The July rewind.
– I think every single business should follow Target's lead and clearly indicate the black-owned brands they carry. In other diversity news, indigenous-owned brands are finally getting some attention.
– "Creatives all over the world have been using lockdown as an opportunity to push their boundaries, psychologists say this could be a new form of self-care": How the pandemic is encouraging more experimentation with makeup than ever before.
– Trend news: matching your eye makeup to your mask is the hot new thing, while the TikTok teens are bringing back tooth polish, which you might recall had a moment in fall 2018. Also, I have no idea how I missed the airbrushed butterfly makeup trend back in March when I was prepping for the Soaring Beauty exhibition!
– R.I.P., Clarisonic. I need to look for a replacement ASAP.
– How about some biscuits and gravy with your KFC lipstick? It'll also go well with the nail polish they released a few years ago. Unfortunately only 400 are being made and you have to sign up for their "Colonel Club" so I have no chance of procuring it for the Museum, but food-themed makeup is something I never tire of.
The random:
– In '90s nostalgia, Clueless celebrated its 25th anniversary, which for some reason I thought was much earlier in the spring, while the A.V. Club pines for Crystal Pepsi – don't we all? Jim Carrey, insufferable though he is (with the exception of Dumb and Dumber), shared the unsettling origin story behind Fire Marshall Bill, one of the characters he created for In Living Color. Side note: in the name of "background research" for my '90s makeup book that I will never actually get around to writing, I'm rewatching this show along with Kids in the Hall and The State. Comedy in the '90s was…something else.
– Artsy had a good article on how graffiti artists are at the forefront of raising awareness for the BLM movement.
– You know I've long-considered what I'd do if a huge beauty brand offered to sponsor the Museum or an exhibition, so this was an interesting case study to see the results of one such partnership between a business giant (Ikea) and a tiny, nonprofit museum founded by private collectors (the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines.) However, one of my pet peeves was confirmed in that Ikea insisted on putting their name in the exhibition title. Blech. I understand companies need to advertise their sponsorship but to put it in the title just seems so crass and distracting from the museum's mission.
– Kudos to Ryan Reynolds for helping return a very special plushie to their human. #imnotcryingyourecrying
How are you doing? I'm struggling a bit…between Museum woes and going the longest time in my life without seeing my parents, it's been tough. But I'm still employed and the husband and plushies still support me so those are two good things.