Often, the word “flattering” simply boils down to camouflaging your body’s flaws.

With every scrap of data, science nudges a millimeter forward toward a better understanding of how porn might mould us into the people we become.

Here’s how our brains — and the internet — can turn a hobby into a full-blown obsession. (We’re looking at you, YouTube gurus.)

Class anxiety festers and thrives under capitalism. Buying fakes can feel like a sneaky way of beating these luxury empires at their own game.

"The thing that makes these technologies in part both valuable and problematic is that they can do something humans can't do."

Makeup and skincare has taken care of me…or more accurately, it’s helped me to take care of myself.”

When you’re in the middle of the woods and 50 miles away from so much as a cell signal, let alone a Sephora, skincare routines look a little different.

“I love power-clashing patterns... I feel like leopard print is a neutral.” 

“The beauty found in science, just as the beauty we embody ourselves, with or without makeup, can be a very empowering thing indeed.”

For more than 60 years, Weeki Wachee, Florida has laid claim to one of the most curiously awesome roadside tourist attractions in the state

Doesn’t every commercially sold cosmetic undergo extensive safety testing and analysis before hitting shelves? Surprisingly, the answer is…“not really.”

What Garden of Wisdom lacks in sharp aesthetics or Instagrammable packaging, it makes up for in its absurdly accessible prices.

Lady-run cosmetics companies are popping up left and right, offering handmade, cruelty-free alternatives to Sephora.

“If there was just some certainty, it would change everything.”

Tourist guides often say Jackson Street Bridge offers the most iconic view of the city, but I think standing on Memorial Drive at Hill Street facing east is the most Atlanta view of Atlanta.

There wasn’t another human in sight, and, in this setting, there didn’t need to be.

“The term ‘small-batch’ is just a meaningless, offensive term now, but Lance actually makes three barrels of something, and it’s so fucking good.”

“There was a lot of pressure to bring out ‘whales,’ and talk about how you got this beer or how long you waited in line. For lack of a better term, it was a dick-measuring contest, and I wasn’t tasting anything.”

If Nakamura.ke feels like it came from a dream, that’s because it did.

“What I often think when I drink out of those glasses is, these people took their drink seriously.”

Elliott Street is a tiny blue collar stronghold, stubbornly sticking it out as all that glass and steel encroaches, as though someone cast a forcefield around it long before “mixed-use” entered our collective vernacular.

The Ideal Bartender School aims to offer disadvantaged communities an economic path forward—and other organizations are following suit.

“It was like dusting off The Joy of Cooking for the first time in a hundred years to a group of people who really like to eat.”

This steady, slow, rhythmatic, nurturing of a living thing, watching it grow from a slip of green to a thriving, lush being, provides a vital tether to the present, and to my surroundings.

A day bath? In this economy? Capitalism makes the idea appalling — sickening, even. Idle leisure has a terrible ROI.

“Abortion” isn’t a cuss. It’s healthcare.

An untrainable swamp dingo pulls off an unforgettable trick.

It took all of 30 seconds before the low-grade panic set in: I’m not supposed to be in here.

Many kids grow up with an aversion to certain vegetables, but I can recall the exact moment my disdain for Brussels sprouts turned into a full-fledged fear.

In the midst of navigating all the outdated customs that come with planning a wedding, any chance to stray from tradition—like registering for whiskey instead of Waterford—is a revelation.

Whether it’s a serendipitously drawn Empress card or the weight of a smooth stone in the palm of your hand, it’s hard to turn your nose up at a lighthouse in a storm.

For someone growing up in a small-ish Southern town where wealth was displayed via head-to-toe Lilly Pulitzer, this book represented a portal to a whole new world. 

Every last item in my pack had been drenched in rain, perspired through, and air-dried to a wrinkly, sweat-encrusted crisp.