Innehållsförteckning för May 2019 från Allure

A few weeks ago, a noise startled me awake shortly before midnight—maybe a lead-footed cat jumping off the kitchen counter or a tree branch brushing the rooftop. My eyes popped open; my heart raced. I tried to get back to sleep. I lay there for 30 minutes. Then one hour. Thinking about sleep turned to overthinking: At what point should I give up and accept that this isn’t going to happen? And still I tried. Four more hours passed. Instead of drifting off into sweet slumber, I was dragging sheep over fences trying to knock myself out by sheer will. Sleeplessness has visited me a handful of times throughout my life, usually on nights of elevated stress: the evening before a major presentation in college and, more recently, the night…

Olay Sensitive Calming Liquid Cleanser with Hungarian Water Essence I’ve been a beauty editor for 12 years, and my skin still wigs out at times. (It gets blotchy in places, flaky in others.) So during a recent bad patch, I tried this creamy, aloe-infused cleanser. (“Sensitive” and “calming” jumped out at me.) After a few days, my face was smoother, less dry, bordering on radiant. If you have eczema or rosacea, however, dermatologists recommend fragrance-free washes (this one smells delightfully like cucumber).…

Every night, I flail wildly in my sleep, doing a cardio workout when I should be resting my bones. But with a 20-pound Rocabi blanket, which is fleecily fuzzy, I fall asleep faster than I ever have in my life, and I don’t realize it until nine hours later when it’s morning and I’m late for work. Though research on the effects of weighted blankets is still preliminary, early findings suggest that they could increase your body’s serotonin levels, which helps you snooze more soundly. Most companies suggest picking a coverlet that weighs about 10 percent of your body weight, though I hear rave reviews of 20-pound blankets from friends of all sizes. So sleep tight. And good luck getting up.…

Makeup artist Gucci Westman is known for her glowing, pared-back work. So I was surprised to find that her Eye Love You Mascara lends such a dense, velvety-black layer to lashes that the effect can only be described as “doe-eyed.” Plus: It’s (96 percent) natural. Eye Love You skips parabens (commonly used preservatives) and fragrance (a known irritant) in favor of cleaner alternatives, like sodium hydroxide. Pared back, indeed.…

there was a time in my life when I literally lived on Coca-Cola and Marlboro Lights. But then my kids were born, and I started looking at the world through their eyes. Before that, I really didn’t consider what went in my mouth or what was in my environment. Then, suddenly, like a lot of new parents, I started to read labels; I wanted to know what was in things. That was a long time ago [20-plus years], when, honestly, it was really hard to get information. And my physicians were not all that helpful. They just thought I was a kook. Then I stumbled on Skin Deep, the cosmetics database of the Environmental Working Group (EWG). It was somewhere I could finally go to look for safer options for…

I was lucky to grow up in a loving and prosper-ous home, though you wouldn’t know it from the photographs. Flipping through a family album, you would see, behind my smiles, an unearned world-weariness and an age-inappropriate ennui. There I am, on Christmas morning, age seven, surrounded by presents and parents but appearing, nonetheless, like I’ve just witnessed a human rights violation. There I am again, half a decade later, posing with my little sister, ice creams in hand, grinning but somehow also looking as though I want to die. This is what I tell friends and doctors, facialists and nutritionists, makeup-counter employees, concerned Instagram commenters, nosy strangers on the street. No, I am not tired. No, I am not sad. I am not hungover or hungry. I don’t have…

TREND DRIPPING IN PEARLS & CRYSTALS Twinkly gemstones moved from wrists and necks to pretty much everywhere else. Tiny stones decorated the cheeks at Christian Siriano, and pearls brightened the inner corners of the eyes at Adeam. Glimmering barrettes secured easy, half-up styles at Chanel, while hairstylist Jawara sewed what he called “beaded crystal wigs” into the hair at Area. The effect was extra—in the best way. “In fashion, everyone has wanted things to be effortless,” says Jawara. “It’s nice to change it up and do beauty looks that are fun and feel aspirational.” TREND metal & leather Hair accessories have done a damn good job recently of challenging any too-cute connotations. This season they dealt the coup de grâce with lots of leather and heavy metal. At Balmain, hairstylist…

read the following in the voice of Saturday Night Live’s Debbie Downer: Did you know that millions of metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year, and much of it is from packaging? That the temperatures of the seas have risen, the polar ice caps have shrunk, and “extreme weather events” (aka whole neighborhoods being engulfed by six feet of water or going up in literal flames) are more likely due to massive amounts of greenhouse gases produced by humans? Womp, womp. Now read this in the calming, majestic voice of Morgan Freeman: But there is hope for humans. And much of that hope can be seen in the actions of the people you’ll meet here. They’re proof that righting all of those wrongs is not going to…

Because we need to be smart about the product and its package. As a beauty-loving biochemist, Brianne West quickly realized the products in her bathroom were unnecessarily made of water. “Cosmetic chemists call [water] ‘profit-making liquid.’ It’s essentially free,” she says. “Conditioner is probably the worst offender—it’s about 90 percent water compared to 60 percent in shampoo. You’re shipping a plastic or glass bottle that contains mostly water around the world, around the country, which is a large carbon footprint on top of that waste.” So West created Ethique, a company that concentrates shampoos and lotions (among other things) into a solid bar that is placed in minimal recycled-cardboard packaging that’s also compostable. Of course, as a business owner, West is acutely aware that the point of a business is…

Because everything can be recycled. You can’t commit to loving the climate without three crucial words: mixed-material objects. We’re talking about things like lotion pumps made of both plastic and metal coils. Collecting and sorting these materials costs more than the items themselves. So TerraCycle takes objects that cannot be categorized into a standard sorting bin (toothbrushes) or even things normally tossed in the garbage (cigarette butts, candy wrappers) and makes it happen. “When we think about recycling,” says Rhandi Goodman, the global vice president of Zero Waste at TerraCycle in Trenton, New Jersey, “most people just think of what they collect curbside. In reality, everything can be recycled; it’s just a matter of being able to sort and separate. At TerraCycle, we have a team of scientists to develop…

When you disrupt the mattress industry, it changes how people shop for beds. When you invent an app that calls a personal driver to your doorstep, it solves the conundrum of how to get to the airport and not pay for parking. But when you innovate the very notion of beauty, you change how people see themselves. You get salves that nourish every hair type in the global spectrum. And eye shadow palettes with colors only before witnessed in dreams. Your perspective shifts, even just a little, to make the world a richer, more expansive place. A place where we’re all seen. And heard. sponsored by…

“Glitter has come a long way since I first started working with it. Stila Glitter & Glow [3] is brilliant for restrained sparkle and has little fallout. I don’t leave home without all of my favorite M.A.C. shadows [1], M.A.C. blush kit [2], or Dermacolor palette [10], which hides evidence of bruising from injectables.” “The Rolling Stones necklace [7] is from their ’70s tour—I’ve worked with Patti Hansen since before she was with Keith [Richards]. My friend [supermodel] Gia [Carangi] gave me the Elsa Peretti black apple pendant [6] in the ’70s. I’ve worn it so much, I partly wore off the enamel.” “In the ’90s I worked with Hugh Grant, who has the most brilliant blue eyes, which could show red if irritated during a shoot. I introduced him…

First there was the hairpin, popular among Egyptians and designed with symbolic motifs, revived in the early 2000s with hairstylist Odile Gilbert’s line of U-shaped clips. Then the scrunchie made a comeback, with an impressive 2019 Oscars outing on Jason Momoa. Now the barrette’s time has come (again), but with a crucial update: One is no longer enough. Roughly 7 to 50 will do, stacked, like rungs on a ladder, along your hairline (like blogger Brittany Xavier’s, above) or clipped throughout a cascade of loose hair. Either way, we’ll say this: It bodes well for tiaras in 2020.…

Botox can help smooth more than wrinkles: A recently published review in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology found that injections of BoNT-A, a protein found in neurotoxins like Botox and Xeomin, can soften and flatten raised scars after six months to a year of injections. “Neurotoxins are being used to relax muscles at the site of surgical scars to help them heal better,” says Joshua Zeichner, the director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. “The less motion there is, the smaller the scar should be.” For this reason, one initial injection should be given as soon as possible, Zeichner says, with follow-ups every three to five months if needed.…

I have Einstein-like morning bed head—my heavily processed, bleached hair sticks out in all directions. A dime-size amount of Moroccanoil Treatment Original makes it look smooth and healthy-ish without flattening it. On damp hair, it speeds up blowout time; on dry hair, it adds shine. Moroccanoil Treatment Original will be available, along with five other products, in next month’s Allure Beauty Box ($10 for the first month, then $15; beautybox.allure.com).…

humans as a species love to categorize. To help us understand the world around us, we give everything a name—each other, our pets, our moods, the earthy smell of a forest after rain. And when we’re particularly excited about something, we’ll give it a nickname, too. In this fashion “femtech” was born, a term used to describe the section of the Venn diagram where technology and female health care get busy. The term was coined around 2016, about the time that seriously innovative ideas started popping up in that particular sliver of space. Think back to the then-scandalizing ads for Thinx period-proof underwear. There was also Fin, a crowdfunded fingertip vibrator; Clue, an ovulation tracker; and Cora, the organic menstrual-products subscription service. Before long, seriously big cash began to flow.…

Favorite roles: I really enjoyed Catwoman and Susie Diamond. I hate being restricted in life, so I enjoy playing characters that aren’t too buttoned up and give me a wide parameter to play in. What the movies today could do without: High-def. I don’t want to see all that on anybody, let alone on myself. Aging philosophy: There’s a certain surrender that has to go on, otherwise you do start not looking like yourself. And there’s a threshold that one can cross that I think we all have to be wary of. But at the same time, I feel like, look, if it makes you happy, who cares what other people think? Why she keeps skin care simple: Honestly, because I get rashes. I just can’t use all of those…

Beauty products have their charms: the rich butteriness of a cream, the vivid color of a lipstick, the fragrant bouquet of a perfume. The exception, perhaps, is toothpaste. Its most compelling attributes have been restricted to being the mintiest or most ultra/extra/super whitening-est. But if toothpaste makers have anything to say about it, that changes here and now. Take Twice, a toothpaste set launched last year by the photogenic sons of a New York City dentist: The brand emphasizes twice-daily brushing by offering you a bracing minty formula for morning and a soothing lavender for evening. This is so uninteresting that it hurts to write—until I see that Lenny Kravitz, a patient of Dad’s, is a cofounder; then it becomes slightly more interesting, but not enough to sell me two…

“What’s an extra two minutes? An extra three minutes? That’s really for you.”…

We’re regularly urged to eat a plant-based diet for our health and the environment. A plant-heavy beauty routine is a great thing, too—but we need to make sure those botanicals are coming from the right place. Enter: the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, global epicenter of all things plants. This biodiverse Eden, 30 minutes outside of London, is home to the world’s largest collection of wild plant DNA and tissue. Monique Simmonds, its deputy director of science, has made the study of plant chemistry and fungi her life’s work. Her research has been employed by conservationists as well as cosmetics companies, most recently Herbal Essences, which partnered with Kew to verify the ingredients in its Bio:Renew line—ingredients like the hair-smoothing antioxidant histidine. Simmonds works to ensure that each plant is farmed…

Because you should never underestimate online activists and grassroots campaigns. There is power in numbers. And the Sierra Club, with its 3.5 million members and supporters, galvanizes them through campaigns and organized lobbying for sustainability and environmental change. As Sonya Lunder, senior toxics adviser for the organization’s Gender, Equity & Environment program, explains, “Generally, we’re thinking about changing the laws at the state, national, and even the local level.” But that doesn’t mean every change has to go through Congress. “With online activism, suddenly that loop is closing and an individual person can communicate directly with a company and say, ‘We’re watching you,’” says Lunder. “With Twitter and online organizing, so many more people can participate and petition and put them on action. People can alter purchasing practices in their…

Herbal Essences and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – a world leading authority on plant science for over 250 years – have partnered to bring the beauty of real botanicals to your hair care experience. The first global hair care brand to have its botanicals endorsed by Kew. Herbal Essences bio:renew products are made with natural source ingredient materials with limited processing & purified water to create this 90% natural origin collection that helps nourish and protect hair from damage.…

In the next year… sheet masks will go high-tech. Yes, they make skin dewy fast—but if you buy one that’s not the best fit for your face, they can also cause serum to leak into your eyes and get uncomfortably close to your mouth. A firstworld problem, yes, but annoying enough that Neutrogena has created 3-D-printed sheet masks, called Neutrogena MaskID, that are tailored to your face shape. (They’ll be available in the next six months.) “The same facial-recognition technology that lets you open your iPhone X by looking at your screen also allows us to scan and create a 3-D model of your face in our app,” says Michael Southall, global research and development lead for beauty tech and devices at Johnson & Johnson. To print the customized sheet…

BIOLOGIQUE RECHERCHE LOTION P50 PIGM 400 The cultiest of exfoliating toners, now souped up with hyperpigmentation-fighting wasabi extract. VINTNER’S DAUGHTER ACTIVE TREATMENT ESSENCE A cocktail of 30 (!) plant-based ingredients, like fruit enzymes and vitamin C, in a rich amber liquid. GLAMGLOW SUPERTONER EXFOLIATING ACID SOLUTION The formula is murky (that’s charcoal) and minty (that’s eucalyptus), with a gaggle of six acids that turns up the brightness on tired skin.…

Best beauty tutorial: My makeup artist, Molly R. Stern, taught me how to put on fake eyelashes. She hates that I put on a full strip, but I’m from the South—I love a good ol’-fashioned drugstore strip lash. I pop it on, put a little liquid liner over it, and I feel like my eyes look more open. The never-again lipstick color: Brown. Like, dark brown. It looked terrible, and it was immortalized on my driver’s license photo when I was 16 years old. Her vitamin regimen: Prenatals. One of my girlfriends told me she takes them even though she’s not pregnant, so now I do, too. It makes my hair look better. The skin-care step she won’t skip: I use the Elizabeth Arden retinol capsules (top left) at night.…

DIPSEA $3.99 a month or $47.99 for a year's subscription After discovering that 90 percent of women use mental framing and fantasy to get aroused, cofounders Gina Gutierrez and Faye Keegan became convinced that there was a strong market for this erotic storytelling app, which launched six months ago and has a catalogue with dozens of scenarios. THE FLEX COMPANY A single-use menstrual cup made of a medicalgrade polymer that can be worn for up to 12 hours (and during sex, unlike most other internal period devices). $20 for eight medium-flow disks CALLISTO Free This app calls itself a "repeat perpetrator detection system." Developed by campus assault survivor Jessica Ladd, it recently received funding to expand from campuses into tech workplaces. Currently available on 13 campuses, the app allows victims…

23: Waist size, in inches, of Aiko, a humanoid fembot built by Trung Le and a fulfillment of the doctor’s lifelong dream of “making a robot woman.” 44: Finalists in 2016’s Beauty.AI contest, an online pageant of user-submitted photos judged by robots. The group was mostly white, suggesting that the people behind the technology often contribute biases of their own. 17,000: Instagram posts digested by BeautyGAN, an algorithm that uses machine learning to determine “popular and relevant” makeup looks. (Among the results: bubblegum-pink lips and Technicolor shadows.) 2.2: Octooctogintillion (that’s 267 zeroes) pigment combinations possible when using eSalon’s Polly Chrome color machine, which creates a (very) custom hair-color regimen and ships it directly to you. $12,000: Cost of a RealDoll, a humanoid silicone sex robot from robotics firm RealBotix.…

“I’ve had the good fortune of having [my mom] by my side for everything…. I remember starting Black-ish and having high-def makeup on all day, and a strip of eyelashes. There’s a weird correlation that happens between being ‘ready’ and being doused in makeup. [My mom and I have] had conversations about separating the two.” —YARA SHAHIDI (LEFT), ACTRESS, AS TOLD TO ALLURE WHEN SHAHIDI AND HER MOM WERE PHOTOGRAPHED IN 2018 FOR THE GOOD ISSUE “I’d get up at 7 a.m. and my mom would already be done up—she’s had the same beehive since high school. She did a mean half-up [on me], and she’d make hair ribbons and bows to match the clothes she sewed for me. She let me pick out the prints at the fabric shop and taught…

Acouple of weeks before New Year’s Eve, after hours on NYU Langone’s dermatology floor, I received Botox in my forehead for the first time. This is not because I wanted to fix any lines—I have a few, and they are fine—nor because I love the feeling of a needle piercing my skin eight times in succession, but because I am kind of sad most of the time, and I would like not to be. Beneath the ambient hum of the building’s HVAC system, Evan Rieder, he of the round tortoiseshell glasses and dual board certification in dermatology and psychiatry, is trying to cure my depression. First we try some breathing techniques, then an exercise in which I clench every part of my body really hard for a few minutes and…

Because we need the big guys to get with the program. It’s one thing to create more-sustainable personal-care products. But how to help larger businesses take larger action? That’s Erin Craig’s job. As the vice president of the energy and climate practice for 3Degrees, headquartered in San Francisco, Craig helps companies reduce their carbon emissions. “Almost all the companies we work with, from data centers to fashion retailers, are changing the way they buy electricity to purposefully incorporate more renewable energy,” she says. “Increasing renewable energy is possible and a great place to start.” Sustainability is also more valuable for businesses. Craig argues that renewable energy is not as expensive as previously thought: For example, in midland United States, we have widespread solar resources that are cost-effective to deploy across…

Because online activists or not, we have to get the government on board. Eleven years. That’s how long the world has to limit global warming, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. If that sounds medieval in its horror, then meet the crusaders: In February, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey presented a Green New Deal resolution to help support change. Their plan prioritizes net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions and securing clean air and water by decarbonizing electricity, transportation, and industry; restoring natural ecosystems; and upgrading buildings and electricity grids for a more sustainable future. As with any proposal, it needs support to get anywhere—and that’s where you come in. Calling your representatives and being specific about the issue or bill in question, making your voice heard,…

broad-spectrum adj. br d-spek-tr m A sunscreen that offers protection from both UVB rays, which burn skin, and UVA rays, which cause damage like collagen breakdown, says Elizabeth Hale, a dermatologist in New York City. For the best sun protection, use only sunscreens labeled “broad-spectrum.” chemical adj. ke-mi-k l A term used to describe a sunscreen that protects from UV rays by absorbing them with chemical ingredients, such as octocrylene or avobenzone (though it’s worth noting even “mineral” sunscreens are made in labs). clinically tested adj. kli-ni-kl te-st d Some brands test for distinctions like being good for sensitive skin, but seeing this term doesn’t indicate which benefit they tested for, nor on how many people, says Heather Woolery-Lloyd, a dermatologist in Miami. So it shouldn’t sway your choice. gluten-free…

Mani-pedi spot: “I go to Nail & Spa 4U in Brooklyn near where I live. It’s very simple, and the ladies there are super nice. During the holidays, I love to get long acrylics.” The skin-care line she swears by: “111Skin. I started using the products when I was in London for the Fashion Awards last December. The guy who did my facial recommended them to me, and I’ve decided to stick with them because they made my skin look really good. No breakouts.” Her foundations: “I’m a really dark-skinned girl, and it was hard to find something in Australia; the only brand I could use was M.A.C. In America, I can find my shade. I like L’Oréal Paris True Match, Maybelline New York Fit Me, and Dior Backstage.” Easy…