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alanabenjamin's review
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Although I found the narrative a bit repetition, this was an engaging read if you are into this type of business nonfiction or this moment in East Coast pop culture history.
I feel like this book was a balanced analysis of the culture around 'girlboss' CEOs and in particular Emily Weiss.
I personally like a few Glossier products so learning more of the back story that I didn't know was so fascinating.
Chaos to Emily Weiss for being famously anonymous because there is quite the feat for a 'girlboss' in the IG era.
I'm not sure if this would be an inciting read if you don't care about Glossier, beauty industry and/or 'girlboss' era but if you are, you are in for a treat!
I feel like this book was a balanced analysis of the culture around 'girlboss' CEOs and in particular Emily Weiss.
I personally like a few Glossier products so learning more of the back story that I didn't know was so fascinating.
Chaos to Emily Weiss for being famously anonymous because there is quite the feat for a 'girlboss' in the IG era.
I'm not sure if this would be an inciting read if you don't care about Glossier, beauty industry and/or 'girlboss' era but if you are, you are in for a treat!
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
eteng's review
4.0
this was less of a "bombshell expose" than it was a thoughtful character study of a truly anomalous person
hannahcanread's review against another edition
3.0
It was interesting enough learning about how Glossier came to be, but also as someone who has been very into the makeup world since around the time Glossier started, I think it was a bit over done.
There was a lot I learned about the company and founder none of it surprising.
There was a lot I learned about the company and founder none of it surprising.
soapy's review
2.0
i skimmished this book lmao it was fine, everything i say can’t be taken seriously bc i skimmished. i have a feeling if i had put in the effort to read it thoroughly it’d be a 2 star. i get people love tell alls but telling me who she dated in hs bordered on degrading to me idk? i also feel like it didnt say anything new or interesting, surprisingly sterile. it swirled into nothing like those asmr channels u stare at bc the animations on loop but it’s really only 4 seconds of substantive animation. i laughed at the end bc it was proof in the pudding of how little of substance there was to talk abt.
my fav part was a quote from someone else that was a half page long which filled me with pleasure bc i remembered i like reading, just different things.
idk why this is so harsh i didn’t realize i disliked it that much till i went to write abt it. even so, it’s fine.
ps i also laughed out loud when she mentioned her stars hollow hs experience having a seedy underbelly of hard drugs and then was like, but emily didn’t participate in it. lol? ok? u don’t have to include everything that was within five feet of her babes!! same thing with the birkin price estimate where she humblebrags cross referencing it like yes, that is yr job as a journalist. Like??? i was so confused sometimes why she was telling me certain things/if she even knew what she wanted to say
pps i think im mad and feeling dishy bc this book claimed to be gossipy and dishy and was not only not that but also not rigorous and intellectual either??? so what was the point ??? like it was not tea to say glossier had a dress code
ppps im worked up!! i didnt even go into this for goss btw, i was actually excited for a glimpse into how she made it all happen and it felt like every era was an evil woman archetype: the Popular Girl, the Rich Bitch, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the Grunge Cool Girl Era, the It Girl, the Mean Girlboss and literally all Weiss was doing was existing, it felt jealous and oddly sexist and so offputting and confusing tonally to me. When it praises her, it’s dripping with awe in a way that’s removed from reality, and when it criticizes it’s hushed and shocked as if revealing something interesting but it’s just… Not? Nothing that was dished on was shocking. Like surely we can forgive a start-up female CEO for at times being awkward or having girlfriends in the office…?
for that reason i am allowing myself to downgrade fo 2 stars!
my fav part was a quote from someone else that was a half page long which filled me with pleasure bc i remembered i like reading, just different things.
idk why this is so harsh i didn’t realize i disliked it that much till i went to write abt it. even so, it’s fine.
ps i also laughed out loud when she mentioned her stars hollow hs experience having a seedy underbelly of hard drugs and then was like, but emily didn’t participate in it. lol? ok? u don’t have to include everything that was within five feet of her babes!! same thing with the birkin price estimate where she humblebrags cross referencing it like yes, that is yr job as a journalist. Like??? i was so confused sometimes why she was telling me certain things/if she even knew what she wanted to say
pps i think im mad and feeling dishy bc this book claimed to be gossipy and dishy and was not only not that but also not rigorous and intellectual either??? so what was the point ??? like it was not tea to say glossier had a dress code
ppps im worked up!! i didnt even go into this for goss btw, i was actually excited for a glimpse into how she made it all happen and it felt like every era was an evil woman archetype: the Popular Girl, the Rich Bitch, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the Grunge Cool Girl Era, the It Girl, the Mean Girlboss and literally all Weiss was doing was existing, it felt jealous and oddly sexist and so offputting and confusing tonally to me. When it praises her, it’s dripping with awe in a way that’s removed from reality, and when it criticizes it’s hushed and shocked as if revealing something interesting but it’s just… Not? Nothing that was dished on was shocking. Like surely we can forgive a start-up female CEO for at times being awkward or having girlfriends in the office…?
for that reason i am allowing myself to downgrade fo 2 stars!
michaelanormand's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
As someone who was a former glossier girly™️ circa 2016ish and saw the controversies the brand had, coupled with watching a few video essays on it, the information felt somewhat repetitive. Not to say that it wasn’t well written or researched, because it was, but it felt more surface level. Someone who is only peripherally aware of the brand or wasn’t there for its heyday would like this book much more than someone who was acutely aware/involved.
Overall, it didnt dive in deep enough and at times it seemed like Meltzer was keeping herself from being honest about the uglier part of glossier. Whether this was because she didn’t want to, her relationship with Weiss, what have you. Glossier was almost secondary to a general history of Emily Weiss, when I thought it would be more of an expose on the brand as a whole. Definitely wasn’t as controversial as Glossier, Weiss, or tiktok made it out to be.
Overall, it didnt dive in deep enough and at times it seemed like Meltzer was keeping herself from being honest about the uglier part of glossier. Whether this was because she didn’t want to, her relationship with Weiss, what have you. Glossier was almost secondary to a general history of Emily Weiss, when I thought it would be more of an expose on the brand as a whole. Definitely wasn’t as controversial as Glossier, Weiss, or tiktok made it out to be.