New year, new vibes...

I stopped writing about music a few years ago (the fees were too low to continue, despite my passion for it) but I loved the duality of it all: fashion weeks and polished beauty launches, followed by sticky-floored gigs and aftershows. That tension always felt like home - even though they seem so different. What’s interesting is that the most creative people in beauty often came up the same way. The cool-looking skater boy hairstylists backstage, the goth-leaning make-up artists - many of them were moving between the same worlds. Beauty by day, subculture by night. That’s when I realised there are really two types of people in this industry: the glossy ones, and the gritty ones. I’ve always been the latter.

But over the years I think that side of my life has felt less and less prominent. And I can’t help but think that alongside burnout, overworking, trying to constantly fit into neurotypical, mainstream boxes in the beauty industry, it’s partially why I’ve felt a lot less curious. Less playful. Less inspired. Not very me. I’ve always had some kind of batshit side-quest on the go - some niche obsession, historical rabbit hole or creative fixation - and I quietly let a lot of that fall away. I want to bring it back and reclaim a bit of that in 2026. And, most likely, some of it will land here too, because this space works best when I’m bringing all of myself to it.

I love writing about beauty and beauty culture and I’m proud to be one of the more critical voices in that space. But I’m not a one-note person, so I’m opining up what I cover to reflect that a little more. I’m currently obsessed with the way hair is such a big part in Regency mourning rituals (a post is coming, see above) but I’m also enamoured with Marc Bolan’s make-up, which feels long overdue for proper cultural analysis IMHO. And, I think we’re also due a conversation on looking dirty - something I’m seeing in pop culture and on social media, and the constructs around that are fascinating when you cross examine them with class and race.

The topics I wrote about in my book UGLY still live here (see the latter) but instead of forcing myself to find things every week, I’ll be doing less posts a month and making them more considered and juicy. I’m also working on a new skincare book, so I’ll shout when I can tell you more about that, too.

So this is me gently re-arranging the furniture for the year ahead. This Substack is shifting to reflect where I actually am now, rather than where I thought I was meant to stay. I hope you’ll stick around and see where it goes!

I’ll be back next week with a long read. But in the meantime, here are a few pieces you might enjoy…