Capsule #28 ft. Naomi May

Hello hello!

Are you full of party energy or are you ready to unwind? Regardless of where we’re meeting you right now, there’s something in this newsletter for you. We’re thinking again about documenting your life in photographs, this time with words from Solange. We also talk about TikTok therapy (suspend your judgement), the latest viral beauty trend and a hack for nailing festive partywear. 

Plus the wonderful Naomi May is here to share her Hot & Not list with us 🪄 

Have a great weekend,

Holly x

On taking photos…

In an early issue of Capsule, we talked about resisting the urge to photograph everything and post it, and the weird anxiety around photo dumps (when is it too late? Who will care? Will I care if I miss a month?). The questions made it pretty clear that a lot of the time, trying to document your life on social media isn’t the best way of preserving memories. You cherry pick the highlights, save a gap for some acceptable, self-deprecating lows, and in focusing on the capturing of it all, struggle to be present in the moment. The point of life is to live, not record, etc. 

In a recent piece for Document Journal, Solange shared that over the past four years, she’s had photographers take portraits of her to document “the quiet moments”. Since this practice began, Solange explains, she’s “spent a lot of time exploring the spaces I want to occupy; the places I want to call home; the work that, in twenty years, is going to matter the most to me”. The resulting images aren’t just beautiful artefacts, but the vessels in which the answers to these questions are carried.

Sharing how she feels looking at these photos, Solange says: 

So why does the Solange series feel different to our common Instagram practice? For two reasons, I think. Firstly, brevity. This is not about agonising over which ten photos you’ll choose from the 25,000+ in your iCloud every month. This is a limited number of portraits, designed to mark a moment without striving to do it all. Secondly, intention. This is a project with a clear brief, not a rolling stream of content that will never be satisfied. 

I assume most of us here aren’t super rich and probably aren’t about to budget for a quarterly professional photoshoot. But we are all friends, lovers, daughters, sisters, sons, brothers, and we have people close to us who can fill the gap. It might be a nice idea to agree with someone close to you to take photos a few times a year, or even once a year, and take the time to write a little passage about where you’re at in the moment. What are you proud of? What still worries you? How has this year been different from the last? This gives you some beautiful photos (that you may critique in the moment but will no doubt cherish in years to come), and massively beats the semi-stressful IG dump. 

While we’re on the topic of how content makes us feel…

The Atlantic published a piece this week arguing that the increase in content about topics like anxiety and trauma (there are now more than 5,500 podcasts with the word trauma in their title!) is contributing to how we feel, worsening our mental health. I agree that mental health has become a bit of a branding exercise, evident in Unwell, Alex Cooper’s (Call Her Daddy) new media brand. 

For a long time the discourse around mental health was “we need to start the conversation”, and now those conversations are happening in public forums, but in a sort of generic, surface level way. We’ve created one liners that could be applied to almost any situation (“set your boundaries”) without focusing on the specific details of your circumstances. That being said, I do think there’s value in the existence of personal well-being content; there’s clearly an appetite to learn more, help yourself, and feel a bit less alone. 

In the Embedded newsletter this week, Kate Lindsay highlighted Meg Josephson as a good quality example of someone talking about mental health online (Meg is a San Francisco-based psychotherapist who has also has experience working in social media). Her TikTok and Instagram content is a little pared back compared to other stuff you’ll see in this arena; her voice is soft, measured, almost ASMR-adjacent. She shares short “reminder” style content, which is broad by nature, but calmer and less definitive than other videos in this space.

I think she’s worth a follow if you struggle with this time of year, or sit in the camp of wanting to have better quality mental health conversations that go beyond joking that anxiety is your personal brand. And if you want to hear from the horse’s mouth why therapists should be on social media, read Meg’s interview with Embedded here. 

Next up…

So many of today’s current zeitgeisty beauty trends ladder back to Hailey Bieber. See: glazed nails, strawberry girl makeup and donut skin. Her latest trend has landed just in time for Christmas: Sugar Plum Fairy Makeup. Like its predecessors, it’s pink and girly, and will do well because Hailey is the face of it. I’m also pretty sure that she’s seen those Dude... YouTube videos, specifically ‘Dude, blush placement changes your whole face’.

So many makeup trends don’t really leave the bedroom; they exist to play with and create content around and that’s the whole thing. With that in mind, it’s fun to see other creators chime in to adapt the trend for different needs - this ‘Brown Girl friendly Sugar Plum Fairy makeup’ video is a nice example, and features little tweaks like using a more purply blush and eyeshadow to suit darker skin tones.

And finally… 

A simple yet genius piece of advice to help you choose your outfits for upcoming festivities. If your plans are dinner-based, opt for a jazzy top. It’s the only thing on show for most of the time. If the event is more like standing in a bar, bowling, dancing, etc, play with the bottom half more: metallic trousers, showstopper skirts, killer boots. Thank you to TNM’s Chazzy for the wisdom.

This week, Naomi May popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅‍♀️ …

Naomi is a writer and editor based in London. She currently works at ELLE and has recently completed her debut novel, a work of literary fiction, and is seeking representation. Agents, sign her!

📺 Watching: Noelle, another clichéd Christmas movie for your sofa hangs this weekend, and Olivia Rodrigo’s tiny desk concert, which is just so great. Loved finding out that ‘Lacy’ started as a poem. And while you’re there, give Noname’s another spin.

📖 Reading: Short stories from Granta 163: Best of Young British Novelists 5, which would make a great Christmas gift if you’re still looking.

🎧 Listening to: ‘Drive Baby’ by Delacey and Valley Boy (normal mood), ‘Ruined’ by Adrienne Lenker (let me be on my own mood) and ‘JOY’ by Pheelz and Olamide (time to cheer up and get out mood). And the SZA interview with Zane Lowe, as we await the new album.

Pixie spends a lot of time looking at the ground, and with that, she’s noticed more boys hopping on the ballet flat trend. Far from taking over the trainer supremacy, but for those who are open to trying something new and know that gender expectations suck, they offer a delicate way of balancing out a baggy trouser and will certainly turn a few heads at the next soirée. 🩰

If you’d like to adopt Pixie or one of her friends, click here to learn more.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear how you’re finding Capsule - let me know here. And if you have a friend who might like it, please forward on 🥺

See you next week 💋