Linda Wells

3 weeks ago | airmail.news | Linda Wells

It used to be the sleepiest exercise in the land. You could perform it lying down in full hair and makeup. When I did a stint at Pilates about 15 years ago, I’d wedge my sessions between work and dinner, knowing I wouldn’t have to shower and patch myself together afterward. It was no sweat. As in, I didn’t sweat. Doesn’t that sound calming? Well, kiss those days goodbye because now, Pilates is a blood sport. Athletic, aspirational, exclusive, elite. All the fancy words.

3 weeks ago | airmail.news | Linda Wells

If you’ve ever lusted after a liquid hand soap and wondered if perhaps you’d lost your marbles, you can thank (or blame) Núria Cruelles. The perfumer at Loewe, working with the designer Jonathan Anderson (who recently left to become the creative director of Dior), came up with the Tomato Leaves soap and set off a frenzy of desire. At the Jenna Perry salon, where highlights can cost $650, the bottle in the restroom is filched regularly.

3 weeks ago | airmail.news | Linda Wells

Just when you think you’ve figured out makeup—YouTube tutorials checked; Kardashians clocked; Sephora scanned; contour, lip liner, and brows sculpted in tasteful neutral tones and textures until your face is as smooth and matte as a box-fresh Loro Piana sweater—along comes a counter-trend, and then one to counter that. Is “snatched” still a thing? Such are the hazards of living in the golden age of makeup. Choice is abundant; ideas are everywhere.

3 weeks ago | airmail.news | Linda Wells

Is it wrong to go halfway around the world for a plane ride and a hotel? I don’t mean just any plane ride or any hotel. I mean a blissful, 16-hour flight of pure comfort and sanctioned laziness and a hotel of such supreme indulgence that it’s hard to verbalize. But I’ll try. On the plane, I had big plans for productivity. With two deadlines looming, I would use this cocooned time to polish them off. What a smart idea! And yet I didn’t even open my laptop. I didn’t watch a movie. I read half a magazine.

1 month ago | airmail.news | Linda Wells

He’s the perfumer who created the TikTok-viral Baccarat Rouge 540, the indie darling Petit Matin, the luxurious J’adore l’Or, and the irreverent scented bubbles that he once released in Paris’s Grand Palais. Francis Kurkdjian seems to be everything everywhere all at once as the founder of his own house, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, and the perfume-creation director at Parfums Christian Dior. His latest scent for his own label is a fruity, sweet almond blend called Kurky.