When guilty pleasures collide. Emily Schuman (of "Cupcakes and Cashmere" fame) has come across better than possibly anyone else profiled on "Into The Gloss." Which is to say, there isn't the requisite posturing about being so very low-maintenance... followed by a list of dozens of serums and moisturizers used daily. It also isn't a great big list of Estee Lauder, her sponsor... unless all the brands she mentioned are owned by one conglomerate. (Where's my corporate sponsor? Ideally this would be Uniqlo, but I'd settle for Nars. Or Zabar's, Murray's Cheese, Strand...) She just frankly discusses what it is she has to work with ("a pretty athletic build"; "I lack any real facial definition"; "mousy-brown" hair that she bleaches), and the end result is relatable rather than self-deprecating. Relatable not because these happen to be my own personal concerns (which I have, fear not, just not those), but because the whole thing reads more as 'within-normal-limits woman making the best of what she's got' than the trials and travails of being naturally stunning in a world with too many parabens and not enough pulverized kale.
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Unrelated question relating to a different post on the same site: What does the following mean? "Last year, a friend gifted me with [fancy soap]." Why not the far more direct "a friend gave me"? While I know that "gift" can now be used as a verb (and that some contingent cringes every time it is), I'd thought it was more in the context of, say, a fashion blogger is comped whichever handbag from a designer, and then it can be that Coach or whatever "gifted" the bag. But do friends now "gift"? Is this used to indicate that something was given as a gift, as versus I don't even know, handed to someone? Like where "give" is just a synonym for "hand," like hand/give it to me? Or does it just add an air of luxe to whatever's being discussed? So your friend might gift you luxury soaps, but give you an extra roll of toilet paper.
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Unrelated comment relating to yet a third. The so-very-now look for men's hair is apparently the one that's been so-very-now since forever among male physicists. (For obvious reasons.)
If I used "gifted" in that sort of sentence, it would probably be because I was trying to convey something somewhat sarcastic- "gifted me with" is followed with something I have no use for/interest in, while "gave me" is followed by something pleasant or useful. E.g. My grandmother gave me socks (this is actually a pleasing gift for me), while non-existant quasi-friend X gifted me with a basket of heavily scented candles.
ReplyDeleteI thank you for also disliking "gift (v.)".
ReplyDeleteGifted? No. Gave.
(I've never seen it used to express anything different from "gave", myself.)
Maya,
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense, and is consistent with my guess, that "gifted" is something you might use to show distance from the gift and giver - to show it wasn't something personal.
Sigivald,
There might be a distinction, as in the example I provided in the post. Not every "give" implies a present. If someone gives you a piece of paper, it's not exactly a gift in the grand sense of the word.