The Lipstick Index: Is This the End of an Era?

Adapted from The Last Lipstick Generation, an upcoming editorial on the cultural shift from glam to glow in modern beauty. Beauty has long been considered one of the most resilient discretionary categories, a belief tied to the so-called Lipstick Effect, an economic theory that when consumers sense a recession looming, sales of affordable luxuries like …

Why Online Shade Matching Still Feels Like a Gamble

Artificial intelligence may be trying to match your undertone with a few clicks and a smartphone selfie, but until it’s perfected, there’s still no substitute for a good old-fashioned swatch comparison. Take the image below: each of these formulas is labeled as a “light neutral” tint. And yet, the differences are obvious—one leans peach, another …

Joan Collins Ate More Titanium Dioxide Than You Ever Will

And Look at Her Now. We just unpacked the latest science behind titanium dioxide in lip products here, but let’s take a lighter moment to ask: what would Joan Collins say? Joan Collins is 90-something, fabulous, and possibly walking, talking proof that decades of titanium dioxide-laced lipstick haven’t killed anyone. Watching her in this interview, …