Rachel Zegler on Snow White Drama and Trying to Make Friends in Hollywood
Plus: ditching injectables, bedroom perfumes, and long-distance marriages.
As I prepare to go outside more often (the weather has been truly gorgeous this week) I’ve been spending more time with my wrinkles. They are mostly fine lines and mostly in my forehead and mostly something I assume most other people wouldn’t even notice. But I, an editor who used to have essentially unlimited access to neuromodulators like Botox and Xeomin when I lived in New York City in my 20s, really notice them.
In 2020, I moved back to the city in rural New England where I grew up and, in this one medspa town, I simply don’t get invited to comped press appointments. There was a period where I was booking an injection re-up every time I went back to New York for work, but I now prioritize having dinner with friends in my limited time there. I know I would love how I would look—less tired, more glowy—if I squeezed in a Botox appointment with a dermatologist, but I’m learning to also be OK with looking solidly mid-30s.
Until this week, I wondered if I was being chill about my own visible signs of aging simply out of necessity: Paying for injectables like a non-beauty editor just does not fit into my budget, so I’d begrudgingly accepted the inevitable. There was no way I could actually be OK with my face; hating how you look is just a part of growing up!
And then, Allure’s senior editor Nicola Dall’Asen—who still lives in NYC and could definitely get anything she wants injected into her forehead/cheeks/lips at any time for free—wrote this essay about how she, too, has given up injectables now that she’s in her third decade. Don’t get me wrong: I and Nicola and the Allure team at large are very pro-injectables for anyone who wants to get them. But if you, like me, are feeling like you might be missing out on something if you’re not jumping on the filler/neuromodulator train, I highly recommend giving Nicola’s story a read.
Snow White and the Reply Guys
We dropped a new cover story this week, featuring Rachel Zegler aka Snow White. As soon as her casting in the film’s 2025 remake was announced, people flocked to the comment sections to let Disney know they weren’t happy with all this “woke” BS, a take I find particularly baffling when it’s in reference to someone who literally looks like the 1937 cartoon whistle-worked her way into our three-dimensional universe. The profile, written by Patricia Tortolani, herself a Latina who's often told she “doesn’t look it,” is extremely well-done, and the photos are absolutely stunning.
Sniff & Snooze
I love my job because I get to learn new things every day. This week, I learned I’m supposed to be wearing perfume to bed!
A Honeymoon Phase
Speaking of bedrooms, I often think about John Hodgman’s ruling on the ideal bedtime setup for couples: “The best arrangement for a marriage is two king beds, each in a separate villa, connected by a reflecting pool.” My long-term partner and I have taken this one step further, our separate villas connected by about 200 miles of interstate highway. While our long-distance relationship is the result of his career and hopefully not a forever situation, for now it’s working way better than I anticipated. We’re not alone: More and more people are finding that adding some space to their marriages is a good thing. Our sex columnist Varuna Srinivasan explored the phenomenon in Doing It column.
Recall Alert
This happened right after I wrote last week’s newsletter, so ICYMI: A handful of brands (including La Roche-Posay and Proactiv) recalled seven benzoyl peroxide acne products after trace contamination of benzene was found in them during FDA testing. Read more about what this means and whether you should toss your acne treatments.
Celeb Corner
Meghan Trainer got a sponcon breast lift. Sabrina Carpenter provided some short ‘n sweet nail inspo, while Keke Palmer went long and MySpace-coded. Finally: Benito x Calvin Klein.
If you buy one thing this week, make it…
I love tubing mascara so much!!!!!!!!! Kulfi, a brand that already makes a lot of my favorite products, nailed this formula. It lengthens and separates the lashes, which are my two main requirements for an everyday mascara. I also love the brush, which is thing but has a, like, little spiky ball (a flail??) on the end that is great for getting into your inner and outer corners. And since the mascara is tubing, it’s a breeze to remove at night.