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2020 Vision: With New Drops From Fenty and Taraji P. Henson, Celebrity Beauty Keeps Evolving
Celebrity branding has come a long way in recent years. Though stars have been slapping their name on products for decades, the new crop of celebrity entrepreneurs is taking an emphatically hands-on approach with their product lines. Whether it’s Zendaya bringing along stylist Law Roach to help co-design her line with Tommy Hilfiger or Tracee…
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Trauma Has No Time Limit: Surviving R. Kelly Part II Prompted a 40 Percent Increase in Calls to RAINN
“We’re grown girls, but we’re still little girls that cry silently. If you weren’t there, you’ll never understand it,” says Jovanté Cunningham, one of R. Kelly’s alleged victims in Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning. If Surviving R. Kelly, Part I was a devastating—if long-overdue—moment in both criminal justice and television history, Surviving R.…
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Rihanna and I Both Started 2020 With Pimples on Our Chins (and Neither of Us Put Out a New Album, Either)
If there were a “stars—they’re just like us!” moment we expected to kick off the new decade (after Beyoncé kicked off awards season by bringing her own champagne—carried by her bodyguard—to the Golden Globes), we for sure didn’t think it’d come from Rihanna. After all, in 2019 she was named the world’s wealthiest female musician,…
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Deal Drop: Someone Hates Walmart Enough to Infest One of Its Stores With Bedbugs
Well, here’s something you don’t want to pick up from Walmart during the post-holiday sales: As reported by CNN, a store location in Edinboro, Pa., has been deliberately infested with bedbugs, seemingly dispensed via the men’s changing room. A manager at the store in Edinboro found a closed pill bottle with live bugs crawling inside…
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The Only Thing Whiter Than the 2020 Golden Globes Was Billy Porter’s Outfit
“You don’t see us, we don’t see you,” seemed to be the resounding sentiment of the 77th annual Golden Globes—at least, as far as black talent was concerned. The kickoff to the 2020 awards season started with a whimper, rather than a bang, and while the carpet wasn’t entirely melanin-deficient, it was definitely “unseasoned,” as…
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In a World of Full Spectrum Foundation Ranges, an Ulta Shopper Is Told She Is 'Too Dark for Most Colors in the Store'
It’s 2020, and after decades of greige, beauty brands across America now regularly stock over 40 shades to accommodate a wide range of skin tones. But as Ulta client Ebony Kankam London learned when she attempted to get her makeup at the beauty chain’s Holmdel, N.J. location in preparation for her baby shower, accessing those…
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To Remind Us 2019 Wasn't Complete Trash, Zoë Kravitz Gave Us a Belated Look at Her Wedding
Many of us were more than ready to leave 2019 in the dust—and are already dubious about the start of this new year. But as a new decade dawned, celebrity offspring-turned-celebrity in her own right Zoë Kravitz opted to reflect on one of last year’s highlights; at least, one of her highlights. The Saint Laurent…
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Proving Misogynoir Is Alive and Well, Blue Ivy, Ari Lennox and Teyana Taylor Were All Insulted Online for New Year's
Remember when you were a kid, and your elders told you “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?” Apparently, a few writers for some of the world’s most illustrious publications didn’t get that memo, as each got the New Year’s reckoning they deserved after commenting on the evolving beauty…
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The Beautiful Ones: Prince's Designers Collaborate With His Estate on a Made-to-Order Collection
We are a full 20 years—almost 21!—past the future Prince envisioned when he wrote his double album (and hit single) 1999. And in a year that gave his fans a long-awaited memoir in Prince: The Beautiful Ones, yet another take-home tribute to the iconic musician is taking place. In conjunction with the deluxe reissue of…
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Pretty in Pink: Halima Aden Is Essence’s First Cover Star to Wear Hijab
She’s Muslim, an icon of modest fashion, and one of the models of the moment. Now, Halima Aden is also the first model to wear hijab on the cover of Essence, giving us all-pink-everything glamour for the magazine’s January/February 2020 issue, the first in celebration of its 50th(!) year. As the issue illustrates, Aden is…
