Lillie Superstar

It's 2009. You French kiss your middle school crush Alex for the first time while Usher's "Love in This Club" blasts from his family desktop's crappy speakers. On your walk home, you play "Fergalicious" on your hot pink iPod Shuffle. Later that night, you watch the music video for this song called "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga with your best friend. Honestly, it's pretty weird, but you like the song anyway.

No one on the frontlines of the hair industry really wants to talk about a pandemic. I don't mean influencers like Brad Mondo who have the luxury of being able to stay at home and review TikTok hair tutorials for income. I mean your regular shmegular hair dressers at Fantastic Sam's who have to service 10 clients a day to make a livable wage.

In the first week of June, beauty companies had had a lot to say. Titans of the makeup industry like NYX, Ulta, Maybelline, and Anastasia Beverly Hills donated sales money towards funds associated with Black Lives Matter and/or George Floyd's family and community. Black owned makeup brands were boosted and promoted among beauty gurus, with YouTubers and professionals alike doing full faces of Fenty and Juvia's Place. Black creators were finally getting their laurels, with features on brands like Sugarpill's Instagram (which has over 2 million followers).

In self isolation, I've found a lot of...weird things on Instagram to say the least. One of those delightfully interesting Internet finds is called "panning". Basically, the idea is you document every makeup product you finish on a seperate Instagram account and set a goal for yourself to use up some or all of your products by a certain date.

The Met Gala is one of the only things that excites me anymore, which might sound depressing, but I know I'm not alone. Typical red carpet outfits generally tend to be boring to say the least, and Anna Wintour's themes lately have truly been top notch. But there's always that one person, (well, maybe a few people) who show up looking boring, botched, and dull. Or they just don't even follow the theme. This is, effectively, a call out post of the worst Met Gala looks since 2015.

I think it's safe to say that no one is really looking or feeling their best. What's worse? Webcams are really unflattering. I feel like I look like a red, blotchy Keebler Elf on all my Zoom calls and I'm not alone in that sentiment. I mean, the Keebler Elf thing might be a little "me" specific, but the point stands. Plus, Taurus Season means retail therapy is now an extreme sport, so here are some of my favorite products for defeating web cam woes.