EWB 3.20 V1 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'm Nick Axelrod Welk and I'm joined as always, usually by the lovely diamond Creek bomb, miss Annie. Crike bomb herself. Annie: Crike bomb. Do you like that? I'm just as, um, Thanksgiving turkey leg. Nick: Oh, I was going to say that you were dressed more like a Oh, you are like a Thanksgiving turkey leg. It's like more like, it's giving Jerry Seinfeld puffy shirt. Or like the pirate shirt. No, Annie: he didn't have these tits. Nick: He didn't have those bazookas. No, he didn't. You're right. Bazookas, bazookas. I don't know. I I prefer Annie: bazookas. . Nick: You. I, they identify as [00:01:00] bazookas. Annie: Bazookas. What are bazooka? Bazookas are, um, weapon of mass destruction. These are weapons. That's why, but I remember weapons, but you remember Austin Weapons of mass deduction. Nick: Do you remember in Austin Powers though, how like the fembots would like fire their boobs? So I think that's why I think it could be. Bazookas. Anyway, you're like, I told you about Annie: meeting Mike Myers at the, um, cabin down below one time. Nick: No, but that's a throwback. Cabin down below. Tell the readers who aren't familiar. Annie: Well, it's, it still exists in some way, shape or form, just not by that name. Oh, I have juicy stories of cabin down below one. So I was interning at Alexander Wang and I loved my two bosses, Maytel and Lena. They were just shout out Nick: to Maytel Annie: and Lena and they were really cool. And I think that they knew I was pretty bad at my job. I was like [00:02:00] in merchandising, but didn't know how to, I thought it was like. Visual merchandising? No. It was like, how many tops should we order for next season based on the performance of this top last season? It wasn't like, Nick: what should like the inspiration for our windows be this today? Annie: Yeah, but it was cool because they did let me do photo shoots. Nick: When you say did, Annie: Like I literally, you know, honestly, small world and I have a prop. I stole this Ezra Petronio's what would you call this? Nick: Brand book? Annie: Brand book. Nick: Was that from Glossier play? Annie: I think so. I think he brought it in. And I stole it. Or Nick: is it good? That's like, so anyway, we, I feel like there's a lot we need to, we need to unpack Ezra Petronio [00:03:00] started a magazine called self service and he also is like a Fabian Baron of Paris. He's a, he's an art director, creative director. And he's. Kind of parlayed this, the sort of like prominence of self service into a branding business, but he wasn't really a branding person at first, right? He was an art director. But anyways, now he, yeah, and he like created brands and he randomly came in and did Annie: the branding for play and it was Right. Anyway, so, and when he came in for a meeting, he came in with this gorgeous woman and I was like, I know you. She was the fit model at Wang that I used to dress and do like the photo shoots with. And she was always so kind. I think her name is. I'll look it up later, but she was always so kind and it was really funny to, like, feel, and it also made me feel really important in the meeting with Ezra because I was like, oh, hey, like, all chummy with his. Nick: Was that, what, what, [00:04:00] yeah, what was it? Annie: Well, it was a meeting about play, about him doing the, branding for play and she I think is no but I'm saying but Nick: what what was her like was her job Was she a fit model for the branding for play or like what was she? Annie: No, I think at that point she was his like business associate, but I also think that they are romantic partners But don't quote me on that Nick: partners in life and love Annie: Exactly, which is a beautiful thing. I think that that is the perfect Nick: If you can hag it I say go for it. I mean, Casey and I are kind Annie: of hacking it. Nick: We are. I think that the, I think that, I mean, given how partnerships in business usually turn out it's shocking to me that, that, well, I guess a lot of married people who go into partnership for business do end up End of like that they do end up getting divorced, but I don't know I would just think that it's it's risky Annie: I [00:05:00] mean you can get divorced for reasons even if you don't work together Nick: true You know what? I think about all the time is like you get married to someone And you get married to them because it's like fun to be like single with each other, you know what I mean, like like just like not a care in the world just like Going from place to place, you know, a night in Montauk, and then stuck in traffic for five hours back to the city. But we ended up, you know, singing our own karaoke to Jimmy Buffett and whatever we ended up. We made fun of, we made fun out of it. Right. And then you add a kid to the mix. No wonder the divorce rate is 50 percent because how could you ever? People Annie: had kids, so they wouldn't get a divorce. Nick: It's a bad idea because like Annie: I thought kids fix everything Nick: the way that you Parent and the way that having a kid like affects your life is not something that you can anticipate So I just like you're literally getting [00:06:00] married to someone not having any clue whether or not you guys will come together or like agree on any of the myriad Dicks New challenges that you will face as parents. Annie: Geez, Louise, that's why I say fall in love with the person. I don't know these people that get married to like, because they're like, I want to have kids. And so I'm ready to get married. I'm like putting the cart and running the horse there, babe. Nick: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean like every, so wakes us up every single morning before the light turns green in her house. So that, or in her house, in her room, and so that has been really hard, because when they start fucking with your sleep is when they, you really feel like you're a prisoner, like in your own home. Oh my god. You know what I mean? It's like waterboarding. Annie: I'm so sorry. I've been getting 12 Nick: one funny story though, about Evie, and and then that'll be the only [00:07:00] one I say. So, the other day, uh, Like, we're driving somewhere with Rafi and Evie and Casey, we're driving to like, a birthday party or something in the car, and Evie, I'm trying to talk to my husband, and Evie's like, talking, and then like, starts talking louder because I'm not responding to her immediately, and then I go, shhh, and she was like, huh, started crying, what was that? What did you just do? And I was like, I shushed. And she was like, why do you shush me? That really hurt. My feelings was so triggered out of anything that I had ever done to her, that I had shushed her, like, was like, never do that. Promise you won't do that again. Like, whoa, like, like it was so discombobulating for her. And I was like, this is my daughter. Annie: You got to watch out for that now going forward. Nick: I know. And then the [00:08:00] other day we were in bed and Evie came and woke us up and was like laying on top of us and, and Casey sneezed, but it like kind of sounded like a shh, and she was like, what was that? And I was like, don't worry. That was a sneeze. It was a sneeze. It wasn't a shush. She's like really, really bizarrely triggered by shushing. And it wasn't like I went like a really loud one. I was just like, shh. And she was like, Annie: I wonder how this will manifest as she ages. Nick: I don't know. I don't know. Let's, we, I feel like we have some good stories this week. So to me, the headline of the week was that Sephora is pulling out of Korea. Annie: I didn't even know they were in Korea. Nick: Uh, well, funny, you should say that. So I was recently in Korea and. I had seen on the map of the mall that we were in, most of like the shopping happens in [00:09:00] malls that there was a Sephora in the mall. It's the Hyundai, the Hyundai mall opened in 2020. It's like the fanciest. newest, brightest, freshest mall that is in Seoul. And I, we couldn't find it and we kept on looking and then like, people would tell us, like, keep on going down floors. Like we're going into like the sub basement of the mall and we're like, in the food court, we're like, where is the Sephora? And like, we still couldn't find it. And then. We finally get to like the third lower level in the corner and it's basically like an exaggerated like shop and shop kind of like, like almost like a few kiosks and it was, it was really, we were like, of course that will number one, of course, this is not going to work because who knows how to get to like the third lower level of this like mall and number two, they had like, you know, half of it was, you know, You know, U. S. brands, like [00:10:00] Drunk Elephant, and then half were these Korean brands that like I had never seen before and not in a good way, like, I feel like the good Korean brands are in Olive Young, like they're, you know, like, or in some, or like you'll see them someplace. L like, like I will, I, by the end of my four days, I was very familiar with like all the brands that are hot right now. Right. Annie: Is all of young, uh, physical, like location or do they have, yeah, yeah. Nick: Okay. So, and anyway, so it was like kind of, I was like, they had to work really hard to find like these random brands that I don't really have much faith in because it doesn't seem like anyone is talking about them locally. And so of course, Sephora is pulling out of Korea. What's interesting is that Sephora obviously in the U S has like a stranglehold on the beauty industry, like the premium beauty industry. It's, it is the place to be as a, as a brand. They are, you know, [00:11:00] the partner in growth and accelerated growth for people like Drunk Elephant, Tatcha, uh, Briogeo. I don't know. Annie: What about, what about Ulta? Nick: Yeah, well, but I don't see as many examples of brands starting with Alta and then exiting. Like, you think about Tatcha, which was like hundreds and millions of dollars drunk elephants sold for 800 million dollars pretty much exclusively and with Sephora anyway, Annie: they want when I went, I don't know the timing, but didn't junk elephant launch in Ulta. Was that before they sold or after? I think Nick: after I think I don't know. But anyway, all of it's just to say, Sephora is huge in the U. S., you know, and in parts of Europe. They have not been able to crack Asia. And they've made a bunch of concerted efforts, including this most recent one, and now they're pulling out. And I think it's they're [00:12:00] pulling out of Korea. It's interesting, to your point about Olive Young, Olive Young is, it, it feels like, uh, you're in a, uh, Walgreens, or like, uh, CVS, but like, the drugstore aisle is the whole store. So there's something very drugstore, you know, value minded about the experience. It doesn't, it's not super elevated, but they are on every other block and they have crazy deals with even like the expensive brands that, you know, Are the trendy one of the moment. They'll have like a two for one kind of thing. They're packed to the gills and it's just skincare and makeup and hair. Annie: That's how I felt. Well, I feel like. Cosme in Tokyo was not, it didn't feel drugstore. I mean, there are parts of the story that felt [00:13:00] drugstore because some of the young feels like Duane Nick: Reade. It feels like a Duane Reade, but have Annie: you been to Cosme in Tokyo? Nick: I don't think so. Annie: It's amazing. It's like three floors of just cosmetics. And well, that's what this Nick: is. I mean, this is like three or four floors. They're crazy. I mean like and they have everything you could ever imagine. What was interesting is that like the environment that you shop for like premium skincare products in Korea is not like a fancy, you know, premium environment. It's very much like a Mass market kind of feel like grocery almost, but I feel like that is how they're conditioned to buy beauty in Seoul and in Korea. So it would make sense that like, they're not going to like seek out Sephora when they have everything at their fingertips on every other corner. Annie: Yeah. Like luxury beauty is like actually a commodity there. Nick: Well, there's yes. And I think [00:14:00] also there's like a bit of a, like separate, like a a growing divide between like department store beauty, you know, like Sulwhasoo, which you can still buy in Olive Young, but like the things that used to be in the old fashioned old lady department stores, like the premium brands with like, you know, iridescent packaging. And pearl essence and things, and then the like Dr. Jarts and the lineages and, you know, all of the more like millennial and down focused skincare brands. And now, but you can still all buy everything at all of young. It's interesting. And then the other thing I'll say, and did we talk about this last time? That like every single brand, I was like, so excited to go back to Seoul because I was remembering the first time that I went and it was like, you, you would, it's like a crystal wall. You see what's going to happen in our beauty industry in, you know, five years. Yeah. And what was interesting this time is [00:15:00] I think. You know, formulation wise, ingredient wise, like that still is the case, but every single brand that was like, Oh my God, have you seen this store? That store, it looked like Diptyque. Everything looked like Diptyque, Santa Maria Novella, or Byredo. Annie: Yeah, Nick: which I know Annie: is Nick: so anyway. Yes. Sephora is leaving Korea. They posted on their Instagram account. Sephora Korea's Instagram account that it would gradually terminate all operations. They launched in Korea in 2019. They have five stores and they had already shut down. Another additional two. So they had seven. They most recently had five and yeah, the business of fashion article that I read said that it was because of competition from places like Olive Young, which has 1200 stores and department stores. Annie: Wow. Nick: I know. Annie: brands that have, speaking of Sephora exits. [00:16:00] When did Josie Maran, that used to be one of the like premier Sephora brands, Josie Maran, right? Nick: Yeah, and it was like also the first, one of the first like argan oil. Annie: Yeah, argan oil. That was her big thing. It was, everything was gold and I think she won like a really popular like lip, lip balm or something. It was kind Nick: of like, she was like a clean Laura Mercier. Annie: And she was like a model from the 90s who decided, I don't want to put this junk on my skin. I'm going to move to a farm and make lip gloss. Well, something happened, something's been going on in the Maran because I don't remember the last time I've seen a Josie Maran product in Sephora or elsewhere. Do you? I Nick: Yeah, I mean, I think it just got there were more there was more and more competition from like Ilya and Say and all those brands that like we're kind of doing what it did But Annie: but like literally have you I don't [00:17:00] remember the last time I walked into a Sephora and seen Josie Maran on the shelf Nick: No, I agree. Annie: I'm gonna do some live research Sephora. com Josie Maran. I was bewildered to be hit with a Josie Maran Instagram ad. Nick: Oh because they rebranded. Annie: And they rebranded, oh they are on sephora. com, and they rebranded in the most bizarre way possible. Like it does not look at all like the same brand. Hmm. Nick: Tell me how, like tell me how. Well you, you said Annie: it. Nick: What did I say? Annie: You said Margiela, the like Margiela fragrance, the, the, Smells something like a barbershop. Both: Yeah, Annie: like a photo of a barbershop. Meets vacation Like the trendy like sunscreen brand Nick: screen. I mean, it's kind of true It's, it's when you get too many [00:18:00] people who probably aren't the original creatives of the brand involved and they're like, I know what we should do. And they're like, we'll put all this, like, they'll put, I mean, this is the Martin Margiela fragrances. Annie: It's so weird. Every single product has its own like editorial image. That I think is supposed to represent the scent, Nick: the Annie: vibe, the scent, all the packaging is like that soft plastic. It looks like those, um, what you give kids to eat, like Capri sun, peas out of with like a twist top. And they all have these, you know, Polaroid photos. Yeah, Nick: it's interesting. Give you the Annie: vibe. Nick: It's interesting. I mean, I kind of want to try the products again because, like, some of these look really good. Like, whipped argan body scrub? [00:19:00] Annie: There's a scrub, there's a lot of body butters and different fragrances. Nick: Yeah. It Annie: seems like. Nick: Whipped argan oil body butter. That sounds good. Anyway, they got me. I guess. Okay. So, Annie: the new branding worked on you? Nick: Apparently. Okay. Here's what else we have. Annie: I was dying at the new fragrance name of the brand Floor. We're running out of Nick: L U R. Yeah. Annie: Yeah. We're running out. This is not the new one. Oh, it's existed for a while. We're like copywriters need to have a little come to Jesus moment and we either need to make up new words or we need to look outside of the true crime podcasts. space for inspiration because This fucking fragrance is called missing person Nick: So, you know that I didn't want to spoil your fun on instagram, but Missing Person was the first [00:20:00] fragrance that they launched after the rebrand and debuting Chriselle Lim as the new founder. Of Fleur. So the center, I love, I love when a Annie: founder, when a, when a new founder comes after a brand has already been founded. So Nick: they basically like this, the center, Ben Bennett serial beauty entrepreneur founded a incubator called the center. They, you know, matched sort of product brand ideas with. Influencers, and that was sort of, and I think continues to be their thesis, that that's sort of how you can create a successful brand. Anyway, they did an Atarium Susan Yara. They did Saltare with that plus size influencer. Iska something. And anyway, they, he bought Fleur, which was floundering in Sephora and they rebranded it and brought in Crisel Lim and she named the first fragrance missing person. It sold out in like a day. [00:21:00] It went like viral on Tik TOK. Annie: Missing person. Yeah. I'm sure it did go viral because all these weirdos love to talk, like love true crime. Nick: But like, I think Crisel in like the interviews around it was talking about how it was like. You know, like the person that you used to be, you know, like it was like it smells like a person, you know, like I don't know it like it somehow literally Annie: sounds like like unidentified remains Nick: Honestly trademark that quickly before this episode comes out. Annie: There's nothing aspirational about the phrase missing person Nick: No, I guess not. Annie: I'm, sorry. It's like literally like This, this is giving someone that falls asleep listening to like, What's the podcast? My Favorite Murder. And then like the next morning they're like, Oh, I know the perfect name for my favorite missing person. So bizarre. I'm sorry. Nick: Okay, do we, what else do we have? Anything else good? [00:22:00] Oh, I actually have something I want to talk about. I took like half an edible last night. And got really focused on SK II. Who, what, when, where, how? Hi, how? Like, is it a sham? Is the entire story of SK II, like, a market Is it all marketing? Is there any, like, was there a chemist who developed it? Or, like, was it PNG prestige in Japan, who sort of like I tried to, and like their, their Wikipedia page isn't that like specific about like how and when there's like, obviously SK two is a great example. Of when you sort of adhere to a marketing story, like a one line marketing story, which is like Patera everyone knows in beauty, but the sake workers and their hands looking young, [00:23:00] right? Because they were like, getting this enzyme or whatever it was. Yeah, uh, they, like they, someone noticed that all the women who are working in the sake factory. Had youthful looking hands and it was because of some enzyme or some ingredient in the sake called that they called Patera at SK II. So they took that ingredient, they put it into skin care. But I also didn't realize that it didn't, SK II wasn't introduced in the US until the 2000s. Annie: Yeah, I remember it being like a big thing when the toner came in and everybody was like that was one of the 12 steps when people were doing the Nick: But it just seems like it was huge Like as a like, you know Like it was such a it seemed like it was a competitor to creme de la mer and now it's like you never see it Anymore like so my thought was like is it is that an example of like if you put enough money In marketing [00:24:00] behind a brand, you can seem like a formidable, you know, competition, but then the minute you stop spending the money, you disappear again. Unless like, like how does creme de la mer still exist? Whereas like SK2 and like La Prairie, you like never see them anymore. Annie: I think that we forget that we are actually not the luxury beauty clients that we think that we are. is a complete upper echelon of people that just buy it with no question. They don't, they're not asking like, oh, can I get this for, can I get the same results from a drugstore formula? No, they're going into the spa some hotel in Rome, they're getting their little, they're And they're saying, what was that lovely lavender smelling cream you put on my face? And they're saying, Oh, [00:25:00] it's this La Prairie night cream in rich. They're like, great. I'll take two. They're like, great. That'll be 1, 800. Nick: I mean, I guess that's true. It's like, yeah, I guess it's more, it's not people. It's a different, it's a consumer. That's not like an ingredient obsessive, right? They're more just like, Annie: we forget that there's people that are like 50 plus that like, do not play the skincare game that are just like buying. They're like, still in department store mode. They're still in, like, going to the facialist and buying whatever their facialist says. That's how I understand. Nick: I don't think department stores. I don't think anyone goes into department stores. I think Dallas might be the only place. Annie: I love a department store. I will go to Bergdorf's. Nick: You want to get depressed? Go to a department store in LA. Annie: I went to, I did, I went to Sax. It was terrible. No. Did I go to Sax? Yeah, I went to s That's where I, [00:26:00] that's where I lost your car. Luck out Nick: of someone else's program. , . Annie: And it was terrible. It was disorganized. It was messy. There was a line to get into the Chanel area. The shoes were, it was crazy. There were like piles of shoes on the table. It was like, are you guys, it, it was really weird. It was weird. I don't like LA Department stores. I do. Love a Bergdorf Goodman. I love Bergdorf. I love their beauty area. I love, they have every fragrance you could ever imagine. I like that it's by the park. But the Nick: problem with Bergdorf is that like, or the problem with any place now is that like it's all the same shit. It was like kind of, I got a little depressed in Korea. Not this is like my only talking point at this point, but just the fact that like in the department stores where we're looking at beauty, I was like, the internet has ruined, like, you know, beauty tourism because like, I'm just like, [00:27:00] I, you can get all of this, whether it's, Literally at Sephora or on any of the websites that, you know, like there are, which are great, like SoCoGlam, Charlotte Cho, shout out, but it's like, you don't really need to go to Korea anymore. You can do it all from your iPad. Annie: No, I, I think the buyers at Bergdorf's do a great job and they also have the full range of different lines. Like if you go to, if you go to Sephora and try to shop Armani Beauty. You're you're only getting like a third of what they make if you go to bergdorf's you can get And they have all the Loewe fragrances there too, they have all the YSL fragrances. I think, um, I don't like Sachs, but Sachs in New York also has like all of the really nice Dior fragrances that you can't get everywhere else. Nick: Yeah, I mean I guess there's like still some reason maybe. Annie: I love a department store. I don't know. Nick: I Annie: hate having to shop [00:28:00] online and then like wait for it to come here and then you try it on and you send it. I just feel like a scammer. Nick: You feel like a scammer? Why? Annie: Because I'm like trying stuff on knowing I'm gonna send it back. You know, I treat like shopping on like online as just like piling up stuff to take to a fitting room. Nick: And then you just like Because there's no place Annie: to There's no place to shop here anymore. I mean there's like rent There's like each individual designer boutique, but it's like Do I want to spend all day like schlepping around Soho of all places the most depressing place on earth and like try on a Top at Isabelle Morant and then I don't know and then all all the salespeople having to like Interact, Nick: I don't know Annie: and I feel bad because i'm like i'm like i'm wait. I know i'm wasting your time I know you work on commission. Please stop bothering me. There's also a store. That's called the webster Nick: Oh, yeah I think we talked about this last episode, didn't we? Like [00:29:00] there's one in LA too, in the Beverly center. Annie: Well, it's the one in New York is multi story and they basically you come in and I think a sales associate, like you're their mark or like you're their person now, and they have, they have to accompany you up the different Both: floors. And I feel bad because I'm like, Annie: Yeah, because I'm like, I know like there's probably a really rich person that's about to walk in here and they're gonna and they're gonna make your commission for they're gonna pay your rent and I am not gonna buy a goddamn thing. I'm just wasting time. Please do not follow me around. I promise I won't steal. But like, I don't want to waste your time. And it makes me feel so bad. You know? Nick: Sometimes Annie: I'll like buy stuff out of like pity and then I'm like, great, there goes 80. They Nick: have to like go everywhere with you. That's so depressing. Annie: And then the weird thing is like now when you buy, like, Bless His Heart and Her Heart, I bought one pair of shoes in Italy [00:30:00] at the Miu Miu store. And I was like, I do not live here. It was very clear. Americans don't live here. She still to this day texts me being like there's an event next week. I would love for you to come Nick: Bless her little heart Annie: and then the guy at the Celine store. I'm like, I just needed a pair of loafers I I like Celine. It's great. But like literally just bought one pair of shoes Once a month. Hey, we got some great new stuff in. That's good. Nick: That's good sales work. Annie: No, it just makes me feel poor. It makes me feel like I duped them into thinking that Nick: the other day you will ever see Annie: my face again. Nick: The other day I chatted with this person who's starting a. Supplement brand as a favor to a friend and she was like, Oh, and my last question is like, Annie: no, Nick: do you do any angel investing? And I was like, Oh, I was like, [00:31:00] no, cause I don't have any money. Annie: I feel bad too. Cause I don't know if she's listening, but I, I also got one of those. Like, I thought she just wanted advice. Nick: I'm like, I have my advice I can do, but I can't give you, I don't have any money. My Annie: advice is like, find richer friends. And I'm glad that you think I have money. Nick: What? Annie: I'm like, my advice is to find richer friends. Nick: I know. I'm like, I just, sweetie, I can't help you. I like, wish I could. And I like, said that. I was like, I don't have any money. I was like, would I like to angel invest? Like, I'm happy that you think that I'm like. In that place, but I'm just not, honey. Anyway should we do prior to the week? Annie: Yeah, we can do that. Oh, you didn't even notice my haircut. Thank you very much Nick: I I didn't how would I have known you got a haircut? Annie: Because look it's so much shorter Nick: I mean, it's still down to your belly button. I can't believe I used the word belly button. [00:32:00] Sorry, continue What's Annie: wrong with belly button? It's Nick: like tummy. I don't know. Annie: Okay, so no I I think I've talked about this on the podcast before. I have been going to the same person that has cut my hair since I was 15 years old. Her name is Sada Marquez and I followed her to every single salon that she's ever like been to and once a year I get my little haircut from Sada and then January rolls around, I get a text. Hey babes, I'm traveling for the year. So good luck getting a haircut. And I'm like, no. Um, so then I, I. I booked a, I booked a haircut last week in New York and, Oh, she's in New have friends, no, she's in Dallas. Nick: Oh, got it. Annie: Um, no, cause she's not cutting this. She's gone. She is, Nick: she's gone. Annie: Not an option anymore. She's Nick: e prey loving. Annie: And I have my friends in New York, Neil, Edward, who will cut my hair, but I hate asking people for favors. So I'd rather just pay, [00:33:00] you know, then. Yeah. Because there's no such thing, Nick: honestly, as a free haircut. You know what I mean? Like you get what you pay for Annie: so Anyway, I got this beautiful haircut. You didn't even notice. How Nick: did you feel about it? I mean, it's your hair is very long Annie: I felt like well, he helped me because I said I think I want to do more of a side part now And so he helped me like strategize around which Three strands of hair to cut to make that happen Nick: Got it. Okay Yeah, I like that Annie: Okay, so products This is not only a lip gloss, but I would say it's like a Pilates instrument. Like, I think you could hold two of these and tone your arms. And it is the Westman Atelier Squeaky Clean Liquid Lip Balm. And it is A heavy girl. It is like full metal, full [00:34:00] metal lip gloss. Oh my god, look at the inside, it's branded. Nick: Oh wow, it has like, on the inside, like on where it, like where the metal meets, like where the cap meets the, It has a gold rim and an embossed logo. Annie: I didn't even notice that and I've used it several times. And then the packet, the, the tube itself is like sprayed matte black, but then they left a little, a little window so you can see the shade. It's just very like it's like it's like they had a car like a car designer do this anyway, I like it because of the shade because it's a cool Mauve, which is very hard to find. I don't want coral. I don't want anything orange and It is [00:35:00] called Garcon the shade is garcon. It's beautiful not too sticky. What do you think? I've been wearing it this whole time Nick: I mean, it looks very pretty, but like, how did, how is this different than any other lip gloss? Annie: It's not, that's the thing, Nick. Nick: When was the last time you were like really amazingly surprised and delighted that sort of made you excited about lip gloss again? Annie: Well, this I like because of the shade. I am being serious. It's hard to find like a cool mauve. Usually they pull like, warm, like quite orange, quite pink coral. And this is not that and lip gloss is tough. I don't really like lip gloss. I don't really like wearing stuff on my lips at all. Unless it's like a liner. Oh my God. I had a fun story. Nick: What do you got? Annie: You didn't respond to my text about it though. So maybe it's not [00:36:00] that interesting. Nick: What was it? Annie: My friend, my friend performed at the Academy Awards. Nick: I didn't, this was a little two six degrees of like a friend's brother's friend was like, go ahead. No, he's my friend song. Okay, well let the readers decide. Let the readers decide. Annie: Okay. Okay. A new friend and I like very casual, was like, oh, I work in music. Okay, great. I'm like, yeah, I work in Beauty , you know, I'm a writer. He's like, oh, I'm in a, I had a band. I'm like, oh, what's the band? Never heard of the band. He plays me a song. I'm like, totally heard that band. In like an apple commercial, you know, like I think it was probably like the biggest song of whatever year it came out And i'm like, okay. Okay, so But as you know, nick, I know a lot of guys in bands so hard to impress hard to impress little miss anyway, we ended up going back to his [00:37:00] place, not in a salacious way. In fact, he had his like, gorgeous ex girlfriend there watching his dog. He had fucking an Academy Award on his mantle. Because he had already won an Academy Award for a fucking song he did with Gaga. Nick: Okay, so you're like, okay, I'm listening. So Annie: I'm like, okay. And then he's like, ugh, I have to go to LA. I'm like, stressed. I have to perform I'm Just Kin, a song that he wrote at the Academy Award. Then he fucking performs it live for me and his gorgeous ex girlfriend. Nick: No, you didn't tell me that he performed it live for you. Annie: Yes. and I didn't know that like it wasn't out in the in the presses because then I was like scrolling instagram and like I saw like do moi blind item a certain like Male barbie doll is going to be [00:38:00] performing at the academy awards. I was like, oh my god. I already know and I knew that that okay. Yeah, Nick: that's pretty what a crazy Annie: new york night. You know what I mean? What a Nick: crazy new york only in Annie: new york Nick: I thought that was like, I mean, it, the, the bar at the Academy Awards for entertaining is so low that I'm like, okay, I guess that was cute. Like I did, like, it's, they talk about, talk about, are you being Annie: a hater about my friend? Nick: No, no. I thought it was good. I thought that was like the bright light of the show. Annie: That's what I thought. I was like, good job. I think everybody loved it. No, I hadn't heard one bad thing Nick: And he's a songwriter Annie: He literally wrote that song. I think he did all the music for the barbie movie Nick: And so but is he like what is his in in a if he if he's in a studio? You know in a music studio, what is he doing? Is he playing an instrument? I have no idea. Does he have a notepad? Like how does it work? Annie: No, I think he plays You I think he plays a lot of [00:39:00] instruments. Nick: Like what instruments? Listen, Annie: listen, I don't know. I don't know him that well. I just know that he plays the piano for sure. Seems to play guitars. I think if you're like a, I think if you are a really talented musician, you're kind of like instrument agnostic. Like you can do anything. You can Nick: do it. Like you do the whole thing. It's like hard to even, it's like dumb for me to even think that you could like, like categorize it. Annie: Yeah, and his name? Hans Zimmer. Nick: Is Hans Zimmer the one that's like, You've got a friend in me? Annie: Like who writes all the Disney Nick: songs? No. Maybe. Annie: I don't know. Why was I associating him with like Sound of Music? No, that's Rodgers and Hammerstein. You want to hear a funny story about Rodgers and Hammerstein though? Ariana Grande sampled [00:40:00] I love LOL. Nick: You have a funny story about Rodgers and Hammerstein? Annie: Well, Ariana Grande sampled You want to hear a Nick: crazy story about Cole Parter? Continue. Annie: Ariana Grande sampled these are a few of my favorite things. Both: Yeah, Annie: and they released, they like leaked the track and it like blew up, but she didn't get permission to sample from the Rogers and Hammerstein estate. So that song that was like her, one of her number one hits that year or, or Oh, they Nick: get all the money. Annie: She got like zero. She gets on that off of, yeah. And that crazy. Nick: I did read that. Yeah. That is pretty crazy. Okay. My product of the week is. Actually, the brand that was on everybody's lips in Korea, uh, this was someone who had formerly, like, who we met through a friend, a mutual friend we met up with in Korea. She, like, super cool, took us on sort of like a trend spotting trip spend a trend spotting tour, uh, [00:41:00] worked at Miu Miu forever, like, really, really incredible taste. We were talking to her at dinner, like, okay, like what, out of everything that exists, like on the market right now, like what brands are you excited about? What do you use? And she was like, I'm really into this brand called Dalba. D apostrophe A L B A. And then, We start seeing it everywhere and then someone else is like, oh my God, like have you tried dba? And then we were like, okay, that's it. We have to try all the products. We bought every one of everything. And it is a Korean brand that is, I guess kind of like a scent, a Maria Nove, like their whole thing is that it's. Pete from Piedmont, Italy, but it's a it's a Korean brand. Annie: Okay. Nick: They use white truffle and that is their like star ingredient. Beyond all of that though, [00:42:00] they have a double serum all in one multi balm, which is like a chunky, it's like one of the chunky lip balm size sticks that has like a white. Outer ring and then a yellow inner ring. Hence the two serums you're getting. Annie: Oh, it's on sale. It's on sale. They Nick: use trufferol, which is their signature ingredient which is the white truffle thing vegan hypoallergenic and what I like about this is that it adds a little bit of glow. wherever you want it and it doesn't feel it doesn't look greasy. So if you want like a little bit of like doing this, a little bit of glow, a little bit of highlight that has no shimmer and no, you don't look like you just like put olive oil on your face. A little bit of like extra hydration, a little bit of extra moisture. You just swipe this on your cheeks. Like before I got on the plane, I like was putting this like on my, [00:43:00] Um, it'd be great to bring on a plane. Actually keep yourself super hydrated. Yeah, it smells nice and not have Annie: to put your fingers in Nick: a 100%. I love that. Like you can just, it's like, I love a stick or a spray serum for the times you just like are not ready to commit to like fingers Annie: to fingering yourself Nick: 22 between 18 and 22, no 22 on Amazon, 32. It's 32 on their actual site. Guys, if Annie: you listen to the last week's episode, maybe you don't buy it on Amazon. Nick: Don't buy it on Amazon. Who knows if it's real. Annie: Or it could actually be real and you're getting a really good deal, but still. Remember the lady hat was stealing real stuff. Nick: Oh, that's true. Well, here's what I don't understand. Here's a way, here's a, like this is what's so weird about it. [00:44:00] Okay. There I just, I Googled the DBA double serum stick and in the Google ads that you're served, you know, at the top that look like search results, one of the products was from Bon Jo, B-O-N-J-O-U-T, Bon Jo Beauty, and it's skin savior solid serum and it's $105. Annie: Oh yeah. There's a whole. Nick: Like, but what is this brand? Bonjute? Annie: There's a whole method of like brands like buying other brands like search terms So no, I Nick: know that but like I'm just like a stick serum for a hundred and five dollars from a brand that I've never Heard of. Annie: Chic. Nick: Don't you think that's like tough? Annie: I want to buy it. Do you think I should? Nick: She's a French farm Pharmacist doctor. Annie: I think I'm gonna buy this little stick. Nick: Oh, no, the d'Alba stick. Annie: Yeah. Nick: Yeah, you'll [00:45:00] love that I'm don't buy the hundred and five dollar bond Annie: No, that's what I'm saying Nick: is that it's not really oily and it does have fragrance it does have added fragrance So if that's a problem for you steer clear of this brand, but if you don't mind it, yeah I do the thing I like about it is that it's not super oily You But it like gives you a, it gives you a doingness. Try it try it. That'll be fun. You'll see if I haven't tried it under makeup. I haven't Annie: well nick we have an exciting Thing happening today. Nick: We do so this is not goodbye, but rather a momentary parting of the ways because we're getting back together to Do a very fun episode with two of our favorite podcasters in a different genre, but we're gonna talk about You know, shared passions. Annie: Do you want to say who it is? Nick: No, [00:46:00] I want it to be one of them. Annie: I do have a parasocial relationship with like, I do think that she is one of my close friends and she Doesn't know me. It's kind of like what happened with me and Mark Maron, you know Nick: You were like, come on our podcast to talk about your eating disorder. And he didn't respond. Annie: No, he did. Nick: Oh, he did it first and then we had a whole back and forth. Yeah. Annie: And then I, real well, I also went to his book signing Nick. Nick: Right? Like, I forget about that. I, Annie: I had a, yeah, I did go through a period where I stalked Mark Marin. And, anyway, so that's that. This was edited by AJ Mosley Nick: This was edited by AJ Mosley, produced by Jonathan Cornman. And. Please support us on Patreon, patreon. com slash eyewitness beauty. We'll be back next week. Um, Adore you. Annie: Oh, we have our bonus on Friday too. Nick: And we have a bonus. We're recording our bonus on Friday, so we can answer [00:47:00] some questions if people have them. Annie: All right. Talk to you later. Nick: Bye.