Solo Episode! 👀Carlene’s Blepharoplasty Journey, How We’re Erasing Our Redness and Spider Veins, Why Your Fave Influencer May Be a Catfish and Will The Row Launch Into Beauty?

0:00The following podcast is a dear media production.

0:07Welcome to Breaking Beauty, the podcast all about the breakthrough people, products, and moments in beauty. We're your hosts, Jill Dunn and Carleen Higgins.

0:20Welcome back to Breaking Beauty podcast, everyone. I'm one of your co-hosts, Jill Dunn, and I'm here with Carleen Higgins. Hey, Carleen. Hey, Jill. How's it going? I am wonderful. Thank you. I feel like we go in these spurts where I don't see you for a very long time. I know. And then I'll see you like three or four days in a row. So this is the life of podcasting queens. Yes. Well, we know everything happens in September. Yes. And so we are doing a giant catch up is really the theme of the episode today. Yeah. And for anyone new tuning in, we are Jill and Carlene, two beauty editors turned beauty podcasters.

0:56We worked in magazines for absolute eons. And we brought all of our editing skills to the mic seven years ago. Career highlights, Jill? Career highlights. I mean, there's so many. The one thing I miss about magazines the most is doing photo shoots. Yeah, I have to say. And working with all the amazing makeup artists and hairdressers and photographers that we got to collaborate with. Collaborative environment of a magazine. I don't think I'll ever experience that again. Right. But we collab all the time. Of course. I will say, though, it was a little bit of a flex when we did the Charlotte Tilbury photo shoot the other day.

1:30So this is a bit of a tour they did for beauty editors and influencers in L.A. And they recently came to Toronto and invited us. And the set, we'll put this photo on Instagram, guys. But the set was like decked out old Hollywood style. Art Deco. And we were talking to the PR and I was like, you know, I once did a photo shoot with Charlotte Tilbury. Yeah. when she first launched her brand, like side by side. And it was, it was incredible. The one thing I will remember is the photos looked retouched even when they weren't, when you're just like previewing them on the monitor. That's the impeccable level of her artistry.

2:07Absolutely. So that was all in honor of the Exaggerized Mascara, which is a runaway hit so far. So good. But yeah, beyond that, you know, I love doing the podcast too, because there's so many incredible people that we get to talk to. Makeup by Mario has been on the show. Jen Atkin. Oh yeah, twice. Flex, Flex. Hailey Bieber. Hailey Bieber. The list goes on. Tracee Ellis Ross. Kate Hudson. Like it's been incredible over 350 episodes. So there's lots to listen to if you are new here. And we're growing on YouTube. Yeah. I'm really happy to say that we've, we're slowly and steadily growing on YouTube and a lot of people are finding us on YouTube.

2:43And because that's been our sort of, you know, Achilles heel ever since starting the podcast is that the discoverability is a bit of a challenge. How do you learn about new podcasts? Well, myself, I learn if a friend tells me about one or if my podcast listening app recommends one to me or another show that I love talks about another podcast. So we are thrilled to be growing on YouTube and we're posting more and more episodes in there. So please do subscribe. Yes. And Jill, you told me a fun fact the other day that it really made my jaw drop when you said that it was according to, I can't remember the source, but you had said that YouTube is now the most popular listening app for podcasts and has overtaken Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

3:28And I was like, listen, I have not fact checked that comment, but I was like, that is flabbergasting to me. Significant. Yeah. Significant. Yeah. No, it is true. And I think it's a lot to do with the search capability of YouTube. Yeah. And they're prioritizing it. And if you look on anywhere on social media and you see a podcast podcast clip, the comments will inevitably say, where do I watch this? They don't say, where do I listen to it? Right. So it's just a sign of the times. This is where we're at. Everything is video content. And I just find it funny too, all these years into doing a podcast that brands now view podcasting as such a part of their comm strategy that they will create a fake podcast set to create assets for social media.

4:15Yeah. Lemmy by the Kardashians is one. Yeah. And RBC, I just saw, did a whole campaign where it's two random people sitting on a couch talking with microphones and with like bamboo slatted walls behind them, like two ferns, you know. Right. And I'm just like, wow, we have really come a long way. Yeah. Because I think the idea is people on podcasts must be some type of authority or experts or whatnot. Or you're trusting or you're a fly on the wall what you're watching. You're leaning into it versus scrolling past a regular ad. Yes, that's true. That's true. And friendly reminder, if you are new here, one thing that I would say is unique about our show is we always tell you when something is sponsored.

5:00Yes. There is a lot of sneaky product placement or like founders who might be on an episode of other shows. Sure. And you don't realize they've been paid. Yeah. Everybody's got to get their bag. But just for us personally, we are very transparent. Yeah. So that's one thing to know about our show. And now just a quick rundown of what we're going to talk about in today's episode. First of all, we're going to tell you about our month, the month in September in beauty. We went to TIFF. We're going to talk about that. And then we're going to get a little bit more into fashion and how that's kind of these fashion beauty brands are really like rising right now.

5:38We're going to talk about some other like pop culture, beauty intersection moments that are happening. Yes. And then toward the end of the episode, we're going to catch you up on all of the procedures that we have been getting done over the past summer. So I'm going to let you in on my little secret. I had my eyes done at the beginning of the summer. I think I told you guys this was coming. So I'm going to share with you what that experience was like. And we've also been getting some other like lasers and things like that that we keep getting asked about. So we're going to share our personal experience, what we think was worth our time and money.

6:14Yeah. And so tune in. And also the one trick that we learned to take care of spider veins on your face. I get asked about this all the time. So we're going to let you in on the little secret as far as that goes. So it's a good chat, everybody. Yeah. Get your lattes ready. And products. We're always going to be talking about products. Oh, yeah. A little de-influencing, too. We're getting into it.

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7:20You really can't go wrong with Hero Bread. One of their latest offerings I'm really excited to try. It's the Hero Hawaiian Rolls because they have this hint of sweetness, but all of the richness of real butter and eggs. I'm really picturing myself doing like a pulled chicken sandwich with some delicious coleslaw on there. And they have that melt in your mouth, fluffy texture as well. So can't wait to have my next sandwich on one of those Hawaiian rolls. And great news. We have a very special offer just for Breaking Beauty listeners. If you want to try Hero Bread yourself. You can keep the carbs out of summer and fall without compromising flavor with Hero Bread.

8:02Get 10 % off your order at hero.co and use code BEAUTY at checkout. That's beauty at H-E-R-O dot C-O for 10 % off. Once again, hero.co, use code BEAUTY for 10 % off. We'll link to this promo in our show notes and on our website. Now back to the show. Have you ever heard the saying, tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are? I'm Katie Lee Beagle and I'm food obsessed. Tune into my podcast, All on the Table, and get to know celebrities, bold-faced names, and industry insiders in an all new way as they share the ingredients that make their recipe for life. I want to know it all, from the favorite childhood birthday cake to the breakfast they eat every day, an engagement meal in Paris, or a guilty pleasure fast food indulgence.

8:51You can tell a lot about a person by what's in their fridge. And hey, everybody's got to eat. Make sure to tune in every Thursday and follow so we can devour every last morsel together. We're putting it all on the table.

9:08All right. So I think we mentioned before that it's been Tiff Month in the city. It's popping. All the celebrities are here. Jill, you and I went to a premiere. Lawrence Pugh was there. Did we talk about this on an episode? Okay, so we're going to skip over that part. Yeah. But there was an interesting moment with the film by two artists by the name of Tegan and Sarah. Yes. And it was a doc at TIFF. Jo, why do the people need to know about this? Okay, so you guys probably know Tegan and Sarah. They're twin sisters, LGBTQ plus space. And I love their music. I haven't heard their new music in a while.

9:43And I kind of was wondering what had happened to them, to be honest with you. They kind of popped off like around the same time as like a Shawn Mendes. I saw them resurface on TikTok. Oh, great. I think they had stitched Jojo Siwa when she had said, oh, it's it's like queer meets pop. It's never, ever been done before. And they were just like, they stitched themselves in and were like, you're joking, right? Yeah, it's so true. They definitely were the forefront of that, I think around 2010. So basically, this documentary talks about how an anonymous catfishing person, eventually known as Fegan, F-E-G-A-N.

10:18Wow. A portmanteau of fake and Tegan connected with people in their fan community. So the actual Sarah and Tegan fans, this person kind of infiltrated these groups, formed friendships, online romances. They shared personal information of Tegan's and they fabricated stories of her bad behavior. Holy. It's just a catfishing scam. Yeah. And this can happen, like, obviously, it's been happening so much in the dating world and there's a whole MTV show about catfishing. But I just thought that what this documentary is highlighting is the social media part of it and how that is new. It used to be the email scams and now it's the social media.

10:59It makes it so easy to find out who is a fan of these people and who are like the super fans. And you can even like dox people and share their information where they live and stuff online. I like that they're shining a light on this. So I'm very interested to see it. And they were completely victimized. Yeah, absolutely. By this freak. Yeah, this random person. Yeah. Yeah, it's so crazy. And it's like parasocial relationships. That's the word. When people think that they know you so well because they follow you on the internet. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then taking it a step further by impersonating that person is wild.

11:36Yes. Well, I love that they did that doc because they must have felt like they needed to do something about it. And on that note, there have been a couple of high profile beauty influencers who have had their likeness stolen lately. And I had DM this to you. So one of them is Abby Young. Yeah. So a lot of you will know her. I mentioned her a long time ago, but a lot of you follow her. I'm sure she is a trichologist. And so she is really great at decoding like the science behind hair products, but she does some some skincare as well. Well, she really stands out on TikTok. If you're just scrolling, you might have seen her.

12:15She's got she's quite young looking and she's got like perfect, shiny blonde hair. That's hers. Yeah. And it goes like down past her, like almost to her belly button kind of thing. Yeah. And so she and she really stands out. But we love that she is a trichologist as well. So it's like she will break down like all the bond building products or, you know, so whether you're talking about Olaplex versus, you know, when L 'Oreal Professional came out with theirs and K-18, which is not, doesn't have the same technology, but she's like, I am going to compare all of these to figure out which one is actually the, you know, has the data behind it.

12:54And it's like, I'm going to send it to a lab, you know? Yeah. And she's getting a lot of people back onto Dove, which I've always said is a great, great shampoo. And by the way, we're trying to reach you, Abby, because we want to have you on our show. So she had done a post where she had said that there is some random brand and they are using her likeness. They're using AI. So even going beyond the step that we've seen over the past decade with some celebrities where it's like a brand pretending that they have their own skincare line or whatever, it's like they have this person talking in motion using AI video where it sounds like they're endorsing this product.

13:34So it's not even like, oh, this is my product. It's some random brand, who knows what it is. And they're like, oh, you have to try it. This stuff's the best, whatever. So she did a post and was like, if you ever see this, this is not me, I don't endorse it. Report it. Report it, all of that. And then it was only a matter of a few weeks later where Dr. Shereen Idris, if you follow her, so I'm in her broadcast channel on Instagram. So she posted in there and said the same thing. Somebody's using my likeness. They're using AI and making it look like I'm talking about this brand and approving of it.

14:10She's like, and she actually asked of her followers, please go and complain and make comments to have it. We need to get this taken down. So I think that this is wild because, well, any one of us can be victimized, I suppose, and any influencer. But when you take somebody who has like MD and credentials behind their name and it's like you're pretending that they're endorsing some product, it just seems like, you know, that should be like a massive lawsuit. But how do you find these people? It's like a real problem. It is. Yeah. So anyway, this is fascinating. I'm so glad that Tegan and Sarah did this doc because I mean, you know, this is an opportunity for lawyers to make some serious banks.

14:56So let's let's make this happen in terms of fashion and beauty. Yeah. We're really seeing this rising of fashion, like fashion beauty brands, right? Like Celine Boutet. Yeah. They They debuted finally in August with their one and only lipstick. It's called Rouge Triomphe. Right. Haven't tried it. They must have missed me on the PR list. I think it's only at Harrods right now in London. OK, so it's supposed to roll out like the full line will roll out next year. Right. Mascaras and all of that stuff. Well, Valentino in the last couple of years has come out with makeup. Prada has come out with makeup.

15:32Yeah. Gucci, you know, that'll be interesting to see how that all ends up because obviously they have their new creative director. And I feel like we're just in a transitional moment in fashion and in beauty. Chanel will have a new fashion director or a new director soon. Yeah, I'm sure. And I think that will all trickle down. By the way, Chanel just named Margot Robbie as the face of Chanel number five. That's right. No surprise there. But I don't know. I think it is kind of the and also Marc Jacobs makeup, I think, is coming back in 2025. That's right. So I am in the mood for fashion brands bringing their makeup lines back.

16:06These were the most covetable lines at one time. Yeah. And I do think there's a space for them because celebrity brands are maybe not as hot as they once were, certainly in makeup. But when I looked at the Celine line, I was like, I've seen this before. Like, I just wasn't really like dying for it. Yeah, it's true. But I do think that their fragrances have done very well. Their candles have done very well. And I was reading an article in L.U.K. where they had said for Chanel, it's estimated that almost 40 % of their total sales is from beauty, primarily from fragrance and makeup. So, you know, when you think about that, it's fashion is fickle, right?

16:45And you can have a moment or a year, like a transitional year where let's say, you know, Alexandro Michele leaves Gucci and it's like that next year is going to be a bomb until they get back on their feet again. So it's like you need that to fall back on. And I noticed even with Guerlain for fall, they partnered up with Poochie and did like this stunning like capsule collection. Right. It's like almost like a collectible. Yeah, it is a collectible. There's very few. I actually have one. I'll take a picture and put it on our Instagram post. But I did get one, but there was very few for sale in Canada.

17:19And I think they were expecting it would sell out fast. But you can I'll show it and you can always have a Google. Yeah. But I think the one thing that's interesting is when we did our fragrance episode with all the editors. Yeah. We touched on the Roam. Yes. And we were like, wouldn't you love to wear that fragrance? And right now they only have the essential oils, which are exorbitantly expensive. But I read a headline that they recently had backing from the investment firm behind Chanel. Yeah. As well as the heiress to the L 'Oreal fortunes. Yeah, I believe it. Which is insane. So I predict that I like, look, do I think we're going to start seeing the row makeup?

18:01No, but I think that they would be. I think we could see they would be the ultimate purveyors of no makeup makeup. It's just like a brow pencil and an$80 nude lipstick. Maybe it would be probably be more. But I think fragrance is definitely that could definitely start expanding out. I think the difference is that they would do it well. And this is the tricky thing with these brands is like they do need to marry the makeup with the with the creative direction of the house. And I think we've started to see that with Gucci, whereas before it was like because it was owned by different companies. It was like two hands not talking to each other.

18:38It's like they licensed the name. Yeah, it was like that was the traditional model for so long as they just wanted to get a fragrance that they were going to license and put in the airport. and how much it had to do with the house was, you know, very, very little. And you can see it when this happens. And I'll give you an example. I got the new Chloe Intense. Do I sense a de-influencing moment? Look, I got the new Chloe Intense and I was excited because when Chloe's new creative director got on the scene in the spring with the fall 2024 collection, her name is Shamina Kamali. OK. And that collection really stood out amongst the pack because there was something in the air that was like, oh, my God, I think Boho is actually back.

19:28OK. Which is crazy because we've had for so long this oversized tailoring. We've had, you know. Well, the row. Exactly. And just the boxy masculine looks like Frankie Shaw. And this T-shirt I'm wearing from H &M is literally a row knockoff. Yeah. But like, you know, Boho has just been really kind of nowhere. But I think again, with this millennial throwback, the Boho is coming back. So everything was lace at the VMAs. Everything. Yeah. And I and I I will admit, even for myself, I told you I went to we have this great thing in Toronto where I got a personal shopper for secondhand clothing. It was amazing.

20:06I bought like three lace tops. I wore one in the shoot for Charlotte Tilbury. We'll post it. And like, I'm feeling it. I'm totally feeling it. And so I was excited because this new fragrance, I read the press kit. It's supposed to be their biggest launch in eight years. Okay. For the brand. Right. And I was like, oh, Shamina, maybe she has something to do with this. This is going to smell really special. So I'm reading, I'm reading the press kit and it says It's like it's a reimagination of the original Chloe. They went back to the original perfumer. And the whole thing is supposed to be just like in the original, an ode to women.

20:42Okay. And, you know, an ode to women and sisterhood. And like, I love this idea. And he created this new scent with his son. Perfect. And it's just like circle square, guys. Sounds very French. And again, like I wore it like three times because I really wanted to love it. And I was just like, oh, it's not it. It is not it. It's you know what it is feeling a big perfume. Well, it's not modern. It's Cody, right? That's an example of like they licensed it out to Cody. Right. This is what happened in Miu Miu when they first launched their fragrance ages ago. I was so excited about it. And it was like the bottle, everything was on point.

21:23The juice inside. I was like, this is Cody. And, you know, this is it. And I asked so many times, did Shamina have anything to do with the making of this? And it's just cricket. So it's still that like one hand not talking to the other, which I don't love. And that's why I think I'm not betting big on these fashion brands. Well, I don't know about that because the counterpoint to that is Hermes just launched their new first fragrance in a decade. And that is kind of throwing back to that episode where we talked to those beauty editors and you and I both threw to my fave was Chanel, your fave was Hermes.

21:58And we both have the same thought, which is that these people have in-house perfumers. Yeah. That these accords and the things that they're bringing to the table are so deeply rooted in the house that it's just like it all meshes. So this one from Hermes, it's Barrenia. And it's... That's what it's called? Yeah. B-A-R-E-N-I-A. Okay. And it's Barrenia. Barrenia maybe. Yes. I'm sorry. And it's a new perfume that's as chic as the Birkin bag. Ooh. And apparently it's really inspired by the rich patina that you get on a saddle over time. So it's going to be a sheepra, which we have not seen in a hot minute.

22:35Yeah, that's true. And the bottle even draws inspo from the Collier de Chien, the leather bracelet that you always see, which was first released by the Maison in the Roaring Twenties. And so it's just like tie in after tie in after tie in to the house. and it's not as it's not as pricey as you would think. So for three ounce, it's one hundred and seventy U.S. dollars. OK, I'm sorry. Like some of them out there now are seven hundred dollars. Well, that Chloe one is one fifty. Yeah. But I've always said Hermes like, I mean, Hermes is my favorite fragrance house, but that's totally different than, you know, when you have this big conglomerate.

23:16That's like this is what we're. Yeah. Yeah. The difference between the two. Exactly. And it's their first fragrance in a decade. Yeah. They don't come out. They take their time with all of these things. So I can't wait to smell it. I cannot wait to smell it. A Sheepra. It's like, oh, yeah, that is that's if you're going to go there, it better be so good. And I think it could usher in a whole new genre of people wearing that type of fragrance, which tends to be quite polarizing. Right. Well, this this was the thought with the Chloe is I was like, maybe some people will love it because it's so old school.

23:49that maybe TikTok generation will be like, oh, this is cool. Whereas for me, I'm like, this smells like a grandma. Right.