One of the world's most successful businesswomen, Sheryl Sandberg, has called for public and corporate policy changes to close the gender pay gap.
Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, whose personal wealth has been estimated at $1.7 billion (£1.3 billion), argued that one such policy should be to ensure an equal number of men and women compete for key job opportunities.
"We need to start paying women well and we need the public and the corporate policy to get there," she said on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. "Certainly, women applying for jobs at the same rate as men, women running for office at the same rate as men, that has got to be part of the answer."
Sandberg chose Beyoncé's feminist anthem "Run the World (Girls)" as her first song on Desert Island Discs. She also argued that society needs to do more to encourage girls and young women to fulfil their potential from a very young age.
"We start telling little girls not to lead at a really young age and we start to tell boys [to] lead at a very young age. That is a mistake," she argued. "I believe everyone has inside them the ability to lead and we should let people choose that not based on their gender but on who they are and who they want to be."
You can now listen to Sheryl Sandberg's Desert Island Discs in full online. We recently rounded up some of our favourite ever episodes from the BBC Radio 4 staple's 75-year history.
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In a column titled, "Sorry ladies - equal pay has to be earned" - yes, really - writer Kevin Myers decided to underline the fact that two of the BBC's highest-paid female stars, Claudia Winkleman and Vanessa Feltz, happen to be Jewish. He then chose to perpetuate an offensive stereotype.
"I note that two of the best-paid women presenters in the BBC - Claudia Winkleman and Vanessa Feltz, with whose, no doubt, sterling work I am tragically unacquainted - are Jewish. Good for them," he wrote. "Jews are not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price, which is the most useful measure there is of inveterate, lost-with-all-hands stupidity."
He also tried to argue that women could get paid less because men "work harder, get sick less frequently, and seldom get pregnant."
Myers' column, which was published in the Irish edition of The Sunday Times and on The Sunday Times' website, has been widely (and rightly) condemned this morning. The Guardian 's Marina Hyde noted that Myers' article was published even though Winkleman is a fellow Sunday Times columnist.
Claudia Winkleman is even a Sunday Times columnist. Perhaps they decided this piece of antisemitism was simply too important to omit
The column has since been removed from The Sunday Times' website. The newspaper's editor Martin Ivens told the BBC: "The comments in a column by Kevin Myers in today's Irish edition of The Sunday Times were unacceptable and should not have been published. It has been taken down and we sincerely apologise both for the remarks and the error of judgement that led to publication."
The BBC reports that Myers has also been criticised in the past for writing a 2009 column for a different newspaper in which he argued that there "was no Holocaust."
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Last year, a survey found that the number of vegans in the UK had more than tripled in a decade. And many other people, whether they call themselves "reducetarian" or not, are trying to eat a little less meat, and a little more fruit and veg.
So, it's awesome to report that a vegan street food festival is coming to London next month. Titled Livin' on the Veg, it's set to take place at the West Handyside Canopy in Kings Cross on the 18th and 19th of August.
Organisers promise that there won't be "a mung bean or buddah bowl in sight." Instead, vendors will all be offering tempting treats including "deep fried buffalo wings, chocolate brownie mud pies, red Thai curry pots, chip butties and Tandoori naans (but not as you know them)."
Tickets begin at £25 per person, but this includes a portion of food from each of the eight vendors setting up stalls at the festival, plus a cocktail upon entry. And if you're still peckish afterwards, you can purchase extra portions from any of the eight stalls.
Kids can attend the festival for free, but this doesn't include any food portions. To find out more and book tickets, visit the Livin' on the Veg website.
Update: Lady Gaga's lawyers responded with a statement of their own following news the singer was being subpoenaed, that was shared with Variety. "As Lady Gaga‘s legal team will present to the court, she has provided all of the relevant information in her possession and is at most an ancillary witness in this process. Dr. Luke’s team is attempting to manipulate the truth and draw press attention to their case by exaggerating Lady Gaga‘s role and falsely accusing her of dodging reasonable requests."
This story was originally published on 29th July 2017.
Lawyers for Lukasz Gottwald, a.k.a. Dr. Luke, have issued a subpoena to Lady Gaga to depose her about evidence in the producer's defamation lawsuit against Kesha, his reps confirmed to Refinery29 on Saturday 29th July.
"In connection with Dr. Luke's defamation claims against Kesha, various third parties are being deposed by both sides, including celebrities," says a statement from the rep. "Dr. Luke's counsel served a subpoena on Lady Gaga because she has relevant information regarding, among other things, false statements about Dr. Luke made to her by Kesha. This motion has become necessary because Dr. Luke's council has not been able to obtain, despite repeated request, a deposition date from Lady Gaga."
Lady Gaga was a vocal supporter of Kesha when she first accused Dr. Luke of sexual assault while trying to sue Sony to let her out of her contract with his label, Kemosabe Records, in February 2016.
"That is the very reason women don't speak up for years is the fear that no one will believe them or their abuser has threatened their life or life of their loved ones/livelihood in order to keep their victim quiet and under control," Gaga wrote on Instagram at the time. "What happened to Kesha has happened to many female artists, including myself, and it will affect her for the rest of her life. No one needs to validate Kesha. Why is victim always the 'liar'? Why do we let people in a position of power get away with behaving inhumanely? These guys hide behind the legal system and it's their litigious behaviour that is precisely what they use to rape these girls. 'Give me what I want or else I will come after you' and they have all the money and the resources to do it."
In January, E! News obtained court documents that showed Kesha had submitted texts she sent to Lady Gaga in April 2016 as sealed evidence in her suit against him in New York. Sony announced in April that Dr. Luke was no longer CEO of Kemosabe Records.
The baffling internet debate about whether no really means no rages on today, for some reason. When inspiring video footage of Rep. Maxine Waters giving Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin a lesson in what not giving consent sounds like started circulating on Twitter this week, Slate correspondent Will Saletan tweeted something he meant to be supportive, we think. He suggested that women should follow Waters' example of decisiveness: "say 'no' firmly and mean it."
Okay, sure — except for the fact that no means no, regardless of whether the man in question interprets your tone of voice as a "firm" one. Saletan's tweet continued to explain that "men sense women's willingness to yield."
It didn't help that Saletan framed his argument (which essentially puts the onus of not only modulating conversations but rape prevention on a woman's tone of voice — and men's interpretation of that tone and whether it "means business") as advice to parents for what to teach their daughters. As opposed to, you know, parents teaching their sons and daughters not to sexually assault people of any gender.
Advice to parents: Teach your daughter to say "No" firmly and mean it. Men sense women's willingness to yield. Make clear you mean business. https://t.co/bp48ziEjYw
The denizens of Twitter, of course, are not having it. Men and women alike have been tweeting rebuttals about what consent, both linguistically and legally, entails. Unfortunately, Saletan stuck to his argument despite its dismantling.
Men don't have some special sense to divine women's true thoughts. You'd have to be convinced of male supremacy to assume such a thing. https://t.co/D7Zwe2ZlOk
Ugh. I taught my girls to say "No" real weakly and to act all yieldy. Then I said, "Never mean business." Guess I did it wrong, Will. https://t.co/IZce3y44zX
And because Twitter irony knows no bounds, Saletan tweeted again to criticise the women who spoke out in response to his argument that women should speak out.
I wrote that girls should be taught to assert themselves, like Maxine Waters. What happened next on Outrage Twitter won't surprise you. https://t.co/3FBNodWJkv
What started out as an attempt (with a misguided angle) to applaud Rep. Waters spiralled into an apparently much-needed conversation about consent (again). Let this be a lesson to us all about when to rescind an argument and apologise — and about the actual definition of consent.
Anything that isn't an enthusiastic "yes" is not consent, period.
Thankfully, legislators across the country have been buckling down on consent laws in recent months, so there will be an added legal reason for parents to teach their kids that no absolutely means no, regardless of how you speak, shout, or whisper it.
Attention Twilight fans, the series' author Stephanie Meyers has news you need to hear. Variety reports that the cable network Starz tapped her to produce a brand-new vampire TV show based on Australian author Daniel O'Malley's book, The Rook.
“We are thrilled to add the talents of Stephen Garrett and Stephenie Meyer to our creative family and forge our partnership with the Lionsgate Television Group and Liberty Global,” Starz CEO and President Chris Albrecht said when he made the announcement at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills. " The Rook is instantly addictive from the very first scene and introduces what we believe will be one of the most fascinating and thrilling female protagonists on television.”
The novel follows a young woman who suffers from amnesia in London. In her attempt to figure out who she is, she learns of her supernatural abilities and role of Britain's supernatural secret service. Hooked already? So are we.
Our first question is, will anyone else from the Twilight team be a part of the exciting project? Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner looked awfully friendly at their latest reunion, so there's no doubt they can pick up where they left off when it comes to their chemistry. Robert Pattinson seemed open to the idea of a spin-off, and though the show will have a female lead, perhaps there's room for him somewhere in the plot. One can dream, right? Then again, from Anna Kendrick to Ashley Greene, the series had a full cast that Meyers can call on for help or a recurring role.
The best part is, chief programming officer Bruce Mann confirmed that the show will launch internationally and in the US at the same time, so Twilight fans around the world will definitely be able to enjoy it.
It's usually pretty awkward when you arrive at a party or fancy event only to realise that you're wearing the exact same outfit as another guest. But when Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen showed up to the premiere of their new film Ingrid Goes West while sporting identical looks, they proved that you can totally make twinning work.
Both actresses walked the red carpet in the same long-sleeved, sequin-embroidered Marc Jacobs mini dress. They each paired the dress with black Sophia Webster shoes that featured sparkly, jewel-encrusted heels. If you're thinking "this sounds a little too coordinated to be a coincidence," you are correct.
Plaza and Olsen's matching outfits were a nod to the film they were promoting. Ingrid Goes West tells the story of a struggling young Pennsylvania woman (Plaza) who heads to Los Angeles with the goal of befriending Taylor Sloane (Olsen), an Instagram "influencer" with a seemingly perfect life.
Shutterstock/REX
Although Ingrid's behaviour becomes creepy and dangerous in the film, Plaza and Olsen were all smiles on the red carpet. In addition to posing for the typical side-by-side red carpet shots, the actresses jokingly fought and covered each other's faces for the cameras.
This isn't the first time actresses have wanted us to see double on the red carpet. Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer reportedly tried to pull a similar stunt at the 2016 Golden Globes when they were nominated in the same category. Sadly, their idea was shot down by Dior and there was no red carpet twinning that year.
It's no easy feat to pull off matching looks, but Plaza and Olsen killed it, and this stylish publicity stunt makes us even more excited to see Ingrid Goes West.
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"When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, and I said, 'Please don’t be too nice,'" Trump said during a speech to New York cops on Friday. "Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over, like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody. Don’t hit their head, I said, ‘You can take the hand away, OK?'"
Police chiefs and leaders are already facing criticism and distrust due to the multiple shootings of unarmed civilians, specifically black men and women. Many made a swift effort to distance themselves from Trump's inflammatory rhetoric.
"It’s the wrong message," Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, told Washington radio station WTOP. "The last thing we need is a green light from the President of the United States for officers to use unnecessary force."
AP/Shutterstock/REX
Following Trump's speech, the International Association of Chiefs of Police published a blog post that detailed its use-of-force policies and training. The post emphasised that officers are trained to treat all individuals "with dignity and respect."
Police chiefs, leaders, and officers across the country took the social media to state that Trump's comments aren't a reflection of their own views.
The @POTUS made remarks today that endorsed and condoned police brutality.
GPD rejects these remarks and continues to serve with respect.
Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole told ThePatch.com that moving forward and rebuilding trust between police and the community is crucial.
"Seattle’s police officers have embraced reform and have worked incredibly hard to build community trust. We do not intend to go backwards," O'Toole stated. "It is truly unfortunate that in today’s toxic environment, politicians at both ends of the spectrum have sought to inflame passions by politicising what we do. We remain committed to our principles and reject irresponsible statements that threaten to undermine our relationship with the community."
New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill told CNN that to "suggest that police officers apply any standard in the use of force other than what is reasonable and necessary is irresponsible, unprofessional and sends the wrong message to law enforcement as well as the public."
Meanwhile, the group Blue Lives Matter was quick to jump to Trump's defense by describing his comments as "a joke."
Trump didn't tell police to go out & brutalize people as the media would have you believe. It was a joke. 🙄https://t.co/yBq6PGY0pa
When I had a miscarriage last month, there was a lot to be scared and sad about.
I had spent two years trying to conceive. Two years of confusion and false starts, of tests, of acupuncture and herbs, of brave smiles, and tears, and trying to talk myself out of my deepest desires. I had turned to IVF. I felt like a warrior woman shooting myself up with hormones each day for months: 74 shots, two big Sharps containers full. Proud of my own strength.
And I got pregnant on my birthday! Everyone told me that was lucky, and I wanted to believe it was. I felt good, the baby was growing; we saw the heartbeat and cried with joy three separate times. At the last visit, I even saw the baby moving around on the screen (a dancer, the ultrasound tech joked). Finally, a sense of excitement, possibility, and love was growing, too.
Then, on June 12th — my 12th pregnant Monday — I stood up to leave a meeting and felt a rush of blood. By the time I got to the bathroom, my pants were soaked and I was in a full panic. My doctor told me I had to go to the ER. At midnight, I learned that my baby’s heart was no longer beating, and I had a choice: medication or an abortion procedure to remove the remains of my child. I didn’t want to make a choice in that moment, didn’t want to say goodbye. But I had to.
This experience was incredibly traumatic for me — both physically and emotionally — but I kept thinking how lucky I was to be able to receive care without fearing for the bill that would come. To have loved ones around me. To have health insurance.
A month later, as I'm coming out of the darkness and beginning to envision how my life will continue to unfurl ahead of me, the hospital bill arrived.
Photo courtesy of Piera Gelardi.
The grand total: $40,374.06 [£30,777]. That’s how much it cost me to rush to the hospital — in a taxi, not an ambulance — bleeding profusely just shy of my second trimester, and stay there for 20 hours total.
While at the emergency room, I had an ultrasound to confirm this was what they not-at-all euphemistically refer to as “fetal demise.” I had one dose of misoprostol and then another, in an attempt to expel the remains from my body. When neither did the trick, and I was still bleeding, my doctor and I opted to move forward with a D&C. The procedure took 30 minutes.
Up to 25% of pregnancies are said to end in miscarriage; of those, as many as 50% may require a D&C. While not all of these take place in the emergency room, roughly 500,000 women a year find themselves in the ER with bleeding related to pregnancy loss. In other words, while it felt shocking and devastating to me, my experience was not all that unique. This $40K bill is the result of some pretty routine stuff.
It felt important, almost like a sign, that my hospital bill arrived on the same night that Senate was voting on whether or not to unravel the healthcare system as we know it. Because at the bottom of my bill, which you’ll see in the photo, is the balance that I owe: $150. The procedures I underwent while losing my pregnancy rang up to over $40,000, and thanks to my insurance, I will pay $150, which, by the way, isn’t nothing.
For the majority of Americans, with a median salary around $55,000 a year [£42,000], this type of health care could bankrupt a family without insurance — and it can be tough to afford even with it.
The Senate has begun to debate repealing and replacing Obamacare, but Tuesday night voted down the broad repeal (the one that would’ve left some 22 million Americans without insurance). Next, the so-called "Skinny Repeal" was struck down. This may feel like a victory for now, but Republican lawmakers have shown themselves to be committed to undoing the Affordable Care Act, and we can't be sure what's coming next. And the harsher truth is, even with insurance, certain aspects of women’s health are excruciatingly expensive. Many abortion procedures that are “elective” — meaning you chose it, even if you made that choice after receiving a grave medical diagnosis — aren’t covered by insurance at all.
That’s why I’m telling my story now, and I hope you will, too.
I believe that sharing our stories can create change. That we can turn our pain into purpose. With more stories like this, we can continue to draw attention to this important issue — to help lawmakers see the real impact of their choices.
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Today Refinery29 UK is proud to launch Shatterbox Anthology, an original series of 12 short films created by women directors and writers. And there's one thing you need to know about it: we're not here to make you comfortable — we're here to tell the true stories of power and loss from our own point of view.
There has never been such a need to get more women behind the camera. In 2016, just 7% of the 250 top-grossing films in the US were directed by women. The report, conducted by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, also disclosed that 35% of films employed no women in key roles behind the camera, including writers, producers, cinematographers and editors.
And the situation is no better in the UK. A report commissioned by Directors UK last year found that between 2005 and 2014, just 13.6% of British films were directed by women and only 14.6% of those had a female screenwriter.
So R29 has joined forces with both new and veteran filmmakers to bring you creative storytelling that tackles gender, sexuality and power, all under the umbrella of the female experience in this world.
We’ll be kicking things off this Wednesday 2nd August with The Good Time Girls, directed by Courtney Hoffman and executive produced by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Laura Dern ( Big Little Lies) and Alia Shawkat ( Search Party), it is a rip-roaring female-driven Western short.
Kristen Stewart behind the scenes, filming Come Swim.
Over the next few weeks we’ll also be sharing with you Kristen Stewart’s 18-minute directorial debut, Come Swim, which was shown at Cannes earlier this year. Precious star Gabourey Sidibe’s The Tale Of Four, a multilayered story that spans one day in the life of four different women who are connected through their quest for love, agency and redemption, will follow. Then there’s Chloe Sevigny’s Kitty, which has already captivated the Sundance Film Festival. Look out, too, for Anu Valia’s Lucia, Before And After, which explores the limitations to abortion access still faced by women living in Texas.
We'll also be showing some incredible documentary shorts, including Pamela Romanowsky’s identity-exploring Watching You, Watching Me and Jessica Dimmock’s The Convention, which follows attendees of the Esprit conference, an annual week-long gathering of transgender women in their 50s, 60s and 70s.
Only by putting women in front of the camera, behind the camera, on set, and in the writer's position will we see truly realised depictions of women on film. We're not here to show you a pretty picture of our lives. We're here to show you something real.
The Good Time Girls debuts on Refinery29 UK at 5pm BST on Wednesday 2nd August. Come back tomorrow for a first look at its trailer.
Watch the video below to hear more from the female visionaries changing the film industry from the inside.
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Nevertheless, our collective search for a higher plane continues, and with treatments like cryotherapy (freezing yourself) and eating plans like the Ketogenic diet growing in popularity, it's clear we're willing to invest in just about anything that claims to make us look and feel better. And if we get a good Instagram picture out of it along the way then, hey, that's just an added bonus.
Here are some of the more bizarre things people are trying in their search to achieve "peak wellness".
Forest Bathing
In Japan, forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) has been around for years. In fact, according to The Atlantic, it's actually been part of their national health programme since 1982.
According to shinrin-yoku.org, the concept is as follows: "If a person simply visits a natural area and walks in a relaxed way there are calming, rejuvenating and restorative benefits to be achieved."
TBF, there are a lot of scientific studies to back up forest bathing. A review of these studies in 2010 found that yes, indeed, forest bathing appears to lower pulse rate and blood pressure, and helps to relax you.
The concept of forest bathing isn't silly. Clearly, getting back to nature is a good thing. Our lives are hectic; we work in confined spaces where the air is poorly recycled; in cities, air pollution is rife; ditto for light pollution.
What is silly, though, is that we've had to put a label on something that should be natural. Spending time in the beauty of nature shouldn't be a "therapy" we undertake to offset the chaos of the rest of our lives but sadly that seems to be the kind of world we've created. What are we like?
Photo: Shutterstock
Vaginal Steaming
Obviously Goop was going to pop up on this list at some point. Vaginal steaming shot to popularity back in 2015 when your main guru of mad wellness concepts, Gwyneth Paltrow's website recommended a Mugworth V-Steam at a spa in Malibu called Tikkun with the tagline "Heal yourself, heal the world" (really).
The V-Steam consists of a "combination of infrared and mugwort steam [that] cleanses your uterus, et al. It is an energetic release – not just a steam douche – that balances female hormone levels."
Doctors say, however, that steaming your vagina is not a good idea. In fact, it could be a very bad idea. Dr. Ann Robinson told The Guardian that the treatment "cannot possibly impact on hormone levels". She also said that "water can wash away natural oils, leaving the vagina poorly lubricated and more prone to cuts and irritation. Thrush, caused by an overgrowth of candida, thrives on warm, damp conditions, so is a definite risk from steaming".
However, self-confessed "holistic beauty junkie" Geri Hirsch told Well + Good that a V-Steam actually "stimulates that area and warms you up". So maybe that's what the Goop girls were loving?
Tikkun no longer offers the treatment.
Photo: Eylul Aslan
Crying Seminars
We used to do this organically. Wait until two days before your period, turn your phone off, switch on something godawful like The Notebook and drink red wine until you cry and cry and cry and cry. It was marvellously self-indulgent.
In Japan, though, crying is a big ask. Takashi Suga, a 'tear sommelier', says that "crying doesn't have a good image in Japan" and "people believe you shouldn't cry in front of people, that it's weak".
And so he's taken it upon himself to match his clients to things that make them cry, in the same way a wine sommelier would match wines to foods. Songs (Whitney Houston, apparently), books and films all come together to create an environment for people to sob in. An action which, according to Takashi, lifts people's burdens and allows them to feel better in the long run than if they just had a good laugh.
The Womb Room
Anyone who's watched the Lily Collins-starring controversial new Netflix film To The Bone will have felt more than a little uncomfortable during the (spoiler but I don't care) scene where a mother feeds her 20-year-old daughter with a bottle. At a certain point, kids, it's OK for that bond to be broken.
A "womb room" goes one step further, though. What's more comforting than the idea of hanging out in your mother's womb? Well, hopefully, once you reach a certain age, most things.
This didn't stop Corallium Spa in Gran Canaria from creating a red room designed to "re-create the journey of life starting with where it all began: the womb".
The room came complete with red water beds designed to mimic the amniotic sac (really), and a pink entranceway designed to pay homage to the opening of the uterus; even better, the room revolved slowly in a way that somehow represented the umbilical cord.
There are still pictures of the womb room on Corallium's website although, sadly, no mention of it as a treatment.
Photo: Ashley Armitage
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Brandon Truaxe is not your average beauty brand founder. In fact, that’s an understatement on the level of saying that RuPaul kind of likes sequins. In an age where most brands are fronted by a glassy-eyed, flaxen-haired former model who speaks breathlessly and evocatively about how she found her ‘glow’, Truaxe is something of a sore thumb. He’s a man, for starters, and has the excited, bubbling energy of someone who’s just discovered cold fusion. Wiry, animated and usually wearing all black, he speaks at a pace that would make Lorelai Gilmore reel, gesticulating frequently and veering off on tangents. "The thing I’m most excited about," he says gleefully of a recent investment from Estée Lauder Companies, "is that with the cash injection and access to some of their suppliers, we’re going to be able to bring some of our prices down". He’s a PR nightmare. He’s the kind of sore thumb I like.
Deciem, the company that Truaxe formed in 2013, had tentative beginnings. After becoming disillusioned with the industry and its jaw-dropping markups, Truaxe developed Indeed Labs (you might know their Hydraluron range). Upon exiting, he was slapped with a non-compete, which prevented him creating facial anti-ageing skincare for three years. What’s an impatient overachiever to do? Ignore all advice about not doing ‘10 things at once’, name your brand after the Latin word for ‘10 in a row’ and do literally that – start 10 brands overnight. Hand Chemistry, the initial frontrunner, offered a hand cream so popular Boots couldn’t keep it in stock. Its transformative power was reportedly so pronounced that women took to using it on their faces (that's one way to circumvent that pesky non-compete clause). Fast-forward four years and Truaxe is still doing the very same thing: disrupting. When I meet him at the launch of Deciem's second UK store, he speaks with abject horror about a big beauty brand that has recently decided to move into the Chinese market, and thus be legally required to test on animals. "Here’s the thing – I could never do that. I would feel sick knowing there’s animals having my products squirted into their eyes. As brands, we have the power to not play ball and refuse, and change will come."
With 12 stores (and counting) worldwide, Deciem has a raft of brands to keep shelves stocked. There’s NIOD, the super-high-tech skincare line that has, by Truaxe’s own admission, "a very narrow audience". There’s no Magic Radiant Butter Beautifying Essence here; products have names like Multi Molecular Hyaluronic Complex and Superoxide Dismustase Saccharide Mist. Confused? The packaging doesn’t offer much more help – one blurb reads: "If used with CAIS, apply CAIS after cleansing, followed by MMHC". It’s a brand with zero hand-holding, by a skincare nerd for skincare nerds, and Truaxe is well aware that lots of consumers won’t bother to understand it. Then there’s Fountain, a range of drinkable supplements, and Hair Is Fabric, the specialist haircare line (not to be confused with Stemm, their other haircare line focussed around a healthy scalp). There’s Hylamide, the mid-range skincare line offering skin-blurring primers to rival FaceTune, and the most recent – and arguably most disruptive – The Ordinary.
The Ordinary’s tagline is "Clinical formulations with integrity" – integrity being something Truaxe considers distinctly lacking in the beauty industry. "Commonplace technologies are referred to as groundbreaking, and insensible pricing strategies confuse the audience," he explains. Truaxe believes that brands purposely mislead customers into thinking they’ve got some super-shiny new ingredients or technology and whack an extra digit on the price tag, when in reality, their ‘discovery’ has been de rigueur for years. The Ordinary exists to cut through that – and with the most expensive product in the range costing just £14.90, they’re delivering. Where NIOD is complex and sprawling, The Ordinary is straightforward and edited. Their retinol costs £5.80, their spot treatment is £3.90, a Vitamin C starts at £4.90. But the range couldn’t exist in a vacuum – it’s only because Deciem has the factories and suppliers and technology in place for their other brands that they can afford to keep their margins, and therefore prices, so small. "It’s a shame," Truaxe muses about a forthcoming product, "I really wanted to get the price under £20, and we tried for such a long time, but the raw ingredients are so expensive we can’t launch it under The Ordinary. It’s going into Hylamide, instead".
By 2017, Deciem was becoming a victim of its own success. When The Ordinary launched their £5.90 foundations, the waiting list was 70,000 strong. Instagram posts were littered with comments from disgruntled customers waiting weeks for delivery, and Deciem had to post several apologies and updates on the state of play to try and placate fans. I know from trying to order from their website that things were often long-term out of stock or took frustratingly long to arrive. Accelerating globally at a pace of knots, it was clear that demand had outgrown what Deciem could comfortably supply. Truaxe began looking to outside investors, and surprised the entire industry when he accepted a cash injection from Estée Lauder Companies (ELC). "People keep saying, why didn’t you go with private equity? Listen, if I’d done that, it would be a disaster. Those guys want their money back in three to five years, and I don’t want to sell Deciem. Plus, it’s dirty money. It’s money that comes from buying and selling other brands that test on animals. ELC approached with respect, with patience, and with a promise not to make us stop being cruelty-free, not to inflate our prices, and with less than 30% of the shares. ELC treated us like family, and if you look at other brands they’ve acquired, like Aveda, they’ve never tampered with the brand DNA, and they’ve always encouraged the founders to stay on," Truaxe explains. While the volte face might be bewildering to die-hard fans (of which there are plenty), there was simply no way for Deciem to survive, let alone expand, without help to match their customer demand.
One thing’s for sure – ELC certainly don’t stand a chance if they want to put a lid on Truaxe. During our meeting, he tells me excitedly about a planned "social media rampage": he sent three big-name sunscreens to be tested by an independent lab and found that they provided shockingly less SPF than they claimed, and is incensed by the smoke and mirrors of it all. He also has a dizzying number of new products and even ranges to launch by the end of the year – a lip care range called ESHO, designed in partnership with renowned cosmetic doctor Tijion Esho, for those who’ve had or are considering lip fillers, as well as a first foray into sun care. Fanatical about results, passionate about science and obsessed with transparency, Truaxe and Deciem are shaking up the somewhat stagnant skincare industry. He’s done to skincare what Charlotte Tilbury did to makeup – launch something independently with such impact that it forces the heavy-hitters to confront their shortcomings. Long may the shockwaves continue.
Requiring at-home blending and with a vivid Smurf blue colour, this isn’t your grandmother’s face serum. However, the copper peptides are brilliant at keeping breakouts at bay (it’s antibacterial), as well as tackling all the visible signs of ageing. Since I started using it six months ago, I’ve had strangers ask me how I get my skin so clear and bright.
One for the gym bag. Unlike a lot of face mists, this actually adds visible hydration to the skin and makes it soft and supple. It’s great before makeup or after a post-gym shower. It supports water density in the skin, so the hydrating effect isn’t just superficial – it’s making your complexion juicier and fresher, from the inside out.
This £12.70 serum offers anti-ageing benefits that rival a lot of products with four or five times the price tag. Packed full of peptides and probiotics, it makes you look like you sleep eight hours every night, and never even look at a glass of wine or a shot of tequila. Smoother, firmer skin – and change from a £20 note.
If you like the oh-so-satisfying tingle of a good clay mask, you’ll love this. The colour of a strong cup of chai, this purifying and decongesting masque really packs a punch. Truaxe believes that lots of clay masks only offer a superficial cleansing effect, whereas with a mix of copper-rich clay, bio-soluble technology to break down oil and an acid that exfoliates without stripping the skin, this masque keeps working even once it’s washed off.
Dubbed ‘skincare for hands’, Deciem’s debut product is still going strong. Even if you’re not particularly concerned about dark spots or slack skin on your hands, there’s no denying that this is the most supremely hydrating yet curiously non-greasy hand cream I’ve ever tried. Boasting visible results in just 11 days, it’s no wonder it was an immediate sell-out when it hit Boots in 2013. To try it is to be converted.
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Colour-blocking took centre stage at both SS17 and Resort '18, with bolder and brighter shades never looking more appealing. Of course, whenever the sun shines, even the most dedicated Lydia Deetz is coerced into donning pops of cobalt and tangerine, but this year feels different.
Colours came out across the spectrum, from pastels to primaries, with the key lesson being: one colour head-to-toe, or clashing colour-blocking. At SS17, Versace mixed '80s greens with vibrant violets, while at Sportmax, fuchsia played out across dresses and shoes. Narciso Rodriguez made an unlikely pairing of sunset orange and black, and Salvatore Ferragamo proved that all-over sapphire is perfectly fitting for sportswear.
At Resort '18, Pringle of Scotland paid homage to your primary school paintbox, with red, yellow and blue flute-sleeved dresses, while David Koma made us reconsider Play-Doh green. Versus Versace produced an acid yellow looks-like-a-two-piece-but-really-it's-one dress, and Edun paired the most summery of shades, lemon and carrot.
While it's simple enough finding pieces to mix and match for a Joseph and His Technicolour Dream Coat -inspired get-up, we're going the extra mile and matching our shoes, too. This season's footwear is a candy-store collection of textures and colours, ranging from jewel-toned velvet to sunshine yellow patent. Click through to see our favourite statement-making bright shoes: be bold and embrace the rainbow.
Uterqüe Red Leather Slingback Shoes, £95, available at Uterqüe
Marques'Almeida Crocodile-Effect Leather Platform Sandals, £550, available at Matches Fashion
Summer can take its toll on our skin and our spirit after one too many festivals, boozy BBQs or sun-drenched and action-packed holidays. Yes, we're thankful for the good times and the golden memories but we're less appreciative of the damage done to our bodies.
If you're now in need of a little rest, recovery and relaxation while summer winds down and before we brace ourselves for the bleak British winter, we've done the rounds of the leading spas and treatments in London (what a chore that was) to recommend the best places to recuperate after the sunny season.
Kick back and relax in one of the palatial spas ahead...
The May Fair Hotel Spa
Nestled in the heart of Mayfair, just across from Green Park, is the legendary May Fair Hotel, and within it, a luxury spa offering a plethora of treatments to help you reconnect and unwind. From Andrea Hurst's reflexology treatments, to microdermabrasion and LED light therapy facials, there's everything you could want, whether you're staying at the hotel or coming just for the spa.
The Swedish Massage is a favourite of ours, personalised by your therapist to target problem areas of tension and stress. Using the scent of aromatherapy oils, tranquil music and flickering candles, you'll be so relaxed you won't want to leave - always a good sign in our opinion.
After a summer of sandals, pool slides and slippers, chances are your feet are looking a little worse for wear. Banish Hobbit-y hoofs with a trip to Margaret Dabbs and her team of trained podiatrists on the Lower Ground Floor at Liberty.
There's a long list of treatments available including Margaret Dabbs' renowned medical pedicures with O2 therapy, as well as polishing and shaping manicures and pedicures. Chipped polish, callouses and corns be gone!
Before we talk about the spa, we have to mention the Winter Garden at the Landmark London. In the middle of this central London hotel is a gigantic glass-roofed atrium with sky-scraping palm trees that gives the whole building a tropical twist. If you're into interiors, you'll love this.
The spa itself is located in the basement of the five-star red-brick hotel and has partnered with skin care brand Germaine de Capuccini, to launch an exclusive range of luxury Efficy face therapies and body treatments, including an intensive wrinkle and lift facial, contouring, complete revitalisation, clarifying anti-pigmentation and intensive correction for acne or rosacea.
If you're after a really shiny overhaul and supermodel glow, the Diamond Noir which uses stones, crystals and minerals rich in iron and zinc has your name all over it. The treatment restores the skin’s youthfulness, increases luminosity and combats the signs of ageing.
Make sure you also try out the gym, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi too.
Described by the Elemis experts as "the perfect place for people who are serious about looking after their skin" this Mayfair townhouse spa is a haven for anyone on the quest to find the finest facial.
Each treatment is specifically tailored to your individual needs, using powerful massage and the most potent ingredients. From pro-collagen to anti-blemish facials and precise peels, there's something for all of your skin concerns. Make sure you shotgun the penthouse treatment room for the most luxury experience possible. And for the time poor, there's the Speed Spa which delivers a condensed and curated session of Elemis expertise.
You've seen the pics all over Instagram of Babington House and Soho Farmhouse but for a much less pretentious and much more accessible spa experience (brought to you by the same umbrella group, sure) head to Cowshed in Shoreditch.
This Cowshed spa is the place to go to for party prep and subsequent recovery treatments. They can sort out everything from hair, hands, feet, facials and hair removal to bridal packages. Put your feet up while watching Sex & The City with a glass of Champers. Bliss.
If you're looking for the ultimate luxury, you can't really beat the Bulgari spa. The award-winning urban retreat is 21,500 square feet and features the largest swimming pool in the capital as well as a vitality pool, 11 treatment rooms, a relaxation room and a high-tech gym.
There's a private Onyx SpaSuite with two treatment beds, a dressing room with private bath, steam shower, private relaxation room plus a hydro massage tub if you're feeling fruity.
There's also a Trend Room where you can try the latest treatments, with rotating specialists to create unique experiences.
If you're not interested in lying down for 90 minutes, listening to whale sounds while someone pummels and blasts your face then the Light Salon is right up your street.
This affordable walk-in treatment in the new ground floor beauty hall at Harvey Nichols lasts just 11 minutes and will make your skin look good as new, using near-infrared and blue light. The revolutionary technology reinvigorates and repairs the skin’s cells while encouraging the body’s own production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid.
If you’re dreaming of a trip to a far-flung destination but can't get the time off work let alone afford the flight, then Ushvani is the next best thing. Inspired by Asian practices, Ushvani’s massages, scrubs and wraps fuse Balinese, Malay, Thai and Shiatsu massage and reflexology.
Try out the Asmara suite for two people, where you'll have your own private room, complete with double massage tables, a giant bath, shower and day bed, and enjoy three hours of extravagant pampering.
Perhaps the most ironic thing about Netflix’s most recent film, The Incredible Jessica James, is how un-incredible it actually is. The film tells the story of a young woman in her mid-20s, played by Jessica Williams, living in New York and Trying To Figure It All Out. She’s recently been dumped, she’s in the midst of a series of job rejections, she eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. It’s a story that we’ve all seen a thousand times before, thanks to directors such as Lena Dunham, Noah Baumbach and Desiree Akhavan. But what does make this film incredible is that this tale of a mid-20s crisis is centred around a black woman.
Black women in film are rarely given the opportunity to be messy. While this is being changed on TV thanks to shows like Chewing Gum, Insecure and Brown Girls, and the raucous recent release Girls Trip is a long-overdue step in the right direction, black women in film are generally either pillars of strength and “sassiness” or victims of oppression – we’re setting fire to our husbands' clothes and carefully manipulating our love lives à la Angela Bassett in Waiting to Exhale and Vivica A. Fox in Two Can Play That Game, or we’re having to fight all our lives like Whoopi and Oprah in The Colour Purple.
That’s not to discredit the works of directors like Ava DuVernay, Dee Rees and Julie Dash, who have created beautiful depictions of black women living authentic lives, but as a woman in her mid-20s whose life is far from figured out, I’ve always found solace in films such as Appropriate Behaviour and Frances Ha (and even Dunham’s Girls to an extent), while feeling that these women were never quite… well, me.
The Incredible Jessica James more than fills this void – with Daily Show alum Jessica Williams’ performance sure to join others like Greta Gerwig’s Frances and Desiree Akhavan’s Shirin as women who know what they want but don’t quite know how to get there. Just like both these characters, she seeks a career in the arts while dealing with rejection, not just from various companies who don’t want to stage her plays (in a nice touch, director Jim Strouse has Jessica methodically stick each rejection letter on her wall) but from her ex-boyfriend Damon. Along the way, she finds a potential new flame in Chris O’Dowd’s Boone and manages to remind herself of the fact that she is “a coco queen”.
Aside from Appropriate Behaviour, which deliberately focuses on the way in which Shirin’s Iranian heritage conflicts with her being bisexual, the mid-20s genre film is one where race and class are erased, save for a token extra, like Akhavan’s cameo in Girls, or Megalyn Echikunwoke’s role in Damsels in Distress. Here, we’re given a protagonist who just so happens to be black. The Incredible Jessica James isn’t a black film, despite featuring a black protagonist as well as several black supporting characters, like the always excellent Lakeith Stanfield as Damon. It really could be about everyone.
It is easy to forget how crucial representation is in every area of cinema. While I cheered just as hard as everyone else did when Viola Davis won an Oscar for her tremendous work in Fences, and I enjoyed watching all of the films I’ve mentioned here, it truly meant a lot to me to see a black woman in film who is flawed but trying her best. She’s not a symbol of flawlessness for viewers to strive to be – she is us. “You’re kind of annoying”, the mother of one of Jessica’s students tells her. “I know…” she says, without missing a beat. She’s not apologetic about this fact.
By not tying Jess entirely to her race – but not ignoring it either – director Strouse allows Jessica to be a fully rounded character. While she mourns her relationship, she’s not entirely defined by it, and while she’s frustrated by not achieving her true dream of becoming a playwright, she’s not bitter and she still works by teaching acting classes to children. She is not a woman who is defined by the men she sleeps with or the job that she does. “I’m really complicated”, she tells Boone after giving him a collection of plays to read. And what a delight it is to get to watch a complicated black woman try and work it all out on screen. If Jessica James is the face of a new kind of film about millennial women in crisis, then the future looks to be incredible.
The Incredible Jessica James is currently streaming on Netflix.
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There has been a shortage of mental health services in the UK for as long as many of us have followed the news. We've all heard the horror stories of long waiting lists for treatment and patients being sent hundreds of miles away for crucial care. Stories like these persist despite countless calls from politicians for mental health to be treated on a par with physical health.
Today, the government announced a plan to redress this "historic imbalance", with health secretary Jeremy Hunt pledging to recruit more mental health workers to work for the NHS in England, the BBC reported.
Hunt said enough nurses, therapists and consultants will be employed to treat an additional one million patients by 2020-21 (around 21,000 new posts), with much of the focus going towards (notoriously underfunded) child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), which will get 2,000 more nurses. There will also be 2,900 extra therapists providing talking therapies for adults, such as CBT, and 4,800 additional nurses working in crisis care.
Greater mental health support will also be available for women around the time they give birth; more staff will be available to treat people at risk of psychosis; and mental health staff will reportedly receive better training to address the high dropout rate among trainee professionals.
This all sounds like great news and the plans have indeed been welcomed by many mental health charities. However many critics, including professionals in the sector, have already highlighted a number of problems with the plans. For one, there won't be any new money to cover the costs – the scheme will be funded by the extra £1bn already announced for mental health services.
Janet Davies, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said the timeframe "[appears] not to add up", because the nurses would need to begin training next month to be ready in time, and that "hard cash" would be needed to deliver any plans.
Others have also pointed out that there are already thousands of unfilled nursing posts, as recent data highlighted, with about a fifth of job vacancies unfilled in parts of London. Staggeringly, by November last year there were 15% fewer NHS mental health nurses in England – a drop of about a sixth (6,610 nurses) – than there were in 2012 when the Tories came to power.
Paul Farmer, the chief executive of mental health charity Mind, welcomed the proposals but warned that "a damaging lack of foresight in workforce planning" is what got mental health services into this mess in the first place, the Guardian reported.
He said: “Cuts to mental health services in recent years have led directly to posts being axed and have taken their toll on morale, which has led to valued staff leaving mental health in frustration or burn-out. The scale of the challenge is clear, so we welcome the measures announced in this plan to attract people back to mental health and keep hold of them."
So while the government's proposal is a functional step and sends a positive message, it must arguably be welcomed with caution.
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There's been so much uncertainty – and so many conflicting reports – since Article 50 was triggered that you'd be forgiven for having tuned out of Brexit news completely. But today we did get one solid piece of information that's worth knowing about: when EU citizens will lose their right to freely move to the UK.
Last week, there was confusion and rumours of infighting between members of the government over the issue, but Theresa May's spokesperson has waded in and clarified things once and for all.
Free movement of EU citizens to Britain will come to an end in March 2019, aka 24 months after the prime minister triggered article 50 and the date by which the country will have officially left the EU, the BBC reported.
Chancellor Phillip Hammond suggested on Friday that it would take longer (or "some time") before full migration controls between the UK and the European Union were introduced, leading some to assume immigration from the EU could continue in the same way after Brexit.
But the prime minister's spokesperson today set the record straight, saying free movement will indeed end when the UK leaves the EU. "It would be wrong to suggest it... will continue as it is now," they said.
In practice, this means that citizens from the other 27 EU member states will lose their automatic right to be able to work and live in the UK, which the government claims will allow the UK to better control who comes into the country.
While some, including Hammond, had suggested a "transitional period" of up to three years was needed to prevent disruption to consumers and businesses which rely on EU workers, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox shut the possibility down, saying it wouldn't be in keeping with the EU referendum result to maintain the status quo, reported the BBC.
"It would be wrong to speculate on what these [post-Brexit immigration controls] might look like or to suggest that freedom of movement will continue," said Theresa May's spokesperson.
"Free movement will end in March 2019. We've published proposals on citizen's rights. Last week the home secretary set out a registration system for EU nationals arriving post March 2019." As per plans outlined last week, from March 2019 EU citizens arriving to the UK will be made to go through a “registration and documentation” process.
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She's so good, in fact, that she was just named the Global Makeup Ambassador for Yves Saint Laurent beauty.
On Monday, YSL issued a press release celebrating the exciting announcement: "Zoë will kick-start her new international role with the first of several groundbreaking campaigns — Tatouage Couture," the release reads. "She is the perfect fit for YSL's own inventive, defiant, and stylish heritage."
Kravitz also commented on her new position with the massive company, saying that "YSL Beauty has always been one of my favourite brands."
"Their ability to combine the chicest of styles with a raw edge has always been to me one of the best ways to express yourself through fashion and beauty," she continued. "Nothing is forced, nothing is fake, but everything is bold, strong, and unafraid. I'm very excited to work with this legendary and timeless company."
The Big Little Lies star isn't totally new to YSL. In March, Kravitz became one of the brand's ambassadors, telling Refinery29 that she appreciated that the company allowed her to embrace her individuality.
"[Makeup] shouldn't be something you use to cover up," she said. "And I feel like YSL Beauty isn't asking me to cover myself up or be something I'm not. Makeup should highlight your individuality."
In the same interview, Kravitz walked us through her many beauty phases, from her preppier days to an edgier, punk-inspired look.
YSL's big announcement comes just days after Kravitz announced her collaboration with Tiffany & Co through an Instagram post.
Thanks to a glorious concoction of changing social expectations, increased workplace opportunities, improved fertility technology and more, women are increasingly waiting until later in their lives to have children. In fact, the average age at which a woman in the UK now has her first child is nearing 30.
The benefits of this are many – not least that it allows women to be in a stable enough economic position to care for another human being – but fertility experts (egged on by the likes of the Daily Mail et al) nevertheless enjoy reminding us that waiting until our 30s to try to conceive can greatly reduce our chances.
However, there could be another – more surprising – benefit of delaying motherhood that's worth thinking about the next time you find yourself stressing out about your own fertility. Women who have babies in their 30s can end up living longer, according to a new study published in the Journal of Public Health this week.
Researchers from the University of Coimbra in Portugal collected and analysed birth and life expectancy data from countries across Europe, including the UK, the Mail On Sunday reported. By comparing the life expectancies of mothers at age 65 and the age at which they had children, they found that women who had babies later in life were likely to live longer than those who conceived in their teens and 20s.
"As the age of pregnancy increases, so does the life expectancy of the women at 65. In other words, the older the women are at birth, the longer they live," the researchers wrote. "Women who give birth later tend to live longer, and the genes that allow for late pregnancy benefit female life span."
Unfortunately, the study didn't give reasons as to why women who conceive in later life may live longer, and it could be another classic case of ‘correlation does not imply causation’. Fertility expert Lord Winston told the Mail On Sunday that it could simply be because women who have babies later are more likely to be well-off, educated and lead healthier lives already.
He added: "They could find it easier to conceive later in life because of social circumstances, and it is well-known that people who have a higher level of education are usually in a higher income bracket and have greater longevity because they can afford to lead healthier lifestyles."
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Nothing gets the beauty world excited quite like the launch of a new eyeshadow palette. Following the sell-out success of 2016's Modern Renaissance palette, Anastasia Beverly Hills is back with a new product. Launching in the UK this week, it's already caused quite a stir on social media since it was first teased earlier this month. Taking to Instagram for the big reveal, founder Anastasia Soare wrote: "Subculture is the second palette in the ABH collection created with our insta family in mind. @norvina and I hope you love it, just as much as you love Modern Renaissance."
With 14 hyper-pigmented, earthy shades that range from grungy mattes to bold metallic, Subculture is the cooler, younger sister to Modern Renaissance, which features warmer, berry tones. Perfect for hazy summer nights and autumnal looks, Subculture includes ‘Electric’, a duo chrome lime-gold, ‘New Wave’, an ultra-matte citron orange, ‘Untamed’, an ultra-matte tarnished green, ‘Rowdy’, an ultra-matte blackened purple, ‘Adorn’, a metallic bronze, and ‘Cube’, a duo chrome pink pearl.
In the US, when the Subculture palette was released last week it broke Anastasia Beverly Hills' internal record for the highest sales of a new item as well as crashing the site, so brace yourself for an online stampede when the palette drops in the UK at Cult Beauty on 2nd August. And for those who aren't able to get their hands on it right away, fear not, as this palette will be part of the permanent collection. Form an orderly queue.
The Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture palette, £41, will be available at Cult Beauty from 2nd August.
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