#21: Downhill Both Ways
Things I think you'll like, in one neat email bundle
I love putting together these newsletters for you every month. I spend the weeks in-between each one squirreling things away: articles, songs, bits of news, updates, informative videos… anything I think you might find as interesting as I do.
If you’d like to catch up on my recent newsletters, you can find them all HERE.
This month’s newsletter has a lovely mixture of things: a new song (and album) I’m loving; links to some rosacea writing of mine; articles and videos from others on all sorts of topics (ingredient scanning apps, spray sunscreens, a research study, skin classifications, a beloved brand soon to be no more, and an opinion piece I loved) and some great TV, film, and book recommendations.
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Today’s newsletter title, and song of the moment, is Downhill Both Ways by Julien Baker and TORRES. I’ve been a fan of Julien for ages and this new album is some of my favourite music she’s ever done. Sad-girl indie-country music? If it was any further up my street it would be moving in next door!
(btw if you want to catch up on all of the other music recommendations from my newsletters, I have a playlist created just for you. Find it HERE)
There are two new articles from me that you may have missed. The first one is about retinoids and rosacea, filled with tips, information, and includes my personal recommendations:
And the other is about my unsexy beauty recommendations, all of the products that I love and rebuy over and over but that aren’t particularly interesting or exciting. They just get the job done, quietly and efficiently.
This video by
talking about apps like Yuka, which are eroding nuance, critical thinking, and encouraging anti-science rhetoric. I can see the appeal: cosmetics and ingredients lists are confusing and and - especially when you have a skin condition like rosacea - you want to make good choices. But this isn’t that. It’s fearmongering, cleanwashing, and it’s scary how many people blindly trust it.
I found THIS article, via the
Substack, really interesting and thought you might too. I have spoken in the past about the rosacea diagnostic types and why I thought they weren’t useful as they were too limited.The skin is a complicated organ and trying to put us into neat boxes for diagnostic purposes will always result in an over-simplified label.
In the article linked above, they take a common skincare category that many people have been labelled/labelled themselves with (‘oily skin’), and not only further define it by identifying an ‘oily-sensitive’ subcategory, but then take that even further by splitting it into three further subcategories:
“The researchers found that oily-sensitive skin can be objectively classified into three subtypes: barrier-sensitive, neuro-sensitive, and inflammatory-sensitive”
For diagnostic and treatment purposes, I think this is infinitely more useful than just saying ‘you have oily skin, here’s what to do and what to use’. Hopefully this is where the future of skin condition diagnoses is heading: acknowledging our differences and treating them accordingly.
We have had some unexpected warm weather this week in the UK and so I’ve been thinking more about sun protection and how we can find the best middle-ground between ease and safety. THIS video from the wonderful Michelle shows why we can’t rely on sunscreen mists alone for coverage and protection.
You may have seen the sad news that REN skincare are shutting down. I am gutted but sadly not surprised - in an overcrowded market of ‘clean’ (bleh) skincare, they weren’t as bolshy as some of the others who use fearmongering and aggressive marketing to appeal to new customers (coughdrunkelephantcough). REN made great products for people with sensitive skin, and were a genuinely lovely brand that I worked with a few times over the years. I’ll certainly miss them.
If you are also a fan and want to stock up, I’d recommend doing so before the end of the summer as it’s apparently scheduled to close its doors in Q3. The whole Evercalm range is fantastic, particularly the Overnight Recovery Balm (currently 20% off at that link!)
I am so glad that my husband forced me to try episode 1 of The Studio (Apple TV) because I would’ve never chosen it myself. Seth Rogen seems like a nice enough guy but his stoner schtick humour is not my vibe at all. But this is a suprisingly funny, interesting, cringe-inducing, snarky, gossipy, self-referential love letter to cinema. Chase Sui Wonders’s outfits are beautiful, the locations and decor are a mid-century wonderland, Katherine Hahn is hysterical and terrifying (I would let her whip me with that long braid), and the Hollywood cameos are delightful. A really lovely watch.
We needed something to replace Lost as our ‘we can’t decide what to watch, what shall we put on in the background?’ watch, and we chose Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And I’m so happy we did. It’s so much fun: the pithy one-liners, the unhinged 90s fashion and slang, the X-Files adjacent sci-fi elements. If you can ignore how creepy and incel-y Xander is (which isn’t surprising as Joss Whedon has said he based the character on himself…) it’s a great mindless, nostalgic watch.
We also spent the recent bank holiday Monday in the cinema, where I did my first ever double-bill: Thunderbolts and Sinners. If you’d have asked me at the beginning of the year, I would’ve said I was losing interest in the whole superhero genre, but between the new season of Daredevil and Thunderbolts I’m fully back on board. Sinners was also great: the music, the acting, the slow-build tension. Applause all round.
A recent study of UK adults with skin conditions has found that 76% of adults with a skin condition feel more anxious about their skin in summer, and 77% said that they feel like social media adds pressure to have perfect skin.
I can definitely identify with those feelings. My skin really hates the warm weather and I’m already bracing myself for the constant ‘are you sunburned?’ comments. Do you feel more anxious about your skin in the summer? We love a poll, vote below 👇
My friends bought me Sky Daddy by Kate Folk for my birthday and it’s just as good as I hoped. I was a huge fan of her short story collection, Out There, and had really high hopes for her first novel. It’s about a young woman who is sexually attracted to planes and… it’s exactly as weird as that description makes it sound (complimentary).
I love pretty much everything
writes, but I loved THIS article in particular. Some words for us all to consider and reflect on: “I think you might be thinking about yourself too much”.
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I am LOVING all the new Julien Baker music at the moment 🤩 taking note of these other amazing recommendations 👀