Friendmendations 5.24.21

Hey, y'all!

I'm finally starting to learn some of the features I can play with here on Ghost. I have noticed the newsletter going to my "Promotions" tab in Gmail since migrating, though. If you're experiencing that issue, you can set up a filter for it like this!

The only other personal news that I have to share is that I want everyone to watch Lil Nas X's "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" performance on SNL. Not at work, though. It's perfect, even the moment where he realizes he ripped his pants on live TV.

DO IT DO IT DO IT

Charlie Warzel's "It's Time for a Summer Slowdown" makes one of those arguments that makes me want to bang my fist on my desk and shout "YES!" (I don't know who wouldn't be onboard with the idea of a few months of calm this year, but if you're somehow unconvinced, read Ed Yong's "What Happens When Americans Can Finally Exhale.")

Get their asses!

I hate the Democratic Party and am terrified about the future at all times, so I was heartened to see this story about an "army of 16-year-olds" organizing to push Massachusetts politicians to the left. (I can't say I understand why a Gen-Z progressive organizer would refer to Joe Biden as "bestie," but I suspect that detail was a misunderstanding on the reporter's part.)

Makeup roundup, also my face

While waiting for my chance to get the vaccine, I started anxiously stockpiling makeup to prepare for a moment when I could expose my whole face again. I'm not saying that I'm proud of that. But I have found some products that I really like in this spree, so I'm passing this experience onto you. They're all under $20!

• NYX Epic Ink Liner (black): by far the best drugstore liquid liner I've ever tried. It's waterproof and so cheap and so good. Do not get the kind with a little brush unless you have very steady hands and a lot of eyeliner experience, because the tip is so small and flops around – get the kind I linked above that you can hold like a pen and just draw a line on easily
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (Original): I haven't tried any of the other options (there's an anti-aging primer?) but the original one works great for me. I never used eyeshadow primer before, and now I feel like a real idiot because it upgrades the whole look significantly. Like you're just wasting your eyeshadow if you don't apply primer! You can barely see it and it won't stay long anyway! The tiny applicator on this product is weird but the product itself has been great.
• Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Multi-Use Concealer (10/Fair): I've always had terrible dark circles, so I've tried a million different concealers, including some expensive ones. This $10 drugstore buy is easily the best I've ever used. The squishy sponge applicator really blends the product in, and it layers beautifully if you, like me, have the undereyes of a Tim Burton character. I took the above picture on Friday and I didn't get a full night's sleep all week! And I look fine! Believe me when I tell you that this concealer is the MVP of that look!
• Physicians Formula The Healthy Lip Velvet Liquid Lipstick (oral minerals): this matte lipstick has been my only friend during the pandemic because it actually stays on under a mask. It lasts for hours and doesn't dry your lips out too much.

All of these products were used in the look documented in the photo above, and that's the point of the photo, so keep any opinions about the state of my room to YOURSELF.

A topic so close to my heart it is lodged inside my actual aorta

It's not a secret that Gwen Stefani was the single most influential celebrity in my formative years. Her style is imprinted on me and reverberates to this day (see: winged eyeliner above.) I've decided that Brunette Gwen from the "Cool" video will be my style inspiration this summer since I've been itching for a post-pandemic dye job.

OBVIOUSLY "Cool" is my favorite music video of all time. It's a lot of people's favorite music video. (I recently saw a tweet that placed "Gwen Stefani's 'Cool' music video" under "bring back 70s conversation pits" on a running list of topics Twitter will never stop revisiting.) So I was of course going to read Sydney Urbanek's essay on the video's portrayal of heartbreak, moving on, and the lies we tell ourselves. Even if you're not a Gwen obsessive like me, you should still read the piece, because it's beautiful and relatable and filled with well-researched details.

Petey

A couple months ago I shared a video from one of my favorite TikTokers, @PeteyUSA, about men gassing up their bro's bold decision to try a middle part. Petey's videos, which always make me laugh, often deal with male vulnerability and tenderness in a way that I find so endearing. Anyway, apparently this hilarious TikTok comedian is also a professional musician, and he writes genuinely emotional music about vulnerability and tenderness too?! "Don't Tell The Boys" is a wrenching, cathartic anthem, and I love that its lyrics were written by the same guy who conceived cigarette-smoking cool guy Puff Sullivan.

I leave you with this incredible video:

This week last year:

"Friendmendations 5.25.20" – a pitch-perfect parody of deranged group chats for ladies, the weird history of TGI Friday's, recipes for spicy cheesy pasta and saag paneer with naan, longform YouTube essays and a short little featurette on Matilda, my childhood fave. Plus singing seals.

"How do you create an oasis?" – I saw The Matrix for the first time and then got really bummed out by the sequel

"What we lose if Twitter is shut down" – I wrote a bunch of goofy fake tweets but apparently several readers thought that they were real. Oops.