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Beauty offers mobility beyond ones original upbringing and class.
It took years of being a beauty writer and editor before I had anything injected into my face.
The place was upholstered, wallpapered, and appointed to reflect the comfort of a well-designed home.
You know youre in a fancy-pants establishment when it doesnt look like what it is at all.
I poked and pinched at my lips making sure I couldnt feel anything before we got down to business.
It took less than ten minutes to have my mouth sensually buttressed with hyaluronic acid fantasies.
Pressing my lips together, I could feel soft little lumps squidging around.
Its just the swelling, they said there would be swelling!
And when the swelling subsided, those lumps remained because they were indeed filler.
Shed used Restylane Silk (the Rolls-Royce of filler, as I was told at the time).
But liquid scaffolding that it is, you’re able to feel it in your lips.
Also, to my mild horror, they were slightly uneven.
You fill, you learn.
There, plastic surgerys greatest stigma is often its obviousness; the best work is largely invisible.
In New York City, the tolerance for artificial beauty is mostly limited to its discretion.
Effortlessness is less about actual effort and more about proximity to class.
Beauty offers mobility beyond ones original upbringing and class.
But beautys empowerment is mired in a constant negotiation between individual benefit and communal care.
Flawlessness easily becomes a sunk-cost fallacy because its a forever moving target these days more than ever.
At some point, you have to check yourself.
Also, nobody can anticipate how theyre going to feel in the future.
Its entirely possible that you just wont care after a while.
It bears reminding that trends change, and that whatever is popular now wont be popular forever.
Sometimes patience is the best way to deal with flaws.
Lots of times youll come to realize that whats flawed was your perception.
Excerpted from DIE HOT WITH A VENGEANCE, provided courtesy of Dey Street/HarperCollins Publishers.
Copyright 2024 by Sable Yong.
