You've Got Lipstick on your Chin

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Articles

The Masters in the Machine: How AI Infiltrated Perfume

4 days ago | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

Hi friends. I have not forgotten you - I am just horrendously busy. But I wanted to pass along these two articles I’ve written recently to keep you company. Beauty reporting double-hitter!The first is this reported piece for The Verge’s Futureproof Package, on AI and Perfumery. I love writing about AI and aesthetics - I’ve written about AI a few times for SSENSE. It was time I covered the territory around fragrance, too.
My Book, The House of Beauty, is Now Available for Pre-Order.

1 month ago | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

You guys. You guys. There are quite a few new faces here from my chat with for - hello! And for those of you who have been hanging out with me for months and years across different media platforms - my loyal friends. I have been researching, reporting, and writing a very intense book on the beauty industry for years. I put everything in this, shaped my life around reporting it, knowing there was no other avenue to do it in.
How to Finesse an Artist Residency

1 month ago | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

I may not be considered very literary due to my deep knowledge of lipgloss and my lack of an MFA, but I have been accepted to more artist residencies than most people who think beauty is unserious business. Earlier this month I accepted my spot for a really cool international residency for next summer. Out of 215 applicants, only 2 people make it in per season. I am very grateful to be the 8% blessed! I am happy to share how I find, prepare, and apply to these programs.
Bathing in Wine and Hoarding Perfume

1 month ago | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

One thing about me is that I will go anywhere for the bit (sometimes at a danger to myself) and I love an obscure or hyper-specific convention because I adore witnessing sincere obsessions. If you can talk my ear off about something you love it kind of doesn’t matter what it is, I’m going to pay attention.
What, Precisely, is the MAGA Body?

1 month ago | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

While the headline for the Hasan Piker profile in the New York Times did make me cringe1, I’m not gonna say it’s wrong. Fascist bodies have always been coded as masculine and militarized and we live in a society that continuously renders that combination super desirable. This has always been the through line of fascist marketing. I will explain it to you in art movements, because conversations about beauty can be not only literary, but artistic.
Be Honest: Do You Think This Lipgloss Makes Me Look Less Literary?

2 months ago | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

This essay is dedicated to hot bitches who read. The hot bitch in me sees the hot bitch in you, my friend. There’s an essay floating around that criticizes Katie Kitamura’s Strategist interview, where she shares some of the things she likes to use. They are disappointed or skeptical of her daring to include a $24 lip gloss. “She just came waaay down in my esteem scale,” one male commenter wrote.
Recession Spending and Pilates Pessimism

2 months ago | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

I don’t have a think piece or news angle for you right now; I am busy with five thousand projects - wedding! book promo planning! more book stuff! a nonprofit launch! nose training! - and thus my life has narrowed down to incredibly detailed Notion dashboards, Google Calendars, excel spreadsheets, and lying on the grass in my backyard, exchanging long audio notes with friends from around the world. Here are some of my life updates right now.
Writers, Please Talk Your Shit

2 months ago | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

I went to AWP - the Authors and Writers Conference - for the first time this year after years of studiously avoiding it. I am an introvert and grew up in literary circles in NYC, so going out of my way to meet people who often want parasocial gossip on my real-life friends or exes has always seemed strange.
Crypto-Farm Spas and Gigolo Seals: An Honest Review of Global Spas

Mar 20, 2025 | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

I love going to spas and consider spa culture part of my cultural inheritance as an Asian, even if spa culture can often feel unwelcoming as a nonbinary person. I’ve written about spas a few times over the years assessing both angles – this piece for ALLURE on unwelcoming spa culture and this piece for REAL LIFE on how oftentimes spa culture is hand in hand with imperial statecraft; that is to say, beauty and war are historically often intertwined.
Banking on Capturing Youth Will Eventually Bankrupt You

Feb 4, 2025 | arabellesicardi.substack.com | Arabelle Sicardi

Recently a PR email landed in my inbox that I wasn’t sure was actually real or not: Neutrogena’s Collagen Bank. I have gotten plenty of much more bizarre beauty emails, to be honest, but the cringe perfection of such a product name felt so on-the-nose on society’s fixation with forever youth that I was initially hoping it was made up. It also felt so perfectly timed with a project I’ve been working on for months myself - a response to this very engine of the fear of growing older.