Heya! There’s been some interesting work recently in the beauty space worth sharing, so here are my selections you can peruse this weekend:

• L’Oreal is suing Drunk Elephant over alleged patent infringement. This isn’t actually surprising, but it’s a good lead-in for non-obsessives to the realm of proprietary ingredients within the beauty industry. I’ve always found it super wild you can just own….. elements and shit, but L’Oreal also throws some of the most money into research and development in the beauty industry internationally, so I also get being miffed. Seeing how this plays out will be interesting, because it will surely have bigger implications on more affordable dupes of luxury products.

• When A Blogger Died From Silicone Genital Injections, His Fans Blamed His Partner . Queerness, kink, beauty and pain….. extremely Arabelle subject matter.

• Palau Bans Many Kinds of Sunscreen, Citing Threat to Coral. This isn’t the first tropical destination that has done so, and it won’t be the last. More than 14,000 tons of sunscreen end up in coral reefs every year - eighty five percent of the Caribbean coral reefs died before 2000, because of human pollution. Avoid two ingredients: oxybenzone and octinoxate. They bleach the coral. Opt for a mineral sunscreen. The Sun Bum line at ULTA is one I’d recommend towards this end.

• In more “humanity’s impact will be our own destruction” beauty news, let’s talk about smoke damage and how to cope with it. This explainer is good, though it does have gendered language in it. Basically if you have facial hair respirators offer no protection for you. If you’re currently dealing with skin deterioration from smoke, the Biologique Recherche Masque VIP 02 is the best “antipollution” treatment on the market, imo. It is also extremely expensive, naturally, but you can go get samples in places that stock the line. I have seen it work on meth sores overnight (don’t do meth guys) so can certainly vouch for it. Anti-pollution products are quickly becoming a pretty significant skincare category, because disaster capitalism is Really That Bitch. I do really like the Dr. Barbara Sturm Anti-Pollution Drops ($145) as well, but if you use hyaluronic acid, suncreen, and alteromonas ferment (available in cheaper products) you’d probably see similar results for less money. I actually like the Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum just as much, and it is just $25.

• These New Skincare Treatments Are (Finally) Geared to Women of Color. I think this is an under-appreciated skincare category and can only name like, a handful of brands who explicitly cater skincare to people of color, and most of them are luxury brands. I mean. You know. Racism. Surprise. Lots of dermatologists aren’t ever even trained to recognize skin cancer on black skin.

• Speaking of recognition: Federal Researchers Complete Second Round of Problematic Tattoo Recognition Experiments. The FBI has been sponsoring tattoo recognition projects since 2014, despite investigations that revealed ethical discussions and privacy rights discussions were totally sidestepped. (SURPRISE!!!!) The experiment is being used to investigate people’s beliefs and memberships….and tattoo recognition is also being used to help fast track people for deportation. This is why I wrote that piece for Racked (rip) on how to prepare for protests. Beauty is terror is surveillance is recognition. If you’d like to read more about the intersection of race and technology, you can read Simone Browne’s Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness or the Feminist Surveillance Studies Reader.

• On a less dystopia-centered note, I did interview teen genius Robbie Barrat for SSENSE on pattern recognition software and fashion, though. He created an AI that generates would-be Balenciaga. Talking to him was really fun.

Okay! What a dense list…. but this is just how my brain works. We just had a mimosa together, basically. Was it as good for you as it was for me?

lol,

Arabelle

p.s this was sent to all subscribers, but for access to original writing and more of this newsletter, please become a paid subscriber! Your paid subscription helps fund my research and makes more (and better) work possible. It is also one of the only reliable sources of income I get as a freelancer. Once again, disaster capitalism. HAVE A NICE WEEKEND REGARDLESS THO LOVE U BYE