Vaseline makes a comeback🧴
This Week in Review☕️: The Latest Viral Skincare Trend | Luxury Shoppers continue splurging | Signaling Status via expensive clothes | A Ticket to Space just became affordable | Avocado Masks are in |
Quick Bites:
Culture x Skincare🧴 : Invented in 1859, Vaseline has finally gone viral in 2022.
This “staple of grandma’s medicine cabinet” has gone viral on TikTok and Instagram as the go-to product for "slugging", reports The New York Times.
For those living under a rock, "slugging" involves going to bed with your face slathered in Vaseline, leaving your skin looking shiny when you wake up,
In the 1st week of February, social media mentions of Vaseline were up 327% over the same period last year with +80mn views on TikTok.
Let's be honest💡: our obsession with skincare is REAL. Gen Z today are living in skincare corners of the internet!
You might have dropped Chemistry but you basically act like a scientist when it comes to your hyaluronic and lactic acids👩⚕️
And god forbid, someone mixes Vitamin C with their AHAs and BHAs. Boy, do you have a lecture in store for those twats!👋
The global beauty industry is estimated to hit $717 bn by 2025.
According to Statista, skincare accounts for 42% of the worldwide cosmetics industry with women spending around $313 monthly on beauty products.
Our Thoughts💡: Ok ok, we're gonna try this damn trend.
If we break out tomorrow in what looks like we put ground hamburger meat on our face, we're suing everyone on TikTok 🔪
Luxury 👠 : Luxury brands have been increasing their prices- and it seems shoppers simply.don't.care.
Chanel, in particular, has been raising prices at a faster rate with 3 price hikes last year itself.
The price of their iconic 2.55 bag has increased from $5200 in 2019 to $8200 today, The Wall Street Journal.
"The best things in life are free. The second best things are very, very expensive"
-Coco Chanel
Touché
Signaling status via expensive goods is the main driver of luxury brands being barely affected during the pandemic despite the price increases.
Infact, French luxury conglomerate LVMH saw annual revenue shoot up 36% compared to last year. It also outperformed its pre-crisis income from 2019, WSJ reports.
Our Thoughts💡: To all the divas out there, have you all paused your splurging or y'all still flocking to stores?
PS. Our mom's been right all along. Chanel bags really are a better inflation hedge than TIPs!
Space 🚀 : The price to enter space just dropped to $450,000.
Virgin Galactic opened ticket sales to the public for the first time, requiring a $150,000 deposit to reserve a seat on a future flight.
Ok maybe, just maybe, sending billionaires into space isn't so bad afterall 🙏
The balance is due before take-off, with commercial flights currently slated to start later this year.
The company’s stock price jumped by 32% post the announcement, CNBC reports.
Despite being founded by Sir Richard Branson, this move distances Branson from Virgin Galactic.
Branson has sold more than $1.25bn in stock since the company went public in 2019 and already accomplished his lifelong dream of flying into space last July, according to CNBC.
Our Thoughts💡: Tbh, it's just a matter of time before space flights become blasé.
It's already become accessible for multi-millionaires than only billionaires.
While you still have to be über-rich for now, its not forever.
Health 💊 : It's been a big month for the healthcare industry as a woman in New York (also, the 1st woman patient in history) is cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant.
"A woman of mixed race was cured using a new treatment [..] the cure would be available to more people of diverse racial backgrounds", scientists announced.
Fantastic news but why does it specify race? Is that code for saying its not gonna cost an arm and a leg?
Key Highlights, according to NowThis News:
💡The woman was already battling leukemia and underwent the stem cell transplant as a part of her treatment for that disease
💡Umbilical cord stem cells were specifically used
💡The woman developed an HIV-resistant immune system post the treatment
💡Despite the breakthrough, scientists warn this form of treatment is not replicable for the masses. For starters, this treatment is practical for people who are simultaneously battling HIV and cancer.
💡Doctors 'kill' the patient's immune system via chemotherapy or radiation, before transplanting HIV-resistant stem cells into the person's body
Work 💻 : Our new tool this February 2022: Heyday
We keep a million tabs open while writing our newsletter for y'all, but always forget why we have some tabs open in the first place!
Heyday’s browser extension has allowed us to shut those tabs (thank f**king god) by automatically saving the content and resurfacing it when we need it.
Give your memory a boost TODAY! ( Oh, and the first 14 days are FREE 🥂 )
Quicker Bites:
Hong Kong finds Covid in samples from packaging of pork, beef imports.
America, UK, Japan among nations prepare sanctions against Russia in bid to deescalate Ukraine situation.
Ukraine: Putin recognizes independence of pro-Russian territories.
Queen Elizabeth II tests positive for Covid-19.
BTS will broadcast a live concert in theaters across the world.
We're entering the 'control phase' of the pandemic, The Atlantic reports.
Growing number of states, major cities lift Covid-19 restrictions.