Saturated Brights and Body Butters

the techno-nostalgia is real

Demi Lovato is making a documentary about child stars; Tinder will now let daters add pronouns to their profile; Gen Z disrupted the St. Patrick’s Day drinking tradition — with green borgs; and a guide to the openers of Taylor Swift's “Eras Tour.”

t-swift opener gracie abrams

TIKTOK NOW HAS 150 MILLION ACTIVE USERS IN THE U.S., CEO TO TELL CONGRESS, nbcnews
This marks a 50% (!) jump in active users, suggesting “the app has become even more entrenched in the U.S. over the nearly three years that Washington has grappled with how to rein it in”; the week ahead will certainly be an interesting one, with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifying before Congress on Thursday.

ONCE YOU SPOT GEN Z’S FAVORITE COLORS, YOU’LL SEE THEM EVERYWHERE, fastco
Millennial pastels are soooo 2012. In recent years, Gen Z has adopted a distinct palette that has one foot in techno-nostalgia and another in the aesthetics of the current digital world.

You can see similar shades on Skims’ neon-green swimsuits, Futurewise’s Pepto pink jars, Droplette’s bright lilac micro-mist delivery device, and Starface’s bright yellow brand coloring. It’s there on Lisa Says Gah’s eclectic, avant basic clothes, Ganni’s sherbet-colored dresses, and Parade’s light iridescent gradient Candy Gram silky mesh. Highly saturated brights are everywhere these days, and we have Gen Z to thank for it.

WHAT CAN BEAUTY EXPECT FROM GENERATION ALPHA?, bof
Gen Alpha is engaging with beauty earlier than their siblings and older family members did, and their favorite brands and products are all over the place (Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty; over-scented body butters from Bath & Body Works or The Body Shop in “Merry Cookie” or mango; lip oils; lip masks and their mothers’ Drunk Elephant products).

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE MOVING BACK IN WITH THEIR PARENTS...TO SAVE FOR BIRKINS, vice
The concept that young adults still living with their parents are driving the luxury boom has been thoroughly covered — but the quotes in this story are just too good. Like, for example: “When I tell Hinge dates I’m working towards a Birkin by 30, the reaction goes one of two ways,” says 21-year-old Ellie. “It’s either immediate laughter or an impromptu lecture – especially if it comes up that I still live with my parents.” An Hermès Birkin starts at $9,000 and can sell for $30,000.

HOW GOSSIP HELPED PROPEL MILEY CYRUS TO THE TOP OF THE CHARTS, wsj
For Miley superfans (a.k.a. “Smilers”), the hit single “Flowers” served as a series of clues about Miley’s divorce from Liam Hemsworth — and rampant speculation helped the track debut in the number one spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 in January, where it stayed there for six weeks.

The hype around “Flowers,” has created a trickle-down effect for other works in its orbit. Interest in “The Last Song,” Ms. Cyrus and Mr. Hemsworth’s first movie together from 2010, shot up by 17.32% in the U.S. the week following the single’s release date. The soundtrack for “The Last Song” saw a 9% increase in streams from the week before “Flowers” was released to the week after, according to Luminate Data.

THIS COUNTRY WANTED A 69-HOUR WORKWEEK. MILLENNIALS AND GENERATION Z HAD OTHER IDEAS, CNN
Raising the cap had been seen as a way of addressing the looming labor shortage the country faces due to its dwindling fertility rate and its aging population, but the move was (predictably) widely panned by critics — Gen Zers, especially — who say this will only make matters worse.

One last thought:

Kimberly Nicole Foster @KimberlyNFoster

Girls are removing their facial fillers because young women were overaggressive and didn't know that they require maintenance and that maintenance is unsustainable longterm. There weren't enough popular examples of how quickly you end up looking like a goblin. Now we have them.