It’s been 15 years since the singer’s death, but thankfully she left behind a stellar catalog of music to guide us.
Getty Images
Getty Images
Getty Images
Getty Images
Taco Bell? More like Taco Hell Yes!
And they REALLY came through.
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeedVideo / Via youtube.com
BuzzFeed
Upgrade your afternoon tea.
The beautiful love child of a Jammy Dodger and a scone. Get the recipe.
Are you fancy enough for these scones? You can only have these scones if you serve them in white linen. If you don't do that you're not fancy enough. Recipe here.
Liren Baker / Via kitchenconfidante.com
Summertime scones! Get the recipe.
Subtly spiced with a zesty kick. Sign me up. Get the recipe.
“There’s a baby?!”
BuzzFeedVideo / Via youtube.com
One of you has to be the Michelle to the Beyoncé and Kelly.
"Why didn't they invite me?" "Did I do something wrong?" "Oh god, what if they're talking about me?!"
@A__heather / Via Twitter: @A__heather
@NotoriousCeee / Via Twitter: @NotoriousCeee
FX
@SierraSlytherin / Via Twitter: @SierraSlytherin
Posing in fairy-tale gowns with reality as a backdrop.
It's pretty standard for the coming-of-age party to include princess-style gown, waltzing, pyrotechnics, choreographed dance routines, tons of food, and a massive cake.
This extravagant, fantasy-like event usually comes with a hefty price tag. Most families save for years, work overtime, and even go into debt just to be able to afford this one special night.
In her new photo series, Quinceañera, Blast photographs 15 young girls wearing their party dresses in the middle of their daily surroundings. She hopes to show the disparity between the extravagant quinceañera parties and the humble families paying for them.
She spoke to BuzzFeed about what the experience of photographing these young girls has taught her:
On her inspiration: "Before the project, I had heard a little bit about this tradition in the Latin Hispanic world, but I wanted to learn more about what this celebration really represents for the girls and their families."
On Colombia: "I wanted to understand how Colombian women manage to merge modernity and tradition in a country torn between these two entities."
On how she met her subjects: "I went to store in the city center where they rent the quinceañera dresses and I spent the afternoon there."
On what she learned: "I realized how important tradition and family bonds are in Colombia. I already knew that it took on a different meaning than it does in Europe, at least in my family, but I really became aware of it there."
Here are some of the young women whom Blast photographed:
© Jacob Khrist / Via jacobkhrist.com
Laura’s father is a fruit seller and her mother is unemployed. Laura loves playing football and has been part of the youth Colombian team since 2015. She also wants to become a criminologist. Her parents saved money for six months for her quinceañera, which 200 people attended.
© Delphine Blast I Hans Lucas / Via delphineblast.com
Luna’s father is a shoemaker and her mother a recycler; Luna wants to become a soap opera actress. Luna's parents didn’t plan on celebrating her 15th birthday, but they finally gathered enough money for a celebration with 80 people.
© Delphine Blast I Hans Lucas / Via delphineblast.com
Yes, I’m talking about the meal between breakfast and dinner.
imgur.com / Via reddit.com
i.imgur.com / Via reddit.com
imgur.com / Via reddit.com
i.imgur.com / Via reddit.com
Tried and tested by our editors. All under $20!
Moment of silence for this two-ingredient Sprite Cake that was (spoiler alert) terrible. May it rest in peace. 🙏
Tashween Ali / BuzzFeed
It’s like magic.
Why wait till after dinner to eat dessert?
Recipe here.
Peas & Peonies / Via peasandpeonies.com
Recipe here.
Peas & Peonies / Via peasandpeonies.com
Recipe here.
Dinner Then Dessert / Via dinnerthendessert.com
Recipe here.
Baking A Moment / Via bakingamoment.com
Just slightly more diverse than the straight version.
Logo
Instagram: @www.instagram.com/rsjdesign/?hl=en
Age: 29
Job: Works in behavioral health care
Hometown: Livonia, Michigan
My opinion: Though he'd be my top, based on his intro video, he seems too sweet to handle a reality show where he lives in a house with 13 other gay men all tryna date the same man! I don't know if he could even handle brunch.
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Admit it: You’re addicted.
“She IS A CAT.”
Jenny Katz
Jenny Katz
Dreyer's brand of French vanilla ice cream, to be exact.
Jenny said it's become her mom and her cat's "nightly routine," and that Coco "LOVES it."
A dinglehopper does not make a good brush, people.
We've all tried to repeat this at some point, much to our parents' disgust and amusement.
Disney
The fairies would have killed on Project Runway.
Disney
Disney
Back when all you wanted was an LG flip phone and some new Victoria’s Secret thongs.
You always left a spot for your bestie and your favorite band.
Happy birthday Billy Ray!
Instagram: blakelively
For Father's Day last year, she uploaded this pic with the following caption:
"Happy Fathers Day!!! ... @vancityreynolds Since the day our baby was born, I've felt so strongly in my heart that you were most likely the father."
Instagram: blakelively / Via instagram.com
HONOLULU — President Obama used his executive authority Friday to designate the world's largest marine preserve in the remote western portion of the Hawaiian archipelago, the White House announced.
The Papahānaumokuākea (pronounced “Pa-pa-hah-nou-mo-koo-ah-keh-ah”) Marine National Monument, originally created by President George W. Bush 10 years ago, will quadruple in size under Obama's declaration from 139,800 square miles to 582,578 square miles. When it was established in June 2006, it was the largest protected area in the world, but had since fallen to 10th.
The vast ocean area surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is home to over 7,000 marine species, one quarter of which are found only in the Hawaiian Archipelago, including whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and Hawaiian monk seals. On the islands, 22 types of seabirds nest there, including four species that are found nowhere else in the world.
"This historic action taken today by President Obama ensures that one of the planet's most diverse ecosystems will be preserved and protected for future generations," a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
The proposal to expand the monument was submitted earlier this summer by US Sen. Brian Schatz, at the urging by seven prominent Native Hawaiians, in order to protect the area's extensive coral populations, marine species, and combat climate change.
Via Pew Trusts
"This will enhance our ability to fish over the next several generations," Schatz said to BuzzFeed News. "We need to set aside portions of our ocean to allow fish stocks to replenish themselves."
"The other thing it does is that it continues to put us on the map with respect to leading on climate solutions," he added.
But not everyone was pleased. The prospect of the monument expansion ignited a fierce debate in the state where lawmakers and longline fishers united to oppose the protections.
In May, 30 state lawmakers, including Hawaii House Speaker Joe Souki, signed a letter asking Obama not to expand the monument and questioning his authority to take the action.
Former Hawaii Gov. George Ariyoshi, along with former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano, and former US Sen. Daniel Akaka, a Native Hawaiian, also wrote a letter in July opposing the expansion, saying "there is no transparency in this process."
“Hawaii is the only State in the union comprised of small islands surrounded by the ocean and remotely located thousands of miles from any other land mass,” the letter said. “We depend on the ocean for food, livelihood, recreation, and the perpetuity of traditional native Hawaiian cultural practices.”
Hawaii's commercial fishing industry opposed the move, arguing that it would significantly restrict access to the state's most popular catch: bigeye tuna. A rally was held in July, with about 200 people in attendance, including local chef Nico Chaize, who said the expansion would lead to higher food prices and a reliance on frozen imported fish.
The bigeye tunas that roam the waters around Hawaii are an apex predator classified as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which reported a 42% decline in the giant fish's global population over a 15-year period.
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WestPac), a Honolulu-based council established by Congress to manage offshore fisheries, also opposed the proposed enlargement of the marine monument.
James Watt / Via NOAA
"The expansion will not make Hawaii fisheries more productive, while negatively impacting the Hawaii longline fishery, which is the State’s largest fishery," WestPac said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "Closing off over 60% of Hawaii’s water to commercial fishing ... makes no sense. Indeed, today is a sad day in the history of Hawaii’s fisheries and negative blow to our local food security."
A provision was included in the expansion to make co-trustee the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a public agency governed by an elected board that works for Native Hawaiians.
"The elevation of OHA to a Co-Trustee position rightfully places the Native Hawaiian voice at all levels of decision making in the governance of Papahānaumokuākea," the agency said in a statement. "This has been a ten year effort to achieve this position."
Ancient Hawaiians traveled up and down the Hawaiian archipelago and considered the area sacred. Cultural sites are still found on two islands, Nihoa and Mokumanamana.
"As a native Hawaiian, I’m very very pleased that we get to honor and respect this place as a manifestation of the kumulipo, our creation chant," Sol Kahoʻohalahala, a member of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group, said to BuzzFeed News. "Now that we have been finding more new discoveries of plants, animals, and creatures of Papahānaumokuākea, then it helps us to understand that the idea of creation is still happening in this area of the ocean, therefore it would be wise to protect it as soon as possible."
In the protected area, recreational fishing and Native Hawaiian cultural practices will still be allowed to take place in the expanded area with a permit, while all commercial activities will have to cease, including fishing and ocean mining.
James Watt
Obama said he will travel to Hawaii to make the announcement on Wednesday at the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress. The president will then visit Midway Atoll, one of the few landmasses within the monument where people conduct research, to mark the expansion.
To make the designation, Obama invoked the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that grants executive power to designate national monuments with the stroke of a pen, and is among the most controversial tools used to set aside land.
"I think we did it in the right way," Schatz said. "Even though the Antiquities Act pretty much gives the president total authority to declare a monument, without any public input, we insisted that they do public meetings and scoping sessions with stakeholders and they did it."
Obama made the announcement following the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service, and has worked throughout presidency to leave a legacy of conservation. The president has now used the 1906 Antiquities Act to protect than 548 million acres of federal land and water, more than double what any of his predecessors have protected.
On Wednesday, Obama used the same act to establish a national monument in Maine's North Woods. Earlier this year, he also designated new monuments in Southern California, creating the second largest desert preserve in the world. The year before, he established monuments in Nevada, Texas, and California.
LINK: Creation Of World’s Largest Marine Reserve In Hawaii Sparks Water Fight
You won’t sleep tonight or tomorrow night or the night after that. Just wave goodbye to your ability to sleep at all, really.
When I was little, I told my parents about a woman I would see in the bathroom at my house who I called the “Kissing Lady.” My mom thought it was just something my dad made up and vice versa. Eventually, they thought to ask one another about the story of the Kissing Lady and just about pissed themselves when they figured out that neither of them had made it up. I don’t remember her very well, but I do remember that she had long, dark hair and wore long dresses. That bathroom still gives me the creeps.
Submitted by Sebastián Gaspar.
(Another user asked Sebastián in the comments: “Why did you call her the “Kissing Lady”? He replied: "My mom asked when I was younger, and I told her, as though it were obvious, 'because she blows me kisses…'")
Bonciutoma / Getty Images
I really liked playing with Mega Bloks as a kid. I loved to build tall towers and then loved to smash them even more. One time, after tearing down one of my towers, I got bored and I went to ask my mom for permission to play outside. She said I could as soon as I went in and put away the blocks I left on the floor. I headed back towards my room, but when I got to the door, I looked in to see that my brother, who was a few years younger than me, was already picking up my blocks for me. He had turned the lights on, and was very focused on the task at hand. I went back and told my mom that my brother was taking care of it and she looked at me, then out the nearby open door for a moment before saying, “Your brother is outside playing.” I went back to my room and saw that nobody was there, the light was off, and the blocks were still scattered on the floor.
Submitted by Brenda Alejandra Dueñas.
Antonis Liokouras / Getty Images
I’ve suffered from sleep paralysis since I was 14 years old. If you’re not familiar, it’s a sensation of not being able to move (usually in bed) and being consciously aware of it. During one of my many episodes, I heard what sounded like someone entering my room, then felt them hugging me until my back began to hurt. I tried to get loose, but whatever was there got angry and growled at me. When I could finally move again, I had goosebumps all over my body and my back was in a lot of pain. I still have sleep paralysis, but I’ve never had a similar experience. I’ll never understand what it was that had a hold of me.
Submitted by Jesús Francisco León.
Thinkstock / Getty Images
Rick Bowmer / AP
It was a protest of only about 100 people, but a crowd of any size gathered outdoors in the freezing January temperatures in Burns, Oregon, was sure to draw attention.
In the center, Ammon Bundy stood over the crowd hoping everyone would hear him.
"Those who are actually ready to do something about it, I'm asking you to follow me and go to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and we're going to make a hard stand," he said as cameras recorded him. "There are already agents on the road who have blocked the road and they don't want us to go out there, and we're going to go out there anyway."
Bundy's call to make a stand against the government was heard beyond the Safeway parking lot in the small Oregon town, traveling across the country through social media and an electronic network of like-minded groups that heeded and repeated the call on Facebook, on YouTube, and in email newsletters.
It was a network Bundy and his supporters were familiar with and used throughout their subsequent monthlong armed standoff with authorities to call out for supporters to join them and others to send supplies.
Now federal prosecutors are using the same videos to show how the group coordinated, planned, and executed the armed takeover of the wildlife refuge. Using their own words against them, prosecutors have collected online videos and Facebook posts as evidence of what they claim was an armed takeover and conspiracy to impede employees at the refuge.
That includes video of Bundy in the Safeway parking lot in Burns, urging people to follow him to the refuge and take a "hard stand" against the government.
The video was widely distributed among militia organizations, anti-government fringe groups, and opponents of the federal government's oversight of Western lands during the early days of the occupation.
In another video, cited in court documents, Bundy says he and his supporters have "taken over" the refuge, which was to become "a base place for patriots all over the country to be housed here, and live here, and we're planning on being here for several years."
Another defendant, Blaine Cooper, is seen in the video urging people to come to the refuge and "bring your arms." Of the 26 people charged in the standoff, 11 have pleaded guilty as of this week.
Bundy and his Nevada family had already captured national headlines during a tense standoff with federal authorities in 2014 when his father, rancher Cliven Bundy, refused to pay grazing fees.
Armed militia members aimed their weapons at federal agents during the Nevada standoff and when the agents stood down, it was seen as a successful confrontation by militia and anti-government groups.
In the world of militia groups and Western land rights, the standoffs gained the family notoriety. The Bundys have since spread their message against federal control of Western land through an active Facebook page for the Bundy Ranch, and a blog with posts about their fight with the government.
While the family's social media use has created a network of supporters, the Department of Justice has also tapped into their effort to win their case against the occupiers of the refuge.
In court documents, prosecutors cite the Bundy Ranch Facebook page and the family's blog to highlight their fight in Oregon. Officials have also tapped into public Facebook pictures and videos to build their case against the occupiers.
According to court documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News, officials obtained a search warrant to search 23 Facebook profiles of people involved in the takeover.
Prosecutors obtained 10.7 gigabytes of data from Facebook, including pictures, videos, posts, and messages that the state intends to present as evidence, according to filings.
Defendants in the case have objected to the use of social media posts and publicly available videos as evidence. Particularly, the defendants have argued in court documents that the warrant used to obtain the content was "overbroad" and obtained without probably cause, but federal Judge Anna Brown has allowed most of the content into the trial.
One of the videos includes LaVoy Finicum, an Arizona rancher who was shot and killed in the last days of the Oregon standoff as officials tried to take leaders into custody at a roadblock. Authorities said Finicum appeared to be reaching for a gun several times before officials fatally shot him.
In the video, taken four days before his death, Finicum addresses supporters directly, saying the occupiers did not intend to negotiate with the FBI.
"We are not going anywhere," Finicum says. "We will not leave these buildings, we will not turn them over to the federal government."
Court documents also indicate that prosecutors will use social media posts to show the takeover of the refuge was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but one that was organized by Bundy and his supporters weeks, perhaps months, before it took place.
In a video posted more than two weeks before the takeover, for example, one of the defendants offering tips about camping in the cold.
"Make sure you got thermal socks, and waterproof boots, and enough to keep yourself warm," Jason Patrick, who was also charged in the federal case, says in the video.
Patrick doesn't directly encourage viewers to descend upon Burns in the video, but in another Facebook video posted on Dec. 26, 2015, and cited by prosecutors in court documents, he urges people to head to Oregon for the protest.
"You guys are always talking about getting off the couch and doing something," Blaine Cooper, another defendant, says in the video. "Well, now's the time to stand up and make that stand and make your voices heard."
The documents show that prosecutors are expected to present a long list of evidence in their case against those who participated in the occupation, including notebooks of the group organizing defensive positions around the compound, setting up shifts, and delegating responsibilities for the armed men.
It also includes a long list of handguns, rifles, magazines, and ammunition that were seized inside the compound, showing the group was heavily armed.
Prosecutors are expected to present their list of witnesses later this week.
This summer, I paid $22 to make my face look like a freshly glazed doughnut.
For weeks, Glossier, an online-only beauty startup with a fanatical following, had been hyping a face highlighter called Haloscope by referencing Krispy Kreme’s straight-out-of-the-oven look (“warm on the inside, a little wet and sculpted on the outside”) in its ad copy. How had I never noticed that Original Glazed has a come-hither glow?
The desired effect is less glistening carb than Karlie Kloss on her way to barre class — i.e., someone more likely to Snapchat fried food than to eat it — but the analogy was endearing nonetheless. Twenty days after Haloscope was released, Quartz, the pearlescent pink shade, sold out. That’s nothing compared to the waitlist for Boy Brow, Glossier’s eyebrow pomade, which famously climbed up to 10,000. Before restocking last month, Glossier had 60,000 names on waitlists for its nine skin care and makeup products, which the company releases in limited collections every few months.
In the two years since Glossier launched, it has hired 44 employees (many of whom double as models) and raised $10.4 million in venture capital financing over a seed and series A round. Revenue, meanwhile, is on track to grow 600% in 2016, and the company expects to grow several hundred percent next year as well. Fashion and beauty blogs now cover the company’s font choice, packaging, product launches, and inevitable product sellouts like Apple fanboys awaiting WWDC. More than 267,000 people follow the brand on Instagram. Its signature washed-out pink has become so iconic that fans use the hashtag #glossierpink when they see the color in the wild: on a surfboard, a San Francisco Victorian, a mural in India, “aura crystals,” a rosy cocktail at a rooftop bar in Chelsea. According to Emily Weiss, Glossier’s 31-year-old founder, most customers come from word-of-mouth and fall into the enviable 18-to-35 age bracket. Glossier has fans in Kloss (whose Instagram selfie sporting a branded sweatshirt got 27,000 likes) and in Eva Chen, former editor-in-chief of Lucky and current head of fashion partnerships at Instagram (who calls the brand “phenomenal”), and, probably, in the most effortlessly luminous young woman in your office, group text, or Twitter feed.
The brand quickly ascended to cult status through a curious alchemy of market research, calculated intimacy, and the ineffable coolness of its founder, figurehead, and often model, Weiss. A magnetic former fashion assistant at W and Vogue, she had a brief but memorable stint on The Hills as an uptight “super intern,” flown in from New York as a foil to Lauren Conrad’s West Coast casual work ethic. While she was still at Vogue masthead, Weiss started the beauty and fashion blog Into the Gloss, known for a column called "The Top Shelf," which features interviews with up-and-coming It girls, revered magazine editors, future street-style muses, models, entrepreneurs, and the occasional heiress, some of whom spilled the secrets of their beauty routines while Weiss sat on their bathroom floor. Glossier used the community that formed around the blog to create a dossier (hence the name) of skin care and makeup for consumers to build out their own top shelves.
MTV
“It was never a pivot,” Weiss told me during a recent visit to her office in lower Manhattan. The move from Into the Gloss to Glossier, she explained, was “a total evolution of the same mission, but with tactile content.”
Sure, but not every blogger’s move toward "tactile content" could be so seamless. In order to make her pitch to the masses, Weiss has had to reposition herself not as the super intern who knows the makeup secrets of the stars, but as your best friend or benevolent big sister. In her letter introducing the company, Weiss said she wanted to welcome everyone. “Snobby isn’t cool, happy is cool,” she wrote. Part of the thrill of being a Glossier girl is the proximity to Weiss, her model-employee workforce, and her company’s hella ’grammable Soho headquarters. She is one of a cohort of aspirational founders of women-centric startups in New York City — including her good friends Leandra Medine of Man Repeller and Sophia Amoruso of Nasty Gal. Sitting in a glass-walled conference room wearing a pair of vintage white Levi’s that she picked up on her honeymoon to Tokyo, she resembles a Nancy Meyers version of a millennial girlboss: beautiful but not too intimidating, appreciably ambitious but almost always smiling, neurotic — but in a charming way. After sitting down to our interview, Weiss got up immediately to straighten a rack of postcards behind me. "Sorry," she said, "it’s going to drive me crazy if it’s crooked."
Part of the thrill of being a Glossier girl is the proximity to Weiss, her model/ employee workforce, and her company’s hella ’grammable Soho headquarters.
Glossier’s office looks like its Instagram account come to life. The white walls are covered in ethereal mood boards in dreamy pastels. Wooden chairs are outfitted in chic fur shrugs. Floor-to-ceiling arched windows look out safely at the cityscape below. The lacquered conference table is long, lean, and high-gloss. And on every floor, employees radiate good health and subtle highlighter. This is the kind of office where an administrative coordinator or front-end engineer can, and does, double as a model for the company’s Instagram account, FaceTime tutorials, and Facebook Live videos. On YouTube, Glossier hosts a feature called “Get Ready With Me,” where the person (often a Glossier employee) walks the viewer through their morning routine.
On a recent summer day, the office was buoyant over big news: The company had just restocked its lipsticks and concealers, which combined had a waitlist 30,000 would-be customers long. They celebrated for a few minutes with cupcakes covered in stiff pink frosting with miniature replicas of the sleek Generation G tubes on top, as well as breakfast parfait cups and foil-wrapped breakfast sandwiches. The cupcakes got Instagrammed, but not the sandwiches. Perfect for a Snapchat story, one employee told another as they walked away from the table, fancy cupcakes untouched.
Joel Barhamand for BuzzFeed News
To understand what makes Glossier popular, start with its sales pitch. The line promises a barely there, lit-from-within effect that plays up features instead of masking flaws, though of course this works better when your “flaw” is a cute scar, winsome snaggletooth, or freckles — not cystic acne, purple under-eye bags, or a hirsute chin. Words like “imperceptible” and “sheer” pepper the site’s ad copy, and aside from its lipsticks, a newer addition, Glossier’s products aren’t really meant to be noticed at all.
“We always err on a light touch versus a heavy touch,” Weiss explained, meaning “there’s never going to be some kind of explosion: ‘Oh my god, I’ve overdone it! There’s too much product — I have to wipe some off.’”
Haloscope definitely can’t be overdone, I told Weiss — believe me, I'd tried. “It’s hard!” she replied, smiling. “It’s so subtle. If anything, the criticism would be that our products are too subtle than too intense. But I think that’s so important to be able to build. So few of us are makeup artists. We want the products to be universally flattering, to be very intuitive, very easy.” None of the products require brushes; it’s all designed to be slapped on in the back of the cab. “Glossier is makeup for the truly lazy” was The Frisky’s assessment, but make no mistake — laziness in this case means studied effortlessness, not puffy and greasy-haired, six hours deep into a Netflix binge still caked with the remnants of last night’s mascara.
The look is “trying hard but not trying to look like you’re trying hard,” said Munachi Ikedionwu, a blogger and Vanderbilt University premed student. Palm trees and hollowed-out coconuts are a recurring motif on Glossier’s posters and stickers, which come free with every order. Packages arrive in a brown box with that baby-pink interior, plastered with slogans like “SKIN FIRST. MAKEUP SECOND. SMILE ALWAYS” and “SKINCARE IS ESSENTIAL. MAKEUP IS A CHOICE. (MAKE GOOD CHOICES).” Inside it, the makeup itself comes in a bag made of pink bubble wrap that doubles as a clutch so cute the company sells them à la carte, three for $12.
If the references are familiar to you, it feels whimsical as fuck.
Website copy is just arch enough not to sound too 13 Going on 30: “The lip-smacking, 11-year-old in you is freaking out right now,” declares the description for Generation G; Boy Brow’s implores you to “Brush your teeth, brush your brows, and then maybe brush your hair.” Packaging channels the hopeful futurism of the ’80s (“as opposed to the the whole ’90s heroin-chic thing,” executive editor Annie Kreighbaum said, “which is not so cool for us”). To hype Haloscope, Glossier flooded its Instagram with pics of a shimmering tulle skirt cascading down a runway, a flaxen-coated horse on a beach, and of course, doughnuts. If the references are familiar to you, it feels whimsical as fuck. A teenage daydream, elevated and commoditized. A series of coded signals for a certain kind of girl.
“The people seeing Sofia Coppola movies, they’re also buying Glossier,” said Natalie Guevara, a 29-year-old who works in communications for the Brooklyn-based startup Genius. “It’s very much taking the Coppola aesthetic — the dusky pink and supple skin — and making it something tangible that you can buy.”
It’s a far cry from the heavy colors and oozing lipstick logo for Kylie Cosmetics(™) or even Milk Makeup, which goes by the slogan “cool girls get ready quick,” and traffics in high-pigment, high-shine products that offer effects like “an iridescent, hyper-lavender sheen” or “super-intense color in one swipe.” Glossier never explicitly says whether these are the bad makeup choices it warned you against, but its aesthetic is subdued and refined, more Connecticut (where Weiss grew up) than Calabasas. Glossier girls probably keep up with the Kardashians, but they don’t want to look like them.
The products themselves tend to be hit-or-miss. Glossier's concealer feels impossibly light and looks incredibly natural, even if it settles into fine lines. Milky Jelly is a space-age treat, but doesn’t remove my mascara. I’m not entirely sure Haloscope is visible on me, but when I put the products on in the morning I feel destined for a compliment. Surely all this radiance will turn some heads.
At any rate, the Coppola comparison is real: Weiss gave the director one of her lipsticks and then Instagrammed a handwritten thank-you note. Coppola loved the shade Crush.
@Glossier / Instagram / Via instagram.com
Glossier typically gets lumped in as a startup because it “launched” on Instagram, but that was just a savvy promotion strategy. People had to leave the app to buy the goods, and the company still had to set up a website, buy dynamic online ads, and advertise in the subway just like every other e-commerce hopeful. Glossier’s real innovation was optimizing for the internet at every step: using the tools of the social web to turn readers into followers and followers into brand evangelists, unpaid product advisers, and, maybe, something like a community, albeit one that buys things from you.
“We really want to listen very closely to our audience across all our channels,” Weiss told me. That means talking to customers through FaceTime videos and Instagram comments, and using Into the Gloss’s robust commentariat as an updated take on a focus group: The formula for Milky Jelly Cleanser, a nonfoaming, ultralight face wash, came largely out of a post titled “What’s Your Dream Cleanser?” in which Weiss encouraged readers to answer that question, “anecdotes/paragraphs/love stories encouraged.” “We will do our best to compile what you tell us into one helluva Glossier cleanser,” Weiss wrote; 382 comments and almost a year later, Milky Jelly was released.
Glossier girls probably keep up with the Kardashians, but they don’t want to look like them.
Power users are invited to sign up for a special, confidential Slack group. New York–area ones are invited to the Glossier penthouse for “a night of mystery product testing, pizza, rosé, and g.IRL talk with other members of the Glossier community and CEO and Founder Emily Weiss!” If in 2016 brands are your friend, Glossier wants to be your BFF. (Or at least talk like her.) The nondisclosure agreement doesn’t come until later.
“Copy plays a huge part,” explained Kreighbaum. It’s important to be “personable and down-to-earth. You can have 'real girls,' but if you’re not being casual with your language, it gets lost.”
Kreighbaum became a social media star in her own right after her lush, unrepentant eyebrows were featured prominently in campaigns for Glossier’s Boy Brow product. “Maybe my eyebrows are more famous than I am? I hear they do well on our paid ads,” she told me. She was a beauty blogger before Weiss recruited her through a Twitter DM. “I think they thought I was funny. A lot of beauty writing didn’t have as much personality,” said Kreighbaum. “It kind of comes naturally to me to overshare.”
Indeed, there’s something intimate and cliquish, almost conspiratorial, about the brand. “You’re part of this crowd and you don’t want to stray from it too much,” said Claire Carusillo, a 24-year-old beauty blogger who puts out a charmingly unhinged newsletter called My Second or Third Skin. In other words, even if Balm Dotcom, Glossier’s petroleum-based salve, is essentially nice-smelling Vaseline, pulling a tube out on the subway still feels good. “When you get really hyped about something, you kind of lie to yourself,” Carusillo told me. “Like, 'This is the stuff!’” Perhaps tellingly, Glossier sells nine beauty products and four items of merch, including an enamel pin in the shape of the company’s signature gothic “G” ($14) and the very sweatshirt Kloss took viral ($60).
“Ordinarily, I just buy stuff off of Amazon and the drugstore,” said Guevara, the Coppola fan. “In many ways, Glossier is one of the first brands that I’ve subscribed to. When Boy Brow runs out, I order more.”
Glossier / Via Instagram
