The Digest 43

panic pouches and gas station food

Jul 15, 2026

Welcome Back!

Hope you’re staying cool in the heat and getting even cooler with what you learn here today 🧊 This is a long one, so buckle up!

If you’re here for a new perspective on fashion, beauty, and culture, you’re in the right place. Pull up a chair. The table is wide.

Aperitif

A little taste of what’s to come

Trending Tidbits:

These trends are tracked not for following, but for what they reveal. Not necessarily an endorsement, but a thought starter

🥤 Baja Blast Blue

⛽️ Chevron Stripes (sensing a pattern here… that pattern is 2012)

🫩 Hangovers

🏄‍♀️ Surfer Summer (not you, Gal)

⚠️ Panic Pouches

💄 Curated Beauty Boxes

The Main Course:

A selection curated to keep you fed

If you know me at all, you know I love space anything. I was delighted to discover EXIST (recommend checking out their site for sure) and their product SPACELIP, “The first lip balm grown in space, with a hydration complex cultivated aboard the ISS and brought back to Earth”1. Unfortunately I am intrigued!!

Last week I mentioned Rob Rausch as Snif’s Milkman for their recent cereal milk drop. This new era of Got Milk? continues: @gonnaneedmilk named Charles Melton Milk Man 2027, complete with a Thirst calendar - interesting that both campaigns used the formula hot guy + quench thirst = milk

I know that this slushie motif is mostly due to 7/11 the date - and seemingly national holiday? - but it fits well into the convenience store content boom we’ve been talking about and I think it will continue

Speaking of: I first mentioned Maggie’s, a chic gas station, back in April 2025. Looks like they’re opening their first location soon. Sabena 🪄 wrote about it this week: “The humble gas station is getting the Erewhon treatment”, and Brooke Yoakam posted a reel about gas stations as status symbol

⛽️ Why Your Next Great Meal May Be at a Gas Station (WSJ) (IG version here)

Bonus: Rising gas prices threaten impulse purchases at convenience stores (Retail Media)

You’ve (probably) heard of swicy food - now, fricy is entering the chat. Also, Coca-Cola filed an application to trademark ‘Spricy’, possibly foreshadowing a spicy soda option in the works

How the purpose of bag charms is shifting: aesthetic → functionality

As a huge Rummikub fan, I absolutely love to see this and would like to own it expeditiously

Bath & Body Works partnered with Hilary Duff to promote their Fruit Fusion launch. The comments on the IG post are overwhelmingly positive. I keep seeing strikingly accurate comparisons between the new packaging and vapes - although, depending on who their target is, I suppose that could be advantageous lol (speaking of which- “Our Era’s Unfortunate New Love Language”)

🧴 Bath & Body Works Is on a Quest for Another Billion-Dollar Scent (NYT) - what was your B&BW go to when you were younger? I was a staunch Cashmere Glow girl

e.l.f has launched haircare and I gotta say… I wanna try it out. “@elfhaircare is real. Bigfoot is still TBD” - but he is starring in the campaign. Cute

Sol De Janeiro is expanding into men’s fragrance. The launch leaned heavily into soccer thematics, a natural fit for the current cultural moment and for the Brazilian-inspired brand

RE: Sol De Janeiro - I was so, so thrilled to see my favorite book podcast Bad On Paper announce a summer partnership with SDJ. I was lucky enough to attend the launch party a couple weeks ago and it only deepened my affection for the Sol De Janeiro brand - one of the few beauty brands practicing body inclusivity authentically

Mr. Clean is a beauty influencer now: “your everything shower starts here”

🕯️Candlemaking, tarot cards, yoga, and more: Inside Recess’s event-centric strategy (Marketing Brew)

Beis has been teasing a drop with a plastic surgery-themed campaign for the last week with visuals including latex gloves, IV drips, scalpels, and full-on OR procedure scenes accompanied by verbiage like “In a few days, you'll be able to be out in public”. Right…

Cue the continued medicalization of everything

In line with the multisensory marketing boom, interactive billboards are popping up everywhere. Goodwipes put up a scented billboard so you can experience their fragrances, while Tower28’s sprayed hypochlorous acid2

🧪 Gels, milks and micro pearls: the new textures pushing fragrance boundaries (Cosmetics Business)

Latex is all over runways right now. For Vogue Business, Death to Stock attributed this to the “current fixation on contouring, optimization, and extreme silhouette control”

JENNAX, a label known for its latex work, is bringing the trend to World Cup garb

Warming global temperatures and increasingly volatile conditions will continue to influence fashion and beauty trends. Survivalmaxxing, if you will. K-beauty is cornering the market on cooling beauty products made for high temps

I’ve been writing about retro aesthetics as a desperation for optimism for quite a while now. Business of Fashion recently published “Why This Summer’s Fashion Campaigns Are All-In on Retro Escapism”, tying summertime to nostalgia and collective memory

Chapstick is leaning into retrospective content in anticipation of their “new era”

Vacation Inc is leveraging their typical retro ad aesthetic to run a throwback-themed summer sweepstakes for vintage prizes to promote their Pepsi Lip Gel a la Pepsi’s famous giveaways from the 90s and early 2000s3

Milk Makeup is bringing back some of their most popular past products in “The Throwback Collection” for a limited time only

💭 Inside Chinese Dreamcore, Where Gen Z Relives a Brighter Past (NYT)

Hasbro is launching Play-Doh for adults

Toys for adults, beauty products for kids. Urban Outfitters is betting on Gen Zalpha beauty with Yes Day, a skincare brand started by 13 year old Coco Granderson. Coco isn’t the only tween beauty entrepreneur - 12 year old Stella Dorazio recently founded Stellar Beauty Co for “active girls and growing skin”

More controversially, Shay Mitchell’s Rini, a skincare brand for (very young) kids, made a lot of people very angry back in November 2025. The brand is back in the spotlight with a new body-care line

According to the WSJ, the hottest restaurant in town is one that makes you feel like you’re at your grandma’s house, while Glamour says that “granny blouses” are a trend that bring “warmth and romanticism” to your look

💪 The Body Care Category Ripe for Gen Alpha (BOF)

Topicals founder Olamide Ayomikun Olowe and stylist Solidad Nwakibu are launching a fashion label

I sort of can’t believe the longevity that the butter trend has had. Bizarrely, in just the last couple weeks I have seen an influx of posts hinting at upcoming launches with butter-forward visuals - eos, Physician’s Formula, Sleepy Tie, Bobbi Brown, and Chaco to name just a few

Meanwhile, butter yellow text is increasing the performance of social media posts

Last week I mentioned the connection between the Luddite movement and tiny watches, linked by a collective desire to simplify. Wired wrote about “The Summer of Ludd” festival, which is teaching people how to go analog amid the “suffocating presence of Big Tech”

✨ From cocktails to scent swaps: Inside China’s experiential perfume clubs (Jing Daily)

Digestif:

An after dinner course on the topic top of my mind

This week’s Digestif is from The Composite Archives. Some of this I wrote this in as part of a Digest that never went live, some I wrote for a separate longer piece that also never saw the light of day. Enjoy these unpublished musings on the performance of size inclusivity.

Your Curves Are Our Cause None of Our Concern

I’ve always been hesitant to praise any Kardashian / Jenner brand as size-inclusive. I understand why many of my plus-sized peers have, however, as they’re some of the only brands who have provided ANY semblance of options for larger bodies. From Good American to Khy to Skims, the size ranges at these brands have typically been wider than most - keep in mind, though, that the bar is in hell.

Even so, it always felt performative to me. Some might argue that doesn’t matter, that the access is the only important thing when it comes to shopping as a plus-size person. I happen to disagree. I certainly think we can and should shop anywhere we are able, whether or not they actually care about us. If I see a cute pair of jeans that aren’t available anywhere else in my size, I’ll buy them from a Kardashian. But I stand by the fact that selling above an XXL does not an inclusive brand make.

Either way, it has become clear that it was never a core part of these brands’ ethos to provide equitable access to clothing for all, despite what it clearly says in their mission statements.

Recently, I saw two separate videos about Kardashian-Jenner brands quietly doing away with larger sizes in their newest launch. Samyra, a staunch advocate for the plus-size community, highlighted the fact that Good American’s newest drops do not go above a size 14. Emma Arletta, a plus-size influencer, similarly called out Khy for the performative inclusivity of their most recent launch. Despite not carrying the new items in plus sizes, they still included those sizing options on the product pages, grayed out as if they sold out. In fact, they never carried them in the first place.

Note the grayed out plus sizes on many pieces from Khy’s newest collection

In Khy’s case, we have a perfect example of a classic and perennial issue in plus-size clothing. Many brands think that plus-size consumers dress only one way. Conservative, out of shame, and in the hopes of distracting from their bodies. Of course we know that simply is not true. But this willful misunderstanding of the plus-size consumer often results in the phenomenon we see here - brands offering only certain items in plus sizes, which always correspond with how they see us and our style (or lack thereof). Relegated to baggy tops, a-line skirts, and waist-cinching silhouettes while the coolest, sexiest, and edgiest skin-baring styles are reserved exclusively for the skinny consumer.

“Aspirational” aversion to fatness has always been a barrier to inclusivity. Fashion brands famously will break moral codes and cross a multitude of ethical boundaries all in the name of turning a profit, but they would rather leave money on the table than align themselves with fatness. In a country where capitalism is king and money is everything, the social capital of thinness is still the only thing that can trump making a buck.

There are many brands for whom this has been the norm, forever and always:

Lululemon founder says some women simply too fat to wear leggings: “And I think the definition of a brand is that you are not everything to everybody... You have got to be clear that you do not want certain customers coming in.”

But as we continue to move further into an Ozempicified world, even previously
”inclusive” brands are changing their tune, pulling back their offerings, and pandering to beauty standards.

It’s important to note that I know there are some options for plus size folks out there, especially those that are fueled by people in our own community. There are small retailers and indie brands and incredible people who are putting in the blood, sweat, tears, and money to make us feel seen and keep us dressed. And while I applaud and appreciate them, I’m here to talk about Fashion with a capital F. The corporate brands and cultural leaders that COULD step in and effect some positive change, yet choose not to. Why is it that independent designers with fewer resources are making bigger waves in this space than huge conglomerates with endless capital and more opportunity to turn a profit from the plus size consumer?

Dessert:

A book rec as the cherry on top

Not With A Bang | Temi Oh

As I mentioned above, I’m a huge space and sci-fi fan and I read a lot of books that correspond with that interest. Temi Oh has become an auto-buy author for me after reading More Perfect and Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

However, the premise of her newest book, Not With A Bang, seems somehow even more up my alley than her previous works. Described as Station Eleven meets Leave the World Behind, this book follows a family navigating an extinction-level catastrophe on the day of their daughter’s wedding. The synopsis also briefly mentions a UFO cult, a doomsday bunker, and an eldest daughter - so, basically, this was written for me.

The book is out in the US today, July 14, and my preorder should be arriving soon! Let me know if you’re planning to check this one out too 🛸

Late Night Snack:

Is it okay if I say I told you so <3

A new section dedicated to past predictions that have come true. Don’t forget you heard it on The Composite first.

🍎 Glossier is hosting a “balmdega” to celebrate their new I <3 NY lip balm 4

🥄 Lore’s newest fragrance, Lil Softie, is “a yummy lil cocoon of pink pepper, cereal milk and ambery musk”5

🥄 Thirsty Cowboy unveiled new flavors of their House Butter lip balm, including Cereal Milk

🥄 Backflip Breakfast is a new line of “better-for-you” cereals gaining traction

Cereal’s comeback is certainly linked to the nostalgia snack convo we had last week

🥄 Spiritually similar to cereal milk, Levain just launched a Cookie Milk Latte

🍌“Everything’s Bananas” (NYT)6

🍌 Flamingo Estate dropped a Banana Body Balm

🍌“It’s Going to be a Banana Girl Summer” (Popsugar)

🍌 Califia Farms, Coffee Mate, and Natural Bliss are all dropping banana coffee products

I am not immune to the allure of the banana - I recently bought both this Banana Milk Coffee perfume and this Banana Bread coffee syrup. I’ll report back 🫡

🍋‍🟩 “Solid Wiggles is Making the Jell-O Shot Chic” (Edible Brooklyn)7

🍋‍🟩 Tree Hut launches jelly soaps

🥤 Barebells is hosting a soda shoppe pop up 8

PS: a few gems in here that align with several prior predictions (banana, rhubarb): “10 summer fragrances for sexy weird girls” by Emma Lou Cogan