Hey you! Tarte, Urban Decay, Too Faced….Gen Z doesn’t like you.

Sorry.

I hate to be the one to break the bad news but Gen Z is committing themselves to skincare and color cosmetics are getting a big old shove aside.

Recently research from Kyra Media’s Gen Z State of Beauty Report has found the GenZ consumers are all about their skin care routine. Yes, the color cosmetic bubble has broken and the new generation of beauty lovers aren’t actually makeup lovers but skincare ones.

During the Pandemic a lot of people that adored their makeup found themselves at a lost what to do with their big stash or collection of makeup when they weren’t leaving the house. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. My ritual of applying makeup and getting dressed in the morning even while working at home gave me a complete sense of normalcy that I really needed during a time I felt very anxious about the state of our world. But a lot of people weren’t like that and said screw it, “I’m going to walk around the house in PJs all day, eat cereal for dinner at 2AM, and not wear a stitch of makeup and that’s on periodt.” And that’s ok too! Everyone had a different way dealing with lock down when it happened but one of the most important things that came out of it was the fact that we developed such a fascination with self care and self love. A lot of that self care came in the form of skincare.

I’ve always been a skincare junkie and I’ve always been obsessed with taking good care of my skin. My routine has served me well as not many people realize how old I really am (a new friend just told me yesterday, “You look mid-twenties!” and of course, I got a bit giddy about that!). I really loved the fact that so many people found skincare during lock down and just started to become more invested in taking care of their skin.

One of the biggest groups of people that became interested in this was Gen Z. Gen Z started to study and they studied hard. They wanted to understand what active ingredients were right for their skin, how they worked, and which products would get them their best looking skin. They weren’t interested in foundation or concealer to hide their problems or imperfections! The didn’t want a perfect smoky eye or red lipstick to make them feel beautiful! They wanted products that would treat problems and imperfections that would make them visibly look better.

Tiktok has become one of the primary social platforms for Gen Z to get info about makeup, beauty, and of course, skincare. A simple case study of how easily Gen Zers are influenced would be by taking into account the incredible success and sale increase of Cerave products across the platform. Cerave is one of the more successful brands that made a killing during the pandemic and products literally flew of shelves as creators recommended them.

You’re going to start to see a major shift in the beauty world soon. It’s already started to happen about a two years ago. Brands are going to start introducing skincare to their line up more and more. Tarte, E.L.F., and other brands have already started adding many different skincare selections to their main collection. It’s only a matter of time before many other brands do the same. At some point brands will have as many skincare options as they do color cosmetics.

One of the most important things about Gen Z is they are actually interested in sustainable beauty. I think my own generation has never successfully reached that point. Gen Z does want more sustainable beauty as well as Eco-friendly products that are natural and organic. This makes me very hopeful for the future. It also makes me happy that finally there’s a generation comfortable in their own skin. A generation that’s not worried about layering on a bunch of makeup to make themselves feel their best or most beautiful. A generation that looks to skincare as a way of providing self care and self love.

Gen Z might be able to teach us all something.

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Watching people steaming their vaginas on Tiktok is one of life’s little nuggets of weird and unusual. I dunno who needs to hear this but you don’t need to steam your vagina nor do you need to lighten it (I remember Huda, I remember…!). Believe me your vagina is doing just fine. Don’t bother her. She’s chilling, living her best life, and she totally knows how to take care of herself.

It’s so odd watching the evolution of a new platform like Tiktok because everything that’s old is new again. Makeup dupes, swatches, looks of the day, it’s stuff that was done ten plus years ago on blogs, stuff that made it’s way onto youTube and later onto Instagram and now here we are full circle and a lot of it is back to trending again on Tiktok. Tiktok literally sells things out faster than youTube did and certain products will just disappear off shelves as content creators promote it across Tiktok.

So, yeah, you know what that means right? There’s room for really harmful trends. I’ve seen this across a particular aspect of my life that I don’t discuss here and also, in beauty which I find disturbing. Interestingly enough Esteelaundry posted on Instagram today about vaginal steaming and I was instantly floored at how well the algo rhythm of the Internet works because prior to her even mentioning it I had been served up several vagina steaming videos on Tiktok this week and I had plans to write about it.

Before we can actually discuss vaginal steaming maybe we need to understand what vaginal steaming is and what the benefits are as well as what it claims it can do. Vaginal steaming involves sitting over a pot of steaming water that contains a mix of herbs. You’ll arrange a towel or a skirt over your legs and upper body creating a cocoon so the steam doesn’t escape and sit over the pot and allow to steam to rise and well, just go to work steaming your lady bits. In some cases, you can buy at home kits that fit over your toilet which can be filled with herbs as well as hot water and you can just sit right on your toilet to do your steaming. Vaginal steaming claims it can detox your womb and increase your fertility as well as improve energy and a bunch of other hocus pocus, magic, and wizardry (who knows? your vagina may take flight after it’s been steamed according to some reports!). I mean, they pretty much say you’ll be living a stress-free life if you sit over some steaming herbal water and let your vagina just breath it all in. You know at some point some fool out there is going to start injecting CBD into the herbal blend and claim how beneficial it is to your vagina. I can picture the marketing now: “It’ll make your vagina feel so chill and relaxed” One company on the Internet has a mix of roses and herbs because here we are again with the misconception that vaginas are weird, smelly, funky things that need to smell like roses, berries, and air freshener.

Dude, dude, dude…we’re all self cleaning. This isn’t a dry cleaner! We don’t have to steam it. It pretty much takes care of itself and steaming it can upset the balance of the pH levels down there. You wanna maintain that healthy pH by not mucking around too much with the balance of nature. Water is fine, a little soap, but you don’t need to buy into all these unusual trends telling you to sit over a pot of steaming scented water to make your vagina will work better and smell pretty.

You’re vagina is good trust me.

If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

Don’t be ashamed of your body or let others shame you. Vaginal steaming comes across as a weird way of saying, “you’re not clean enough! you’re not well enough!” I believe in a healthy life and living but I also don’t believe in taking that to extremes. Vaginal steaming is an extreme in my personal opinion.

�I bet you’re worried. I was worried. I was worried about vaginas. I was worried about what we think about vaginas, and even more worried that we don’t think about them.�? Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues.

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Come on in guys let’s all sit around and talk candles. Bath and Body Works Fall 2021 hit White Barn this weekend and I admit I went in and walked around the store inspecting them! I just really wanted to wander around like a weirdo sniffing them like to get a little Fall serotonin high but COVID has made me scared to put my nose near any surface that’s been touched by ten thousand people. I went into Lush with my sister last week and I was simply aghast they still had chunks of soap laying around. I shuddered in fear and anxiety as people were touching them and putting them back down. Ugh the gross factor. You see, I rarely purchase anything that’s left open at Lush. It really squeaks me out that so many people touch bath bombs, smell them, and put them down. It’s just gross to me. I tend to buy my Lush online because of this. But with COVID I’m even more of a freak about it.

So, yeah, watching a bunch of people sniffing the lids of the candles and putting them back on had me mildly panicked.

That being said, my inner basic bitch loves that there’s so much Fall everything rolling into stores. It really hit early this year as typically Bath and Body Works used to wait until August to roll out Fall and Halloween but many people are already starting to see new floor sets in stores especially at Test Store Locations.

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Urban Decay Naked 3 Mini Eyeshadow Palette arrives early for Fall 2021 and includes six never before seen rosy-neutral shades. I admit some small part of me had a relieved I can breath again feeling that we weren’t getting yet another palette that contained 30+ shades. I dunno how many more huge eyeshadow palettes I need in my life at this point that was why I was semi excited about the Hourglass Curator Eyeshadow Collection but ouch you hurt my feelings on the price tag there.

Oddly, I’ve reached some point in my makeup life where eyeshadow palettes hold very little appeal but also, the same part of me is like, well, do I really want to go back to spending $18+ on single shades? The struggle is real.

I will sadly say that the Urban Decay Naked 3 Mini Eyeshadow Palette holds very little appeal for me. The colors look more taupe than rose and I’d rather throw money at some of the Caviar Stick Eye Roseglow Shadow Sticks from Laura Mercier than this uneventful mini from Urban Decay.

But hey, Urban Decay decided we need yet another palette in our lives so here we are. All six shades are new and “never before seen” but I’m sure we can dupe them across the many Nakeds we already own! It’s $29 and includes the following shades:

• Glassy (ivory sheen)
• Public (peachy-champagne shimmer)
• Laced Up (dusty-rose matte)
• Stolen (mauve shimmer)
• Right Time (grey-plum matte)
• Spiced (deep charcoal-brown with purple sheen)

Do we love it?

Do we need it?

I’m a firm no on this one. I can think of any number of things I’d rather spend $29 on and this isn’t it.

What about you?

Urban Decay Naked 3 Mini Eyeshadow Palette is available now.

Where to buy

Sephora Ulta

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Wet n Wild Wild Crush Collection has popped up at target.com and in Target stores (I saw it there this weekend) and I have to say those Wild Crush 9 Pan Eyeshadow Palettes are looking a lot like the Colourpop 9 Pan Eyeshadow Palettes right? The main difference is each palette has a different fragrance that they are inspired by!

I was squealing a little when I came across a full display of the collection this past weekend. It looks like Target either has early dibs on the launch or it could be exclusively available there. I wasn’t really all that excited about the Wet n Wild Spongebob Square Pants Collection. I’m so sorry….! I just wasn’t feeling that collection but the Wild Crush Collection I’m really liking.

I picked up three of the four eyeshadow palettes, one of the Blushlighter Duos, and one of the Lip Kits.

Here’s a look at the full Wet n Wild Wild Crush Collection.

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