It seems like every time we refresh our email there’s a new hair tool hitting shelves that's guaranteed to turn our tresses into perfect spirals, corkscrews, and waves with less work, damage, and time. But learning how each of them work, trying to figure out what styling products you should pair with each, and picking one that will work best for your hair type and needs is enough to give anyone a hairache headache.

While most of our social streams show the end results of these hair gadgets — or maybe a before-and-after, if we're lucky — how to use them can be more difficult to find. That’s where YouTube comes in: The platform is flooded with an endless array of tutorials for every beauty tool on the market.

To help, we've rounded up a handful of tutorials that make learning a new gadget or technique easy, from a classic diffuser (for body and undone texture) to flexi rods (best for even, glossy curls), there's a wealth of hair knowledge ahead.

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When they're not just sitting in the wooden bowl on your kitchen counter waiting to be eaten, many fruits play key roles in the outside world. In the case of a lemon, you can make lemonade. Apples, consumed regularly, are said to keep the doctor away. And peaches — well, let's just say that peaches are probably getting a few callbacks following their starring turn in Call Me By Your Name.

But what of one of the produce aisle's more underrated fruits, the plum? A ripe plum is sweet and tart, dark, firm, and fresh — delicious in wines and jams, salted or pickled as saladito or umeboshi, packed with vitamins (C, mostly) and phytochemical compounds that do a body good.

As it happens, the same properties that make plums rich in antioxidants and nutrients translate pretty well to skin care, too. The Kakadu plum, straight outta Australia, is one of the world's richest sources of vitamin C; cultivated in arid, mountainous regions, it's been forced to develop a strong constitution to survive, and it'll give the same resilience to your skin. On the other side of the world in California, three sisters have cofounded an organic beauty line driven by the "power of the plum," inspired by the dried fruits on their 100-year-old family farm — the world's largest grower and producer of organic plums.

Horticultural research shows that plums may have been one of the very first fruits domesticated by humans all over the world; their remains have been found in archaeological sites dating back to the Neolithic age. Fast forward to 2018, and you've got an antioxidant-packed, vitamin C-powered fruit that's worth eating — and working into your skin-care routine, so you can reap all the benefits without ever having to set foot in your neighborhood CSA.

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At every turn, the fashion industry's key players are using their social platforms to call out its biggest issues — racism, sexual harassment, body diversity — both on and off the catwalk. But as brought up most recently by editors at The Cut and Fashionista, the streets are still a popularity contest: those in the photos are thin, white, and famous. On top of ebbing interest in street style as an outlet for inspiration, it'd seem the art of documenting current trends, and the people who wear them, feels more dated than ever. But it's going to take more than outrage to fix them, because diversity in street style is much more complicated to achieve than diversity on the runways. But don't take our word for it.

After asking a group of street style photographers, from Tommy Ton to Melodie Jeng, a series of questions on the state of diversity in the industry, the imbalance between diversity on the runway and the streets, and just why we're all so angry, their answers highlight a problem that inspires a lot of tweets, but no real solutions. Not everyone agreed to comment, with a few of them not even allowed to by the publications that employ them.

In the beginning, we liked street style because it wasn't about celebrities — it was about real people. But then real people became celebrities and iPhones replaced a craft that, like most things in fashion, was forced to evolve. Because of this, we're seeing the unconscious bias play out in street style as it did with runway, and the focus of the industry's criticism has shifted. Not until now are people starting to notice the real trends — and we're not talking about clothes.

The homogenization of street style is more obvious to those who don't get their photos taken as often as others — or never — than it is to those who attribute it to part of their status. None of this, however, changes the fact that getting one's photo taken has always been, and remains to be, a compliment (and a privilege, to some).

So, why do certain people get shot and others ignored? Is it the photographers' fault? The photo editors? Or is it the PR houses who put together the guest lists? Because unlike the runways, there's an element of reality in street style that gives a much more accurate read on whether the industry actually is as diverse as it says it wants to be. If we expanded our view on what constitutes an outfit worth shooting, would it show a more diverse street scene? Or would it be more of the same?

There's much to glean from the interviews ahead, especially when it comes to who has the final say in what gets published, but what ends up on the cutting room floor says as much as what actually gets posted. So, if fashion photography is supposed to reflect the time, then maybe it does. Accompanied by the photos they chose to represent their points of view, here's what the photographers want you to know.

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Vice President Mike Pence once again made clear the priorities of the Trump administration by predicting that legal abortion would end in "our time."  Pence made the remarks while at a luncheon hosted by the anti-abortion organization Susan B. Anthony List & Life Institute on Wednesday.

“For all the progress since 1973,” Pence said, referring to the year of the Roe v. Wade decision, “I just know in my heart of hearts that this will be the generation that restores life in America.”

He added, "If all of us do all we can, we can once again, in our time, restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law."

The vice president, known for his anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ+ record, also said that under President Trump's first year in office he has seen more progress to dismantle access to reproductive healthcare than he has in his entire life.

In the last year, the Trump administration has gone on the offense when it comes to curbing reproductive rights. One of the president's first actions was to reinstate the Global Gag Rule, which blocks international organizations that offer abortions from receiving federal funding. (The 1977 Hyde Amendment already blocks the use of federal funds to pay for abortions in the U.S. and abroad.) From there, it has just gone downhill: Trump has tried to defund Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, appointed anti-choice advocates to top posts at the Health and Human Services Department, supported a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, and so much more.

However, ending access to legal abortion is the Trump administration's ultimate goal, as Pence implied. Organizations like NARAL Pro-Choice America National pushed back against the vice president's remarks.

"The comments today made by Mike Pence, who lives and breathes an anti-choice agenda, are indicative of how much this Administration is trying to ‘normalize’ the idea of a world in which women don’t get to decide their own destinies or control their own bodies," Kaylie Hanson Long, communications director for NARAL, said in statement provided to Refinery29. "This is the future that Mike Pence envisioned today, and it’s a future that the majority of Americans reject. We look forward to when Mike Pence’s tenure in the White House ends, which will most certainly be ‘in our time.'"

Abortion rates have declined in recent years, thanks to factors such as easier access to birth control and comprehensive sex ed (two things the Trump administration has attacked.) But the procedure is still common: Research has shown that about one in four women will have an abortion by the age of 45.

Anti-choice politicians like Pence have already been chipping away at reproductive rights for years at the state and federal level. Therefore, depending on where you live, access to abortion care can look very different. But research has shown that abortion restrictions can hurt the health of women and children. Blocking access to abortion care also doesn't stop women from seeking the procedure — it just makes it unsafe.

To reverse Roe v. Wade and end legal abortion in our time, as Pence predicted, wouldn't "restore the sanctity of life." It would just be a death sentence for women.

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Say you’re Ashley Graham (we can dream, right?) and your third consecutive feature in the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is about to drop. It’s a shoot that will collect more than a million likes when you share its video on Instagram, as the model did yesterday. That’s no surprise: There’s a lot to like about Graham’s pictures, which not only look hot AF, but expand on the publication’s definition of sexy. (For the longest time, the SI swimsuit formula remained the same: a Victoria’s Secret Angel type plus sand equals cover. But in the past few years, a more diverse range of cover models have included athletes, like Ronda Rousey, a 50+ year-old Nicola Griffin and, of course, phenoms like Graham, who fronted a history-making 2016 issue as its first plus-size model.)

But no matter who the cover star, the annual issue has served as a case study in how to show as much skin as possible with the teeniest amount of swimsuit (see: Bar Refaeli’s string bikini made of guitar picks or Heidi Klum, wrapped in not much more than a giant snake). Which brings us to Graham’s most recent pictorial, featuring a body-positive vibe that the model is famous for, plus many of the traditional elements: surf, sand, and a bikini bottom that’s smaller than a cocktail napkin. One shot shows Graham tugging the fabric downward to reveal ... well, a lot of skin below the belt. Missing? Any resemblance of pubic hair.

So if you’re Graham, how do you share the risque shot with family members? You share the shot via a family group text, sit back, and allow levity to ensue. In a post to Instagram Stories yesterday, Graham shared a screenshot of the convo, in which one member of the group scribbled a bit of body hair onto the image, adding, “Needs a bush to make this photo better.”

Graham playfully responded, “You wish your bush looked like mine.” And with that it was on, as other family members jumped in with Sir Mix-a-Lot references (“I got a big bush and I cannot lie. You other brothers can’t deny...”), followed by a quip from Graham’s own mother: “I have no bush and it’s divine. Be jealous.”

Graham’s take? A “gotta love family group text” comment, coupled with the cry laughing emoji. We’re not sure what to love more: the fact that the Graham fam keeps it real with the superstar model or that they represent such a diverse take on pubic hair preferences. Of one thing we are certain: The family that jokes together stays woke together — and that, friends, is how it’s done.

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There’s something to be said for the instant gratification of makeup. When Leonard Lauder coined the term "lipstick index" in the early 2000s, it was because he’d noticed that, even in the depths of a recession, sales of cosmetics like lipstick actually increased, rather than falling off a cliff. Why? Because putting on lipstick — especially when it comes in a luxe gilded case so weighty the tube clicks shut like the door of a very expensive sports car — is transformative. It instantly lifts your mood and look. Can you imagine the studied stoicism of a multi-step skin-care routine having such a positive pull in an uncertain time? I can’t. When the chips are down, I at least want to look polished as I fall ever deeper into credit-card debt.

That’s probably why we all turn to makeup in times of need — and to be fair, when you notice a massive new zit as you head into your big job interview, concealer is always going to be your first port of call, rather than salicylic acid. Inversely, when it comes to your skin, sometimes you have to play the long game to get results. "As a rule of thumb, the more work that needs to be done on a cellular level, the longer it’ll take to see the difference," says cosmetic doctor David Jack. "If it needs to actually change the cells’ behavior, you can’t expect results within less than a few weeks."

Some things should work quickly: Moisturizer, especially a serum or cream with hyaluronic acid, should smooth the skin pretty much instantly. Something meant to treat acne or pigmentation, however, is going to take a little longer. "If you’re using something like vitamin C or retinol, that means a change on a cellular level, so expect to wait at least three months to see a benefit," Dr. Jack says. Likewise, cleanser (especially if you’re using it specifically for breakout-fighting purposes) needs to shift your skin’s pH a little, which can take a couple of weeks.

Then there are all the masks and creams that guarantee to instantly brighten/lift/tone/give you the complexion of a beaming baby angel or Victoria's Secret model. "If it promises an instant effect, it may well deliver that," Dr. Jack explains, "but the effect will be superficial." Any kind of peel-off mask that "removes blackheads" does so by removing sebaceous filaments, which your skin will simply replenish within a few days, and takes a layer of peach fuzz off with it. Anything that "imparts an instant glow" might brighten your skin, but only through slight surface exfoliation or light-reflecting particles. As for anything that claims to "lift" — well, remember your old friend Isaac Newton and his apple, and put that one back on the shelf.

That’s not to say that instant means bad, or ineffective — it’s just that any product that promises an instant improvement should be the cherry on top of your skin-care routine, not the cornerstone. And as for your skin "getting used to" something, I personally don’t buy it: If it works, why wouldn’t you stick with it? "It’s true that there is probably an optimal state that a product can get your skin to in terms of bacterial flora and pH, but by stopping, all you’re doing is taking yourself back to square one," Dr. Jack explains. "When you add that hero product back in again, it will work again, but only up to that previous point. It’s purely psychological to think it looks better after a break." It’s far better to keep using a product you know works for your skin, rather than swapping a handful of similar ones in and out for the sake of variety.

And if a product makes you break out, should that be considered a "purge" that we should ride out in pursuit of better skin, or is a breakout a breakout? "The jury’s out," Dr. Jack says. Damn. "It’s true that rebalancing the flora of your skin can cause purging, but everyone’s different. It might clear up, it might not — it happens to some people with retinols or some cleansers and masks." Basically, if you can grin and bear it for a few weeks, it may very well go away, but if the product in question is causing you real grief, go back to your tried-and-tested.

If your complexion is generally clear, but you’re looking to even out your skin tone a little, make your complexion more radiant, and keep it soft, you should stick with anything new for at least a few weeks. Be scientific about it, and operate a one-in, one-out policy on new products so you can tell what works and what doesn’t. If it’s long-term acne, fine lines, or pigmentation that has you beat, prepare to enter into an LTR with your new clinical actives. (I like to take process pics with new products to reassure myself that they’re actually helping, by the way.) Good things come to those who wait — and also to those who do their homework.

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For well over a decade, Natalie Portman has been the actress who would undergo just about any beauty transformation for a role. She's rocked everything from a pink bob to a buzzcut to a full head of buttery blond. Now, the latest paparazzi evidence suggests she's test-driving yet another hairstyle for her upcoming role — and it might just be her edgiest one since 2007.

Photogs spotted Portman in New York City while on break between filming scenes for Vox Lux. In the film, she plays Celeste, a musician who achieves superstardom after some "unusual circumstances." Considering the plot follows Celeste from 1999 to the present, you can probably safely expect to see plenty of beauty transformations. But the most recent shot of the actress shows her rocking a dark pixie slicked back into a pompadour style, which is basically the hair equivalent of a leather jacket and combat boots. In other words, it's completely badass.

From what we can tell, the look didn't require shears. (We suspect there's some expert pinning and tucking work involved.) Yet, it still proves Portman is the ultimate beauty chameleon, the rare human who can truly pull off anything. And although we aren't sure if we have the guts to chop all our hair off at the moment, we might very well change our tune after staring at this rad cut on the big screen for two hours.

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Welcome to Beauty Diaries , where we're tracking how much money people actually spend on their beauty routines. Whether it's rooted in self-care or self-expression, they explain, in their own words, why it's worth every damn penny.

Today: A transgender college student with cystic acne and an affinity for Lush products.

Age: 18
Occupation: Lush Sales Associate
Location: California
Salary: $12.50/hour
Rent: $2,500/semester, which comes out to $500 a month. My grandparents help with the costs of housing and tuition.

Six months ago, I moved from my hometown in the Bay Area to start college. My last year of high school, I worked at a coffee shop, a grocery store, and a movie theater to build up savings for tuition and gas. With past jobs, I've received some prejudice and backlash for being transgender, specifically for using my preferred name. The truth is, as many anti-discrimination laws California has to protect transgender rights, we're still not 100% there. So when I started working at Lush, I was worried about coworkers seeing me as different or less than, just because of past experiences. But I've only received positivity. I've been really lucky.

I've always loved Lush's all-natural products and what the company stands for, and as a trans guy, that's hard to come by. I've been on a relatively low dose of testosterone ("T") for the last three months, and it's given me the worst acne. I actually had acne for a decade, and nothing worked until I tried Lush. My skin was clear there for a while, but T brought it all back. As it turned out, there was a Lush store 10 to 15 minutes away from campus, so I figured I'd drop by and apply for a job. Now I spend more money on their products than I do on gas.

Skin Care
Lush employees get a very generous discount of 50% off, so most of my budget goes to buying skin-care products. I like the face soap Fresh Farmacy ( $11.95; lasts two weeks), which has calamine powder and tea tree oil, so I use a lot of that. There's also a great cleanser called Herbalism ( $16.95; lasts one month). I’m using that guy all over, every time I shower, every day. Whenever I get a breakout, I'll spot treat with Grease Lightening( $15.95; lasts three months). It's super lightweight, and has aloe, tea tree, and rosemary. I love the Lush bath products, but my school housing doesn't have a bathtub. So I'll just buy the bath bomb called Rocket Science ( $5.95) and send it home to my 3-year-old brother.

Total: $62.75 ( $31.38 with Lush discount)

Hair
I really like the Not Your Mother's Sea Salt Spray ( $3.76). I bought one two years ago, and I use it for texture — just something nice and easy. The bottle has lasted me forever, but I do have short hair, so that helps.

I was in the eighth grade the first time I cut my hair, so five or six years ago. I had long hair for a while, but I was just tired of it. This was right before I came out as trans to my friends, and I was sick of feeling weighed down, quite literally. It didn't feel like who I was or how I wanted to present myself. Right now, I have a bit of an undercut going on, but I get the top part touched-up once every two months ($ 25 + tip). I have my own clippers at home so I can buzz the sides myself, so I save a little that way.

Total: $33.76

Facial Hair
From day one, I wanted facial hair really bad. I know that exfoliating is really great for hair growth, so I exfoliate every day and then once a week, I shave my hair into blunt edges so my stubble looks coarser. I use a shaving cream Lush has called Dirty ( $13.95; lasts three months) — I love the smell of it, and it's very soft-feeling on my skin. Even though I spend a lot of money on Lush, I'm still a college kid, so I'm on a budget. For my razor, I'll just pick up a Gillette interchangeable shaving head from Target ( $10.99) every month or so — nothing too fancy.

Total: $24.94 ( $17.96 with discount)

Fragrance
With testosterone, my sense of smell and the scents that I like have completely changed. Before, I liked lavender — I had the scent everywhere, even on the dashboard of my car. After, I've been more drawn to citrus, patchouli, frankincense scents. I started to enjoy clean and earthy scents as opposed to sweet ones. There's actually this natural deodorant from Schmidt's called Lavender + Sage ( $8.99; lasts three months) that brings in a lot of those herb smells to complement the floral.

Something that I like to do is buy myself different solid perfumes and apply them depending on how I'm feeling or the outfit I'm wearing. Lush has one called Rentless ( $11.95); it's a little more spicy. Then I have one that I love called Karma ( $11.95), which has patchouli and citrus; another called Cardamom Coffee ( $15.95) is really warm; and Breath of God ( $11.95) is clean-smelling. It's just a really nice way to pick myself up.

Total: $60.79 ( $34.89 with discount)

Misc. Expenses
I had a consultation for top surgery in early December — I thought I was going to be on the road to getting it. But something I've learned is that health insurance companies really want your money. The doctor was very nice, and he told me he'd be in touch with pricing options. That 20-minute consultation ended up costing me $800. Of course I want the surgery to feel like myself, but I'm terrified of finding out the price tag. One step at a time, I guess.

Total: $800

Yearly Total: $2,582 ( $1,866 with Lush discount)

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Modern Money Matters is Refinery29 and Chase's exploration of what the modern American family really looks like — from starting a family to moving — and what it actually costs to make it all happen. In 2012, the number of stay-at-home fathers nearly doubled the amount in 1989, reaching 2 million. To find out more about how women are taking control of their financial power, click here.

When I got married 10 years ago, I had no inkling that I’d one day serve as the primary breadwinner for my family. Jeff, the man I was marrying, had a good job as an editor for a book publisher, a savings account, and no debt. I, on the other hand, had just graduated law school with $200,000 in debt and uncertain job prospects as the recession loomed near. If my husband had been looking for an easy financial future, he could have done better.

Four months after the wedding, I received my first student loan repayment bill. The minimum payment was three times what we paid in rent on the northwest side of Chicago. When we talked about our future, and our mutual desire to have a baby, I felt like we were at the bottom of a hole. A hole I had dug for the both of us.

Over the next five years, we put off parenthood and did what we could to shed the debt. I lost my job twice in the process. The economy was in crisis, and the legal market was no different. But with each setback, we managed to recover and redouble our efforts. By our five-year anniversary, we were almost debt-free and ready to take the leap into parenthood. I was 30 years old and working as a government attorney. We still didn’t have much savings, but my job was generous (by American standards) in providing 12 weeks of paid maternity leave. I stopped obsessing over interest rates and loan amortization schedules and dove into researching daycares and car seats instead.

We welcomed our son, Will, a year later. He was big and beautiful with a face just like Jeff’s. We spent his first month of life in a blissed-out fog. The three of us filled hour after hour cocooned in bed — Jeff holding me holding Will.

And then, after four weeks of parental leave, he had to return to work.

When I eventually returned too, Will was three months old. I was liking my job and enjoying being around coworkers.

But Jeff was commuting over an hour each way to work, so I was handling daycare drop-off and pick-up by myself. Getting the baby out of the house in the morning felt like a feat. Diapering and dressing and bottles and coffee and my laptop and my phone and coats and mittens and carriers and keys and my wallet. It was just too much. I was cooked by the time I dropped Will at day care and boarded my train to work each morning.

As Will’s sleep schedule regularized, it became clear that Jeff was only going to get to see him for 30 minutes each day at bedtime. With so little time together, Jeff worried that their attachment was waning.

That’s when the conversations started. As we cleaned the kitchen each night we talked about how to fix our life. Maybe we could sell the little house we loved and travel west to be closer to family? Maybe we should travel even farther?

We considered whether life would be easier if I was a stay-at-home mom. Maybe I could start my own firm and represent clients part time? But I liked my job and didn’t feel ready to go out on my own. Didn’t it make sense for me to keep working since we had both worked so hard to pay down my law-school debt? Also, although my take-home pay amounted to only a little more than Jeff’s, my job provided good health insurance for all three of us, plus a pension. Wouldn’t those things be really expensive to replace?

For the next three months, we ran every scenario we could think of through our budget in Excel. It was a discouraging exercise. Even with daycare expenses deleted, we needed both incomes to stay out of the red. We scrutinized every line item — gym memberships, smartphone plans, the car rental membership — trying to get back to zero.

If we reduced our childcare expenses and slashed each of our flexible budget categories by 25%, we could create the margin we needed for Jeff to leave his full-time job.

Eventually, we hit on something with potential. If we reduced our childcare expenses from $1,900/month to $800/month (by going from full-time care to just two days per week) and slashed each of our flexible budget categories (food, shopping, etc.) by 25%, we could create the margin we needed for Jeff to leave his full-time job and transition to part-time freelance work, a decision that also lined him up to pursue his true ambitions as a journalist. We made the transition when Will was seven months old, and now — three years later — we haven’t looked back.

We welcomed another baby in 2017, and Jeff is now splitting his days, working in the morning (with help from a babysitter) and hanging out with the kids in the afternoon. Sometimes we toy with the idea of Jeff returning to full-time work. Like, when a client invited him to apply for an editorial position or when our boiler broke and we were looking at a $6,000 repair bill. But when I think back on those early days and imagine daycare drop-offs and all the other hassle, I know the extra money can wait.

Even with two kids, our routine works much better now. Jeff helps me get the kids ready in the morning and creates space and time for me to prepare myself for the day. When I arrive home at 5:30 p.m., Jeff has already figured out a plan for dinner, leaving me free to connect with the kids. Rolling play dough with Will, performing puppet shows, listening to the wild tales of his three-year-old imagination — these are luxuries I can enjoy because of our situation.

[My husband] makes doctor appointments, knows what size shoes the kids wear, remembers to bring oranges to the preschool holiday party.

Since we made the transition, Jeff has also taken on a lot of the mental load that I used to carry. He makes doctor appointments, knows what size shoes the kids wear, remembers to bring oranges to the preschool holiday party. There are still things I take the lead on — for instance, I wake up with the baby at night and still do the kids’ laundry. But overall, we try to split things so we each get about equal downtime.

Striking the right division of labor hasn’t always been easy. When it became clear Jeff should be in charge of groceries, for example, there was a lot he had to figure out. He didn’t know about meal planning or to look at the grocery-store circulars for sales. I suspect he hadn't been socialized to think about that stuff like I had.

But we continue to work on making our setup work for us. I’m lucky to have great friends: young parents like myself, who are happy to get together for pizza in cluttered homes. I’m blessed to have a job that allows us to make this kind of choice; I realize many families can’t afford to have a part-time, stay-at-home parent. And, most of all, I’m lucky to have my husband, a man who’s almost preternaturally unconcerned with other people’s opinions. If it works for us, he says, that’s all that matters. He’s right. And so far, it works.

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Right this very moment, the chosen ones in Hollywood are carefully considering their words, listing every agent and publicist, and jotting down some witty asides onto index cards, which they will carefully tuck inside a jacket pocket or Swarovski-embellished evening bag. If there's ever a time to ensure your public-speaking skills are on point, it's Oscars night.

The pressure is high. We all have a tendency to remember the things people say and do up there behind the podium. We remember who made us weep, who rambled, who bored, who inspired, and who just completely lost their shit. From goth Angelina professing her love for her brother and Jamie Foxx doing his Ray Charles bit, to Cuba Gooding Jr. practically cartwheeling onto the stage and Halle Berry sobbing openly, there have been so many memorable Oscar moments. Will anyone on Sunday night be able to compete?

In preparation for the Academy Awards this weekend, we're offering a look at the speeches we remember most. Some of them are funny, some poignant, and some are just downright crazy — watch and enjoy.

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With spring well, springing up on us (okay, maybe not yet, but it's a-coming), it's time to start taking stock of what a new season will bring for our wardrobes. Once we're finally able to shed our thick winter layers, this time around we'll be looking towards more simplistic looks that are just as fresh as the season we're in. And H&M's spring 2018 studio collection, which deputed Wednesday evening in Paris, is providing just that, with an array of tailored pieces made for every woman.

For its latest offering, the H&M Studio design team took a minimalist page from their journey to Japan. Inspired by the meeting point of Kyoto's utilitarian simplicity and the unique urbanity of Tokyo's style scene, the retailer sought out to create new silhouettes that are equal parts fluid yet crisp. But turning towards populated parts of Japan for style inspiration didn't result in a line of been-there-done-that kimonos (you will, however, find subtle kimono sleeves and wrap details here and there) nor the intense streetwear trends coming from Japan's urban districts. Instead, the designers set their eye on a creating a poetic ode to the country's architectural aesthetic that results in a beautiful collection of workwear-inspired pieces that have us reconsidering what workwear even means.

Pernilla Wohlfahrt, head of design and creative Director for H&M, emphasizes the new direction, saying: "This collection celebrates the vivacity of women. From the primary colors to the easy-going movement of the fabrics and silhouettes to the strong prints, there’s definitely an affinity for urban settings with a hint of glam. And yet, there’s also a longing for nature, an unpretentious way of life. We can have both, of course — that’s the beauty of modern life."

To fête its latest move, H&M hosted influencers at its "Studio House" — a takeover of the Hôtel National Des Arts et Métiers complete with beauty treatments and portrait sessions — followed by a show at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Guests were treated to a traditional Japanese dinner while sitting on tatami mats. Let's just say it was a fully immersive experience.

Per past releases of H&M's special seasonal collection, prices tap out around $200, with most of the pieces already selling out. Click on to shop highlights, like a contrast stitch trench and an oversized color splattered knits, online now; the pieces hit select global stores beginning March 1.

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In a surprising turn of events, White House Communications Director Hope Hicks announced she will resign, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The 29-year-old is one of President Trump's most loyal and longest-serving aides. She's been by his side since the early days of his campaign and was appointed as communications director in July, after the short-lived, controversial term of Anthony Scaramucci.

In recent weeks, Hicks has been embroiled in several major scandals. In January, it was reported she allegedly was directly involved with the White House response to a story about how Donald Trump Jr.' met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer in the summer of 2016 to allegedly get political dirt on Hillary Clinton. According to The New York Times, former spokesman for Trump's legal team Mark Corallo alleges that Hicks said during a conference call that emails written by Trump Jr. about the meeting "will never get out."

Then, earlier this month, questions were raised about the way Hicks handled the White House's initial denial of domestic abuse allegations against former aide Rob Porter, who also happens to be her rumored boyfriend. (Porter ended up resigning from his post.)

On Tuesday, she testified before the House Intelligence Committee as part of the lawmakers' investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. There, she said that her job at times required her to tell "white lies."

Hicks has been Trump's right-hand woman over the past few years. In a statement to The Times, the president said: "Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years. She is as smart and thoughtful as they come, a truly great person. I will miss having her by my side but when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities, I totally understood. I am sure we will work together again in the future."

According to The Times, she had reportedly been considering leaving her post for a few months.

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I love Cardi B. You love Cardi B. We all love Cardi B. Between her rad beauty looks, boundless one-liners, refreshing candor, and historic chart-topping hits, she’s permeated just about every aspect of American culture and proved herself a doyenne in the process. But is it enough to show our love for all things Cardi by making memes alone? The answer for super-fans: a resounding hell no. To prove their adoration for the self-professed regular, degular, shmegular girl, devotees are showing their devotion in a more permanent way — by getting tribute tattoos. Among them: bloody shoe and money moves references, naturally.

Of course, Cardi isn’t the first star to inspire major ink — she joins Ryan Gosling, 2Chainz, and a well of other celebs who have become the subjects of fan tattoos. Last month, fiancé Offset became a member of the inked cult of Cardi by getting her name tattooed on his neck. If it were us gunning for Cardi-inspired ink, we’d have to go with her perfectly pithy tweet: “unbothered, moisturized, in my lane, well-hydrated, flourishing.” It’s good, right? So are a lot of other designs inspired by the rapper, ahead.

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It would be nice if just being alive were enough to entitle you to free stuff. Usually, that kind of perk is reserved for A-listers and select reality superstars. But there is one time of year when everyone is treated like a VIP: your birthday! Tons of your favorite stores and restaurants offer deals and discounts to make your day extra special.

In order to take advantage of most of these freebies, you usually have to sign up for the store’s rewards program. They're usually free to join, and you can cancel at any time, so it can be worth it if you want to cash in that free latte. It can take up to a week to be fully enrolled on an email list, so if August is your birthday month, sign up soon to make sure you don’t miss out. You can’t have the best free birthday ever without a little prep work.

Ahead, we’ve pulled together a list of the best birthday deals, so you can spend the day collecting everything from free coffee to cosmetics. And if your birthday isn’t on the horizon, well, it can't hurt to plan ahead. Put your wallet away (except for a valid ID), and get ready to treat yo’ self without spending a dollar.

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Deciding whether you'd like to remove your body hair or leave it au naturel is easy. The hard part comes after you've made that choice, when you're presented with a world of hair-removal options, none of which sound particularly appealing. Waxing, threading, lasers, and good ol'-fashioned shaving are all perfectly acceptable methods, but if none of them are really doing it for you, there's one more technique you should consider: sugaring.

Sugaring uses a mixture of melted sugar, lemon, and hot water to pull hair out directly from the root. Unlike waxing, the sugar-based formula doesn't have to be heated, and there is no double dipping. What makes sugaring so different from other hair-removal methods is that its only tool is a ball of sugar rolled continuously over the skin, against the direction of your hair's growth. When the sugar is torn off the skin, it removes the hair in its natural direction, so the results are long-lasting and reduce the risk of ingrown hairs.

The sensation of sugaring is often compared to that of waxing — just minus the scalding hot temperature. Additionally, sugaring requires a specific hair length for a successful removal (about 5-7 days of growth post-shaving). However, unlike waxing, you don't have to worry about scarring or potential burns, because the sugar paste can't adhere to your actual skin cells. In fact, sugaring even works to gently exfoliate the surface of your skin — leaving it not only hairless, but silky smooth.

To get a closer look at the hair-removal process, we tapped esthetician and sugaring specialist Danielle Correia, owner of Sugaring L.A., to show us how this under-the-radar treatment works. Click the video above to see sugaring in action.

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My dad has always had migraines. Not the “bad headache” kind — the “everything hurts, I can’t function, vomiting from pain” kind. So when my stepmom took him to the hospital for a migraine late one night in 2015, I wasn’t too worried. I figured they’d monitor him for a few hours and send him home in the morning.

Midway through the next day, when I still hadn’t heard anything, I sent a text: “You guys back home yet?”

My cell phone rang a minute later. “Your dad is getting worse,” my stepmom said. He had slowly started losing his vision since he’d arrived at the hospital, and the doctors thought it might have been a stroke. “You should probably come home...”

My dad is young, extremely healthy, and tough as nails. He also hates being the center of attention, so if he was even allowing this call to happen, I knew it meant I really needed to come home, fast.

At the time, I was the director of a marketing team at a media company, meaning my days were packed with back-to-back calls and meetings. At any given moment, I was coordinating with 30 different departments to help pitch, sell, and create content partnerships. I was exhausted, but I felt lucky to be moving up the corporate ladder fast and to be paid so well for my work. Because I was decades younger than many of my colleagues, I also felt tremendous pressure to prove myself. I took on project after project, answered emails at all hours, and rarely complained.

But suddenly, my backed-up calendar and office status didn’t seem to matter so much.

Suddenly, my backed-up calendar and office status didn’t seem to matter so much.

I grabbed my bag, locked up my office, and walked straight to the elevator, sending a quick email to my team: “Family emergency. Grabbing train to Connecticut. Need coverage this afternoon and tomorrow. Will keep you posted.”

That was it. I went home.

The doctors had discovered a rapidly growing “spot” on Dad’s brain, but they couldn’t identify it or slow it down. “Coverage for this afternoon and tomorrow” turned into “this week and next.” After countless tests, they still had no idea what was wrong. The only remaining way to find out what the spot was — and what to do about it — was to take a tissue sample from inside his brain.

I’ll never forget seeing my dad in the neuro ICU after that surgery. He had always seemed invincible, brushing off injuries that would sideline the average person. But as I watched him float in and out of consciousness, fighting off seizures every few minutes, I’d never felt more scared and helpless in my life.

I’d never felt more scared and helpless in my life.

Dad’s condition improved slowly while we waited days for the test results. We tried fruitlessly to distract him, both from the physical pain and the pain of not knowing what would come next.

“Are you sure you don’t need to go back to work?” he asked me. He was waiting to find out what mystery matter was growing in his brain, and he was worried I might be missing a meeting. We were both known for being incredibly dedicated to our work, sometimes to a fault. He wore his callused hands as a badge of honor for a lifetime of work on huge machines that produced car parts; I saw my fully blocked calendar as a signal of my success.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “Everything’s under control.” I was reassuring him as much as I was reassuring myself. It had been two weeks since I’d come home, and the emails and meeting invites had slowed to a halt. As grateful as I was to be able to disconnect, all that time and space to think meant I couldn’t avoid the uncomfortable truth that my work was not as important as I’d let myself believe.

The test results were inconclusive, and the spot had just kept growing. The next morning, the doctors were going to remove the mass. “When operating on the visual cortex,” the doctor warned, “loss of sight is a possibility.”

The doctors suggested we process the news as a family in the hospital’s “healing garden,” where Dad could escape his room for the first time in weeks and be with nature. He took cautious steps and deep breaths of muggy late-summer air. He bent down to feel the wet grass and looked around at anything and everything, taking it all in. We talked a lot in that garden and on the slow walk back to his room. Like kids trying to avoid bedtime, we kept doing “just one more lap.”

He said enough sweet things and enough morbid things to make me say, “Dad, stop,” a hundred times. He shared how proud he was of me and how he wanted me to keep going, no matter what happened the next morning.

I felt guilty being anything but positive, but it was a time for honesty, if there ever was one: “I feel stuck,” I told him. “I feel like a cog in a machine. I’m not making a difference in the world. I wish I could just start my own company.”

“So do it,” he said with a shrug. “Life’s too short, kiddo.”

Nobody wants to face their parents’ mortality at 25.

Nobody wants to face their parents’ mortality at 25, but the reality of what the next day could bring made this more than his favorite admonition that “time flies.” As we meandered back to that hospital room, every minute felt precious.

The next morning, the doctors successfully removed what turned out to be an infection and not a cancerous mass. My dad opened his eyes in the neuro ICU, and we realized he could still see our faces.

Within a few days, he was walking. Within a week, he was back home. Within two months, he was back to work.

By that point, I was back to work, too. But it felt different — somehow more stifling and stagnant. I sat in my barren office, cycling through the endless stream of calls and meetings, and I felt this growing yearning to do more. I kept hearing my dad say, “Life’s too short, kiddo.”

I stayed up late writing outreach emails to potential consulting clients, scheduling them to be sent during normal business hours. I made a massive spreadsheet of upcoming marketing conferences and pitched more than 100 event organizers on bringing me in to speak. I wrote guest posts for industry blogs while eating breakfast, and I arranged for podcast appearances on my lunch break. When a friend made me a logo, it all started to feel real.

Somewhere along the way, I started referring to my corporate job as “my current job.” Less than two months after returning to work, I gave my notice.

By leaving my job, I knew I was signing up for a life filled with uncertainty. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 50% of small businesses fail within the first five years, and since I set up shop two years ago, I’ve definitely wondered if I’d become one of them. I’ve lost clients, had gigs cancelled, and had to chase down back payments for months. Some days, it’s a fight to keep my business alive.

But as far as fights go, this one’s not so bad. I definitely grumble when I file my business taxes, and I have certainly complained about having to take red-eye flights to make gigs. But I realize how incredibly privileged I am. I get to travel to countries I’ve never seen and share my message on stages around the world — all on my own terms.

As painful as my dad’s experience was, it was his renewed perspective that forced me to re-examine my priorities and create a life we can both be proud of.

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There's baby fever. There's Beatle fever. And then there's pink fever, an ode to the color that's spreading like an epidemic in 2018. These days, everything from the bags our brow gel comes in to Kim Kardashian West's hair is some shade of rose. And if the makeup world has anything to say about it, this trend isn't going away any time soon — and we're not mad. Because here's the thing: Pink works on everyone, it's just a matter of finding your perfect shade. Luckily, Urban Decay is here to do just that, with its newest palette, Backtalk.

With eight pink eyeshadows, two pink blushes, and two pink highlighters, all of which go on relatively sheer and build nicely as you layer, when it comes to getting your pink on, Urban Decay's latest launch has you all but covered. (There's also a removable mirror for on-the-go application purposes — fancy!) Unlike the cult-favorite Naked palettes, which allude more to the no-makeup vibe, Backtalk is actually inspired by one of the brand's best-selling Vice lipsticks of the same name — and there's even a shadow included in the set in the exact same mauve-y hue, for fans of the original.

Sure, you can find similar shades at the drugstore for less than $5, but that's the magic of Urban Decay: Each palette launch feels like the most perfectly curated one of its kind (which, real talk, is why we own the three Naked versions in bulk). You're going to have to wait until March 8 to pick up Backtalk at Sephora for $46, but until then, here's our best guide to trying pink makeup now.

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Gaming has evolved dramatically over the years: from a scientific experiment to a national pastime to a booming, multibillion-dollar industry. Part of this development includes a major shift in gaming culture; headset-wearing men hovering around computers and consoles no longer define the “poster image ” for gamers. Today’s research shows women are downloading and playing games on their smartphones more than ever before.

In fact, a whopping 65% of women aged 10 to 65 in the U.S. play mobile games, according to a 2017 Google Play and Newzoo study. That same report also discovered women make up nearly half of all mobile gamers. But there’s a problem. While women are gaming in unprecedented numbers, they still have complex feelings about gaming at large, with a grave majority feeling unrepresented and unwelcome.

In partnership with Google Play, Refinery29 dug into the modern woman’s experience with gaming, interviewing a host of avid players and industry experts to gain a holistic view into industry practices.

A wide variety of game experiences — many of which are available for little to no cost at all — helps explain the present-day bias towards mobile gaming apps. Developers and publishers are “doing a better job of marketing games that have a broader appeal than handheld, console, or PC,” Electronic Entertainment Design and Research founder Geoffrey Zatkin said at the 2016 Games Developers Conference.

The success of “casual games ” such as Words With Friends, Candy Crush Saga, Pokémon Go, and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood serves as proof. The Kardashian game — popular among a female-driven audience in particular — generated approximately $74.3 million alone during its first six months in 2014.

Above all, however, gaming on a smartphone is more convenient when compared to classic platforms. “Prior to the advent of mobile, a person might sit in their basement and play for an hour at a time,” Joe Lazarus, former CMO of Backflip Studios, a mobile games studio, told Forbes. “[Now] the games are always with us.”

The ability to instantly download games while at home or on the go further speaks to mobile gaming’s seamless integration into the busy lives of contemporary women who seek greater flexibility. “Historically, women have not been particularly well served by the sedentary nature and limited distribution of traditional games,” Lazarus said. “[Now] we play waiting for a sandwich or waiting for the bus.”

Lazarus’ views are consistent with the Pew Research Center’s 2015 investigation into Americans’ views on mobile etiquette. The organization found that, although we rarely put our cell phones away, games can serve a valuable purpose — filling time when there’s nothing else to do.

Google Play and Newzoo analysts dug deeper, presenting evidence that women play five times per week or more and for other reasons beyond entertainment, too. Many of the women surveyed said they see games as stress reducers, offering much-needed moments of rest. Likewise, 60% of women in the U.S. who play mobile games say doing so makes them feel good.

For Refinery29’s in-house research on the subject of women and gaming, we gathered similar feedback from real women. “It allows me to escape my reality for a little and enjoy something,” one survey participant said, while another noted, “[Gaming] is relaxing — definitely stress reducing.” A third woman described mobile games as tools to build relationships, saying, “It’s a way to bond and have fun with your friends or significant other.”

According to Rachel DeMario, gaming is an even greater part of her life. “Games have definitely shaped who I am,” she tells Refinery29. As a full-time mother to an infant son, she also finds they’re a unique source of relief: “Gaming is like my little piece of something just for me.”

Once her son is older, DeMario plans to share her passion for gaming with him. “As kids grow up, they normally want to spend less time with their parents. I feel like gaming will help me bridge that gap, and we can spend more time gaming together.”

Frances Troche, who works for a tech meetup group that specializes in making mobile games, started gaming when she was 5. “I was introduced by my mom and grandmother, actually,” she says. Years later during high school, Troche received her first cell phone and developed an interest for playing on mobile. “The reason I love gaming so much is because it helps me get out of my mind for however long I’m playing… I can be a different character, and it’s usually a strong woman. I always pick female characters.”

Despite the growing female interest in gaming, Google Play and Newzoo determined mobile games across the board still put men front and center. Of the top 100 grossing games on Google Play, 44% more app icons feature male faces than female faces. Additionally, 60% of women in the U.S. who play mobile games think that no more than 30% of mobile games are made for women. Even fewer women “embrace their play” and call themselves gamers.

“I feel like there’s always going to be a stigma when you’re a female gamer,” DeMario says. “You always get stereotyped, even though people don’t really know you.” Additional research suggests women feel pressured to mask their identities while gaming. “Most girl gamers out there don’t say [they] are a girl because if a guy loses to a girl in any of the games, he’ll freak out,” one woman told Refinery29.

In 2014, the “GamerGate” video games scandal led to a national debate concerning misogyny and online attacks against female gamers, many of which included violent threats. Since then, not much has changed. According to Google Play and Newzoo, 25% of men in the U.S. who play mobile games agree they’d spend more time playing if they knew they were playing with or against players of their own gender. That figure increases to 47% for men in the U.S. who play games 10 hours or more per week.

Only 27.8% of the gaming industry is female, transgender, or another gender identity, reports the International Game Developers Association in its 2016 Developer's Satisfaction Survey. This lack of diversity and inclusivity has multiple negative trickle-down effects — from the way women are physically depicted within games to the limited amount of female game developers.

“Any female character in a video game is made to have obscenely large breasts, a tiny waist, and a big butt. It’s all about sex appeal,” one woman told Refinery29. “There really isn’t much more depth than that involved in female video-game characters.” Another person suggested skewed perspectives are to blame, saying, “Games are usually made by men, so it's a [man's] point of view of the world. We need more women creating games.”

Yuxin Goa, a student and budding developer, aims to help break the mold. Through her mobile games, she emphasizes female protagonists and heroines instead of vixens or princesses in need of saving. “I [want] to use my games to talk about bravery, intimacy, connection, vulnerability,” Goa tells Refinery29. “Those themes [weren’t] really being [talked] about before in video games.” Looking ahead, she has one hope: “That the gaming world can be more encouraging, friendly, and inclusive to all kinds of different [experiences] and artistic expressions.”

As several of the most powerful industries continue to evolve and create equal opportunities for women, so should the market for gaming, says Stephanie Llamas, the VP of research and strategy at SuperData Research. “Representation is always going to come from first-hand experience,” she tells Refinery29. “To represent women, you need female developers.”

For Troche, who ultimately turned her hobby of gaming into a “dream job,” this seems more than possible. “If you want to get into gaming, in any kind of capacity, just do it,” she says. “Just find other people who also share your passion, [because] they’re out there. Just believe that you can do it, and it will happen.”

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Whether you grab them from your office kitchen or a private desk drawer stash, oatmeal packets are work breakfast (and hey, sometimes lunch) saviors. This fast and easy food is our go-to grab before a.m. meetings or during busy days when we barely have time to leave our chairs. It's an ideal multi-tasking nosh that, at bare minimum, only requires hot water or a microwave — plus, we can heat it up in anything from a mug to a Tupperware container. But just because quick oats are a reliable answer to workplace eating emergencies, doesn't mean that they need to be average when it comes to flavor.

All it takes to hack that uninspiring packet into a luxurious, gourmet bowl is three extra desk pantry or brought-from-home add-ins. Ahead we've crafted four easy-to-follow recipe formulas to fire up your office oatmeal routine. Craving a bacon, egg, and cheese? There's a hack for that. How about a PB&J? Once again, quick oats have your back. So, if you're looking to heat things up in your office kitchen, scroll ahead for our sweet and savory guide to revolutionizing instant oatmeal.

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Flash back, if you will, to your very first foray into exfoliation. Did it involve a tub of crushed-walnut scrub? Possibly a loofah? We, too, once subscribed to the grit-is-good philosophy. But time has told us that sloughing off dead skin doesn't have to be (and, for your skin's sake, shouldn't be) a rough experience. Exfoliation is essential to fresh, luminous skin — and luckily, products that facilitate the process have mellowed considerably over the years.

Unlike the sharp-edged, sandpaper-y grains you attacked your teenage acne with, today’s scrubs wouldn’t dare scratch your face or leave it ruddy. We’re seeing smart resurfacing molecules that selectively erode only dead surface cells, sparing the healthy skin below, to give a glow sans side effects. Even hardcore home peels have gotten crazy considerate, delivering on promises not to irritate by offsetting acids with generous doses of hydrators and inflammation-quelling extracts.

In fact, some of our new favorite exfoliators are so gentle, they can be used daily (or close to it), but leave skin smoother than any harsh scrub ever created. Ready to become a convert yet? Ahead, skin buffs weigh in on all that’s new in the realm of next-generation exfoliation.

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