Issue 12.
Meghan's Harper’s Bizarre interview, lab diamonds are a girl’s best friend in 2025, & is the celebrity skincare brand bubble about to burst?
Oops… She Markled Again
If Meghan Markle and Prince Harry need ideas for some Christmas Day fun at the Sussex manor, I’d like to suggest a family-friendly round of karaoke.
It would be the perfect way to finish off a day of festivities that will surely include the royal children baking vegan oat Santa cookies in organic-cotton pyjamas, Harry playing Jingle Bells on a ukulele, lunch served on a dining table made from driftwood Meghan found on a beach during a morning gratitude walk, and gifts covered in hand-painted, recyclable wrapping paper.
After such a day it only feels right that Megs should cap things off by belting out Britney Spears’ Oops!... I Did It Again. The iconic 2000 hit surely has to be the Duchess’ unofficial anthem if her new interview with US Harper’s Bazaar is anything to go by.
Her first cover appearance for a major fashion publication since joining the royal family confirms the unfortunate truth we’ve all long suspected: the former actress is a slow learner.
The piece kicks off exactly where you’d expect: at an active fossil-dig site and natural-history museum in Los Angeles, where Meghan is dressed in Dora-the-Explorer–worthy attire — wide-leg trousers, a silk blouse, and small pavé-diamond studs — to meet a group of 12-year-olds.
From there, we move through the 44-year-old’s childhood in the Los Angeles, before touching on her chapter in the British royal family and how, in the past few years, she’s “lost her agency and her humanity.”
I don’t disagree with this assessment, and part of me feels guilty for joining the pile-on that occurs any time Meghan so much as steps into a room.
But unfortunately for the Suits star, every time she does a media piece to promote a new venture or share her ‘truth’ for the 956th time, she fumbles the bag.
Again and again.
Her channel of choice is always a controlled, highly stylised, gushy editorial piece, full of curated anecdotes and personal revelations that reveal nothing, except that no one in the world but Harry “loves me more,” with Meghan offering no return comment about him.
These pieces also tend to drip with glowing mentions from famous ‘close friends’ such as Serena Williams, who almost seem to have a gun to their head if they don’t endlessly repeat how amazing Meghan is, how funny she is, how she’s the most relatable person THAT’S EVER EXISTED OF ALL TIME, YOU KNOW!
I wish Meghan would give up this mission to appear relatable, because she isn’t.
If she just laughed at herself, owned her reputation, lifestyle, and leaned into the speculation, her public image — and desperate need to broadcast details like the fact she lunches at The Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she conveniently runs into someone famous exactly when the journalist happens to be there — would feel far less performative and endearing.
Being able to laugh at yourself would make clangers from the piece that have gone viral such as, “When I enter, the house manager announces, ‘Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,’ even though we appear to be the only other two people in the house,” infinitely more likeable if she were in on the joke.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham are two celebrities who excel at this.
At the end of the day, no one wants relatability. Yuck!
If I need a hit of mundanity, I can head to my local Coles, log onto the MyGov website or stare at myself in the mirror.
I want to live vicariously through Meghan’s friend with the Upper East Side brownstone with a glass lift! I wish she would tell us more.
Do they have a basement pool? What was the vibe in the front row at Balenciaga? Who did you see coming out of the bathroom stalls at Kris Jenner’s 70th ? Tell us about the interiors at Kensington Palace, are they moth-eaten?
I’m thinking her next move is an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, answering some of the questions honestly and I can almost guarantee, With Love, Meghan will live to see another season.
Lab Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend
How many carats would you like with that? Free from the shackles of the stigma that painted them as socially unacceptable and ‘not the real deal’ a decade ago, lab-grown diamonds are having the last laugh.
Structurally, chemically and visually identical to their natural-made cousins, lab-grown diamonds are created in a lab using advanced technological processes that mimic the geological conditions of the earth that natural diamonds are mined in.
And if 2025 has proven anything, this is their year.
As reported by AFR, the category is now worth USD $35–40 billion globally, a significant increase from less than USD $1 billion in 2015, with forecasts from Allied Market Research suggesting it will reach USD $59.2 billion by 2032.
More environmentally friendly and accompanied with a price tag that won’t make you part with food and shelter for a decade, lab-grown diamonds offer a seductive promise: you can size up for less.
Pieces that were once out of reach become attainable — an appealing proposition in an economic environment we’re constantly being told is teetering on the brink of collapse.
Not everyone’s convinced though. The natural diamond market is still worth more globally, natural stones tend to hold better resale value, and for some, sentiment and tradition is priceless.
But if you’re buying with resale in mind, let’s be honest: the real problem isn’t market value, it’s the bad feng shui attached to an engagement ring from a relationship that dissolved faster than an influencer fashion brand.
Is Celebrity Skincare Still Levitating?
If you spot an indigo-blue glass bottle with rose-gold trims in someone’s shower or perched on their bathroom vanity, it’s not there by accident.
Owning a rich moisturiser or retinol with an $866 price tag from Augustinus Bader is a unabashed top-shelf flex. The skincare equivalent of taking a photo outside Rae’s on Wategos or angling your bird’s-eye Instagram story just right to get the Chanel logo on your clutch in the frame.
Now, you can impress all your friends for a fraction of the price with Dua Lipa’s new skincare line, created in collaboration with German physician and scientist Professor Augustinus Bader: Dua by AB Science.
The line currently includes three products — a cleanser, a multi-purpose serum, and a moisturiser — for just over $300, all powered by Bader’s TFC5™ technology, “tailored for skin with minimal to moderate damage.” In layman’s terms: it’s largely targeted at Gen Z.
But are people actually buying it?
Dua by AB Science has sparked mixed reactions across social media and the press, dividing people into two clear camps: those who would donate a rib to look like Lipa and relish the chance to own a slice of Augustinus Bader without as many zeros… and those who see it as yet another celebrity cash grab that cheapens the pedigree of the core Bader brand.
Questions have emerged as to whether products at a much lower price point can genuinely deliver the same results, and if they can, what’s the point of spending more for the main line?
The split makes for fascinating discourse and excellent publicity for Dua’s line either way. But my inner Carrie Bradshaw can’t help but wonder: is the celebrity beauty bubble finally about to burst?
😂💗