#28 Everything, everywhere, not all at once.

I’m in Japan visiting my sister, skiing for the last few days and drinking the right amount of Sake for me to not want to drink Sake for a while.

One week into travel and I feel connected to the part of me that is curious instead of complacent. I have always been drawn to the snow for its ability to take me out of my mind and into my body, encouraging a certain confidence and spontaneity to do what feels good in the moment and appreciate the magic of what’s around me. Here, in the small village of Nozawaonsen, it’s likely that little to nobody knows about Fluff, and the world goes on. While I’m grateful for my team and what we’ve built, I’m reminded that I can be here and work from afar, and that this incredible beauty brand we’re building —at the end of the day, it’s all fluff.

Anyway, to the updates.

Interested:

1. Makeup. I love this quote by Violette Serrat. She gets it, and I’m curious to know how it makes you feel: “I heard people say, ‘I have to put my face on in the morning,’ and that hurts me — when you remove your makeup, you have this huge contrast. And you’re like, ‘Oh, this is how I look like?’ This is not going to help to love yourself. In France, there is a desire to accept who we are the way we are. And we think that it’s actually a very good way to filter out people that are not ready to love you. If a person is just attracted by the aesthetic part of yourself then he’s not the right person. We use this as something very rebellious and empowering.”
2. ChatGPT. I’ve been playing around with this. I will have a solid debate that it will never replace the emotion and magic of a talented copywriter, but as a research assistant tool for content writing projects, sure. It’s really made me think about the role of a copywriter vs a content writer, and how the two have become so enmeshed that both client and writer no longer no what they want or who they are. I think it would save people a lot of time, energy and emotion, and money if they knew the difference.
3. Spirituality, etc. With every year that passes even quicker than the last, I keep coming back to a definition of success, kindly borrowed from a friend’s dad, Chris. “When your head, your heart, your wallet, and your soul are aligned.” There’s very few people I know who meet this definition. Perhaps in your 30s there’s more emphasis on financial foundations and gain. Perhaps because I had a small amount of success in my early 20’s and felt like this definitely wasn’t ‘it’ that I went turbo in trying to understand what then ‘it’ really is. With help from many people, consistent therapy, a lot of challenging conversations with myself, my family, and my friends, and guidance from people like Ziggy-I can’t help but return to the idea that happiness is a side effect of finding your purpose. You can’t force it, however, only explore it. I can’t think of a better commitment to make to yourself, and prioritise every day. This is spirituality to me, no tarot needed. I’m reading The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin. And it speaks to what I think my own purpose is — to constantly create. However that eventuates, I know it’s set me up for a fulfilling, rollercoaster of a life.

Interesting:

1. We’re currently discussing discipline & desire on our Issues Page. It’s a nice update because when I think about desire, I think about the fact that I want everything and I want to be everywhere, all at once. But really, what does that achieve? I’ve realised that desire gets me nowhere — other than now, here. So if I’m going to be there anyway, why don’t I enjoy the moment? Have I lost you yet?
2. Our Private Skincare Sale is on tomorrow, with 30% off our entire range. You can get access to the link by signing up here. Why are we doing this? Because we think less is more. Truly. In the last five years, our sentiment towards skincare has changed. Our industry is saturated. A new brand is launching every day. A new product is promising to alleviate natural occurrences like ageing. We find it frustrating and we no longer want to participate in any similar way. We’re also reducing our skincare line to 4 skus: Mask, Face Oil 3, Cleanser, and Exfoliator. These are the products we continually return to — they are unique to Fluff, they are all we use. And finally, we’re pausing on our refills. We don’t like our current packaging — we don’t think the planet does either. We know we can do better. We’re working on something else. Hopefully it won’t take too long. It’ll look fancier. It’ll work better. This year, we continue to focus. Our attention, our energy, our time, our money, into what makes sense. What Fluff has always been about: the future of beauty. Two months into the year and there’s a real swell for Fluff. We’ve found our voice, our ground, and things are flowing. It’s been turbulent to get here, and I’m glad we’ve held on. We’ve got an inspiring end goal in sight — and while having it is no guarantee we’ll reach it, I’ve realised that not having one is a guarantee we won’t.
3. The book I’ve been writing has been split into two — one may never see the light of day outside of snippets in articles like this. The other was a recent pivot, an extension of our podcast, Pretty Hard. An observation and enquiry into the common influences around our ideas of beauty, and how we find meaning in our identity: mothers, men, monogamy, media, money — just to name a few. It feels valuable, and I love writing. But does writing know that? Does it feel it? Do I respect it, give it my attention — do I show up and make time for it, even if I can’t be bothered? Do I challenge it, do I nurture it, do I let it grow? Or do I ignore it? My relationship with writing is very much that — a relationship. It’s a journey, one I’m constantly trying to relate to.

That’s it from me. If you like these updates, please share them, or say hi.