14 November 7, 2017
Arts & Life
Another aspect of body positivity JESSICA RICKS Staff Writer
Courtesy of racked.com
ShopHush founders took the time to figure out what potential clients were looking for in the market before taking on industry competition.
The startup trying for a takeover KERRY INGRAM Asst. Arts & Life Editor
As someone who is an employee of a prestige makeup retailer, I am both embarrassed and mind-blown by the information I’m about to unleash to you: online retailer ShopHush has found a way to sell products that are luxe quality, but for affordable prices. ShopHush, which originally launched January 2016, is an app and website retailer founded by three guys who love technology. Alex Lin, Cooper Mor and Will King teamed up to create a space to sell bargain products, after their initial endeavors with app creation and management left them with the desire to do more. According to Lin in an interview with Racked.com, the trio settled on the beauty industry after attempting fashion first, which ultimately ended up in failure. “Along the way, we tried taking a stab at fast fashion for a month or so,” Lin said. “We tried it and — oh my god. We would show women [the clothes] and they’d be like, ‘Dude, that looks so disgusting.’ At the end of the day, despite us trying, we were humble enough to know that maybe we’re not good at everything.” The team took it upon themselves to hire more women to get their perspective on what they like to shop for, and eventually the makeup-obsessed site was born. The men also took to sites like Reddit in order to get a variety of insights and opinions from online
makeup-themed chats. The site consists of numerous brands, all with low and affordable price points. They pride themselves in the quality of the products, despite them being too inexpensive to carry in major retailers like Sephora or Macy’s. Some of the brands are newer, lesser-known product lines, such as Bad Habit Beauty and Okalan. ShopHush carries other brands that can be found at popular retailers, such as BeautyBlender and Sigma Beauty, adding to the site’s credibility. The brand Bad Habit Beauty, is one that is stealing the spotlight from others on the site. Its selection of palettes are all exact dupes for popular expensive products – it has everything from an Anastasia Modern Renaissance dupe to a Huda Beauty dupe, all for $10 each. And let me just tell you firsthand: the quality and pigmentation of the palettes are the exact same. As a blogger and makeup hoarder, I decided to try out some of ShopHush’s products, and I have to say that I think this is one of the best launches that could have happened in the beauty industry for college students. There’s now a perfect place to shop for beauty products that won’t leave us in even more debt than our tuition already does, while still giving us the quality we deserve. Prepare your wallets, ladies and gents. ShopHush looks like an online retailer that will only continue to grow in success, and it’s time to stop being so hush-hush about it.
With the never-ending stress that college brings, sometimes students end up forgetting to take care of the one thing that really matters: themselves. The Body Image Peer Educators of the Health and Counseling Center at Ward & West put together the event “Nourish Your Body and Skin” Wednesday, Nov. 1 as part of their Love Your Body Week. “Love Your Body Week is an initiative where we have events every day,” said Kiran Kaur, graduate assistant for the Body Image Peer Educators. “We want to increase and improve body positivity. We want people to appreciate and love their body instead of looking down on it.” Love Your Body Week has been an annual event on campus for the past few years, according to Kaur. “Nourish Your Body and Skin” is their first ever event having to do with the body and skin, designed to expand attendee’s definitions of “body positivity.” “When you think about body positivity, most people focus on
weight and size,” Kaur said. “This is a different aspect of it. There is all of this pressure to maintain an ideal image.” “Nourish Your Body and Skin,” which took place in the West Village Commons Ballroom C, was the first big event of this year’s Love Your Body Week. It was a collaborative event with many on-campus groups. Among them were The Naturalistas, who had a table on taking care of natural hair; the Alcohol and Drug Peer Educators, who ran a table on how alcohol was bad for the skin; Healthy Minds, who had students creating de-stress glitter jars; and Sigma Lambda Gamma, who helped people create DIY hair masks. There were many other activities such as DIY body scrubs made out of coconut oil, sugar, coffee grinds and essential oils, and the Affirmation Mirror where students were covered in positive notes about their bodies. There was also a yoga session ran by senior Claire Stecker, who teaches regular classes at 4 Warriors Studio in Towson. “I hope people can gain a broader perspective of self-care and taking time for yourself,” Stecker said. “Sometimes that’s doing
nothing, sometimes it’s taking a yoga class, and sometimes it’s pampering yourself.” Senior Abigail Schaefer said that with such busy lives, students sometimes need a reminder to practice self-care. Shaefer said she’s always been an “advocate for positive body image,” and was glad for the chance to share this with the Towson community. “Stuff like this is calming,” she said. “We can get super busy and forget to take time for ourselves.” Schaefer was there with her friend, Sophie Iwaskiw. Iwaskiw said she was grateful for “Nourish Your Body and Skin” because she finds that, during this point in the semester when she’s really busy, it’s easy for her to develop unhealthy habits. Jaime Kaplan, coordinator of eating disorder services in the Health and Counseling Center, said there are many dimensions to living your body. “Nourish Your Body and Skin” was created to try to encompass all aspects of it. “It’s not just external, you have to take care of the internal as well,” Kaplan said. “When the mind is at peace, the body is at peace. Everything is interrelated.”
Jessica Ricks/ The Towerlight
“Nourish Your Body and Skin” was a chance for students to step away from academics and focus on selfcare, with both educators and Do-It-Yourself projects available to facilitate new and healthy habits.