EntertainmentRefinery 29 UKWhat’s The Most Iconic Scene In 10 Things I Hate About You? I’m Glad You Asked
There’s something so delicious about rewatching a movie you can quote by heart. I have a few standbys: Some are classics for my age, like Mean Girls and Legally Blonde; others are personal outliers like Pineapple Express and Call Me By Your Name (we all have our niches!). Still, there’s something about a late 1990s, early 2000s rom-com that hits differently. Scenes are more memorable, dialogue more quotable — so memorable and quotable that Sarah Ramos, actor and pop culture obsessive, has made it her mission to recreate as many of those stuck-in-your-head scenes as possible with her project called, “Quaran-scenes.” Over the last couple of months Ramos has brilliantly garnered a whole new spectrum of fans who tune in weekly to see her recreate scenes from their favourite movies, TV shows, and pop culture moments. Born out of a little quarantine boredom, combines decades of fanning out to her favourite movie scenes, Ramos stars, directs, and edits all the clips herself, and has even recruited a few friends, like Dylan O’Brien, Elle Fanning, and Max Minghella, to join in on the recreations. And though Ramos has a long resume of her own, appearing in American Dreams from 2002 to 2005, Parenthood from 2010 to 2015, and films like How to Be Single, The Boy Downstairs and the upcoming HBO Lakers project, her ability to transform into beloved movie and TV characters is unmatched. Because of her impeccable taste and range, it only made sense that Ramos recreate a scene for R29 Movie Club’s rewatch of the 10 Things I Hate About You. Starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, Allison Janney, and Gabrielle Union the 1999 movie is teeming with potential quaran-scenes, but only one scene became a cultural reset; only one scene was so iconic that any person who has seen the movie remembers it — except for the very woman who stars in it.> View this post on Instagram> > When @allisonbjanney pauses writing her romance novel to tell @missjuliastiles people think she’s a heinous bitch 🐱 a labor of love for @refinery29> > A post shared by Sarah Ramos (@saraheramos) on Aug 12, 2020 at 4:58pm PDTRefinery29: Why did you choose to recreate a scene from 10 Things I Hate About You?Sarah Ramos: “I have a long history with 10 Things I Hate About You. It is one of these movies that I have scenes memorised from. I can recall the exchange between Bianca and Gabrielle Union at the drop of a hat, where they’re like, “I like by Sketchers, but I love my Prada backup.” And Gabrielle’s like, “But I love my Sketchers,” and Bianca’s like, “That’s because you don’t have a Prada backpack.” This movie is extremely quotable. You also have Heath Ledger dancing and singing that song on the bleachers. It’s hilarious. The scene I chose to do is the one with Allison Janney where she is writing her romance novels and then she gives Julia Stiles advice. Movies in the 2000s and late 90s — they don’t have the right to be this funny. They certainly don’t write like scenes like this anymore that go beyond the duty of moving the story forward and they actually crystallise diamonds themselves.”I love that you chose that scene — I knew you weren’t going to do the “10 Things I Hate About You” poem because it’s too… basic.“It’s not funny enough.” Is that part of the qualifications of what you choose for a “Quaran-scene”? “I try to choose scenes that feel symbolic to me for various reasons. It’s not that I wouldn’t do the 10 Things I Hate About You poem, I just don’t want to do that. Do I want to do Allison Janney trying to write a romance novel trying to find a different word for engorge? Yeah. I love Allison Janney. I think she said she forgot she was in 10 Things I Hate About You. [Editor’s note: She did.] I have also been trying to do scenes where I don’t need another person there, so the actual context of the scenes actually guide my choices, too.”How long does a scene typically take you?“It definitely depends. When I did the Legally Blonde scene with Chloe Fineman, I had to play like 11 to 15 characters so I spaced that out over the week. I was like Okay, I’ll do Ali Larter and Linda Cardellini today and tomorrow I’ll do the jury. It ends up being an hour or so at a time, and it depends on how many takes I do, because then I have to go through all the clips for editing. It’s a push-pull of me being a perfectionist, and me being like let’s just get it done. I’m my own worst enemy in that sense.”How would you describe your sense of humor?“It’s interesting — with the Big Little Lies scene I just did where I’m Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, I got so many different reactions from, Oh my God you nailed the Merylisms! to You shouldn’t have touched Meryl to being like This show was so crazy!. To me, that is funny and crazy, seeing that everyone is a critic. [Laughs]. I have all these people in my DMs and they all consider themselves the authority not realising that the person that is commenting right above them completely contradicts them. “I like unintentionally funny moments. When taken out of context, something really dramatic feels awkwardly bizarre and makes me laugh, which I guess is just the internet.”Everyone is going to have their opinions.“It’s not just a comedy thing. I am trying to do a good job always. Me doing the Taylor Swift [Americana scene], I wasn’t make of fun. I wasn’t doing that to be funny.”I thought that one was really good!“I am trying to evolve the project and not just do the same thing. When I first started doing it I was like, I shouldn’t do anything that was intentionally comedic because that is going to hard to top. Then I wanted to, and people wanted me to. For the Taylor Swift [one], her talking about being in her own house stuck out in my mind. Someone commented, ‘This feels mean!’ and I was like, ‘Well, wait until you find out about actually mean people.’ I try to not repeat exact scenes.”Are you taking audience requests for future scenes?“I love the audience requests. I am a pop culture obsessive so I like connecting with other pop culture obsessives and I love getting recommendations, that’s why I started asking people to guess who the character is [for each video]. There’s always some that are really funny and wrong, and then there are a ton that are accurate and that is an amazing feeling and it is such a twisted… I think we are all losing our minds together, but it’s entertaining. I wanted to crowd source people telling me what Pretty Little Liars scene I should do.Is there a most requested scene?“There have been a ton of Erin Brockovich requests and I will get to that.”Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?The Top 10 Titles Streaming On Netflix UK'Bridget Jones' Writer Helen Fielding Says ShR29's Ranking Of The Best Netflix Romcoms
- StyleRefinery 29 UK
12 Instagram Accounts To Follow For The Best Beauty Reels
Just when we thought we might lose TikTok forever, Instagram rolled out a short-form video competitor that's already changing the way we use the app. With Reels, users can edit snappy, 15-second clips using filters and audio tracks, then share them with users that might not already be following them. With more creativity and discovery available than ever before, influencers are already jumping at the opportunity to share videos — and, according to Instagram, makeup transformations are leading the pack. But we won't leave you to find the breakout stars of the Reels beauty community. From pink hair makeovers to graphic eyes, we're sharing some of our favourite videos and accounts to follow for the best (and shortest) tips and tricks. You'd be surprised at what these beauty enthusiasts can fit into a few seconds. Check them all out, ahead. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
LifestyleRefinery 29 UKMeet The New Social Media Stars Making A Hobby Of Dismantling Influencer Culture
Consider how much the events of this year have reprioritised your world: Are you thinking about injustices or societal problems you hadn’t considered before? Do you still spend money in the same way? Have you altered big career goals or personal life plans? For many of us, this means that the social media celebrities and influencers we used to love (or maybe loved to hate) have dropped to the bottom of what feels necessary these days. Frankly, some have become just plain difficult to watch. Whether they’re hopping on the latest hashtag trend that seems like just another excuse to post a selfie, or engaging in more actively harmful activities — like attending crowded gatherings, posting performative “social justice” messages, or knocking off struggling small designers — it can be hard to justify tuning in, if it means lining their pockets. The simplest-seeming choice is to smash the unfollow button and move on. But for some observers, that’s not enough. There’s a small but growing number of social media users dedicated to calling out shady influencer behaviour, whether it’s photoshopping images and pretending they’re hadn’t, or potentially endangering the lives of others during a pandemic. Among most popular of these social media vigilantes is Instagram account InfluencersTruth, which currently has over 68k followers, and is structured similarly to Diet Prada, the famed fashion world caller-outer. The creator, C., who spoke to Refinery29 on the condition of anonymity, says that InfluencersTruth’s goals are simple: “I can assure you that this wasn’t part of some grand plan. Right now, InfluencersTruth is a solo act with no plans to monetise itself in any way,” she explains. For C., her motivation was purely emotional. After seeing how some high-profile influencers — ones with millions of followers, high-profile sponsorship deals, and successful businesses in their name — dealt with COVID-19, she felt compelled to speak out. “I started InfluencersTruth the first week of April during the height of the pandemic in New York City. My friend was at that time in the hospital due to COVID. He later passed away. What I kept seeing on Instagram from influencers was disgusting. The lack of self-awareness was and continues to be appalling,” C. says. While much of what InfluencersTruth posts are observations about influencers’ content that anyone could theoretically come across, followers also occasionally send along secrets — some of which, C. says, are too mean to post. “I try not to be too snarky,” she explains. “But I think that everyone is tired of these influencers presenting a version of life that just isn’t reality.”Indeed, what may have once felt like fun voyeurism — a window into the world of an ultra-connected one percenter, where designer bags come free in the mail with handwritten cards and everybody has a house in the Hamptons — now feels incredibly tone deaf, especially when the content creator in question tries to have it both ways, posting faux-woke social justice content alongside unboxing videos and sponcon. Our fatigue for the community is growing, and people are noticing. Earlier this year, Marie Claire asked “Is This The End of The Influencer?,” Vanity Fair questioned “Is This The End of Influencing As We Know It?,” Wired to inquire “Could The Coronavirus Kill Influencer Culture?,” and Adweek shot back, “No, Coronavirus Isn’t the End of Influencer Marketing. But It Has Put It Under a Microscope.”It may be premature to tout this backlash as the definitive “end” of influencer culture. Certainly, it’s slowing down, especially as marketing budgets have been slashed for all but the biggest content creators. But thanks to our diminished IRL social lives, we’re spending more time on social apps than ever before. According to data from eMarketer, time spent on social media is expected to rise by 8.8% this year, which means there’s still a real hunger for content. If it’s not the end of influencer culture, then it’s perhaps the end of eye roll-inducing, aspirational-at-all-costs influencer culture. It makes sense to have high expectations of those who claim to lead the lives, inhabit the perspectives, and communicate the ideas that are valuable enough to influence others.These call-out accounts are hardly the first internet-personality watchdogs. Before there was InfluencersTruth or Diet Prada, there was Get Off My Internets (GOMI, for short), an abundantly snarky message board on which anonymous users posted about bloggers, vloggers, and whomever else annoyed them on the internet that day. Reddit also has a similar community called BlogSnark (there’s also, incredibly, now another subreddit called “blogsnarkmetasnark: a place to snark on the snarkers,” because the snarkers will inevitably become the snarkees, I guess?). But while GOMI and Reddit allow unverified gossip and pure speculation, accounts like InfluencersTruth tend to do some due diligence before publishing. “I think these ‘influencers’ forget that Google is a really powerful tool and you can find anything and everything on there,” C. says. Sophie Ross, a copywriter and freelance journalist and former Refinery29 employee, has brought the business of calling out bad influencer behaviour to Twitter, where she has about 11k followers. “A lot of people are so fed up with the facade, especially right now,” she says. “We’re experiencing a cultural shift. People are really seeing through the bullshit. The influencers that are flaunting their Chanel bags when there’s record unemployment rates… there’s just a lot of privilege-flaunting and bad behaviour happening.”Neither Ross nor InfluencersTruth have dealt with much backlash, perhaps because what they post tends to be rooted in truth and legitimate issues with influencer culture as opposed to pure snark for snark’s sake. C. says she’s received some “poorly veiled threats” from unhappy influencers, and Ross has, too: “I don’t care,” she says. “Maybe people are thinking I could be burning bridges. But I’m okay without these people. The people who I call out on Twitter aren’t people I would want to associate with ever, anyway.”Though InfluencersTruth has a fraction of the followers that many of the influencers she posts about do, the conversation C. starts around our expectations from the people our likes, clicks, and views support are more relevant than given the events of this year. The demand for authenticity, accountability, transparency, and just plain reality is what consumers are asking for in other sectors, too; we’re outraged for the same reasons when we find out the cute leggings or suitcase sold to us as emblems of progressive values are actually the output of abusive and unhappy work environments. And, like entrepreneurs, business leaders, and pretty much anyone else trying to brand themselves, social content creators who want to remain relevant in a post-2020 world are likely going to have to find a way to adapt.“I don’t think you should wait for something to blow over or wait for people to forget about it,” Ross advises influencers who may have come up against criticism in recent months. “I think you need to handle it head-on, because all of your followers are wondering what’s happening. You owe transparency to your followers. Just be real for a second.”But for those who have spent the better part of a decade airbrushing every aspect of their lives, do they even remember what real looks like? And is it possible for an influencer to apologise or rebrand in a way that doesn’t feel like a self-serving ploy to keep cancellers at bay? There are plenty of jokes about influencers donning messy buns and thick-rimmed glasses to make hollow apology videos, but for those who have had to do this, it can be crushing to realise that the persona you’ve spent years cultivating doesn’t resonate anymore, and maybe even hurts people. But the fact is, having an audience is a huge privilege that nobody is owed. And there are so many people on social media these days — like Ziwe, Rachel Cargle, or Kelli Brown — who are doing the important work of starting dialogues about race and privilege, celebrating diversity, or even just making people laugh, who many might rather see reap some of the benefits other creators with “safer” or more brand-friendly content have long enjoyed.Even among more traditional influencer-types who want to stick with product recommendations and lifestyle shots, observers seem to think it’s still possible to cultivate an authentic relationship with an audience. “I really like Grace Atwood,” says C. “In my opinion, she’s so genuine and really puts in the work unlike a lot of other influencers who just take pictures of themselves.” That being said, C. thinks it’s impossible for influencer culture writ large to be reformed: “What I think should change is their relevance within our culture. If we all stop following, stop swiping up, and stop idolising, I believe that our society will be healthier and happier.”Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?What Is The Role Of Influencers In This Crisis?We Need To Talk About Black Joy On Social MediaHow Does Instagram's Reels Compare To TikTok?
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As hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers in France and elsewhere in Europe try to beat the 4am Saturday quarantine deadline, travel options are closing down and prices are going up.At 10pm on Thursday, the UK government announced that 14 days of self-isolation will be mandatory for anyone arriving back from France, the Netherlands and Malta after 4am on Saturday morning.
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- HealthRefinery 29 UK
Why Can’t We Let Our Obsession With Calorie Counting Go?
On 27th July the government announced its plan to “tackle obesity” in Britain, with the goal of encouraging people to lose weight in order to save the NHS and reduce the risk of COVID-19. In addition to banning junk food adverts before 9pm and launching a weight loss app, there are plans to include calorie counts on the menus of restaurants, cafés and takeaways which have more than 250 employees. The implication being, according to care minister Helen Whately, that more information about the food we’re eating will help consumers make an “informed choice”.This is only the latest in a series of public health campaigns and diet pitches which rest on the idea that all it takes to get healthy is some self-control and basic arithmetic. Ever since the calorie was introduced to the public imagination as a way of measuring (and therefore controlling) your food consumption, it has driven the mentality that understanding your body is a matter of measuring calories in vs calories out. But as with BMI and 10,000 steps a day, the measurement of calories and their relation to our health isn’t as simple or successful as the numbers suggest. Where did calorie counting come from?The term ‘calorie’ was first used by French physician and chemist Nicolas Clément in the 1820s while lecturing to his Parisian students about heat engines. It only transferred its definition to measuring energy in food specifically when it was introduced to America in the 1890s by Wilbur Olin Atwater, who embarked on an exhaustive study to burn and then measure the caloric content of over 500 foods with the purpose of helping impoverished people understand how to get the most out of their food. From this study, Atwater determined the average number of calories in the three main sources of energy in food: fat, carbohydrates and protein. He found that fats were worth around 9 calories per gram and carbs and proteins were worth 4 calories per gram. The 4-9-4 method, or the Atwater system, is still how calorie values on food labels are determined today.Until this point, the concept of calories remained outside public consciousness. It was only when American physician and author Lulu Hunt Peters (the so-called ‘queen of calories‘) wrote her bestselling diet book Diet and Health: With Key to the Calories in 1918 that calorie counting, and dieting more generally, really took off. With her engaging writing, Peters took the complicated concept of calories and made it digestible for a mass audience. Simply put, food was no longer understood in units of slices or pieces. A slice of bread was now 100 calories of bread. And according to her, if you consumed under 1,200 calories per day, no matter what you ate you would lose weight.Peters actually positioned dieting in this way as both a moral and patriotic duty for women during World War One. To reduce the number of calories you ate yourself was to better distribute them to troops on the front line (or at least to your children). Consequently, to ‘hoard’ the valuable commodity of fat was to be unpatriotic. Her patriotism was intertwined with fatphobia: she called overweight people “fireless cookers” who were hoarding in a time of war.Since then, the popularity of explicit calorie consumption (and restriction) as a route to weight loss and being ‘healthier’ has ebbed and flowed but whether you follow Weight Watchers or the grapefruit diet, restricting your calorie intake is usually fundamental. No matter what formulation of macronutrients you consume, calorie (and calorie control) is king. This was ingrained further when it became part of food packaging in the UK in 1998. From that point on, you couldn’t escape knowing the exact nutritional content of a portion of pasta or a chocolate bar, with calories being listed in pride of place.Besides the fatphobia at the root of Lulu Hunt Peters’ positioning, the problem with this is that it all presupposes that the measurement of calories, and calories themselves, is accurate, and that if you eat less and move more you will always lose weight. How accurate are calories?There is far more guesswork in working out calorie amounts than the numbers suggest. The aforementioned Atwater system is still in use today, as is the fundamental structure of the bomb calorimeter he and his team used (a thick-walled steel container used to calculate the energy contained in a substance by measuring the heat generated when it burns). But the Atwater system was created based on no prior data and despite having far more understanding of our bodies than we did in the 1890s, this method of calculating calories has never been retested. The problems with it are known to the scientific and health establishments but changes to the system seem far off. As reported by Peter Wilson for The Economist: “Officials at the WHO acknowledge the problems of the current system, but say it is so entrenched in consumer behaviour, public policy and industry standards that it would be too expensive and disruptive to make big changes.”> There’s evidence out there to suggest that you can take two people who are the same weight and give them exactly the same calories, and actually their body might need different things. They don’t always have the same energy requirements.> > Jess Griffiths, BEAT Even if we take Atwater’s 4-9-4 method at face value, it still presupposes that a calorie is always a calorie. In other words, that the caloric value of something is always true and stable. However everything from the temperature of the food and the time of day it’s consumed to the preparation can shift how much a calorie is ‘worth’ before it enters your system. Once it is in your system, there is evidence to show that each person will process food differently. From your hormone levels to your history of dieting to your basal metabolic rate, all of this will alter how much energy you will gain from something. Jess Griffiths, the clinical training lead at the UK’s eating disorder charity Beat, tells R29 that two people of identical weight will still have different caloric needs. “There’s evidence out there to suggest that you can take two people who are the same weight and give them exactly the same calories, and actually their body might need different things. They don’t always have the same energy requirements.”Registered dietitian Kirsty Barrett echoes this. “I think calorie estimate can be useful in a very general way but everyone’s energy needs vary depending on their size and activity, and it will also vary on a day-to-day basis as some days we’re more active than others. It’s the overall trend rather than the calories each specific day that matter.”Unlike Lulu Hunt Peters’ assertion that people are “cookers” with energy they either spend or hoard, Jess emphasises that our bodies do not work like a bomb calorimeter. “The body is a lot more complicated than how food is measured. To get the calorie intake from food it’s burned to see what energy comes out of it, but bodies aren’t furnaces! We have different enzymes at work, we have a really complex digestive system.” So can counting calories really make us healthier?Despite all these complications and questions around calorie counting and reducing intake, the question still remains: can calorie counting work? There are plenty of success stories, public health campaigns and diet programmes that would lead you to believe that it does. But reducing calories has been shown time and again not to lead to better health, especially when low calorie is the sole focus while sugar content and nutritional value more generally is not questioned. Take the fact that the trend and appetite for low calorie and low fat diets coincided with the biggest rise in obesity worldwide. Jess states point-blank: “There’s no evidence to support that calorie counting makes anyone healthier.” And even if there’s a short-term reduction in weight, there’s the blunt fact that about 90% of dieters eventually regain all the weight they lost.With regards to the government’s latest initiative, there’s not even evidence to suggest that printing calorie counts on menus helps people make ‘better’ choices. However increased knowledge and awareness of calorie counts can be actively harmful.Calorie counting is exceptionally common in disordered eating and eating disorders. Jess cites many of the people she works with as a psychotherapist as having developed a distorted view of what their body needs based on calories. “It becomes about rules rather than intuitive eating and learning when you’re hungry or when you’re not.” Once it becomes a way you view the world and what you eat, it’s exceptionally hard to shake off. This is only more true when calorie counts are plastered wherever you go.Jess goes on to point out how calorie counts on menus in particular can exacerbate eating disorders and delay recovery. “We know from research that when calories are on the menu, people with anorexia in particular are more likely to choose low density foods so it could really impact their recovery and their energy intake.” And it’s not just an issue of restriction. “Anything that’s encouraging restrictive eating could actually lead to more binge eating episodes. Our stance is regular eating is the best way to combat restriction or bingeing. So of course, anything that is encouraging restriction could lead people’s symptoms to get worse.”The Beat position is that eating disorders are not about food but about feelings, and in particular tied up with self-esteem. Anything that damages someone’s self-esteem puts them at greater risk. “I think that the level of shame that surrounds us at the moment, through public health strategies and various articles, can be so dangerous for the mental wellbeing of people with eating disorders and everyone in general,” says Jess. Why the obsession with calories?Considering the range of evidence, from scientific to anecdotal, that calorie counting does not make one healthier, why do we hold on to it? Beyond structural resistance to change, the sheer simplicity of calories is addictive. Dr Sheri Jacobson, director of Harley Therapy, tells R29 that as humans we want things to be as simple as possible. Calorie counting, much like the 10,000 steps rule, makes taking care of ourselves ‘easy’. “Our minds tend towards reductive thinking: the simpler for our brain, the better. So if we can reduce a dietary rule to a maxim, it’s easy for us to stick to.” The numerical aspect in particular adds to the draw: it makes it concrete and measurable, unlike a feeling of hunger or fullness which is much more amorphous. “All of that is generally appealing to most people, unless you make a conservative effort not to be drawn to it because it’s not healthy for you.”Jess echoes that the certainty offered by calorie counting plays off the perfectionism that many people with eating disorders reckon with. “A lot of life isn’t that certain, feelings aren’t that certain, but an eating disorder really seeks to bring that certainty… I think that a huge aspect of it is that eating perfectly (thinking, I eat what the government says) can really feed into that kind of a perfectionistic style of thinking with certain numbers per day and numeric goals.”Plus, Sheri says that achieving those numerical goals can release a hit of dopamine that our brain gets addicted to, in the same way we get addicted to social media. “When you’re doing well and you’re moving towards your goal, you’re going to get a boost of dopamine and it’s going to encourage you to want to go back to check again.” It can get obsessional or addictive precisely because it’s so simple and built to satisfy our brain chemistry. There is a case to be made that calorie counts in the most generalised sense could be useful as a benchmark. For people with anorexia who are working on their recovery, knowing higher calorie options can be helpful, for example. The moment it becomes a be-all and end-all is when you have a problem. “If you get to the point where you’re ruminating over it, and churning over it, and obsessing over it, it occupies too much space,” says Sheri. “Something [whether it’s in relationships or being present] has to yield.”> If guidance about calories and counters are meant to be routes to a healthier public then they will only fall short, and demonise fat people and people with eating disorders (both thin and fat alike). There doesn’t seem to be a way of using calorie content as a benchmark which doesn’t somehow demonise food choices or gloss over the nuances of every dietary choice people make, unless it is made entirely optional. Kirsty suggests making calorie information available on request to potentially circumvent “feelings of guilt or anxiety when eating. I feel like this information should be available for customers if they request it but not pushed onto everyone.” This however is a small plaster on a much larger wound. How we eat and the choices we make is as much a psychological issue as it is a nutritional one. Everything from socioeconomic background to geography to time shapes what food we have access to, while trauma, stress, shame and poverty all impact how we use food to cope with the world.If guidance about calories and counters are meant to be routes to a healthier public then they will only fall short, and demonise fat people and people with eating disorders (both thin and fat alike). For any campaign like this to really work, much more needs to be put in place: financial security, psychological support and a radical acceptance that bodies do come in all shapes and sizes. Without that, it is just a self-perpetuating cycle of shame which undermines any healthy relationship someone could have with food – a relationship that is free from shame and based on intuition, not punishment.If you need support managing an eating disorder or would just like some more information, Beat can help. Give them a call on 0808 801 0677. It’s free and lines are open 365 days a year.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Food Is A Feminist Issue Especially For Poor WomenWhy Do Doctors Still Rely On BMI?Lockdown Shows Just How Fatphobic Society Is
- StyleRefinery 29 UK
The Surprising Reason Why Your Nails Are Yellow & How To Combat It
Dear Daniela, Why are my nails always yellow? I don’t smoke but my fingernails always have a tinge to them. Is it my nail polish? My diet? How can I stop it from happening? Monira, 30This is a brilliant question and I’m glad you asked because, truthfully, I had no idea myself. I’ve noticed it from time to time but assumed it was just one of those occasional things, or maybe even a genetic predisposition, so I’m grateful that you gave me a chance to learn something new! In your note, you asked whether it’s nail polish or diet – turns out, it’s kind of both.If eyes are the window to the soul, nails are the window to your internal health. All kinds of deficiencies, autoimmune conditions and other ailments can present on the nails in the form of discolouration, ridges and marks. I don’t know if you’ve ever needed surgery but they always ask you to remove your nail polish beforehand – partly for checking your blood pressure on your finger but also to check how your body is responding post-surgery. Fun facts! Anyway, yellowness. I asked Tinu Bello, founder of Colour Riot Nails and an expert nail technician, for her take. “My first thought would be that they’re doing their own nails and not using a base coat,” said Tinu. That’s right – base coat isn’t just a sales spiel. “What’s happening is that the polish is actually tinting their nails and when they leave the polish on for too long, the pigments from that polish tend to go yellow and stain the nail, even if it’s not a yellow polish. Base coat stops that from happening.”Basically, the base coat protects the nail and the top coat protects the colour. “If you’re not using a base coat as a barrier to protect your nail from the polish, it can lead to this kind of discolouration. The stronger the nail polish colour, the more likely it is to happen,” explained Tinu, noting that dark reds, blues and black are the worst offenders. And how long is too long to leave polish on? Tinu’s answer surprised me: she said one week for regular polish and two to three weeks for gel nail polish. “Any longer than that, you’re going to get staining,” she confirmed. Aside from manicure habits – and maybe you don’t wear nail polish much – it could be something to speak to your GP about. “There are a range of underlying health conditions it could be, like anaemia, so I would suggest a visit to your doctor just to rule out anything serious,” advised Tinu, adding that the same goes for spots and ridges. Once you’ve got to the root of the issue, you’ll probably be keen to remove the residual staining. Tinu said you might have to wait for it to grow out (but if you’ve worked out what has caused it, at least you’ll know the end is in sight) but that a professional manicure, complete with in-depth buffing and tidying can work wonders. There are some home remedies floating around out there but Tinu said she hadn’t seen great success with them. “Your best bet is to get a proper manicure, get as much buffed away as you can, and then choose a strong colour for the polish to conceal the discolouration – anything opaque will work. Just don’t skip the base coat!” Tinu’s favourite base coat is Orly Bonder Base Coat, which is also vegan and cruelty-free.I hope this helps, and I wish you happy, healthy nails! Daniela Got a question for our resident beauty columnist Daniela Morosini? No problem, qualm or dilemma is too big, small or niche. Email deardaniela@refinery29.uk, including your name and age for a chance to have your question answered. All letters to ‘Dear Daniela’ become the property of Refinery29 and will be edited for length, clarity, and grammatical correctness.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Keratin Nail Treatments Are Taking Over SalonsThe Mismatched Manicure Trend Just Got An Upgrade5 Simple Nail Designs For Nail Art Novices
- StyleRefinery 29 UK
La Veste Is The Cult Label Made For Summer Staycations
Holiday, schmoliday! We’d already been making a conscious effort to reduce our carbon footprint through fewer air miles when coronavirus put any European escapes and far-flung getaways firmly on ice. You’ll find no complaints here: 2020 is all about the sunny staycation. Whether you choose a restful retreat in Carmarthenshire, take up paddleboarding in Cornwall or go camping in Cumbria, there’s plenty of joy to be found without crossing an ocean. > View this post on Instagram> > A post shared by LA VESTE (@lavestelaveste) on Mar 20, 2020 at 2:31am PDTWhile we believe that a holiday wardrobe should work year-round and for any occasion (that linen dress looks equally lovely whether you’re eating fish and chips in Margate or moules frites in Marseilles, with sandals for now and a rollneck come winter), there are some clothes that just scream summer staycation and none more so than those made by indie label La Veste. Funnily enough, it’s not British but Spanish born and bred, founded by influencer and stylist Blanca Miró and designer Maria de la Orden back in 2018. > View this post on Instagram> > A post shared by LA VESTE (@lavestelaveste) on Jan 16, 2020 at 9:15am PSTOur Instagram feed has been awash with the label’s vintage-inspired blouses and trousers all summer, with fans including Camille Charrière, Laura Jackson and Nnenna Echem – but why is the Barcelona-based brand so perfect for a British summer holiday? Tapping into the cottagecore aesthetic way before the hashtag was trending, La Veste nails quintessentially British prints and patterns – think saccharine shades like mint green and candyfloss pink, picnic-ready gingham and ditsy Liberty florals – while offering puff-sleeved blouses with oversized collars and cotton trousers with scalloped pockets that could have come straight out of a vintage Laura Ashley catalogue. Add a flouncy sun hat and hair accessories and you have yourself a delectable get-up suitable for wandering around Portmeirion or trawling secondhand shops in Whitby.> View this post on Instagram> > A post shared by NNENNA (@nnennaechem) on Aug 3, 2020 at 8:50am PDTThe brand started out by making off-kilter blazers – la veste translates to ‘jacket’ in French – but it’s the blouses, camis and matching bottoms you’ll want to get your hands on (the cotton shorts alone have seen us through this summer’s heatwave). You’ll have to be quick, though: the brand operates a small-batch business and pieces sell out in minutes, so we recommend setting an alert for announcements on Instagram which notify you when the next drop is about to hit. Just don’t tell too many friends – we have an upcoming trip to Whitstable and we’d quite like to pack a blouse or two.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Ganni Has Collaborated With Levi's In The Best Way8 Cycle-Friendly Outfits That Don't Involve LycraThe Summer Dress Trend That Suits Every Body Type
- NewsThe Independent
Quarantine: How France, Malta and Netherlands joining ‘no-go’ list will affect British travellers
Hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers in France, Malta and the Netherlands, and many more with plans to visit these countries, face two weeks in self-isolation when they return.As a result of new soaring coronavirus cases in some parts of these countries, they have been stripped of their “quarantine exempt” status by the Department for Transport (DfT). In addition, the Foreign Office warns against non-essential travel.
HealthThe IndependentPre-treatment showers and temperature checks: How spas will look when they reopen after lockdown
After months of lockdown spent juggling working from home with parenting, health concerns and financial woes, many of us have been left feeling anxious, fatigued and highly strung.If there was ever a time for self-care it is now. The ultimate spa experience is something many of us are desperate to indulge in, with our sunlight-starved skin and poor posture longing to be pacified by the hands of a professional while surrounded by lavender scented spritzes and soft music.
HealthHuffPost UKHallucinations Have Been Linked To Covid-19. Here's What They're Like
Bright orange cartoon spiders in the bedroom; lions and monkeys in the living room – people share their experiences.
