Client: The Goods

Writer: Chloe Arnold

Illustrator: Sarah Lawrence

“Take, for instance, singer Alicia Keys, who made headlines for seemingly going makeup-freein photos. She was praised for the choice, with Cosmopolitan even going as far as to call Keys a “brave soul.” Yet paradoxically, Keys’s makeup artist afterward gave interviews to both Glossier’s Into the Gloss blog and W Magazine about all the effort that went into achieving her look.

“Even down to her eyebrows, we try to keep it natural. I’ll cut individual false eyelashes and use them on the eyebrow to have that realness,” the makeup artist told Into the Gloss. For W Magazine, she detailed an elaborate skin care and diet regimen that is “the work of a good team.” Anyone can be naturally beautiful, the implication is — all it takes is genetics, acupuncture, the money to hire a professional (or several), and lots of something called “ice work.”“

Check it out here.