EWB 2.28 Annie: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Eyewitness Beauty, the podcast where we talk about the biggest stories in the news industry each week. I am Annie Kriegbaum, formerly known as Diamond. Nick Axelrod Welp is noticeably absent. Um, so you can turn the pod off now if you wanted to hear him or our charming banter. He won't be joining us today. He's in Korea working and I miss him. I did ask him to go to the tambourine store for me and we also have boots on the ground. They're accompanying to make sure he doesn't get a nose job. So I feel good about that. And I am getting my fill of Nick actually while he's gone. Yesterday I did a fireside chat at a. Really [00:01:00] great communications agency and that was nice because it was kind of like doing the recording the pod and, but I just got to talk about myself the whole time and not have to consider anybody else's opinions. And that was cathartic and gorgeous. and then I went to a Pilates group class last night and it was crazy because the instructor was Nick. I mean, his name's Michael and he lives in New York and he's ripped. He's like a ballet dancer ripped, but he was Nick in every other way. Not to say that Nick isn't a beautiful ballet dancer body, which he does have. But this guy was just, he was Nick. It was really weird. I don't, they should, we should actually make sure that they never meet because it would be imminent death for both of them. But like even his voice and his whole attitude of teaching the class was very Nick. Um, so if you're, if you live in New York. And you go to the Equinox on Greenwich Avenue, and you've had Michael as your Pilates instructor, please write in and let me know if you feel [00:02:00] the same way. Because yeah, we have Nick's doppelganger running around, and it's lovely, actually. So yeah, let's get into some beauty news. I'm not going to do a five top movies, five top beauty products, although I do have several beauty products here to talk about at the end of the episode. Um, and I would like to do another top five up. I've been putting it together, but I'm stumped on the last two. The theme was going to be documentaries. We are going to do this. And I'm stumped on the last two. I'm thinking I want to give you guys some good ones. So that's coming today is beauty news. Also, I just don't want these stories to be stale before Nick comes back So the biggest story, which I know you guys have been waiting for us to comment on with bated breath is the reveal of Bella Hadid's. Aura Bella beauty line. It's launching May 7th. It looks like an Ulta exclusive from everything that we've seen [00:03:00] and the teaser videos don't reveal much. The tagline is reveal your alchemy. The branding is very gold. They use the puffy paint filter in design. And, it's the thing that confuses me. Let's say, doesn't confuse me, intrigues me the most about what we've seen so far with Orabella is the punctuation. There's an inverted comma, otherwise known as a single quotation mark, in front of the O, just to start out. We're start, the brand name starts With punctuation. So it's not an O, which might be genius. You know, a lot of parents name their kids A names because they want them to be at the top of the list in, you know, class activities. A always goes first. That's called alphabetical order. From what I understand, if there's a number [00:04:00] Or a non letter inverted quotation mark and inverted comma, they would be at the top of the list. So maybe this is just genius. This is fucking genius. Actually, I'm just realizing how I thought she was doing this for decorative purposes only. But she or a Bella, if all goes according to plan, will be at the top of every drop down on every website. You're, you know, go shop by brand or a Bella will be at the top because it starts. With punctuation, not with a letter. You know, it's sad that she's so beautiful because I think she doesn't get enough credit for being a fucking genius. So, Orabella, silent apostrophe to start. And then there's a circumflex, circumflex, above the O. Do you know what a circumflex is? I didn't. It's like an upside down, it's like a, it's a roof. It's a roof on top of the O. So you have an apostrophe and then you're immediately hit [00:05:00] with an O with a roof on top. And then it gets better. Decorative O. Extra punctuation. R. E. Not, not a normal E. The E is upside down. So, why you ask? I don't know. Normally when you put accent marks, punctuation marks around words, It denotes like a special pronunciation, but Bella pronounces the name in the teaser video and it's pronounced exactly how you would think, or a Bella. So I don't know, I don't know what the extra flourishes are. I don't not like them. I've just discovered real time that it's fucking genius. So we're off to a good, we're off to the races. We're off to the races. Ora, Orabella. Also, curiously, there's a logo with a lowercase b that also has an [00:06:00] inverted comma in front of it. Normally an inverted comma in front of a word will denote a compound word? No, not a compound word. A two syllable word with the first syllable cut off. One example would be a, um, I can't think of an example off the top of my head. But you know what I mean. Like slang. It's like a colloquialism. People cut the front part of a word off and they just use the last syllable. That's normally why you would use an inverted comma in front of a word. So maybe, maybe she'll reveal the first half of the word Orabella at launch. And that inverted quotation is just saving us space. Anyway, the whole vibe, the gold the breathy, um, brand name. announcement, the Sade playing in the background, the the floral pattern shadow over Bella's [00:07:00] face the dippy trippy eye imagery it's all giving incense. So that's what I'm putting my money on is incense. I think we're getting fragrance, home incense. By the way, can somebody Bayrito, tell me what's going on with the Bayrito incense? It went from the classic set where you get the three fragrances with a little silver cube that would hold a stick as you burned it, and then That's nowhere to be found on their website or elsewhere and when you Google by Rito incense, there's just a limited edition Christmas one on Nordstrom. com, but the website has nothing. So, are they discontinued? Like, what's going on? It's my favorite. I'm not burning them until I get an answer. So please let me know until then. I'll just like, use the perfume gun, use the sprays. I've realized, and this might be hard for some people to hear, but I don't think I'm [00:08:00] a candle girl. I think candles ultimately just smell like burning wax. They smell like a match. They smell like smoke. So unless the fragrance is developed to work with the smell of burning matter, fire itself, I don't think candles Really do live up to their promise of fragrancing a room. I'm sorry. I just don't think that they do I think an incense is where it's at. I think a room spray. I think a diffuser Nothing beats a diffuser and I'm not talking about Febreze. I'm not talking about like the plugins I'm you know a nice scent experience but candles and I've tried I've tried every candle. I've spent so much money on candles All I smell is smoke. Next story. this one's tough. I don't like it one bit and I [00:09:00] don't think you will either. So there was a big nail in the coffin this week for the plastics recycling fairy tale that we've all been made to believe. The Guardian reported on a new study by the Center for Climate Integrity and the study exposed that. Time and time again, the fossil fuel industry leaders knew that plastics were not recyclable by any practical means. And actually originally when companies launched single use plastics in like the fifties, the marketing angle was that you can just throw them away. It's fine that they end up in the landfill. It's great. Cause you don't have to, you don't have to wash your forks. You can just throw them in the trash and forget about them and never think about them again. And then once people started becoming conscious about the size of landfills, the plastics industry was like recycling, we're going to invent recycling, even though they know that recycling is not economically viable and it also produces shitty results.[00:10:00] I didn't know until I started, you know, really getting into sourcing recycled plastics and really trying to understand what it meant to make a product packaging recyclable once you, once the plastic is recycled, it loses its structural integrity. It starts to degrade. And so recycled plastic is. Has limited uses. It can't be used in the same way as virgin plastic. It's more brittle. You know, it really should only be used on things that are not mechanical. That don't have any like moving parts because it's just it doesn't have the same properties, the same elasticity, the same strength as virgin plastic and then to think about recycling that again. You can imagine it would lose even more structural integrity. And so really, the truth is plastic is not infinitely recyclable in the same way that I guess aluminum is assuming that people, you know, the industry governments, the world at large is actually recycling aluminum too. But anyway, plastics [00:11:00] are not infinite, infinitely recyclable. They're only recyclable once or twice if they even get to that point. But the study again, done by the Center for climate integrity has shown that there's like, plastic recycling is not really happening at scale at all. It's producing bad results, and they're also continuing like the PR their PR strategy of just lying to people. I remember I think we actually even covered it on the podcast. There was a big news push around or media push around this, like, new form of chemical recycling of plastics, but that's a fraud. It causes more pollution than just throwing plastics away. And it. The carbon footprint of doing that is much greater than just again, throwing the plastics in the landfill to begin with. So, so what can we do? What's being done? Are we doomed? Yes, nothing. And yes, are the answers to those. But if we want to feel better from the top [00:12:00] down, we have California's attorney general, who's investigating the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. And that's been going on for, like, 2 years now. I don't know the current state of it. I don't know what will become of it. I think California out of all of us over here in the U S is the one state that actually takes this stuff pretty seriously. I mean, they're the reason that every single product has a warning label saying that in California, this will give you cancer. So don't use this in California. But that's happening. We're also seeing a potential ban of vinyl chloride, which is a carcinogen used to make plastic. And that also happens to be if you, recognize that name, which we all probably do. So that's what was spilled all over East Palestine, Ohio, when that train crashed. Also, New York is suing PepsiCo over single use plastic, saying that they violated public nuisance laws for misleading consumers about recycling, which is An L. O. L. And potentially very scary for myself and Nick knowing that they enforce [00:13:00] public nuisance laws here for misinformation because we should just stop this podcast right now. So that's that plastics. Let's just try to avoid them all together. Single use plastics, let's just not do that. I don't think we have the option to not recycle though, because you'll get fined and your landlord will yell at you if you don't sort your trash accordingly. So keep recycling, even though we know nothing's happening. I've always thought it would be really nice to open a North American small plastics recycling facility because. Really, what you need is cheap labor, and I think with the right people strategizing putting it together, I think that we could do it and we could make products that don't need virgin plastic that are useful just to do something with all this plastic that's already been used. Because there's two things, right? There's [00:14:00] one, we have to figure out what to do with all the plastic that's already out there, that's filling up landfills, that's getting in our uteruses, that's causing all these problems. But two, we have to figure out how to stop using more plastic. Which I don't know the right answer to share your thoughts. Hi, I witness bd. com. also, since we last spoke, Beyonce did launch sacred, her haircare line. It's not cheap. So I think Nick was the one who called that. He was saying it'd be nice if she did something that was more on the luxury side of things versus a more accessible target side of things. So that's great. We got what we wanted there. I was wrong in that it does not cater to curly hair. All the products right now claim to be for all hair types. So there's that. I'm personally not a fan of brands that launch that are quote unquote for everyone. I think that there is no niche on the internet. So I think that you should define your audience and make products for them [00:15:00] versus trying to please everyone with a like lowest common denominator product. Not saying that her products aren't great. I'm just saying it would be nice to see, you know, her give maybe like an underrepresented group something just for them. But again, I haven't tried these products, so maybe they work great across all hair types. They have good reviews. I like that the website isn't flooded with positive reviews. Um, it makes it seem more authentic. It makes it seem real. I wonder if they're verifying reviews from actual purchasers. One thing Nick and I did agree on, I think I can speak for both of us when I say that. The packaging is, unfortunately, giving Skikkin by KKW. It's that kind of aesthetic, you know, monochrome brutalist look with really chunky caps on all the bottles that you don't need. Actually, several of them come off and then the real cap that actually dispenses the [00:16:00] product is underneath the big decorative cap on top. And, you know, just coming off of this huge plastic story. We don't need all that. We don't need a big old aesthetic bowling ball. I mean, our pool ball cap on top of a other, like a spray nozzle. You just don't need it. And if anyone can spark change in this world, it's Beyonce. So anyway, if you've tried sacred, let me know, let me know what it smells like. I didn't see a lot of discussion on scent on the website, but I imagine it smells. Pretty good. Finally, I just want to give a shout out to all my L'Oreal USA employees that are listening because apparently you guys have to get off your asses and go back to work on Fridays. But the good news is, you only have to go back to the office three days a week already and the mandated Fridays are only twice a month. And apparently, not all offices, apparently this is just like one of the main offices in the US. I think it's their California [00:17:00] campus. They have gyms, they have restaurants, they have bars, and they even introduced a personal butler service for employees where for 5 an hour, you can have someone that will like, do chores for you, like, take your laundry and or walk your dog or drop your kids off at daycare. Now, part of me is a little bit like it's giving coal mining town. Like you get paid and then you spend your money at the company store. Also, I'm a little like, why, why are companies having to jump through such hoops to get people to like do the very least and to show up for work, especially companies that make physical products. Like, you're not going to convince me that you don't need to show up to do your job if your job is to make good physical products. Like, think about it from a consumer point of view. Like, if I had the choice to buy a product that was done, designed, made, [00:18:00] tested, quote unquote unquote, all completely remote, versus one where it was made when a group of people came together and actually worked on the product, one, I think I would prefer the one Where the people came together and actually worked together because they think it would probably be a better product to it's like how can you properly do your job when you're not collaborating with the people around you again when you're making a physical product. Like you're not going to convince me that like the digital marketing team doesn't need to like see and feel in touch and smell the product and they're lying to themselves that they think that they're doing a good job, you know, just like on their little programs on their computers, not meeting with the people making the products and working on the packaging and feeling it in their hand and feeling how much it weighs and. You know, thinking about how you use it and really understanding it when you're making beauty products. [00:19:00] Oftentimes, you're getting samples. You don't have 100 to go around so that you can mail it to every employee that works remote. Oftentimes, like, especially in the early stages, you have one sample of things. And I just can't imagine a world where we really think that we're going to produce the best results by not actually seeing things in person. I'm sorry again, this is for companies that make physical products. I understand that there's a lot of chatter and I think that a lot of the conversations is online. A lot of the gripe griping online is and a lot of the people that are proponents for working remote are people that work at companies that make digital products. Or, you know, software that you don't need to actually touch it, feel it, smell it, experience it, or you can experience it digitally remotely. Again, I don't think that it produces the best results still for a digital product, but I think that that a case [00:20:00] could be made that you don't need your team to be together in a room to actually produce a viable digital product. I do think that you have to come in and work together to make it. A great physical product. I'm sorry. And there's history supports this major human achievements are marked by people coming together. Agriculture? You think we could have done agriculture? No. It's literally the opposite of agriculture is remote workers. Hunter gatherers. The industrial revolution. Everybody was flocking to the city so we could have a revolution. And produce more. Even like the boom which marked our country's leadership in tech can be credited, in part, to the mass influx of people going to Silicon Valley to work together. And this is on digital products. So, like, Why are we acting like remote work has been some inalienable human right? Is that the right word? I don't even [00:21:00] know. But I think since COVID there's this idea that it is a basic human right to work from home or work remote. And I say it's an employer's right to fire you if you don't want to show up to do your job. And I think that there's this idea that a policy that favors remote work, usually for everyone, no matter their job duties, will solve all the problems with company culture and make employees happier. I don't think that is. I think that's the red herring. And I think it's a distraction from the fact that there's been a complete degradation of professional standards and honestly, a lack of individual accountability in the modern workplace. So that's that. Uh, who's mad at me? I feel like I sound like a right wing like pundit right now. No, I just think that people, again, I know. I know from experience, I know this, if you're not touching and feeling the product, if you're not sitting right [00:22:00] next to your coworker, your collaborator, it's just not, it's not it. You can not make quality things that way. You're setting yourself up for failure and you're setting your business up for failure. So I don't get it. I guess like, but this is a two way conversation. I, I'm only speaking from my experience and what I'm seeing also from companies like L'Oreal saying, they're literally saying the reason that we're doing this is to increase collaboration, which is, you know, I think their PR departments, nice terminology for saying that, like, the work has been incredible. Um, Suffering because people aren't showing up. anyway, but right, right in and let me know. Let me know. I'm interested to hear like you don't and I think the conversation on Twitter on threads Online is from people that are [00:23:00] chronically online And that, you know, their work is often online, but for, are there people that enjoy working together? And how has that been for you not being able to work side by side? And by the way, I'm not saying that, like, we have to go back to the 40 hour work week. I don't agree with that at all. I would hate that. I value my autonomy and freedom more than anything. However, I think that there is a balance between fighting tooth and nail not to come to the office. And, you know, being chained to your desk every day. You know what I mean? my mom has worked remote her entire career. Like her office was at home. I guess she, she did travel a lot to collaborate though. She travels all the time to collaborate. So maybe that's not the best example. But yeah, it's interesting to me. It's a really, and I've talked to other founders where it's like a huge issue for their [00:24:00] teams. And within their companies, you know, they, it's almost created this, like, us against them mentality where, you know, the evil boss or manager wants you to come in and for reasons that are not really well articulated, you just want to stay home. I get it. Offices are kind of ugly. The coffee's not good. The snacks aren't good. Commute sucks. I know. I know. I know. And I know, yeah, and it's expensive to live in big cities. It is so, uh, you can't blame the workers. It is the government's fault. This is a top down problem at the same time. If you value a quality physical product, can we just acknowledge that you do have to. work together, hand in hand, touching skin, [00:25:00] sharing air. Anyway, that's my rant. let's do product of the week. Today, I'm wearing a product that I don't know if I've talked about on this podcast before and I hesitate to say this because cloud paint means so much to me personally. It was an invention of mine. I went to the store and I said, I went to Dick Blick, Utrecht art supply across the street on Lafayette and I got a tube of gouache paint, which is The in-between of watercolor paint and acrylic paint. So it has it's like a cre, a creamy consistency in the same way that acrylic paint is, but it has the ability to shear out in the way that watercolor shears out. [00:26:00] So it felt like the perfect reference for a new blush product. That would work with that dewy skin look that would, you know, powder doesn't always apply well over you know, dewy wet, creamy skin. So having like a cream blush felt like the right answer, but the sticks. You know that you have to drag across your face. Those didn't feel modern, maybe too pigmented, also so much product. So cloud paint was born. Even the packaging references the tube of gouache. So, let's acknowledge Maybelline did knock off cloud paint. What I will say though is their cheek, heat? Terrible name. Cheek heat. The formula itself, it might be better than cloud paint. It is better than cloud paint. I'm just going to say it. It's more sheer. And I know we always, you know, YouTubers, beauty vloggers, [00:27:00] whatever. All they want to talk about is it's so pigmented. It's so pigmented. It's great. I think with blush, there's a balance. I don't think that you want blush to be so pigmented. You don't want to spend, you don't have to spend like 10 minutes cheering out your blush or like being very careful. I find myself with cloud pain, oftentimes having to, you know, very gingerly touch the tip. So I only get the tiniest little drop because it's so much pigment that, you know, the tiniest, tiniest little microscopic bit will be enough for an entire cheek, cheek heat. Is a very sheer formula and I got to say it applies beautifully. The shade that I am wearing today, the only shade that I own, the only shade I've ever tried is number 20 Rose Vibrant. Which is kind of like a corally pink and that's my story on Cheekheat. [00:28:00] Also today, I've done, for anybody watching on Patreon, 5 a month gets you full access to all of our video content and a bonus episode once a month where we talk about really we break all of our NDAs and talk about everything. So just kidding. But it's good. Our bonus episodes are good and we go there. So 5 a month. Patreon. com slash eyewitness BD. And I think actually we might need the money because we had to pay our accountant to do our taxes. So I think we're, I think we're actually in danger of running out of money if you don't join a Patreon anyway. Today I'm have a very simple cat eye and I will tell you every time a cat eye is more about the brush. It's more about the tool than the paint itself, but I have an interesting product to tell you about and. I'm not giving it a 10 but I think it's good for those who [00:29:00] are just learning with a cat eye or who have trouble working with a thicker ink formula or like, um, a gel. A gel formula. I prefer the Chanel gel liner only make one shade. It comes in black. It's a little hot pour. It dries super matte and it stays. It does not transfer. You can use it on your water line and it stays put. It's crazy, but it does dry very quickly. So you have to work really quickly. And I oftentimes have to use 2 brushes, 1 for each eye because the formula will dry on the brush and then I can't use the brush anymore before I move to the other eye. So, um, Anyway, whatever this formula I want to tell you about, which is more of a true ink, like a wet, wet ink, is Denisimirex's Waterproof Cushion Color. Interesting that it's called waterproof, I did not know that until just now, because It does transfer. It does. I've had this on for several hours [00:30:00] today and you know, I don't have the greasiest skin. It's not bone dry, but there, there's a little bit of transfer going on. It's fine. I think it's completely serviceable product. I think it is, it's nice to paint on and little strokes. It gives you a lot of control. It's easy to load your brush. And it's easy to really get that crisp line and be very controlled. So if you're looking for a formula to use the brush for your eyeliner I would try this Danessa Myricks, this cushion color. It is in a little pot and you open it and you see it's actually the pot is filled with the sponge and the product is absorbed into the sponge. So you dip your, it's just like a, like an ink, stamp, you dip your brush into the sponge. And that's how it loads the brush up. Um, it's interesting. I like it. And I think it would probably have better staying power. 1, if you have oily lids, Use a primer. Very, [00:31:00] very thin layer. Two, you can, if you have a small enough brush, set it with a little bit of you know, dark eyeshadow. That'll probably help it stay longer. But I like the product. I think it's very, it's quite easy to control and to paint with, and you can really get in between all of your lashes with it. So I've just drawn it above and out on my upper lash line and I've gone underneath and I've painted in between each lash so it looks really dark on top and then I did the little fox eye little triangle on the inner corners. I like doing this look because you don't even need to wear mascara and it brings everything up. Nothing, you do no makeup on your lower lashes or anything. Just this one line on top, pitch black, and it really makes your whole face look lifted. so the other day I went to visit Artist Kit Company, which it's based in New York, a makeup artist [00:32:00] started it during COVID, I believe part of his business is he, uh, condenses makeup artists, professional kits. So if you've ever worked with a professional makeup artist, a lot of times you'll see that they have palettes where they've depotted lipsticks into, you know, a grid palette that they can just grab and quickly use that, use that rather than having a million tubes of lipstick in their kit, same with powders. Although powders are harder to deep pot because, you know, you have to press them into their molds. You have to break them up and then press them. It's like a very, sounds very messy and complicated process. But part of his business is that you can, as a makeup artist, send him your products and he'll condense everything for you into, into palettes. And he 3D prints his own palettes. He designs so many of the tools that he sells himself. And so I went there and I bought all sorts of things. There's a bag that I really like that he makes. There's a little acrylic palette that I've been using. And he also sells a palette [00:33:00] spatula that's quite bendy. So it makes it really, really easy to mix up any liquids that you have on the palette. So I've been using that to mix foundations or concealers with a little bit of color corrector before I apply it. It's much less messy than having to use my hand. But he threw in this little puff that I just, I can't get enough of. I love using it and it works so well. And he just posted yesterday that Kylie Jenner has been loving it too. She was posting about it and it's this triangular microfiber. Black puff you can see mine has white powder all over it and the backside has little you know strap for your little fingers And I love using it. My favorite setting powder is the NARS Translucent crystal light reflecting setting powder. It's very white in the compact and it says it's light reflecting, [00:34:00] but I find it to be quite mattifying. I mean, I'm wearing it now. You can see, I guess there is light reflecting off my face, but it never looks like shimmer on the skin and it just takes down any bit of greasy look and this microfiber. applicator puff is just perfect. I mean, the little tip, it makes it so easy to get into your inner corners. Tom Ford always said women should powder beneath their eyes. That's like the one thing they should do with makeup and it feels really nice on skin and it just leaves, it doesn't interfere with your makeup. You just press it on over the top and it's just the perfect applicator for pressed powder. I haven't tried it with loose powder yet, but I imagine it works just as well. So makeup, sorry, artists kit company. AKC, the little black applicator puff, get that. Finally, I've been gatekeeping this eyeliner for a while. Not on purpose, it just [00:35:00] never came up in conversation, but I felt you should know. I buy all of Chanel's eyeliners. Not all of them. I don't, there's some that are sparkly that I'm like, I'm okay on that. But all of their matte colors, I do purchase. I think that they have a good formula. I think that they do a really nice range of dark neutrals that are not neutrals, you know, I'm talking about this is one of those colors. It's called smoky gray and it is the waterproof pencil. It's a retractable pencil. It comes in a little plastic to plastic gross. Um, and yeah, it's twist. You twist it up and I love this color because. It is gray. It's a cool gray. It's not too dark. It doesn't read as like black or graphite. It is a light gray, almost, almost like people when they, when they say they [00:36:00] have gray eyes and they're just really light blue. It's like that. And I think it's the perfect. Waterline color to add just a little bit of definition to your eye without looking too intense. So if you you know, like wearing eye makeup during the day and like a lot of definition around your eyes during the day, it's like so perfect for that. Or if you have like, quite an intense eye look for nighttime and you want to do a waterline, but maybe black would be too, too much and make your eyes look too small. This light gray color is the perfect option and it works so well with blue eyes, with brown eyes. I just think it's, everybody should have a light gray water liner in their makeup repertoire. And the Chanel waterproof shade 905 smoky gray fits the bill, so. I've been using it for years. I really love it, and I think you should buy it. Okay, that's all I have for you today. Nick will be back next [00:37:00] week, and we'll have a brand new episode. And, oh, we'll also have a bonus episode because we're going into March. So, again, subscribe to our Patreon. We actually definitely need you to. And this episode was produced by Jonathan Kornman and edited by A. J. Mosley. And thank you for the beautiful new reviews. we love reading the new reviews and yeah, thanks for listening to me rant. Be sure to send all of your feedback to high eyewitnessbeauty. com and, you look good. Thanks for listening.