How H&M’s AI Models Will Affect the Beauty Industry

And enough with the 'White Lotus' teeth discourse.

Hi! Hello! How are we doing? Did everyone remember to do their 8:45 a.m. banana peel facial today?

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that Estée Lauder Companies “came out” about using AI in some marketing campaigns, a move about which the majority of people who responded to the poll in that newsletter had negative feelings. Business of Fashion published another AI-related scoop this week: H&M plans to use “digital twins” of real models in-AI generated ads.

In H&M’s case, specifically, the models are giving the brand permission to do this. They will be getting paid when their twin is used, and can set the twin’s availability. The one model interviewed in the story seemed cautiously optimistic about the opportunity for more work.

H&M, obviously, is a fashion brand and BoF, a fashion publication, focused mostly on the fashion industry implications here. But this line is what caught my eye:

“The company acknowledges that it doesn’t yet know all the impacts this approach will have on models, or all the other workers who make fashion imagery possible, such as photographers, stylists, hair and makeup artists and more.”

This potential job loss is, in my opinion, the crux of the anti-AI argument—one that often gets glossed over by company higher ups during discussions of these so-called “exciting” projects. Even if we do manage to find a way to continue to compensate workers who are no longer doing the work they’ve spent years training for (seems unlikely: a recent PEW Research survey found that the majority of Americans oppose the idea of a Universal Basic Income) what would compel brands to think that what consumers want is less reality in advertising?

It seems inevitable that a project like what H&M has proposed will make its way to the beauty industry. If people revolted over a human being maybe using false lashes in a TikTok about mascara, I don’t think they’ll be won over by a completely computer-generated image that claims to depict what a new skin-care product can do.

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Pulling Teeth

The White Lotus is a show made to contribute to The Discourse, and this season that chatter has been overwhelmed by talk about teeth: specifically, the less-than-perfect teeth of Aimee Lou Wood and Charlotte Le Bon, who play the much-younger girlfriends to two cranky rich boyfriends. Many people have called their lack of dental work “inspiring” and “a revelation,” and Valerie Monroe, of How Not to F*ck Up Your Face Substack fame, has had quite enough of all the gushing.

“Complimenting Wood and Le Bon solely for an imperfection many people can’t afford to fix is like telling a cash-strapped friend without the budget for a car how well-toned she looks because she has to walk 10 miles to work.”

You can read the rest of her feedback on the fawning her piece, “The ‘White Lotus’ Smile Discourse Is Actually Pretty Condescending.”

Illustration by Mark Pernice

Long Live Us All

Speaking of “exciting” “scientific” “advancements,” the second article in our mini series about the longevity industry went live this week. Writer Fiorella Valdesolo spent the day at Love.Life, a $50,000 per year longevity-focused wellness club that offers a dizzying array of diagnostic tests (and subsequent treatments based on those test results), fitness classes, and spa services that all purport to contribute to members’ ability to live “well” for longer. Honestly, Valdesolo’s trip does sound like a pretty nice time—well, minus all the bloodwork—but was it worth the $2,370 it would have cost her had she not gotten the visit comped? You decide!

My former platinum-level blonde vs. my current “recession hair.”

Cutting Costs

We aren’t in a recession (yet!) but recession hair is in full force. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this trend—people transitioning away from high maintenance colors to looks that don’t require frequenting the salon so often—but it’s having another moment, making its way on to For You pages in between videos about high egg prices and government budget cuts. My name and hair twin Kara Nesvig took a closer look at the phenomenon, which even Allure editors have given into.

The Biz Beat

There’s yet another messy beauty brand lawsuit on the books: Kirbie Johnson reported in her Substack, Ahead of the Kirb, that shareholders have filed a fraud lawsuit against Thirteen Lune founder Nyakio Grieco. The list of accusations is lengthy, though what’s gotten the most attention are how Grieco allegedly used company funds to cover personal expenses, ranging from aesthetic treatments to Eras tour tickets and textbooks for her daughter. Grieco called the lawsuit “baseless” in a call with Johnson, who published a full transcript of the call as well.

In other 👀 brand news, a post on /r/SkincareAddiction claims that Holly Thaggard is stepping down as Supergoop!’s CEO, transitioning to a “strategic investor” role. The post, which included a screenshot of a message from one of the company’s internal Slack channels, speculated that the decision was a result of the sun-care brand’s 2021 acquisition by private equity firm Blackstone and predicted that it would spell bad news for the company. “When the founder disappears, the soul of the brand usually goes with them,” the original poster wrote. A rep for Supergoop! confirmed to me that the message featured in the Reddit post was from an internal announcement, but did not provide any further comment.

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Celeb Corner

We published two celebrity interviews this week. For the first, writer Valerie Monroe spoke with Andie MacDowell, who’s celebrating her 40th anniversary of being a L’Oréal spokesperson and has been promoting The Final Copy of Ilon Specht, a short documentary about the woman behind the “Because you’re worth it” tagline that made at least two Allure staffers cry. The interview is generally lively and lovely, though it does kick off with one question that made MacDowell cringe.

Later, Gracie Abrams answered Allure shopping director Shanna Shippin’s rapid-fire questions about her beauty routine. My takeaway: She smells really good and probably has to pee a lot (same).

charlotteparler

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The “Clean” Conundrum

Charlotte Palermino published the video above breaking down the issue with apps like Yuka that claim to give consumers more insight into the safety of the products they’re buying. Palermino calls bullshit, and reiterates a point that many cosmetic chemists made to me when I was reporting on the clean beauty industry’s missteps in 2023: We need more actual, federally mandated safety regulations on ingredients, and companies like these give consumers a false sense of security that makes regulation seem less urgent.

If you buy one thing this week, make it…

Merit Signature Lip Liner

I got this lip liner in the mail at the beginning of March and have been wearing it almost daily ever since. The shade Bespoke, with its pink undertones and sheer formula, is my ideal brown. It is shockingly hydrating for a lip liner and easy to blend, which makes it work well with every lip color I’ve tried so far—though I’m partial to layering it with the brand’s new “Sheen” version of its lip oil in the shade Twin Set.