SpR1nG Br3akErS/E1d mUbar3k
I will be gone for a week for one of the two things listed above!
Happy Friday ⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚
If you are receiving this email, that means you are reading the Fifth Cute, Kind Of Weekly Newsletter! You might have also noticed that I am sending the newsletter a week early. That is because I am going on a spring break! It is actually because Eid is next week and I got a ton of stuff to do. I cannot handle the emotional toll of dealing with my mom and trying to get two decent posts up. For the mood board, I did like an Eid look inspo board, which turned into a commentary about Global South worker exploitation. Also, huge update for my Palestine liberation readers regarding Huda Beauty and Kayali fragrances in the beauty news section.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy and have a great Eid - Laila
*Past One Week
☆ BEST GLEE PERFORMANCES OF ALL TIME, ACCORDING TO ME (Free) — The other day was the 10-year anniversary of the premier of the very last episode of Glee (did I write that right?), which I did not know until yesterday. Not saying it’s a sign for you to read this post, but it kind of is, don’t you think? Anyways, I say it in the post, but this was hard af. I still have like 30 other performances I love too. Maybe, I will do second edition one day.
☆ NEWSLETTER #4: THE HOT GIRL WALK (Free) — I thought I would throw my newsletter from last week in here because I only have one post to share. I do a mood board on my hot girl walk agenda.
Not beauty news but in news that affects me emotionally, JW Anderson has left Loewe.
Enjoy my favorite TikToks of him:
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Ok, while writing the mood board section, I actually found out Huda Beauty sold its shares for its fragrance line Kayali to cofounder Mona Kattan and American investment firm General Atlantic in February of this year. Huda Kattan, owner of Huda Beauty, has been an avid supporter of Palestine and the end of the Palestinian genocide since 2023, which makes the selling shares to General Atlantic disappointing to the brand’s fans seeing that the firm has an office in Israel and invested $750 million in Israeli tech companies since 2019.
Ok, so I made this mood board in like 10 minutes, so this is my subconscious speaking NAWT my conscious*. But this some Eid makeup and hair inspiration.
*Editing Laila here. I do not know what this actually means but I am going to leave it in because it is kind of funny
I might be wearing baby pink outfit with subtle white embroidery and pearl accents. Then I have this seafoam green one with iridescent sequins and white embroidery. I might wear the second one to a wedding in June. (Also, I am going back to Chicago, if you have any gluten-free recommendations, please give them to me). I want to wear the pink, since the color matches the spring season better, but the seafoam one is cute too.
For makeup, I definitely want to do a subtle pink makeup, and if I am feeling adventurous in the morning, I will do something iridescent. I honestly think though I will end up doing something like the bottom-left photo with gold eyes and pink cheeks.
I want to do something like the Ariana Grande half-up half-down look in the upper right corner. However, the middle-top with the curved in layers is a favorite for me right now.
Also the middle-second photo is going semi-viral on twitter right now for being a potential Eid makeup look. Makes sense since the model and makeup are both gorgeous!
Something about me is that I am very picky about my Pakistani/South Asian attire. It is because, since I live in the U.S., I do not have an opportunity to wear them all the time. So I like to keep my collection very small but also don’t mind wearing my mom’s hand-me-downs. I prefer classic, traditional styles over what’s trending in Pakistan. If I was living in Pakistan or going to 10+ parties a year, I would be wearing everything. But alas, that is not my reality.
Anyways, my mom handles all my clothing. She likes to spend her time on Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube watching all these Pakistani designers and shops to find outfits. She contacts them, usually via WhatsApp, asks for the unstitched design, which gets sent to the tailor (how it gets there, I do not know and I am too afraid to ask). The tailor makes it according to my measurements, and then either my lovely uncle or auntie pick it up and bring to U.S. for me. That is the straight forward process. Sometimes, the designer stitch it too, I am not sure, but at least I know my mom has done the above process several times.
In Pakistan (or South Asia, in general), it is normal to buy the unstitched outfit and have the tailor sew it together according to your measurements. So so so different from buying clothing in the U.S.
Ok, forget the mood board for a second, a lot of people don’t know this but most of the ready-to-wear luxury fashion is actually produced in South Asia. So when you are buying that YSL button-up* it is not made by Parisian tailor with 60 years experience but a mom in Bangladesh who has been sewing since childhood, usually in awful conditions.
*I grazed the YSL website and most of their products were made in Italy and could not find anything made in South Asia. I thought I would note that since I used the brand as an example. According to this NYT article from 2020, that was not always the case.
My mom was born and raised in Pakistan. She is conservative leaning in religion but also regarding gender, which makes sense how she was raised. She told me when she was in grade school, she was actually taught cooking, sewing, and general homemaking. She is also very adamant on “how’ girls should act like not showing themselves through media like public instagrams, youtube videos, etc. I do not know if it is related to mainly safety or just religious/cultural conservatism but I believe it is both. Either way, I do not listen LMAO.
Just to circle back, this is why South Asians are phenomenal tailors and embroiders. Even men, who usually learn tailoring due to it being the family business. In Pakistan, women working is cultural, but it mainly relates to class too. You know what, this is turning into a completely different post, so I am gonna wrap it up here.
Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts on this.
Nothing. I have been in charge of cooking during Ramadan due to my work schedule. It’s been pretty chill. I have not seen my two best friends in like a month and I might die (I know they are at least opening this email).
Omg wait, I filmed a makeup video last week! I totally forgot. I got a comment on my YouTube that was like “it’s been a year </3” and it broke me. So I was like let me film a little something for this angel, even with my braces. It is a manga lash tutorial. It came out ok but I filmed it in natural light and I think it would have been better in artificial. We live and learn.
I run my YT as a way to fulfill my childhood fantasy of being a beauty guru. It is so much fun and I would love to do it forever.
So look out for it!
Friends, I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and found it interesting.
I’ll be back in April, so please do not miss me!
Have a good weekend and I hope you enjoy your Eid and spring breaks❤
Love,
Laila
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