The latest way to biohack your body? Microchips in

26 Aug

Microchip nailsGallery / 7 images Chipped nails have always been a nuisance – until now. Manicurists and marketers are transforming the everyday manicure into something more futuristic, with wearable-tech enthusiasts and beauty fans embedding NFC chips into nail art to share business details, social profiles or just about anything with a link, all with the tap of a finger. While it may feel like magic, the technology is not entirely new. Viral Oyster card nails made waves around a decade ago, while artist Arvida Bystrom used similar chips beneath her skin for a project soon afterwards. Short for “near-field communication”, NFC is the same technology used when scanning a biometric passport at the airport. According to Google Trends, searches for “NFC chip”...

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17 Aug

This film gives looksmaxxing men the body horror treatment

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Beauty, Featured

This film gives looksmaxxing men the body horror treatment

Looksmaxxing (2026)Gallery / 9 images It’s tempting to frame Looksmaxxing (2026) as the male answer to 2024’s feminist body horror The Substance. Following a “dopamine-depleted young man” named Niles, played by actor and skateboarder Sunny Suljic, the short film follows his spiralling obsession with hyper-masculine beauty standards, via toxic influencers, a DIY drug protocol sourced from the shady fringes of the web, a talking tumour, and bone smashing. By now, US-based writer and director Elan Alexander is used to the comparison. But, as he points out, the script predated Coralie Fargeat’s hit film by some time. In fact, Looksmaxxing emerged out of his obsession with looksmaxxing forums way back in 2022. Maybe both filmmakers were just responding to something unavoidable in...

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5 Aug

‘I trust my own body’: The rise of the

by Beauty Tips

Beauty, Featured

Mainstream wellness is predicated on the belief that the more data, the better. More and more of us are tracking glucose, monitoring sleep quality and logging every run on Strava. It’s no longer enough to wake up in the morning and know whether we’ve had a good night’s sleep based on how tired we feel; now we’re encouraged to rely on a device-calculated sleep score. And yet, a revolt is underway: a growing cohort is rebelling against optimisation and moving towards something more intuitive, embodied and carefree. Where the industry largely sees data as king, the “unquantified self” movement deems feeling the ultimate metric. Its adherents still train in gyms and live in chaotic cities, but want to align themselves as...

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21 Jun

Kylie Jenner’s ‘summer body’ accused of being plastic surgery

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Beauty, Featured

Kylie Jenner’s ‘summer body’ accused of being plastic surgery

On Sunday, whilst sunning herself in Turks and Caicos as part of her Kylie Skin press trip, Kylie Jenner shared an image on Instagram of her semi-nude body. Shot by Sasha Samsonova and captioned “Summer Body,” the image was part of a campaign to promote a series of newly launched Kylie Skin body products, including the brand’s first SPF. Fans quickly began to criticise the image, however, accusing the influencer of having “bought and paid” for her body, a result of plastic surgery. “I don't need no creams and oils, just the name of the surgeon,” wrote one Instagram commenter, while another said, “Kylie said if we buy her skin products we too will get a summer body like hers..kylie girl..I know you fuvkin...

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