Hi all! Time for another xoJane throwback—Cat and Julie get lip injections! What’s exciting about this column is that all of the photos survived in it! I have a big master Google document of old xoJane columns, but ninety percent of them have zero photos—so when I reprint the articles in 2026, I look for images from that era to plug in. But this article contains every original xoJane image! Which is terrific, because they are pretty rough (I appear to have been in a “drinking heavily” phase).
Some notes!
What’s really funny to me about this column is how I talk about being “obsessively vain” and “shallow and looks-obsessed basically to the point of legitimate mental and emotional impairment”. HAHAHA. Can you imagine me saying that today? Looking back, one’s twenties are so, so narcissistic. I think about that watching young influencers contouring themselves—in the mirror, and in front of a camera. That’s just part of being 28.
Also: I say, “So as a veteran beauty editor, I believe that everyone could be better looking”. That was a line/concept—that one could always choose to be higher maintenance, beauty-wise—ripped off from my ex-boss Jean Godfrey-June. I’m not sure why I didn’t credit her back in 2011, so I’m doing it now.
As for Julie Schott...my extremely smart, talented and chic former beauty intern at Lucky and beauty assistant at xoJane, who went on to become an Elle beauty editor/elle.com beauty director and then founded the wildly successful Starface...well, she was like a little sister to me. I haven’t spoken to her in ten years.
It’s actually the only close friendship—I genuinely loved her—in my life that’s ever ended in a strange way. In fairness to Julie, she had a front row seat to my most toxic years, and she experienced the wrath of my addiction, mood swings, and something I will call “The Devil Wears Prada” gene in ways that most people did not. In fairness to me, I got Julie hired at xoJane, introduced her everyone I knew (professionally and personally), fiercely protected her, and always endorsed the fuck out of her (I always knew she was gonna be a star).
Looking back...Julie never asked for those things: endorsements, protection, introductions. I just love friends obsessively. Back then, this love—combined with amphetamine abuse—was basically my whole personality. I’m sure it was a bit much for a young person like Julie trying to become her own cool self, especially coming from someone as high profile and erratic (an annoying combo, truly) as “2010s” me. At some point, around 2016, I “protectively” interfered in her personal life, and Julie blocked me on Instagram. We never spoke again.
Enjoy!
*****
Okay! So as a veteran beauty editor, I believe that everyone could be better looking. EVERYONE.
Including me. Look at my yellow hair in these pictures, for God’s sake! Don’t worry (you weren’t worried), I had it fixed later that night. I keep going to the worst colorists because I’m such a slacker and schedule same-day color appointments with people I’ve never heard of at the salons where I have VIP comp cards, and then two weeks later my hair is fried and yellow. Yellow-yellow. Meth-head yellow.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.