The Beauty Founder Giving Away His Fortune, “Looksmaxxing” Gone Too Far and the One Body Oil You Need This Summer

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30:34What else? Well, I would like to talk about something that's kind of popping up on TikTok called the natural nail movement. Oh yeah. You've been, you've been like wanting to talk about this. Yeah. So I'm just finding that there are a lot of creators and many of them are privileged, rich, and they are basically coming out and being like, I'm not getting my nails done anymore. I don't have the time. I'm too busy. AKA I'm like too important to go sit there and get my nails done for an hour and a bit. And then other people are like, yeah, totally. But then I'm like, is that really the reason or is it that it used to be something reserved for the rich and powerful and who could afford it and who could afford the time and who had help at home to take care of the kids and now that that it's so accessible they don't want to do it anymore let's let's pivot back to natural and that's I think actually what's happening so you think it's more contrived I think nails were a status symbol that you have the time and the money to go and do it right now every Tom, Dick and Harry has their nails done.

31:40Not desirable, but it's not as it's more aspirational to say you don't do it now. Right. OK. Do you see what I'm saying? I see what you're saying. Yeah. Because you're like, I don't care enough. Well, it's like they want to have groomed hands, but they're like time is wasted. Yeah. In the in the salon. Right. It's like adjacent to the, you know, three hundred dollar pair of shredded jogging pants that people would be wearing around to LA. They're like, I'm so rich that I can wear. You can cosplay poor. Yeah, I look exactly. That's exactly it. Well, that's what Bethany Frankel does all the time.

32:15She cosplays as middle class and she's like a billionaire. I verging on it for sure. Yeah. She's just like, look at my drugstore makeup. Right. Look at me. I love the people. Right. Meanwhile, she's got, you know, so much access, so much wealth. Right. And I always say she cosplays as poor. Yeah. Well, the original sentiment I can relate to where I do, because I do feel like I'm so busy that it is hard to take the time to go and like to get there, to sit there. It's really like a pedicure is fine. I bring my computer, it's on my lap and I'm working. Yeah. But a manicure, your hands are like, you have to give them your hands and you really can't, you can't be on the phone.

32:56So it is to do that every two weeks. It is a time commitment. It is. So in principle, I actually do relate to that. Yeah. And there I think there have been times when I was like in the winter or whatever, where I was like, I'm just going to do natural nail and put oil on it. And like, you know. Yeah, I want to go. And then there's like hash. If you search up hashtag natural nail journey, I think that's also part of it where certain people have just been wearing gels for so long, they don't even know what their natural nail looks like. So they want to sort of like strip it back and just do grooming.

33:30Right. Like even for me, that's what kind of what ideally what I would want to have is like really immaculately groomed nails, but not necessarily be getting gel under the UV or shellac every two weeks. I'm just kind of like ready for something different. And then, like I said, it's kind of like the anti status symbol. But I also do think it's the natural nail movement probably does play into the recession, you know, like where it's just more affordable. If you are cutting costs, getting your nails done at home, using the Glamzilla press-ons, whatever. Yeah. There's way more options now to do that.

34:06Absolutely. Like all my friends' kids that are teenage girls, like your daughter's age, they all are freaking experts at doing the OPI system at home. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. I have a friend who her daughter does that as well. I think it's the, is it the KISS system? Do they have one? There's an at-home one. And yeah, she like is obsessed with it and loves doing her nails that way too. So I'd be curious to hear what all of you think about that. Yeah. I mean, I feel a bit bad for like manicurists right now because I think I think the other reality, it just is the economy. The same way that I feel bad for a lot of restaurants, although you're always telling me it's still impossible to get into a restaurant in Toronto.

34:51But I'm like, I walk out of there with Kevin and I'm like, well, there's five hundred dollars I'll never see again. Yeah, of course. But you had a great time. Right. Right. It's was it hard to get a seat? Was it busy or empty? It's just like it's just so expensive now. So I I've been on a dinner date with Kevin. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. The beers are like water. Yeah, no, exactly. We were all enjoying ourselves. It's just like, yeah, when you go out, you're going to enjoy yourself. Yes. And that's it has a cost, unfortunately. But what are we going to do? It's why we live in a city. Yeah. You're going to be at you're going to be a trad wife and make your sourdough.

35:28No, but I'm doing more at home dinners. I'm having people over. Yeah. You know, I'm getting the I'm really into candle dinner table candles now, like the sticks and just sitting around and putting records on and jazz and like chatting. Dancing. That's lovely. That's a really nice thing to do. Sipping tequila shots. Yeah. You know, I love that. Yeah. So I want to talk about another interesting thing in the content space. And that is Sephora is coming out with a lot more content. They actually are launching. It just launched this week from May 18th to June 8th. They are doing a series with makeup on Mario.

36:10What are they doing? It's a beauty hotline. Oh. So what it is, it's called Mario's Beauty Booth. Oh. And it's a series and collab with Sephora. And it's a virtual hotline for beauty advice. So it's short form videos where Mario solves beauty dilemmas for creators and founders in real time. So I think there's going to be guest spots of other prominent people. Oh, that's so fun. It is fun. Yeah. And it's going to be on Sephora's TikTok channels. Okay. In probably most markets, I would imagine. And it's going to be every Monday and Thursday. And like I said, from May 18th. So it just started. And it's supposed to be easy to follow demos and tips directly from Mario.

36:51Okay. So it's like an ask the editor, ask the expert type of column we used to have back in our fashion magazine days. With better lighting. Yeah. But I saw on Mario's TikTok, and you know, we love him and I love so many of his products. They had a big cake at his office where they were celebrating their best week ever in sales. Oh, wow. On their direct-to-consumer site. So I love to hear that from him. And then obviously he's such a huge partner with Sephora. But I mean, it's interesting to me, though, that brands like Sephora are going this route, creating their own content versus I think it says a lot about influencer marketing right now.

37:31Right. And where we're at. Instead of them spending huge budgets to have 10, 20 big influencers talk about the Makeup Armario palette. Yeah. They're allotting marketing budget to stuff like this. Mm hmm. Well, it seems like it's almost bringing them closer to the customer. Yeah. It's a different level of engagement that you just can't get from a billboard or kind of sunset. Yeah. Or just like, you know, marketing out these different brands where you're always spotlighting them. But you're it's just doesn't have that engagement that comes back to Sephora. I feel like this is a good move. Yeah. Smart move for them.

38:13Yeah. I noticed that Sephora has now built in and I don't know and I don't know enough about this world, but they built in their own app into chat GPT because I think what was happening was everybody was going to chat GPT and saying, which lip color should I get? Whatever, whatever. And not using the AI shopping bots on Sephora. So they had to figure out a way to work within the chat GPT universe. I wanted to ask you about this clavicular clavicular. Well, I'm definitely late on the draw of talking about this topic. He's an online streamer. I know that. That's right. And his real name is Brandon.

38:51Let me find it. Brayden Eric Peters. Yeah. 20 years old. Oh, yeah. Do you want to come on the mic? Yeah. You honestly should. Come on in. I'll move over. OK, guys, we're going to we're going to invite. Are you Gen Z or Millennial? I'm Gen Z. OK, we're we are in the studio with our wonderful producer, Olivia, and she's Gen Z and she's going to give us the Coles Notes. Hi, everybody. Hi, Breaking Beauty Pod fam. Oh, my gosh. All right. Tell us everything we need to know about clavicular. Brandon, as he's known. Brandon, I think. Yeah. Okay. So to my understanding, clavicular began looks maxing at the ripe old age of 15, I want to say, or 16, which I think is just like, you're going to go through puberty at that point.

39:36So the before and afters, I feel like, is just growing up. But he has taken a variety of methods to really try to enhance his appearance. Max's looks. Yes, to Max's looks, as one might say. Most notably would probably be taking a hammer to his cheekbones, believing that that's going to enhance. Jaw crushing, I believe that's called. Exactly. Yes. Enhancing his bone structure. Additionally, he claimed to have microdosed methamphetamines and Adderall in order to give more of a gaunt appearance and to, again, intensify those cheekbones. He's also spoken about taking out college loans, but not going to school and instead utilizing that cash for surgeries, among many other things.

40:17And I believe recently he overdosed and spoke about it on the Impulsive podcast. So that's my understanding of clavicular Braden, as one might have it. And yes, the world's worst influence for a young man is what he is. And if you have a son, be afraid, be very afraid. And it was interesting because before I had read about or seen what was going on with this particular influencer, I had an instance with someone in my family and they had said to me, you know, you should be really careful about your son because there's something going on with all these online dating apps. They're really bad because what's happening is that girls are basically like, let's say a girl is average looking.

41:09So she's like a five or six out of 10. They on mass are really only wanting to date guys that are like eight out of 10 to 10 out of 10. So what's happening is these average males who are like five or six out of 10 are being left out and like nobody is attracted to them. and therefore they're real. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop everything that you're saying because I don't think you realize it. But right now you are. This is incel language and I don't you have somehow wandered down this road on the computer and you don't even know that what you're talking about is that language.

41:54And that really frightened me. And I was like, actually, you're the one who needs, we need to have a talk with because this is like really messed up. And I'm like, I just think, I think like, you know, not what, what you talk about. And, but then it was right after that, that all of this happened with clavicular where, you know, this whole idea of ascending, right. Which is the idea that you might be naturally a five or six out of 10, but you want to get to eight, nine or 10, that's ascending. And so there's all this language like, oh, I'm ascending right now, bro. Like that. I'm ascending, bro.

42:34But it's like it's minute by minute. It's second by second, you know, and and it's a way of living. And it's like, I feel I actually feel really bad for this kid. Yeah. I feel like he is really messed up and And I'm a mama bear. So I'm just like, I just want to hug this guy and be like, dude, bro, let it go. Like, let it go. And just like, it's OK. Like touch grass. This is so, you know, it's just so misguided. Yeah. And it is really, really sad, you know, but but the scary part is that it is spreading around and people. So because it's like this TikTok language, you hear people all the time talking about maxing this, maxing that and using it in other contexts and mogging.

43:19Oh, God. Oh, like this mogging, this mogging that. And it's like. What's that? Mogging is when you are in a photo with somebody and you look better than that person in the photo. But again, it's like that even that language, it's just it's taking the the superficial and everything that we ever worried about TikTok with our kids. and what is the word? Making it into a human, like crystallizing it. Personifying. Personified. Clavicular is everything that we were scared about happening on the internet to young kids personified. That's what that is. And it is like, it's really frightening. And so I felt like I missed the moment.

44:06I wasn't really going to talk about it. But like I said, because it kind of was became personal when somebody in my life came and talked to me and was like using this, this language and discussion and the insult stuff is not new. And I don't even know if Brandon understands that. Right. Fucking Braden, whatever. But like, I care, I promise. But like, I don't even think I don't even know if he knows it. And I've seen clips because now I'm locked in the algorithm. So now I see all the clips of him on other podcasts. And when there's like grown guys who are trying to have an intelligent conversation and being like, do you know, are you aware that this is in subtle language and theory theorizing and so on?

44:55And he just, he's like, I'm out and walks out of the room. Like he refuses to have the discussion, which I find really odd because it's like at least justify your position or clarify your position. So I literally I'm like, are you an incel or are you not? But he's dating girls. He's dating girls. But the thing that he talks about with that is that it's only worthwhile if he's streaming and he's out with them because it's the perception of machismo. Right. And so I think to what's interesting about it is it's like this looks maxing trend is just young men experiencing what young women have experienced for millennia, like for as long, the dawn of time, right?

45:35Like, I mean, this podcast, you know, we all like spend time in the morning putting on our makeup and the art of transformation. Exactly. Exactly. So it isn't a new idea, but the thing that's so it's so harmful, the rhetoric and what's being brought forth. It's like, I don't think there's anything inherently so extreme. Exactly. It's so extreme, right? Like micro dosing math and dangerous. It's incredibly dangerous. And it again, to your point, it worries me about like what this is putting into like the cultural ether. I don't think there's anything wrong with men caring about the way that they look or wanting to be more attractive.

46:10We all have thoughts about the way that we present. Right. Yeah. But it's like the way in which he's doing it and then making it attractive to other young men or I think we're making it low key slide in. I think that's that's more what it is the danger yeah absolutely is just like the norm the normality that he's trying or the normalcy that he's trying to create around it when it's like hey this is really not normal at all yeah and don't even get me started on the jester maxing i don't know what that is but that's like if you're a clown but they call it jester maxing instead of just you're an idiot but real yeah wow and i think brayden is is jester maxing personally this is me challenging him to a fight right now.

46:50Yeah. Well, I was just going to say, listening to all of this, it just sounds like it is a Logan Paul stunt or Jake Paul. Right. Like, I feel like it's not real. There's been speculation, but then there's apparently his parents are really worried. And some people speculate that he might be neurodivergent. And this is not a slight to anyone who's neurodivergent at all. It's just kind of like an observation that perhaps the level of obsessiveness with one topic could be something like that. But, you know, we're all armchair speculating and we don't know. But yeah, this is what's going on and it's not stopping.

47:30Well, thank you, Olivia. Thank you for having me on as the Gen Z correspondent. Thank you. Welcome you back. We need you all the time, but we're going to need your hot takes if we continue to be more POV here in the Dear Media Studios. We're going to wrap it up with a headline that I had, I could not believe when I read it. It's late breaking. And this is the headline. Elf Cosmetics co-founder renounces fortune to join the Catholic priesthood. What? Stop. Oh, you know what? Do you want to know more? This is all clicking to me now. This is all clicking to me now. Popular makeup brand co-founder renounces fortune from his$3 billion business to become a Catholic priest.

48:17And his name is Scott Vincent Borba. I know exactly who it is. We had talked about having him on the show a decade ago, like literally when we started the podcast. Yeah, but I also looked into it a year ago. So I went down this rabbit hole. Because you were thinking of trying to find different people. Yeah. And it says he's ditched the multimillion dollar high life of hobnobbing with the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian to pursue priesthood, donating his entire fortune, including cash, cars and a cushy California beach house to charity. The father, in this article, they put it in quotes, the father to be denounced his lavish lifestyle after having a come to Jesus moment at an industry party.

49:01Can I just ask, where are you reading this from? Where is this quote from? This is from the New York Post, of course. Oh, my God. The language, the father to be with quotes around father. This is New York Post's language. He had a come to Jesus moment. I'm dead. He's 52 and he will be ordained in his hometown in California by the Diocese of Fresno on May 23rd. He's getting ordained tomorrow. Wow. Well, congratulations to him. I looked into him having him on the show like a year ago and I saw this highly religious path and everything. And I was like, hmm, would this make for a good podcast or is this just too straying from what we do?

49:49The two left field. Well, I'm very I'm more interested now than I was. And he apparently told a news outlet, ABC. I'm not sure which city it was in. He said, I was a poster boy for luxury living. He confessed about his hedonistic habits. Once again, this is page six. His hedonistic habits as a head honcho at ELF. an acronym for eyes, lip, face, as we know. And he created this with his father, father and son, Alan and Joseph Shama in 2004. So there were three founders. Right, right. And he was an esthetician. Yeah. And he used to give facials to like Mila Kunis. Yeah. And so Elf Cosmetics obviously is the umbrella company that owns Naturium, Rode, whatever.

50:38He said, My life has been called down to the bare minimum. I've never been happier in my life. Yeah. The 180-ist of the 180s has happened. But, you know, the vow is what's it called? The vow of chastity, obviously, but the vow of poverty. Oh, I don't know. So it is a 180. Yeah. And like you say, it's never too late to achieve your dream. Like, honestly. Well, let's hope that the sentiment lasts. Yeah. Or in the seminary. Yeah. I don't know. I couldn't believe what I was reading. Yeah. No, I that takes the cake. Well, to each his own, whatever makes you happy. Absolutely. You know, if it's if it's God, if it's the the green God being money.

51:24Yeah. It's your path. It's your journey. You do you. You do you. No judgment. Yeah. On that note. On that note, you're off to make your billions with Cassatt. There's a there's a path for you. Oh, my gosh. I sure hope so, everyone. And I sure hope so. Well, thank you for tuning in, everybody. We will be back next week with the K-Beauty Shopping Guide. Let us know what you think of these hot take episodes. We have a lot of fun putting them together. And hopefully you enjoyed listening. See you next week. Thanks for listening. You can find details on every product mentioned in today's episode, along with our exclusive promo codes on our blog at BreakingBeautyPodcast.com.

52:01While you're there, be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Every episode will be delivered directly to your inbox. so you won't miss a single thing. And get social with us. Let us know what you think of the episode. You can follow us on Instagram at Breaking Beauty Podcast. And did you know we also have a private Facebook group? Just search Breaking Beauty Podcast chat room. You can even leave us a voicemail at any time with questions or feedback at 1-844-227-0302. And don't forget to subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts fixed. Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts, where you can show us some love by writing a review.

52:37See you next Wednesday.

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