a treasured part of my identity as a woman, activist and model.” Meanwhile, Rihanna’s well-established Fenty Beauty makeup line comes with cute and relatable videos of her doing her makeup. Beyoncé and her brand are, evidently, following a reliable marketing strategy. Cécred has entered an oversaturated haircare market driven by highly knowledgeable consumers (Black women are the biggest consumers of haircare products in the world) and some had doubted whether the brand should rely solely on Beyoncé’s name alone to be successful and urged the private superstar to step into her influencer bag and give us a hair tutorial. And so she did. Complete with close-up shots of her scalp to prevent any allegations of hidden weave tracks. It felt like subtle shade to her haters — and I was here for it.  read more

Anecdotally, a friend living in Amsterdam tells me hiking has become a “thing” out there, too. Another person in New York says they hike with Outlandish, and travel an hour or two out of Brooklyn for walks. Are we embracing the mental health benefits of being outdoors, while looking for company? Is the low-cost factor appealing? Annabel Streets, author of 52 Ways to Walk, says all of this is valid, but the truth is walking sets you up for building connections — whether we realise it consciously or not. “We find it much easier to open up to people when we don’t have to be eyeballed by them,” Streets explains. “There’s a rhythm to walking that helps us relax, in a way that we don’t sat across a table from someone. We’re more compassionate when outside than in spaces with low ceilings, research suggests. Studies have also shown that we often fall into step with people we like or expect to like, which psychologists call synchronisation. When we walk at the same pace and rhythm as another person we produce oxytocin — sometimes called the love or bonding hormone — which makes us feel closer to our walking companion, happier and more relaxed. This means we’re more likely to share information or self-disclose, and therefore to bond more quickly.” Hiking with a group also makes us feel safer, she adds, and speaks to our deep history, in that we “evolved walking as groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers, so walking in a group feels very natural.” read more