Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2022 i Allure

Since being elevated to the position of editor in chief at Allure, I have been on a roller coaster of emotions. First euphoria, then fear—impostor syndrome set in within 48 hours—then a sustained feeling of being overwhelmed. Reader, I had to fall back on the age-old advice: “Fake it till you make it.” Most mornings I swipe on my favorite high-shine lip gloss (Ami Colé Lip Treatment Oil) and a bright pink Nars blush to mask my underlying sense of worry. And if I have an important meeting or presentation, I turn to red lipstick (Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paint in Uncensored) and become the Boss. For centuries, Native American warriors painted their faces before battle. Applying reds and blacks served as a preparation ritual for the fight ahead. The…

1 HEAVY METAL Silver chains, affixed with nail glue, make a ballerina-pink manicure feel edgy and fresh. Nail artist Betina Goldstein used raw materials from her Doublemoss jewelry collection, but you can find chains at craft stores or on Amazon. 2 BLING OUT At Alice + Olivia’s spring 2022 show, nail artist Alicia Torello used rhinestone strips (you can find these at craft stores too) and good ol’ nail glue to give a basic black paint job cascading sparkle. 3 THE DARK SIDE Drape polish around the nail bed for a grungy vibe. “Using a thin nail art brush, draw a curvy line from the top right side, spilling onto the tips,” says nail artist Jin Soon Choi, who created this “free-flowing” look for Peter Do’s spring 2022 show.…

WHEN I FIRST STARTED ACTING at 10 or 11, I was only allowed to do commercials. My team told me, “We don’t know what you’re capable of, so do commercials first and see how well you do.” With a lot of commercials, because they tend to be low-budget, you do your own hair, you do your own makeup. So there were three years of my life when I only wore two buns in my hair—two buns with matching bows. The first two or three projects I’m in, I have those buns and those bows and no makeup. When you’re a young actor, you don’t get very glammed up. Except, I remember the first time I had a photo shoot when somebody did actual makeup on me. The makeup artist told…

WHEN KATE* ARRIVED AT THE office—a light-filled, CB2-meets-clinical-chic space in midtown Manhattan—she had one thing on her mind: a crop top. “I’m a pretty small person, but I’d always had these little pockets of fat on my stomach,” she says. So when a friend raved about a minimally invasive treatment designed to target so-called stubborn areas, she decided to give it a whirl as a birthday present to herself—a flatter belly and the confidence to bare her midriff with abandon. But the procedure left her covering up more than ever before. “Immediately after taking the bandage off, I noticed there was a problem,” says Kate. “There was this dent in a diagonal line across my stomach.” Millions of people in the U.S. undergo a cosmetic procedure each year. In 2020,…

When Meyer was a student at NYU, she had an “emotional reaction” to a screening of The Business of Being Born, a documentary exploring childbirth in America. After graduation, a chance encounter with a midwife at a birthday party sealed the deal: “I felt really pulled,” she says, and began training as a doula. Today, her work includes prenatal nutrition counseling, labor coaching, postpartum support—and recently, birth photography. “I find it so healing for the mothers because when they see [pictures of] what they’ve done, there’s a new level of respect for their bodies and love for themselves,” she says. Meyer also prioritizes self-care in her own life: “Things that make me feel good will ultimately help the mama feel better.”…

”A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AGO, Janet set her sights on nothing less than moving a generation of young people,” boomed a voiceover at the inaugural Billboard Music Awards in 1990, before Jackson—clad in a cutoff blazer and bra—levitated onto the stage. That omnipotent voice was, of course, referring to her boundary-breaking album, Rhythm Nation 1814. But Jackson’s mere presence that night also moved the cultural needle. The sweeping bangs, cascade of hair, and shock of red lipstick she wore came to define the look of the next decade. In the years since, Jackson has experimented with makeup (like ultra-smoky eyes for 1995’s “Scream” music video) and hair (her curls were dip-dyed red for 1997’s “Together Again”), but one sentiment has always remained: Jackson doesn’t follow trends; she sets them.…

THE BLU POD We’re not sure what the Blu Pod (at right) reminds us of most: a tanning bed, an isolation tank, or an iron lung. When the world feels overwhelming, this octagonal chamber is designed to shut it all out (to the tune of a cool $19,000). Complete with a mirrored interior to reflect UVB and blue LED lights—studies have shown lighting in this hue can accelerate stress reduction—a 20-minute pod session is said to contribute to an unparalleled state of relaxation. Still, Hadley King, M.D., a dermatologist in New York, worries about the Blu Pod’s UVB light, a known contributor to skin damage and skin cancer. THE DARWIN HOME Forget the smart home. Thanks to the innovators at Delos, a real estate and tech firm focused on “mindful…

Braids shaped into a massive silk fan; extra-long, lacquered strips radiating up and out like sunbeams; a tornado of platinum, swirling just so—the imaginative (and often towering) works dreamed up by hairstylist Cyndia Harvey have a way of looking more like sculpture than hair. “Creativity is a muscle you have to exercise. It doesn’t just happen,” says Harvey. And in the strength of her work, that shows. I GREW UP IN JAMAICA. MY mother was a hairdresser, so I’ve always been around hair. Since I was a child, hair has been an important part of my lifestyle, spending most evenings in my mother’s salon, and Sundays on the veranda of my childhood home, sun gazing and getting my hair braided. I started hairdressing professionally when I was 17, in London.…

THE APPS THAT CHECKERBOARD our home screens offer a constant stream of images to be devoured and internalized, like exhibits of comparative beauty standards in a handheld museum. Those of us who like to believe we’re immune to social media’s intelligent algorithms still can’t completely divest, thanks to the dopamine elicited by each tap and share. As humans, it’s simply not in our nature to log off, even when staying on hurts. “When self-esteem is forming in adolescence, that’s when people are the most vulnerable,” says dermatologist and psychiatrist Amy Wechsler, M.D. “For some kid scrolling alone in the dark, [apps] can be a black hole.” That dark reality—and its bright revenue upside—isn’t lost on app creators. A few months ago, The Wall Street Journal published documents leaked by a…

“For me, preplanning looks doesn’t really happen. It’s more about preplanning my options. My kit is actually pretty small, but my car is filled with baskets full of different glitters, colorful liners, things I can stick on faces…. My trunk is like a treasure chest. If I’ve got the stuff, my mind will go there. But for this look, I wanted to show the power of what you could do with just black eyeliner. You can take a classic eyeliner shape but not apply it where you normally would and it makes a dramatic difference. I added a few little black gems to make it feel even more artful and cool. I played everything else—the lips and cheeks—down. For me, it’s all about ‘cool’ first and ‘beautiful’ second—or even third…

IT IS OFTEN SAID THAT GRIEF comes in waves. For me, it was a tsunami. It began with a phone call last year after my brother was diagnosed with lung cancer during a routine check-up. He was a committed runner and health nut; he had also worked near the World Trade Center after the towers fell on 9/11, breathing in toxic dust that continues to kill so many. Though doctors thought they had caught the cancer early, it had already begun its inexorable spread. Despite 30 rounds of radiation, two rounds of chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, the cancer worked its way from my brother’s lungs to his esophagus to his ribs, spine, brain, and, finally, his stomach. I watched as he toughed it out, when he was no longer able to…

PLINY THE ELDER MAY NOT have been Western civilization’s first wellness journalist. Nevertheless, his tireless commitment to documenting trends in fashionable herbal medicines and celebrity doctors of Roman antiquity, compiled in the seminal encyclopedia Natural History, paved the way for Goops to come. It was Pliny, after all, who penned one of history’s first mentions of ancient Europe’s hottest wellness retreat, which, even if you never knew it existed, you’ve definitely heard of: Belgium’s little town of Spa, its name now lent to places of relaxation, renewal, and wrinkle-reduction all over the world. Despite our wellest wishes, time moves relentlessly in one direction. Civilizations rise and fall like tides and new delivery methods for nutrient absorption are being invented every 15 minutes. It is somewhat amazing to think about how…

As long as children have played, there have been dolls. They’ve been made from corn husks and animal bones, soapstone and wood, leather and wax. And then, in 1959, from 11 inches of plastic molded into not-humanly-possible female curves. Six decades post-Barbie, there are Glitter Girls, L.O.L. Surprises, dozens of Disney Princesses, and over-accessorized teens from at least two rival high schools (Monster and Rainbow). There’s also a cottage industry of YouTube creators who devote hours to unboxing them all. I recently spent 45 minutes watching a grown woman unwrap three Rainbow High Slumber Party dolls and describe everything from their foil-finished cartons to the nail polish on their rubbery little hands. I snapped out of my trance as she was caressing a pink-haired doll named Brianna Dulce, whose hoodie…

THE HAIR Miley Cyrus, Lil Nas X, and Rihanna have all embraced business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back looks in recent months. For the chicest possible version, spritz a texturizing spray over damp or dry hair, says hairstylist Laurie Heaps. It also gives non-mullet-y cuts a cool, airy texture. (We like Living Proof Full Dry Volume & Texture Spray.) THE MAKEUP Do your best Ziggy Stardust with heaps of glitter shadow, or try inky, dramatic eyes: Extend cat-eye liner nearly to the ends of your brows, as seen at Missoni’s spring 2022 show, or draw out-there shapes, such as stars or even lashes, like at Givenchy (right). “Sketch it out with taupe kohl pencil first; no one gets it right the first time,” says makeup artist Fiona Stiles. Color in the look with a…

I’m verklempt! If you’re old enough to get that reference, you will appreciate the name of Topicals Like Butter Hydrating Mask. But it feels nothing like butter because it melts into skin without any greasiness. Twice a week, before bed, I apply a thin layer of this hydrating mask—containing squalane, ceramides, and shea butter—and leave it on for a solid 20 minutes or, sometimes, overnight for even more moisture. I wake up the next day to skin that’s so smooth it’s…like butter (sorry, buttah). The February Allure Beauty Box includes Topicals Like Butter Hydrating Mask along with six other products ($23 per month). Go to allure.com/beautyreporter to subscribe to the Allure Beauty Box by February 28 and get this mask (while supplies last) and more delivered to your door.…

KETAMINE CAN MAKE ITSELF AT home in pretty diverse settings. You might find it on hand at a warehouse party in the wee hours, but it’s also in IVs for procedures such as nose jobs. To be clear: The party drug is a far cry from the regulated, medical-grade version. “Ketamine is an old medication, discovered in the ’60s, but it’s had a resurgence recently,” says Dan B. Ellis, M.D., assistant professor of anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital. That renaissance is partially owed to new studies showing the drug’s positive effects on mental health due to its dissociative effects: The FDA recently approved its use in a prescription nasal spray to treat severe depression. Ketamine clinics are opening up nationwide, offering infusions and lozenges for some cases of treatment-resistant PTSD.…

TIKTOK “Given the rapidity in which users can view different videos, it can be very difficult to sort fact from fiction and one can easily lose track of time. Like Instagram’s, TikTok’s algorithm can lead consumers of beauty content down a dangerous spiral that perpetuates unrealistic societal standards of beauty.” SELF-IMAGE 4 COMPARISON 5 ANXIETY 5 TWITTER “Overall, Twitter is one of the more benign apps, often relying on text rather than imagery to spread information. While there is clearly a mix of information and misinformation, its tendency to use the written word makes it a less visually appealing and less addictive app.” SELF-IMAGE 2 COMPARISON 2 ANXIETY 3 INSTAGRAM “Dedicated to imagery with a laundry list of filtration applications, Instagram is uniquely positioned to share [more curated] visual content that requires little…

Bria Bryant “I’m still trying to understand the changes in my skin and listen to what it needs,” says model Bria Bryant. “My skin has gone through many phases—hyperpigmentation, acne. What I had to learn is to trust the process; be gentle and don’t overdo it with too many products at once.” Ultimately, that trust grew into something larger and more powerful for Bryant. “I like the way my skin can tell a story. It has details that will always be there and may never fade, from the freckles on my hands to the birthmark on my arm. They’re part of the beauty of my skin and the changes it makes as I age.” Stella McCartney dress. Rachel Katz earrings. To create a similar makeup look: Neo Nude Melting Color…

TIP: use Sheet Mask over a serum for next level benefits HOVER phone’s camera over the code for instant access! @tipsntrends…

1 Jodie Turner-Smith + Ursula Stephen Ursula, When it comes to hair, you are the truth. More than just a hairstylist, you are an artist. While no one would argue that we are curing cancer, it must be said that what we do is not easy. It presents its own challenges and it requires flexibility, forethought, and creativity—and your creativity knows no bounds! I can always count on you to take the visions I have for myself and make them your own, resulting in something that is brought to life even larger. So I wanted to send a special thank you for all of the many amazing moments we have created thus far and will create in the future. For always being there with your beautiful, joyful energy. For creating good…