Editor’s Note: Nothing Is As It Seems

At the start of a new month brings a lot of reflection. Did we meet our goals? What progress do we need to make THIS month? Its always about what we hope feels different by the end of the month because last month wasn’t enough.

And online, especially in the beauty space, it can sometimes feel like everyone else already has everything figured out.

The perfect products.
The perfect routine.
The perfect content.
The perfect life.

But one thing I constantly remind myself of is this: Nothing is as it seems.

And I don’t just mean in the obvious “social media is a highlight reel” way. I think most people understand that by now. What we’re seeing online is curated. But it’s even deeper than that.

We’re not just seeing highlights, we’re seeing specific angles of those highlights. Carefully selected moments that communicate a very specific image.

I think about this a lot when it comes to beauty content because somewhere along the way, we slowly moved away from actual beauty reviews.

Back in the day, beauty lovers used to really show products, swatches, texture shots. They would publish a whole blog post with detailed thoughts about performance and who a product would actually work for.

Then beauty content evolved into creators showing products directly on their skin, which was incredibly helpful especially for Black and brown beauties trying to see how products look on deeper skin tones.

But now, a lot of beauty content seems to stop at the first impression.

The product looks beautiful.
The makeup is glowing.
The skin is perfect.
The video ends.

What often gets left out is the performance part. How did it wear after a few hours? Did it work well with other products? Did they even continue using it after filming?

It’s unfortunate but social media rewards speed, especially short-form content. Creators are encouraged to constantly move onto the next launch, the next trend, the next viral moment.

I think it’s important to support beauty creators, especially marginalized creators, but to also remember that a beautiful moment and a great product are not always the same thing.

Most products fall somewhere between okay and good in my opinion. Truly great products, the ones that consistently perform and become staples over time are much harder to find.

So maybe this month’s reminder is simply to keep a little perspective online. Not negativity, not cynicism, just perspective because what you’re seeing may absolutely be real but It’s probably not the entire story.

xoHanya