Lillie Superstar

I have a lot of dumb tattoos, I've made a lot of questionable makeup decisions, and I pierced my own nose in my high school bathroom at 17. So when we talk about "body art", I feel like I'm more of an abstract piece people see in the MoMA and wince at. Like, is it high quality? No. Can you compare it to the Mona Lisa? Probably not. I can get away with it, though, because art is subjective, and hey I'll drink to that.

Articles with titles like "How This Teen Made $18K Selling Her Pre-Loved Clothes!"seem to constantly float around the Internet lately. Almost every influencer has a side hustle selling the fits they wore once in an Instagram photoshoot. And on TikTok? Thousands of tutorial videos on how to turn XL clothes into cute little sets, or how to redesign Walmart jeans and then make them cute enough to sell for $45.

There's something almost too perfect about Glossier. The baby pink Instagram account, the dreamy aesthetics surrounding their pop-up and flagship stores, the sleek and often minimalist packaging...it's all so perfect for a brand who thrives on simply enhancing the natural beauty of their millennial clients.

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).