Daily Skimm

EDITOR’S NOTE

Happy Sunday. As on most long weekends, I’ve spent the last two days scrolling. My findings this week include Ariana Grande’s dress, which has maybe ushered in the charcuterie core fashion era. Meanwhile, on the other end of the fashion spectrum, Zendaya wore a silver metal bodysuit for the “Dune: Part Two” premiere, and I want to know if it was as…comfortable as it was dramatic. Something else I can’t unsee? Barry Keoghan’s thirst traps for Bumble. He’s someone potentially worth doing wife sh*t for — I wonder if Sabrina Carpenter agrees.

— Alex Carr / Editorial Director / New York, NY

🦷 Condolences to current and future tooth fairies: Some parents are leaving their kids $100 bills. Even Louis Vuitton bracelets.

🤖 In things that shouldn’t be surprising yet still are: How many men are apparently using ChatGPT for dating advice. Don’t worry though, they came up with “u up” on their own.

🛒 Some food for thought: Grocery stores are allegedly the hottest place for a first date — which might explain why supermarket items suddenly seem “so incredibly horny.”

👵🏼 “Put More Gray Hair on the Runways, You Cowards.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

We’ll admit, our first thought after Beyoncé broke the internet with two new songs was, Hold your horses, that metallic lingerie can’t be comfortable. But then we thought, Of course she’s going country. Not because we were smart enough to spot the seemingly obvious hints. Or, because she is, after all, from Houston. But because everyone seems to be into country right now — thanks in part to female artists of color. Besides Beyoncé, Mickey Guyton, Rissi Palmer, and Brittney Spencer (who just released “My Stupid Life”) have been leading the way for female country artists of color. All this renewed attention has some people feeling hopeful that female country artists will finally get their due. In 2022, female artists received just 11% of country radio airplay — and Black and biracial women, an abysmal .03% — but that could change in 2024, given this year’s slate of confirmed album releases: In addition to Beyoncé’s “Renaissance Act II,” expect new music from Kacey Musgraves, Sheryl Crow, and Lana Del Rey, who’s decided to sink her spurs into the genre. Giddy up.

Rarely is a show’s eighth season its most anticipated ever. But Bravo’s “Summer House” may be the exception. For the unfamiliar: The reality TV series (which returns Feb 22) is kind of like if “Big Brother” met “The Real Housewives” with plenty of partying in the Hamptons — which is to be expected when a crew of 20-, 30-, and 40-somethings share a rental house out east. But this time, the drama is hotter and the stakes are higher — mainly because one of the couples unexpectedly called off their engagement, which, yes, went down on camera. Some reality fans are saying this could be “Scandoval” part two. And if this explosive trailer is any indication, that’s putting it mildly.

Just as we were finally about to tackle our laundry chair, something more pressing, more urgent caught our attention. A New York magazine headline asking, “Is Jacob Elordi Too Tall to Be a Movie Star?” Naturally, we had to conduct our own investigation. First we asked, “Just how tall is he?” While the answer — 6 feet, 5 inches — makes Elordi taller than most Hollywood actors and the average US man, it’s not worthy-of-a-double-take tall. Allegedly, his height could be a problem for cinematographers though. And for casting directors, since not all co-stars can measure up (cough, short kings). Counterpoint: Elordi made it work with 5-foot-8 Barry Keoghan in “Saltburn.” Also with 5-foot-3 Sydney Sweeney in “Euphoria.” With six additional projects underway, it seems like this tall king’s height isn’t costing him star power.

Bubble Day Dream Tone & Texture Serum

PSA: You don’t need to spend $100 — who are we kidding, $150 — on a vitamin C serum. This one from Bubble is under $20, and according to one editor, works even better than the expensive ones she’s tried. In addition to vitamin C, the formula gets an assist from niacinamide and alpha arbutin, which help smooth and even skin. Plus, ceramides to moisturize — which isn’t a requirement for a good vitamin C serum, but more like a thoughtful extra.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry appear to be attempting some sort of rebrand, or a rebrand of the rebrand. This past week, they relaunched their website, which probably wasn’t supposed to be news — except that eagle-eyed followers picked up on a few royal touches, which was confusing at best and deeply controversial for some parts of the British press. Then there was the fact they’d given their children new names. Specifically, new surnames, which were once “Mountbatten-Windsor” but are now “Sussex” to reflect the Duke and Duchess’s Sussex title, which apparently is no big deal. Harry and Meghan also had one final mic drop before they headed to Canada on Wednesday: The announcement of Meghan’s new podcast, coming soon.

“Me texting my mom at 3am telling her to pick me up from my sleepover and she responds, ‘no you’re 35 years old, those are your husband and your kids’”

— @artsfoodfamily

Trending products and brands our shopping team has been loving recently.

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Each leaf on this faux olive tree is individually made of silk to mimic the real thing. It comes in four different heights and is on sale now. Brown thumbs, this is your moment.

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2. A really good deal on our favorite biker shorts.

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3. A stylish, book-shaped vase for lit lovers.

The narrow rectangular shape is trending right now, and it'll blend in nicely with your book collection. The engraved text (aptly) takes inspiration from "The Language of Flowers" by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, a cult-favorite novel that one of our editors happens to love.

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*PS: Want more product recs? Follow @skimmshopping on Instagram.

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