Sally Hansen Copies Unistella + Real Self-Care

Hey! I’m back from the annual work nightmare (slowly recovering — my skin is currently FUCKED from all the food, booze, and stress) and want to share some quick beauty updates. I’ll be back with real posts soon.

Sally Hansen copies Unistella

Racked reported this week that Sally Hansen released nail stickers that appear to use the copyright work of Korean nail artist Unistella (known most for her glass nails design). The whole thing is shitty, but what locks this up for me is the fact that Sally Hansen contacted Unistella about a possible PAID collaboration, ghosted, and then released the stickers without compensating her.

Giant dose of truth right here:

Let’s not forget, Unistella is a woman of color. A faceless American corporation (Sally Hansen aka Coty) is ripping off her stuff, and they’re betting on the possibility of language barrier and American (read: white) consumers not caring about Sally Hansen’s racism in doing this.

— ⅳ ? the socialist they warned you about (@oriondays) March 29, 2018

Meanwhile, other beauty publications, which can often be counted on to lightly rewrite just about any story of note with minimal credit to the original author and publication, have been strangely silent on this issue despite covering glass nails breathlessly in their heyday. But hey, keep peddling that capitalistic you go girl feminism and collect the Coty (Sally Hansen’s parent company) ad revenue!

Real Self-Care

The most recent episode of the Snailcast focused on self-care, looking deep into the history of the concept and what it truly means in a world that pushes consumerism.

We did a lot of reading to prepare for the discussion (in early January), and the things we talked and read about honestly changed the course of my life. For years, I’ve certainly used shopping and “self-care” to try to make myself feel better without really working towards the things that could make me truly happy like long-term health and financial control.

Beauty purchases still have a place in that! This month, I splurged on a vacuum facial in Manhattan (ehh) and on chrome gel nails in New Orleans (AMAZING — Mia Bella Beauty Lounge is my dream local beauty spot), but I didn’t really go wild in terms of buying new products like I usually would when faced with a ton of work stress. It wasn’t a low-buy or a no-buy, and I don’t really consider anything I bought to function as self-care. What did function as self-care or getting my shit together was making budgeted purchases. I started using software called You Need a Budget (commonly referred to as YNAB) to track expenses and income down to Amazon points; they have a referral system, but I can’t figure it out, so visit the YNAB subreddit if you need a free trial. It’s a bit of a pain, but in less than two months omfg everything has changed wildly for the better (and I still get to buy what I really want, no shaming or judgement).

I’m also thinking about how to turn all the boxes that arrive at my house into something useful. There’s a program called Give Back Box that offers free shipping labels for boxes filled with donated stuff. It sounds like they can’t accept liquids (“Any household items such as clothes, shoes and jewelry are appropriate.. We cannot accept electronics, any liquids, fragile, hazardous or volatile items, or ammunition in the boxes.”) but I’m sure clothes — which don’t tend to go fast as other stuff like rusty saws, no joke, when left by my sidewalk as freebies — would work.

Coming Up

I’m currently writing a post detailing everything I know about how to do extractions at home. It’s a doozy. I’ll also be reviewing some low-pH cleansers I’ve been testing, my ~passion~.

I have a story about an early modern shipwreck coming out in the May/June issue of Archaeology magazine, so pick that up if you’re into underwater finds! It’s a total departure for me lol.