BLOG #16: DEINFLUENCING DEINFLUENCERS (ALT. TITLE: DOUBLE NEGATIVE MAKES A POSITIVE)
There’s something fraught happening on the internet. I mean, there’s always something fraught happening on the internet. You could argue that’s literally what it’s for. Tangent: I miss the days when the internet was the wild wild west. As in, you could get hacked at any moment and people weren’t smart/jaded enough to avoid phishing scams; before banner ads and affiliate links (I just learned how those work…money to be made fr). It felt more pure, like is you were a scantily clad woman walking down the street and just had to trust in your handles and the love of your community to get home unscathed. Instead of being worried of your normal things as a scantily clad woman walking down the street alone at night, now the internet feels like being accosted by corner canvasers trying to empathy-splain the ACLU or PETA or Zohran to you. In broad daylight. Wearing a hoodie and some baggy jeans. (No, it’s “never what she was wearing” but I am illustrating a point here.) There is something rotten in the state of Denmark. They’re selling stuff and ideology and stuff disguised as ideology and ideology disguised as stuff all while telling me they’re not selling me…anything. I’d rather fall for a phishing scam a-la-2006, because what the fuck.
The they is influencers. A lot of them do this weird masking thing called ‘de-influencing,’ which has a rather literal definition of ‘things I’m influencing you to not buy’ as opposed to ‘things I’m telling you to buy. Lindsey Rem, for example. She’s an influencer, she’s a little bit pathological about wearing extremely normal clothes, she’s really successful because of that. She posts ‘de-influencing’ videos talking about things she doesn’t want you to buy even though her job is to tell you to buy things. Influencers de-infleuncing; the paradox is why we are supposed to trust them. This video is really more like an over-under thing disguised as anti-consumption encouragement, which is what I think the term ‘de-influencing’ is meant to signal. Look at me, I’m an influencer but I’m telling you to not buy something because overconsumption is bad. Real translation: I’m telling you to not buy something because I know that a lot of people are talking about how overconsumption is bad, which threatens my career, so me telling you to not buy something influences your taste rather than your wallet. ‘De-influencing’ becomes a signal that makes media consumers forget about the fact…that someone is influencing you to not buy something. Or—and I don’t think influencers like Rem are masterminding this kind of effect—influencing you to not buy something now, so you buy something later; so you trust the influencer smart enough to know overconsumption is bad so their future curated lists on what to buy, according to them, hold more weight in the zeitgeist. It’s no shade toward Lindsey Rem or other de-influencers, I watch that kind of content while folding laundry or dusting and I think she’s a cute girl. The fraught thing is the way language flip-flops around, gets more twisted and complicated, for the same end goal: people buying stuff.
People are always gonna buy stuff. Because of this I’m not a real Marxist though I do fundamentally subscribe to such ideologies about material conditions and a unified voice of the people, yadda yadda. I think we should be straight up about telling people to buy stuff and what we like about stuff, not de-influence as an influencer. Less paradoxes please. More phishing scams and less banner ads (web 1.0 will never come back unfortunately and I’m so sad for those who didn’t get to experience at least a little bit of it).
That said, I’m gonna play influencer. These are things that I bought recently that I think you should buy if you want, things that would make great gifts. These are also places you should go to buy things, you know, if you want. No double-negative-ing you into buying stuff, just some effing stuff. There are no clothing things on here though because I am gatekeeping. For now. MayaKotomoriForever Fall/Winter 2025 wardrobe updates coming soon.
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IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER…
- I haven’t bought these yet because they’re dumb expensive for chonies but I’ve tried on over my old ratty undies at Nordstrom and they’re so nice.
- The styles I tried on are the bikini brief, the boyshort, and the French cut, all in cloud cotton. Also the sieve thong in mesh but that’s not an everyday panty. They fit a lot bigger than you’d think; the widest part of my ass and hips is 46” and I wear an L in all of them, and would buy the M-L size for the multipacks (the best deal tbh)
- GOOD FOR: your best girlfriend or significant other or really anyone with a vagina who needs to restock their underwear drawer in grown-up fashion. Obviously, to be supplemented with your existing Hanes/Fruit of the Loom multipack granny panties for when you’re on your period.
- BIAS ALERT these are perfumes made by friend Cara Tortoriello which is a large reason as to why I bought them however the scent descriptions for both available fragrances, Glasswing and Hollow Point, also sounded like stuff I’d buy anyways.
- If you’re a floral person, Glasswing is amazing (creamy purple flowers, very fresh but not super sweet). If you want to smell like a sensual version of the inside of a violin, Hollow Point is for you (rosin involved in this fragrance, it will be my perfect fall/winter scent, it is seriously so sexy). Both fragrances are tough as hell, not just in staying power but also in their profiles. You can also buy a duo and save $20.
- I email-interviewed Cara so here are some notes from Princess Riverbero herself.
- On, the name: Riverbero means “echo” in Italian. I like the way the word looks and sounds. It could also be a reference to perfume being a sort of personal echo that wafts around the wearer. But mostly, I’m attracted to the word itself.
- Why fragrance? Scent has always been my obsession. I’ve compulsively smelled every item I’ve ever interacted with, and perfume appears in my dreams each night. When it comes to my goals with the brand, I’m not looking to totally reinvent the wheel. I do keep abreast of the latest aroma chemicals on the market and pay some attention to trends, but more than anything, Riverbero is my creative practice. It took me a solid 3 years of near-daily experimentation and research before I made anything I was proud of, so quite a slow process. But now I get butterflies when I work on a formula. It’s so blissful and rewarding.
- Favorite nostalgic smells? I’m very prone to nostalgia which is something I’m trying to change, but it does come in handy for this question because I can think of endless nostalgic smells. I would say 1: the leather interior of a Honda Civic on the hottest day of the year. 2: the smell of my clothes when I take them out of a suitcase after a trip, and 3. Mugler’s Angel which I wore religiously in high school,
- Tell me about the scent profiles for Glasswing and Hollow Point. Glasswing is a creamy, aquatic lilac with top notes of honeydew and pear, and a skin-like musk drydown. It’s delicate yet very tenacious. The scent was inspired by the beautiful and shockingly strong Glasswing butterfly. I love to imagine Thumbelina keeping a mini bottle of Glasswing on her lily pad. Hollow Point’s name is a reference to a type of bullet which, upon impact, unfurls into the exact shape of a lily flower. The fragrance does feature lily and metallic notes, but at its core, Hollow Point is about 4 kinds of incense resins: olibanum, myrrh, labdanum, and opoponax. It’s aldehydic, herbal, and a tad smoky.
- Being an indie brand is so special. What are your plans for the future? I want Riverbero to develop into its own little universe and eventually include cosmetics and limited edition specialty products. It’s a delicate balance to cultivate mystique while trying to scale up a business. I’m someone who can’t stand overexposure so I err on the side of never promoting anything I make, which is probably bad. My strategy has been to try to stay true to my creative impulses as they arise and I feel like it tends to work out. Lastly, I want to say that I have a very exciting collaboration coming up later this year that will make the sweetest holiday gift! Stay tuned :0
- GOOD FOR: people who like to smell good. People like me who like to layer fragrances for more customization (you can take Glasswing to a gourmand place, smells really good layered with Phlur Vanilla Smoke and a cigarette. Hollow Point phenomenal when layered with an oud oil). The fragrances stun on their own though you should absolutely try them.
- I bought this because Paloma Elsesser recommended it in her Skin Talk with Laura Love for W Magazine. I met her outside Nightclub 101 last year (mutual friends) and yeah her skin really does look like that. She also offered my friend Ashby and I a Chinese cigarette to share. I was gladly influenced by her on this one via YouTube.
- If you sweat like I do (hyperhidrosis) this bar really gets the total-body film I accrue from normal activities right off. Or if you’re super oily.
- I wouldn’t use this every day cus it’s kinda harsh on my skin, but once a week in the everything-shower; this goes.
- Everything shower routine: full body scrub with the buffing bar focusing on knees, elbows, and other ashy spots; shave if that’s something you do; L’Occitane Shea Milk Extra Rich bar soap in the washcloth or other light exfoliating tool; Lubriderm on damp skin. Fire.
- GOOD FOR: your ashiest/scaliest friends. People who like to buy stuff for their skin that isn’t so pathological. Anyone who wants to have healthy skin but also not disrupt their acid mantle.
- I bought this because I needed one thing at Sephora and left with three things.
- Anecdote: I’ve decided to wear makeup again and it’s really fun. I’m aggressively oily so I often don’t bother with anything but cream contourblushhighlight on my skin because anything powder just melts off, and like, why spend money on powders that will only make me look fucked up? The gorgeous ladies at Sephora on Flatbush ave sold me on this one. I decided on the pressed compact rather than the loose powder so I can throw in my bag and reapply. Yes, I trusted the ladies because they’re Black.
- TIP: If you’re lightskin please be honest with your paleness and get shade 3 for fair skin. Yes the colors are pink but they’re warm pink and truly color-correct the fuck out of high-yellow skin.
- ANOTHER TIP: if you don’t like perfumed things this isn’t for you. Like a lot of designer makeup this powder is fragranced. I personally don’t mind but I do get a little paranoid about what putting the fragrance on my skin does like irritant-wise, but tbh if you care that much you shouldn’t wear commercially-available makeup…throwing it out there.
- GOOD FOR: oily skin people who want to dabble in a matte look that’s still resembles human skin. People who love to pop open a compact on the subway or in the Odeon bathroom or at the function and touch up because it’s such a chic activity.
PAT McGRATH Sublime Perfection Longer Blurring Setting Spray
- After leaving Sephora with two more things than I initially wanted to leave with I went back the next day with my friend Joe in-between a gallery-hopping adventure.
- Anecdote: the lovely women at Sephora SoHo got me right yet again; I was between this spray and Pat’s Glass Setting Spray but was told that one was to make faces glossy, which my skin already does for me with its sweatiness, so I should definitely lock in with the Blurring formulation. I figured if I wanted to try a matte-er face makeup look I should probably actually try and seal it in. I told Joe I needed to stop at Sephora in the middle of our adventure and he said ‘What for?’ and I set setting spray and he said ‘What’s that?’ and I explained it to him and he said ‘Like a fixative for a charcoal drawing.’ He went to art school. So I got my fixative. My face is a drawing.
- This shit actually works, doesn’t feel overly makeup-y, gives the blurring effect so it’s not like a no-makeup-makeup thing but it actually seals in anything matte you’ve applied
- Another anecdote: Joe and I had to pee so we went to REI and I took a moment at the mirror to reapply my Givenchy powder and try out my fixative. I took the train home and my face lasted through two quite humid platforms and one rather uncomfortably un-air conditioned train car later and I felt my face sweating, but not melting off. Excellent
- GOOD FOR: the same Givenchy powder person who wants to maximize the wear of their makeup.
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