EWB 2.1 Nick: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Eyewitness Beauty, the podcast where we talk about the biggest stories in the beauty industry each week. I am Nick Axelrod Welk and I am joined, I sound like a robot, and I am joined by Diamond Creek Baum, D C B. Annie: We replaced Nick with A. I. Nick: I still, I got a little roasted, about my understanding, my conception of A. I. In the last episode that we did. Annie: I think you had a very accurate conception of what AI is. Nick: Okay, good, because Casey, my husband, was making it seem like I didn't understand, like, that I, it was, my understanding of it was simplistic. Okay, wow. That it's just [00:01:00] like, it only knows what you tell it. Because he was like, no, it's like, it has read the entire internet. It's not like, being prompted. It's like, there's some kind of a software that like, makes it like, read all of Google or something. Annie: Yes, that's true, but there is truth to what you said, that it The foundation for AI was laid by a specific group of people, like white, dorky guys. And therefore, like whatever springs from the work that AI does, like had its start in this specific point of view. Colonialism. White supremacy. Colonialism and white supremacy. Nick: One thing I will say is that I'm just not worried about AI yet because when you look at an AI generated photo, like I've sent you a few that are like Tom Holland, like having sex with Henry Cavill or like [00:02:00] whatever is popping up on my for you page. I don't know why. It doesn't look real. Do you read about the Taylor Swift, like porn fakes and she freaked out and then they suspended any mention of Taylor Swift on Twitter. Yeah. But then they read now they're allowing it again. They are. I just don't think, yeah, they're apparently they're allowing it again. I think that every AI generated image looks like a Kardashian. So number one, that's your first sign that it's a computer generated image. And number two, it doesn't like, it doesn't sound like a human. Whenever when it's like written word, Annie: but I think like if you saw the transformation from like if you look up mid journey one to mid journey six because they've done like six different Like updates at this point, I guess. Yeah. And you look at the difference of like where it started with people and where it is now, like, I think you would be scared at the potential in the next like few months for them to get even more accurate to, yeah, it's Nick: pretty. But [00:03:00] to me, like AI always sounds like, you know, how with, beauty pageants and they ask like the contestants questions. Like, what would you do if you had, you know, a million dollars? And, and like, they answer it by like, just like saying the question again. It's like some weird answer where they like don't really say anything and it's just sort of like summarizing the question. Like, that's what AI sounds like Annie: to me. Wait, so are they releasing actual porno videos or just photos? Nick: Oh, I, I tuned out. The two search topics that made me tune out were Taylor Swift and straight porn. I was just like, not interested, did not do any investigation. Really? Annie: Not even for, you're not like a Kelsey hud? Nick: No. I don't, I, in fact, I have an idea for a feature on Instagram, which is that you can mute topics. I agree. Like why can't I, so like during fashion weeks, all I want to do is mute [00:04:00] the fucking runway videos that people take from like the third row, even the first row. I don't Annie: care. See, AI would be great at detecting that content and filtering it out for you. Great. Nick: So then use AI for that. Like, don't use AI to make porno pictures of Taylor Swift that are clearly not real. Annie: I have a UX request. If anybody from Spotify is listening to this, normally, I want to con like, I want to say thank you first of all, because I do think Spotify understands me more than any human. The, playlist that you make for me is just, Nick: So are you talking directly to, to Spotify now? I mean, it is almost Valentine's Day. Okay. That is Annie: for Spotify's AI, but for Spotify's UX designers why can't I fucking like block a podcast from showing up in my, you know, queue. It sometimes it'll automatically play suggested podcasts. So if you listen to like one shitty true crime show one time, it'll suddenly, it's like, they're [00:05:00] suggesting just the weirdest, like, like worst quality, even just your any bozo. I mean, look at us. I can put themselves. You know, put podcast up and I listen to podcasts as I sleep, so it doesn't know that I'm not interested, so I don't even like know this is, and then, and then it'll also suggest, keeps suggesting, but you can't, like, I can't, there's no feature to where I can say, I don't like this podcast. Suggest like, Nick: don't, like you, can't it? You can't give that kind of feedback. Stop it. Yeah. You can't say, I . No. Stop it right now. Annie: Yeah. I'm like, Siri. And he's like, Uhhuh, . Nick: Meanwhile, I have tried for, I'd say over a year and a half to get Apple podcasts. To subscribe me to Seek Treatment, which is one of my favorite podcasts of the last few years with Kat Cohen and Pat Regan. Um, and it's like, it won't subscribe me to it. It like every time I go to like my downloaded podcast and it's not there. And then I like click on, I like find the show [00:06:00] and then it says I have been subscribed to it. And it's like, I have, it just like doesn't want me to listen. Annie: Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Have you tried clearing your cache? Nick: What is, what are you talking about? Like you can't clear your podcast cache. Annie: I don't know. It's just the first thing that I think you should try. Turn it off and turn it back on and see what happens. Nick: Turn what off and turn what off? My phone? All of it. Yeah. I don't know about that. I don't know about that. Also, guess what else I'm not worried about? The cloud. I think it's only helpful. Annie: The cloud's getting too heavy with data. We gotta, um, we delete old emails. The crazy thing about Nick: the cloud is that it actually isn't. Like a cloud, it's actually real computers, like in Arizona, isn't it? Annie: Yeah. Yeah. Nick: Databases. So like this illusion that like, you're somehow saving space. You're not saving space. You're just saving space on your personal device and like emitting radiation somewhere else. Annie: [00:07:00] Yeah here's my thing that I did yesterday. I went to the gym and which was hilarious. Um, I go to Equinox on Greenwich Ave and apparently it's where all the like chic gay men in New York City go. I feel like any Equinox is Nick: like a college for gay men. No, I've been to a lot of Annie: them. No, I'm actually No, but this is the chicest because I I'm quite familiar with the different equinoxes around the country. And what was the point? Oh, they were playing murder on the dance floor. And Cole Sprouse was on Kelly Ripa show. And it was just like, every dude was like glued to the television just like feeling like you could tell it was just like the best for us. Nick: Cole Sprouse is not a gay icon, I don't think. But he's a Annie: cutie, he's definitely a cutie. No, Nick: I don't think we, I [00:08:00] don't think we, we claim. Annie: Nick, I think I would know. Oh, you think he can speak for all gay men? Nick: I just think that if like, you were gonna talk about the Cole Sprouse generation, I mean, he's the one who smoked cigarettes on Call Her Daddy and everyone was making fun of him. For like, chain smoking during that interview. Annie: That's not my culture. I don't, I'm not familiar with the lore of Cole, her daddy. Nick: But exactly, which is a, which is purely straight culture. Like, Alex Cooper is not a gay icon. She's not mother. Here's who I would choose over, Cole Sprouse. KJ Apa, Charles Melton, we definitely, Charles Melton is certainly mother, definitely parental. Annie: Look, I'm not saying that, I'm not saying that Cole Sprouse is mother, I'm just saying he was on TV and looking cute, and they were playing, like, Nick: And you're saying all these insatiable gay Annie: guys. Yeah, that couldn't control themselves. And like, they just had a huge orgy in the bathroom. And then they had to go [00:09:00] in, like they have to do every ten minutes and say, CUT IT OUT! KNOCK IT OFF! Nick: I mean, that's probably true. It always was, when I used to live in West Hollywood, and you would like, go into the gym. And they would be like, the sauna is closed for, you know, they would like make some euphemistic reason where it was like closed for a deep clean. You're like, Oh, Annie: Can we talk about, can we talk about sauna culture in New York? I feel like. It's a very under, I don't know that it's like really disgusting. Nick: Hold on, like gay sauna culture or like the Russian Annie: baths culture? Not just gay, the Russian baths, the Hasidic baths. Nick: I don't think if you're not Hasidic, you can go to the Hasidic baths. Can you? Annie: No, this was in Russia. This was called Spa 88. It's a spa in like. The financial district. I don't know why, I don't know which weird friend of mine was like, we should go spend the day [00:10:00] here. But it was like a girly, we're like being too Nick: weirdo girly. You went to a Hasidic spa? No, no, Annie: no. It wasn't a Hasidic spa. It wasn't a Hasidic spa. It was an, it was like a Russian or Nick: Turkish. Like a Russian Turkish bath kind of thing. Annie: Yeah. But like also in an office, but like, it was really, really fucking weird vibes. All the clientele were Hasidic men. It Nick: it was co ed. Annie: Yeah. And we're sitting here in the sauna, butt naked with towels. With a bunch of Hasidic men. Nick: That doesn't, that seems like they've figured out some sort of a loophole because if you can't, that, that seems like a loophole, like, because Annie: I just don't, that doesn't, that seems Nick: like a tunnel in Brooklyn culture. Uh, no, I don't think that's a thing that you're allowed to do if you're Hasidic. Are you saying, Annie: are you denying my experience? Are you saying that that Nick: didn't happen? I don't know. I'm saying maybe [00:11:00] your memory of it isn't. In line with what actually happened. Speaking of which, speaking of, untrue facts, guess where I'm staying. I'm in New York City right now, guess where I'm staying. It's called the Dominick Hotel, and until I pulled up in my cab, I did not realize that it was the former Trump SoHo Hotel. And I don't know, I was like, fuck, it was like almost 11 p. m. and I was like, I guess I can't switch my hotel right now, but just the vibes are bad. I mean, look at that headboard. It's like, it's leather, faceted leather, like, you know, it goes all the way up the ceiling. It's, there's also the very Trumpian detail of a telephone in the toilet. You know, like I Annie: have one of those in my bathroom. Really? Yeah, that's I have one. I have a weird I Nick: mean, but right, you live in a pre [00:12:00] you live in a pre war building, which makes sense. Trump SoHo is from like 10 years ago, eight years ago. But it's anyway, to clarify, it's not currently the Trump SoHo, it's the Dominic And I haven't done any research to figure out whether the Dominic bought it from Trump or whether it's basically just Trump saying Trump Hotel Soho was bad for business. So we're going to rename it the Dominic, but I, that doesn't feel like Trump would ever do that. Would ever like admit that his name didn't improve. Annie: Right? Yeah. No, I don't think he has any shame, I think he would keep Telephones, Nick: like, corded telephones in the bathroom with keypads is disgusting. I mean, you've been to Japan. Yeah, but it's somehow not it's disgusting in the former Trump Hotel Soho. It's, it's, in Japan it's delightful and I appreciate it, but Japan sells me American [00:13:00] culture back in a way that I find unbelievably alluring and it's, I, you know, like, I remember going there a few years ago, and them having, like, vinted them. Like, the Jap like, the cool Japanese boutiques having, uh, vintage Airwalk sneakers. It's the biggest racket. they come over And I'm like, so they yeah. They come to the fuckin Rose Bowl antique and, like, vintage clothing monthly fair. They get there at 4am. They get all the good shit. And then they bring it back to Tokyo and they merchandise the hell out of it. And then I'm there like a sucker buying vintage air walks. Annie: No. And then the, then the Supreme design team all goes on one big trip over there and buys it all back and then designs it for the next collection. They like use it to reference for the next collection of Supreme. Nick: Literally. And we're, we're caught holding the bag, Annie: so to speak. I'm not, like, I'm not, like, LOLing right now. That's [00:14:00] actually what Nick: happens. It's so weird. No, I know. I mean, like, but, like, ugh. I miss Japan. okay, anyway. Annie: I think I'm going to go back soon. I'm, well, I'm, I do have to go back soon. I'm trying to get everybody to go back. Everybody's like, I want to go to Japan. I'm like, well, I'm going, so let's. Nick: Okay, well, I'm going to Seoul South Korea at the end of this month. And if anyone who's listening has must see, must buy, must experience recommendations in Seoul, please let me know because I want all the best shit. it makes a beauty person's brain explode. When last time I was there, it's like they're two years ahead of us. In everything cool. Annie: You got a facelift on accident. Nick: I got small face. I decided that this, I already had to promise Casey that this time I [00:15:00] won't go under general anesthetic. Annie: Are you going to do anything at all? Nick: Well, I was thinking about a nose job, because they have like, you know, in and out, they have in and out, like, 45 minute nose jobs. Annie: No, you can't do that, come on. I don't think, I don't think anybody should be getting surgery where they can't, their doctor isn't in the same city for aftercare. I think that that's like a very bad idea. I think it's Nick: fine. I don't know. I mean, like, it's probably better than our stuff. It's probably also not, like, they figured out a way to do it, like, laparoscopically or whatever. So it's just like a little tiny robot that goes in your nose and fixes it. Anyway, we had a few beauty related Annie: topics we needed. Did we just come up with the next consumer product innovation? Nick: A tiny robot nose job? Annie: That you just mail to people? Nick: Ugh, genius. Um, no. We had a few booty topics. Let's get into top stories. Alright. [00:16:00] Number one. In the absolute best casting call that could ever have existed, Pauly Shore were like his amazing I was obsessed with Pauly Shore when I was a little kid, which tells you a lot about me as a little kid. Annie: Nepo baby, Nepo baby Pauly Shore. Nick: Correct. His mother ran the comedy store in LA, the iconic comedy club. But he was in Encino Man, he was in I want to say it was like called like Farmer in Law or like Son in Law. Was it just called Son in Law where he plays like the sort of weird guy that someone like Claire Forlani brings home to dad and they live on a farm and. Annie: I don't mean to nag you, Nick, but like how young do you think our audience is? I feel like Pauly Shore is like kind of an icon for anyone 26 plus. Nick: I think that, I mean, Pauly Shore is probably [00:17:00] 55 years old at this point. Don't, don't quote me on that. We all know Pauly Shore. Anyway, he's gonna be playing Richard Simmons, or he currently seems like, it seems like the news broke at the same time that it was already filmed, yeah. But he is playing Richard Simmons in the Richard Simmons biopic, and Richard Simmons, the reclusive Richard Simmons, came out with a statement basically saying that he wishes that people would respect his privacy and not make his life into a movie. And that they didn't contact him, et cetera, et cetera. I feel like this is the latest example in a long line of examples of weirdly, either like, either it's just not the truth or like when people make these based on reality or based on Exploitative. Yeah, like remember how with Lily James and Sebastian Stan's Tommy, Pam and Tommy, like they didn't get permission from Pam and it's like, it was sort of re traumatizing to see this whole thing play out in pop culture. According to Pamela and I [00:18:00] find that kind of that stuff like a little disturbing, but at the same time, if you live in the public eye, I guess it's fair play, ball play. It's ball play. Annie: But what's the, where's Nick: the line? He looks exactly like Richard Simmons. So like in that way, it's perfect. You like, you literally, it's the best casting that's ever happened. Annie: Yeah. Aw, but Richard Simmons, Richard Simmons is just one of those pure, pure What happened? Did we ever Nick: figure out like what So there was the podcast that was like, searching for Richard Simmons. Did we then ever happen when we found him? He was just like, leave me alone, I'm fine? Annie: Yeah, I think he just wants a quiet life. I totally get it. What have I always said? As soon as I make, like, enough money to retire on, nobody's ever gonna hear from me ever again. Nick: Yeah, but I guess something just didn't feel like that was what happened. Like, to go from being that over the [00:19:00] top and sort of, like, on every channel, on QVC, on this and that, and, like, whatever. Annie: Okay, well, but maybe something happened, but he doesn't owe us any excuse. True, true, true. No, you're right. He doesn't, we don't deserve anything. No one owes us, yeah, no, you're right, we don't deserve anything. That's actually one of my biggest, Like, I'm not even, I'm not, I'm actually being serious. But with like celebrity culture is this entitlement that fans or even just casual observers feel to celebrities, like that they owe them some sort of interaction or acknowledgement or something. It's bizarre. Nick: No, I know. It's because we feel like we made them famous, so like, we, like, can sort of reap the benefits of that indefinitely. Annie: And somebody that, like, has expressed wanting privacy, and then having another group of people saying, okay, well, now we're gonna go make a movie about him. that hurts my heart a little bit, you know?[00:20:00] Yeah. Like can't, why can't humans, why can't someone just say like, I don't want to do this anymore, I want to just go be by myself. Maybe he, maybe he's an introvert, in his whole life he was forced to be an extrovert, now he's just exhausted and he just wants to chill. Nick: Yeah, I mean, I know that feeling because I'm also an introverted, I forget what the word, the type is, but like where you're actually not an extrovert and like, but you can perform as like, you can act as one, but that actually it's, it's too draining. Annie: Yeah. But isn't that one of the big misconceptions about the like concept of introverts and extroverts that like, if you're an introvert you like can't perform, but that's not really true. It just means that. Nick: it's draining, like it drains your energy versus like fills your energy bucket. Yeah. Anyway, enough about me. then there was, what was the second thing you want to talk about? Annie: Oh, [00:21:00] Brian Johnson, a. k. a. the creepiest looking, The guy that's trying to age in reverse. Nick: He was the guy, he was like a tech bro, you know, gazillionaire who ten years ago dedicated his life and his wealth to researching how to fight death, essentially, right? Escape death by like reversing and or aging in reverse. He, I feel like you, he's like always in the New York Post because he'll like draw his son's blood and like inject it into himself. Annie: He's literally like an evil, like, billionaire vampire. he branded this like, quest for eternal youth as blueprint protocol. So he's developing, his whole thing is he's documenting his. Journey to aging in reverse, and he's experimenting on himself and trying all Nick: these different things and right, like all [00:22:00] these different machines and technologies and then testing all of his different organs and like all the different sort of metrics, like on a daily near daily basis to see whether like his brains, you know, Age. Like what If he can like decrease his brain's age and like his blood's age and his whatever. I'll tell you what, I don't. Here's my thing, and this is probably not that genius of a take, is if that's what aging in reverse looks like. I don't know if it's for me because he doesn't look like a healthy person. Well, let's get Annie: into it. And I say that with love. I say that with love. We have some, we have some answers. No, but we have some. Answers to that because he just posted his skincare routine. And so, which is why we're here today talking about him. And it's a YouTube video and I guess like, let's just backing up a bit. He does. I thought, like I said, [00:23:00] he was like an evil vampire, like, fucking weirdo, and I agree with you, he looks incredibly unattractive. I like an old, I like a wrinkly old leather guy. Nick: And he looks like, he actually looks like Death, like, warmed through. Annie: Yeah, oh, he looks like Voldemort, yeah, yeah. Yes. Nick: And again, I say that with love, and I'm not age shaming. Annie: Okay, but I'm gonna I'm gonna actually like turn this around because he convinced me that I'm I am like a I'm a Brian Johnson girly. Now I'm a blueprint protocol girl because he watching his skincare video. He's super weird, but he's actually pretty self aware. And it's a little and it was pretty endearing. I will say his personality is like He gets it. He's kind of in on the joke, which I didn't expect. I thought he would be like very robotic and like, you know, Zuckerbergian but he, he was kind of charming, but he's super weird. Super weird. I mean, he has a kid. He had sex before. [00:24:00] So, Nick: well, he also, uh, okay. So, okay. He uses Sarah V. Annie: what I appreciate about this process too, is he has ways of tracking his success in all different areas. So he spent a ton of money on, collecting data on himself before he starts making these incremental changes to his routine from taking supplements to working out to his food, to his skincare which includes he has a whole. Clinical spa in his house with all the machines that you could ever want. He has light therapy. He has lasers lasers, He has all the money in the world to basically live out our dreams that is that's my dream to have a room in my house that has all the device like non invasive devices to like so I could actually go once a week and get like Lymphatic drainage massage with a machine. That sounds like I just don't really my life goal [00:25:00] So I I feel bad like shitting on this guy for just doing Right, Nick: and I just don't know if it's working. I just don't know if it's working. Okay, so I don't know if it's working Annie: He looks like death because he does not go out into the sun. He gets no UV. So the whole, that he, his whole thing is like my number one goal is to age backwards. So cell damage in any form. But someone, he should Nick: go to talk to a therapist about like, why he's so scared of dying. It happens to everyone. Like, why Annie: is he? It's a science experiment for him. He's devoting his life to science. I'm, I'm totally on board, Nick. I think you need to watch the YouTube before you make any further judgments on his character. It seems Nick: like an extreme case of toxic masculinity where he's like, I'm so strong and so rich that I can like accomplish the one thing that no one else has ever I've been able to accomplish, like, avoiding death. Annie: Anyway, um, I think what we should do, because he has Nick: [00:26:00] CeraVe face wash? Annie: Oh, I, I, okay, I do have one criticism of him. If you had Nick: all the money in the world, Annie, is that what you're going Annie: to every day? If it works, which he's documented that it does. So yeah, he uses CeraVe because he has all the money in the world to try everything in the world. He could make his own if he wanted to. Which he has, he's made his own supplements, but he chose CeraVe because it works. So, and he uses Elta MD, like, basic, every other basic bitch. Well, so Nick: does my husband, yes. Yeah, no offense Casey, but He's a basic bitch, so that's fair. And then he uses something called Adipo Face Cream. Annie: Yeah, but he's still testing that one. He, he didn't recommend it yet. He was just like, I'm still like, trying to figure this one out. So, he was like, hold tight on that. He does lasers. He measures his, like skin elasticity and sun damage all the time. He has a little French braid. And he uses the light mask for acne. So it does work, Nick. Nick had some [00:27:00] questions for me about my Dr. Dennis Gross light mask the other day, and I didn't appreciate it. Nick: No, I always understand that the red light, those masks, like I know that there's science behind them, but I am just so bad at following through with something where I don't have an instant. Or semi instant result and like, I just don't see it when I use those masks. So I stopped doing it probably before I would see it. Annie: I, the mask for some, I agree a lot of devices and things like that, dry brushing, all of that shit, like even, sorry to say, but flossing, I was really, I was doing a great job with flossing earlier. A few months ago and that fell off too, but the led light masks I can do it. I think they're just relaxing and warm I like it. I will say one piece of constructive criticism for him and any man. If you're going to dye your hair brown, it needs to be a cool tone. [00:28:00] It can't be, it can't be warm. You can't do this dark, like box red undertone. As a man, as an aging man, you Nick: can't do that. But I would tell him this too, is that you also can't dye. If you're a man or, or if you're anyone, if you are a living, breathing human, you cannot dye your hair one color. You need to get balayage. You need to get low lights. You need to get highlights. You need to like, there needs to be variety, you know, variety is the spice of life and it's also the telltale sign that this is a natural trait. But like when it's all the same chestnut Brown. Like, it looks like a, glowing orb on your head. And I also know this because in high school, I once I went to boarding school and I, we had like a snow, you know, week or something. We had like a horrible snowstorm. We had nothing to do. I went to CVS. I brought, I bought bleach and I dyed my hair, but I have Annie: very dark curly hair. They let you do that? Where were [00:29:00] the adults? I Nick: mean, there, you have dorm parents, but it's not illegal to dye your hair. But anyway, it turned orange because, like, I would need a multi process. You know, treatment to actually get it to turn blonde. And toner. Right. So like, but I didn't have that. They didn't have that at the CVS. So I, then I went back to the CVS with my friends and they all convinced me that my hair was quote unquote black. So I bought black hair dye. And that's when I learned that variety is the spice of life. Because if you dye your hair one color, it looks insane. Yeah. he needs to go to a professional. Annie: Brian confounding right? Nick: Yeah, yeah, And he knows like, have you seen the one where he's talking about like trying to get like have the erections of a 30 year old? No, he like does some more sexy ones where he's like, Oh, This machine like measures how many erections I get like [00:30:00] during my REM sleep and you know right now I'm getting that of like a 40 year old and I want to see if I can get down to like you know a 34 year old or whatever and because I guess during the middle of the night depending on your biological age or actually your whatever usually your biological age is the same as your real age but it would, like, you would have fewer and fewer nighttime reactions. Not your, Annie: um, what's it called? Not the age you identify as. I identify as. Nick: Yeah. so Brian Johnson, um, that's it, we love him on the pod, and Saravay. Annie: Watch the video, I think you'll like him. Nick: No, I, I like him, I just like don't, I feel like he's not the best billboard for what he's Annie: I think that we should, in the same way that they build those little bronze statues for lab rats, I think we should build a bronze statue of Brian Johnson and like put it in front of the L'Oreal headquarters. Like, thank you for devoting your life to [00:31:00] What we all are devoting our life to, you know, he just has the resources to, yeah, come on. Okay. Thank you, Brian. Brian. What else do we have? Nick: Well, I mean, there's been some acquisitions and some M& A activities, so to speak. Oh, the Annie: Margiela show. Nick: Oh, but hold on. That was like the big beauty thing this year. Yes, we have to talk about that, but very quickly. Chapstick was acquired for just under half a billion dollars. What? Which seemed low for me, but, to me, but The Annie: little indie brand that could Wait, so Chapstick has always been an independent brand? Nick: No, it was like, it was a private for 430, 430 million. the buyer was yellow wood partners, which is a Boston based private equity firm, but they bought it from a consumer health company called Hallion. so it already had sort of, [00:32:00] this is more of like a B2B kind of situation. But then the other interesting news in terms of beauty, actual hard beauty news is that DS and Durga was acquired by Manzanita Capital, which is the family behind GAP. and they also bought Diptyque, and they had previously acquired the majority stake in Beredo, which they sold last year to Pouge. Annie: Ooh, congrats to Diez and Durga! Nick: Diez and Durga, yeah. Annie: They're also on American Airlines randomly, did you know that? Nick: Yeah, but the funny thing about any of those products you see on, like, as amenities, like in hotels or on airlines is that I know, it's not the real formula. It's not the real formula. Usually it's approved by the founders of the real brand but it's manufactured by someone else, someone other than who typically manufactures, like, your actual formulas. Annie: Yeah, you [00:33:00] know. You know what I did really like though? I flew, I think, Emirates, and they had Diptyque washcloths. That were like cloth material single single use but and they were big and they smelled Incredible and I even went online to be like, how can I? Buy, yes, and I can't find them on the black market. No, Nick: okay margiela couture show. Annie: Okay, so this was all over insta Couldn't get away from it. It was the glossy Like porcelain doll Marie Antoinette Like underneath, it was like glass underneath the gloss times 10. Yeah. But then it was like this powdery look beneath. So it was like, how did they achieve this? Like, you know, powdered like porcelain doll look underneath this like high gloss. Finish like they truly Nick: did. Look, and it was Pat and Pat McGrath did the makeup. People were freaking out trying to figure out what it was. Annie: [00:34:00] Nick posted it on Instagram. We got a lot of DMs from people saying that it was this Kryolan product. And then our queen, Erin Parsons makeup. And if you don't, I don't know, I get it. Like the whole like vintage throwback look is not for everyone. And she is very much like a glamor woman, but. This she is one of the great talk about like pioneers in the beauty industry. We're talking about Brian Johnson today, and we're talking about Aaron Parsons, makeup and historian, a shepherd of makeup history, thought theory technique. She's the keeper of all of our secrets of our foremothers and forefathers. And she's documenting it. And she is, she is our, the scribe. She is the I Claudius of. modern beauty. So thank you Erin Parsons. Makeup, she decoded it. [00:35:00] She had the connect and what it was, was another thing that she does on her Instagram, TikTok, YouTube is like break down like different looks and techniques. that are just beyond like normal makeup. And she decoded it, this glossy face technique. So everybody thought that it was a Kryolan product, like you said. And it dries because it was like something that they, it was like a shellac that they put on the face and then it peeled off. So there are all these videos of the models after the show, peeling off their face. Like it had like a peel off mask and everybody thought that it was this Kryolan product, but then it. But then somebody told Aaron Parsons that it was actually a blue liquid that they were airbrushing on people's faces. And so she did even more digging and found out it was a hair gel, a blue tinted hair gel that she diluted. With, and this is all like, apparently it's like she, but I believe Erin Parsons. I think that she has the best Well, apparently Nick: by the time this podcast comes out, [00:36:00] she, Dame Pat is going to be revealing all on her Instagram on Friday, which will have been today. Tomorrow. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. Today. When the Annie: pod comes out. Okay, well, we can check Erin on this, but so she diluted this, like, blue hair gel in a lot of water, so it's super liquidy, and then she did her, like, powdery look on her face, and then airbrushed this gloss over her face, she dried it with a hair dryer, and then did, like, two, one or two more coats, and it, and then it dried, the craziest thing, too, is it dries, and you can touch it. Like, it's not sticky. It dries completely. Can I ask a question? Go ahead. Nick: So, it was beautiful and striking and all of those things. Like, you know, the Devil Wears Prada Meryl Streep monologue about like Cerulean Blue, how it sort of like, ultimately trickles down to like, Like, what's the life cycle [00:37:00] of that look? Like, what happens now? How do we see do we ever see it? Like, does it ever actually affect the way that people are doing their makeup or a makeup trend? Annie: I've been thinking a lot about makeup trends and is there even truly one makeup trend? I don't know. I feel like we're kind of at a point in makeup and fashion where, like, anything goes. Put a rosette on call today. Yeah. But I think if you're gonna wear that outfit, so you Nick: don't think it's like people are gonna be like, doing glossy or like Annie: there's not No, no. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think what we'll we'll see is, um, a lot of like cloud paint type, like puffy, like steered out colorful makeup and then on really like moisturized skin. Like no foundation, like really, like no powder, high shine skin. Probably from doing like a lot of like pre makeup masking. I bet there's going to be a lot of like, use this mask before Nick: you put it on. How is that different than glass skin or is this just sort of like, Annie: It's not, but that's the thing. That's like why everybody was making fun of, um, [00:38:00] latte makeup or espresso makeup. They were saying like, this is just like the nude, like smokey, nude makeup, like re marketed it in a different way, you know. Right, Nick: yep. Annie: Like mushroom hair was like, remember when they were talking about how mushroom hair was like quiet luxury hair? But it's just Dishwater blonde or brown or whatever? Somebody called Taylor Swift's hair dishwater blonde from the football game the other day. I thought her hair looked cool. I love Nick: her and I want to leave her Annie: alone. Why? Why can't we discuss Taylor? I don't Nick: know. It's the least, she's the least interesting person to me. Annie: I am interested to understand the decision behind the peach acrylic nails, the sparkly peach acrylic nails. Nick: He's just having fun. Truly. Annie: But that's gonna be, months of not fun retros. I also, Nick: I also did see though, speaking of Taylor Swift, that, like apparently her dating [00:39:00] Tyler Kelsey, what's his, Jason Kelsey? Tyler, Taylor Kelsey? Travis. Travis Kelsey. Travis Kelsey has resulted in like, 350 million dollars in revenue for the NSL. Annie: Yeah, I know. Well, you, I told you, I told you Nick: Mike. See her. In the box. Annie: I told you my theory, right? I mean, they're trying to get rid of the NFL. The NFL has been declining for years. We don't want Nick: because it's like causing all Annie: these injuries and a lot of and also we're seeing a cultural shift. It's about soccer, baby. It's about messy. It's about David Beckham. It's the Miami Penguins or Flamingos or whatever they are. Mia Ham. the next generation is going to be a soccer generation. Mia Hamm Nick: was, Mia Hamm is from like 15 years ago, isn't she? Annie: Sorry, are you trying to just have the contribution just come in? No, Nick: but I'm just saying, like, that was a long time Annie: ago. Yeah, they paved the way. I'm sorry, Mia Ham paved the way for Lionel Messi, and I don't want to hear [00:40:00] another word out of you, Nick, about the legacy of Mia Ham. Nick: Mia Ham is 51. She's not currently playing anymore, but continue. Annie: And so, and parents don't want their kids. Parents don't want their kids getting head injuries. And so they're putting their kids in soccer and they're keeping them in soccer. That's smart. And you know what else California is gonna be banning little league football. Good. Period. It's dangerous. And what do we see and what do we see in vogue the same week that they're voting on that? Nick: We see, we see Usher and a Annie: football team, and Caroline Usher and a football team. And, and Caroline Murphy. Or Caroline? Caroline Murphy. So something, something's a little, I'm just saying something's Nick: behind there. I asked a friend who worked at Vogue, or I like, made a comment about like, why, like the Usher, um, cover of Vogue that we're referring to. Usher, the singer who is playing the Super Bowl, hence why they were little League or. Whatever, Little League football players in this Vogue shoot, and then Carolyn Murphy's in it. [00:41:00] And you're kind of just like, why is Carolyn Murphy in this shoot? And the answer was that someone had to wear the clothes. They needed someone to like, wear the, you know, the season's finest. Annie: That's not an Nick: answer. that was their answer. Annie: Hey, did, is Vogue, is everybody still on strike? Like, are they even working right now? I don't know. What is going on with all that? Nick: I don't know. I mean, we're seeing the, so I also, this is a side note, but related to the demise of media, which is Amy O'Dell who has a really good sub stack called from the back row, I think, or something like that on Instagram posted that when Truman Capote. Was paid by Esquire for one of his essays. He was paid something like 25, 000, which was like at that time, like a record amount of money for a [00:42:00] journalist to be paid for writing. And in 2024 dollars, that amounts to like over 250 or 240, 000. And that's just goes to show how far the magazine industry has slipped that like, can you imagine someone getting paid? A quarter of a million dollars to write an article. Even if it was like, fucking Barack Obama. they were making so much money. Meaning like, that was the equivalent money at the time. Like, they were throwing so much money around. Annie: What do you think about, Universal pulling their music from Tik TOK, you're the Tik TOK expert on this. Nick: Yeah. So I'll, I'll weigh in on this one. I don't really understand what the issue is. Like, I guess it's that like the more people who like, like use the music, like the less, like actual streaming rights or like the, whatever, like revenue is going to the artist and the label, right? Like, cause if you're like. [00:43:00] reacting to like a reaction to a reaction, it's like not using the original music, which I guess would be harder to track in terms of revenue. I don't understand. Annie: I mean, basically, they're taking the content, they're taking original content, the music created by universal artists, and they're using it on tick tock with no compensation. Nick: But wasn't that the point of TikTok? It started out as musically which was just lip syncing songs. Annie: Yeah, and I think We didn't come up Nick: with we didn't think of a way to pay to play here Annie: No, I well a TikTok's argument is this is the best exposure that your artist could ever receive Like this is just like And Universal is kind of like, I don't, something had to have happened where they like ran the numbers and they're like, we need to be getting paid for this. Nick: But like, don't they sort of get paid for it? And also like when someone hears a song when, when a song goes viral on TikTok, I bet [00:44:00] the streams on Spotify go crazy. Annie: But that's the thing, like Spotify doesn't pay artists. Yeah, Nick: they do. A ton of money. Not a ton. I mean, yeah, like, there's like a, there's a equation. I mean, I'm, I'm not defending Spotify or that it's a lot of money, but there is an equation. It's like 005 cents per stream or something like that. And you can, and some people negotiate higher rates. But Annie: to your point about writers getting, they used to be paid actual money, like musicians and Oh true, used to be paid actual money, and now like, the revenue system for, I mean the revenue system for the music industry has been fucked up for like years and years and years. Yeah. Um, because of streams. You can thank Nick: Sean Parker for that. Annie: Yeah. Yes. And nobody's buying albums, nobody's like, so that's why like all these people are touring. I mean, that's why the Taylor Swift and that's why they're making movies about the tour. They're like, how else can we like squeeze monetize money from music? Right. Um, Nick: like there was a famous, like quote that lady [00:45:00] Gaga gave that she was like basically paying for all of her early tours out of like, she was losing money because like she wanted like such an incredible experience for fans and that get, that ended up working. But, like, I just saw that Adele booked, like, a summer series of concerts in Germany, and they're building a custom stadium for the concerts in, like, Munich. And it sold out, you know, immediately or whatever. 80, 000 seats per show. Annie: Good. I'm glad she's getting something custom. We know she has very high standards for her show. Nick: Isn't that crazy? Like, imagine 80, like, imagine, like, two weeks of 80, 000 people a night, like, paying good money to see you perform. That's Annie: power. I can't imagine getting in front of, so Nick and I have been discussing, I feel like I've been discussing and you've been going, mm hmm, a [00:46:00] live show. Nick: Speaking of 80, 000 Annie: seat venues. Yeah, my biggest fear is booking the 80, 000 seat venue and having 40 people show up. I, I'm like, can we even fill a room of 40 is my question. I mean, it depends what Nick: city. Annie: Well, we looked at our stats and we have all of, most of our listeners are in New York. Nick: Yeah. I think that we'd probably have to have a guest who was like a draw. Annie: We're both here now. I have like a trend prediction for 2024. Old money out, new money in. Like mob wives, this mob, mob's wives aesthetic is just ushering in, uh, new money. It's like new money. We're back to new money. Nick: I don't believe the mob's wives, like, Annie: trend. No, that was dumb. I think it's because, like, I think it was a, I think it was a PSYOP. From the marketing team of HBO because the Sopranos just had like their 25th anniversary, I think, or 20th anniversary. Oh, Nick: fair. Or like probably went on [00:47:00] Netflix or something. Annie: No, it's an HBO show. Nick: No, I know. But they probably like licensed it to Netflix or something like, and to like get buzzed. They just like created this trend. Annie: Yeah. So, Nick: but like like's, here's a few, have they, in the trend articles about Mob Wife aesthetic, have they talked about Marissa Tome and my cousin Vinny? And then married to Annie: the mob, obviously they have. No, they, they just reference, they just reference, Carmela. Carmela Soprano, that's it? Mainly. And Adriana, the guma. No wait, she's not a guma. A guma is the mistress. Adriana was a girlfriend. Nick: From Soprano. So it's all basically Sopranos based. Annie: I think so. I think there's been some Mob Wives references, like the TV show. I have never seen it, so maybe I just don't. Maybe it just goes over my head, it's just girls wearing like ugly furs and pointy [00:48:00] boots Yeah It's my like take and gold jewelry. I'm like, okay. Okay. We all we were all alive in 2008. We were all alive. I got Nick: it That's it for this week. Do you have a comment? You've got some ebay buying to do I do um You know what? I don't have a Annie: product that was so important that you had to order it to, from Sephora to your hotel room? It's Bumble and Bumble Sumotech. Nick: because I forgot my hair stuff. And then, while I was at it, I bought a beauty blender. I bought a black one, though, because I used to get the pink ones, but when you run them under hot water, they, like, bleed pink, which I feel like can't be good Annie: for you. I know. It's, I know. Have you figured that out yet? It's crazy. All the color, all the like, colorful beauty blenders. I'm like, this is getting in your makeup. Yes. Like it's affecting your undertone. Um, yeah. Nick: 100%. So I got a black one and then I also was trying the Milk Makeup Bronzing Drops because I didn't want to take my Jones Road [00:49:00] Bronzing Gel from my husband at home. and then I got a Bronzer makeup brush and the dewy skin cream by Tatcha. And so, Hey, so like, let's consider Annie: that. My, so you're now like VIB Rouge for the year. That's what you're saying. Nick: Yep. What's your product Annie: of the week? My part of the week is I'm trying to go through all of my, K beauty hall. I did like a big order last year. So I'm finding things in my drawer and this is a brand called un, And the product is called Non Sticky Dazzle Tint. And it's a really great, like, lip gloss, like, balm. And all of their lip products just smell so good. It's like a tint, gloss, balm. And it's not sticky and it's [00:50:00] highly, it's super moisturizing. What does it smell like? You Nick: put a tiny bit on. I can't place it. Annie: I know, but I, we talked about this before. I can't do a, I can't do a lot of lip because I look like a whore. Guma. Nick: And use for a little bit on your cheeks. It's very pretty. It's very Annie: natural. I don't, I can't place what it smells like. It's not, it's like kind of fruity, but like in a sophisticated way. Gourmand. I don't know if this would count as gourmand. Where can you buy it? Probably like yesstyle. com. And it has a nice, cool undertone. So, if you have trouble finding pinks that are, and they're too warm, they kind of pull like tan on your skin in like an orangey way. Go for this. And then, sorry, I don't, I, the label's in Korean, so I don't know what color it is and there's no numbers. So, sorry. You'll have to Nick: experiment. That's it. Eyewitness Beauty is [00:51:00] produced by Jonathan Korman at Friend of the Pod and edited by AJ Mosley. You can find us on Patreon where we release our video episodes a full day in advance. And you Annie: can, uh, We'll also have a bonus episode this week. We'll also have a Nick: bonus episode this fucking week. We have bonus episodes monthly and we talk, You think this is good? Wait till you hear our bonus episodes. We actually, no joke though, do talk about shit that we wouldn't say on the, the main pod. And it helps fund this podcast because as you all know, this is not a money making, this is not a get rich quick scheme for Annie or I. And you can email us nick or annie at eyewitnessbeauty. com, find us on Instagram at eyewitnessbeauty, and we will see you next week. Annie: Bye! Bye![00:52:00]
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