The cultural markers that show a shift is upon us? Conservatism is slowly touching everything around us. Clean girl aesthetic, quiet luxury, trad wives, neutral tones, “blanding” and, now add to all that—skinny brows. Now on their own, the fact that each of these things is “in” means nothing. But when you zoom out, you see they’re all connected. All pointing to the fact that rebellion (AKA standing out) is out. And being a good little girl (AKA blending in) is, well, in. [Keep reading]

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Can I get a hellllll yeah.

Sora was allegedly supposed to be the future of video creation, letting users generate high-quality clips from text prompts. But adoption never took off the way OpenAI hoped. The problem wasn't the technology; it was that most people don't actually need AI-generated video for anything meaningful.

Also, everyone f*cking hates the implications on the film and arts industry. Brands tried it (quietly). Creators experimented with it. But no one found a compelling use case that justified integrating it into their workflow. It's the same issue plaguing a lot of generative AI tools right now: they're impressive as demos but don't solve real problems. A reminder that not every AI product is destined to be essential.

Then there’s me, solving real problems, for you, because I love you: like reading these AI novels so you don’t have to. Well, reading Mashable’s article about reading the AI novels so you don’t have to. Same same. Interesting that while some authors are being shunned for AI writing, others are being published on the basis that they’re AI.

The argument in favour is that there's massive demand for YA content and not enough authors to meet it. So why not use AI to fill the gap?

The argument against is that writing is fundamentally human. That stories matter because they reflect lived experience and emotional truth. And that replacing authors with algorithms hollows out the entire industry. The real question is whether they're actually any good.

Answer: they're competent in the most soulless way possible. The prose is functional, the pacing is formulaic, the characters hit all the expected beats without ever feeling real. It's like reading a story written by someone who's analysed thousands of YA books and understands the structure but has never felt anything. The emotional beats land on the page but not in your chest. You’re welcome.

I think it may be time for us to touch grass. Hence the ever-growing movement of people trying to get offline and spend less time on their phones, using tools like Brick, Opal, and a resurgence of print media.

Brick is a physical device that blocks apps on your phone for a set period, forcing you to be present. Opal is an app that gamifies screen time reduction. Even print media is making a comeback among people who are exhausted by the endless scroll and want something tactile, slower, and finite. There's now a market for friction. Whether that actually leads to meaningful behavior change or just becomes another thing to optimise is the question. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

Bleached eyebrows are dramatically dropping in popularity.

According to @databutmakeitfashion, beauty searches for #bleachedbrows are down 21%. Online posts are down 71%. And the way people are talking about them has shifted negative - the average sentiment of posts and press mentioning bleached brows in the past week is at 4x the negative magnitude.

I felt a twinge of sadness. But then I remembered: as the trend fades and the posers abandon it, only the real baddies stand strong. Many such cases.

It's also a perfect example of how we're shifting toward conservatism. Again, many such cases.

To me, they’ve always been about rebellion and nonconformity (two of my favourite things, darling.) They’re a choice to opt out of conventional attractiveness, transcending into the otherworldly, ethereal and deliberately weird version of yourself that exists deep within.

Bleached brows say, "f*ck being palatable, I'm going to erase one of the most defining features of my face and dare you to be uncomfortable with it."

WWD reported in December that bleached brows are on their way out, replaced by the return of skinny brows - a beauty code belonging to the 1990s. And that shift is not at all random.

It's part of a massive cultural swing back toward conservative aesthetics, traditional values, and conformity over experimentation.

Quiet luxury, clean girl aesthetic, trad wife content, natural brows, longer hemlines, dissolved filler, removed tattoos…beige f*cking everything.

The aesthetic shift toward modesty, restraint, and old money sophistication has been building for years. And trend forecasters have been pointing it out the whole time.

Fashion and beauty always foreshadow political shifts. I recently mentioned the hemline index that tracked skirt lengths as economic indicators - short skirts meant optimism, long skirts meant recession.

PrettyLittleThing rebranded from provocative to refined. Searches for "prairie dress" and "puff sleeve" dropped over 30% year-over-year, replaced by "modern minimalism" and "capsule wardrobe." Logo mania died. Visible branding became gauche. Stealth wealth dressing in neutral tones, tailored silhouettes and old money energy took over.

Listen to me: this isn't about fashion, it’s about the current cultural mood. Control, quality, calm. Conformity over counterculture the f*cking beige-ification of everything.

The rebellion is over. The chaos has been tamed. And conservatism is slipping back in under the guise of aesthetic choices and lifestyle trends. At least, that’s how they want you to feel.

What remains are the people who were never doing it for the trend, they were doing it because it genuinely expressed something about who they are.

Bleached brows becoming unpopular means the people still rocking them are making a conscious choice to opt out of the conservative shift and refusing to conform. They're keeping the rebellion alive while everyone else is shopping for capsule wardrobes and talking about glazed donut nails.

That's always been the pattern with alternative aesthetics.

The mainstream borrows them, dilutes them, and eventually rejects them. The people who genuinely live those aesthetics just keep going.

Bleached brows dropping 71% in online posts and 21% in search isn't just about eyebrows. Actually idk if it’s even about eyebrows at all, really.

Fashion and beauty always signal what's coming politically and socially. Right now they're signalling a return to restraint, modesty, and old money values. The angels are losing their wings because culture decided wings are too much for right now.

But the real ones will not lose their wings.

As the trend fades and the posers leave, only baddies stand strong.

 Many such cases.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The audio comes from one of Crankama's streams, where fellow streamer OhBabyILoveMoney (side note: what the hell are these usernames btw) rants "I hate school so much and I'm tired of going." And without missing a beat, he goes "let me write this down." It escalates from there with "All I said was so, uh!" "I'll write that down too."

The dedication is deranged and the internet absolutely loved it. People are using the quote to caption situations where they go into full overly-attentive mode. For example:

Lip-syncing the sound, film yourself in full note-taking mode and put your situation in the on-screen text.

A few ideas to get you started:

-abdel khalil, brand & marketing exec

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Kick tutorial GONE WRONG
❤How wholesome: i ❤ animals
😊Soooo satisfying: Glittery soap ASMR
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Honey Soy Egg Noodles

Hey Sierra!

Every platform does have its own audience and culture, so content that does well one place may or may not perform as well somewhere else. And many big brands have platform-specific strategies, with different content going on each one. But for smaller brands that don't have the resources to do that, there's no downside to posting your videos everywhere and seeing what happens.

So if you're already creating content for TikTok, go ahead and try posting it on Reels, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube shorts. You may find an entirely new audience just by repurposing your content. Just make sure you're interacting with your audience when you do get engagement on those new platforms.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.