Celebrity News

Celebrity News

What Is the NBC Peacock Streaming Service: Price, How to Subscribe, & More

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After much anticipation and a delayed start, the NBC Peacock streaming platform is finally here. (It launches today, July 15!) I know what you’re thinking: another streaming service? But this one may very well be worth your time. For starters, a version of the platform comes to you totally free. 

But I’ll get to that in a second. In fact, I’ll have the answers to key questions for you about Peacock, below. First, though, a brief synopsis about what Peacock actually is. Per a press release, it’s a service that offers you NBC Universal content from the vault, including favorites like Parks and Recreation and The Office. (Unfortunately, the latter show won’t be available for the July 15 launch, but the former will be.) “Peacock will deliver a world-class slate of exclusive originals, on-demand libraries of hit TV shows, plus critically-acclaimed films from the vaults of Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and Hollywood’s biggest studios,” a release reads. 

So, in other words, get ready to be thoroughly entertained by some of your old favorites, new original content, and even offerings from sports, news, and late night. For a more comprehensive list of what NBC Peacock offers, click here. 

So how do you get the service? And what are the subscription details? Here are the answers to some important questions: 

Where can I sign up for Peacock?

Click here to do that. There are three plans you can choose from: a free one (Peacock) that includes TV shows and movies; a $4.99/month plan (Peacock Premium) that also includes live sports, next-day access to NBC shows, and Peacock originals; and a $9.99/month plan (Peacock Premium Plus) that gives you everything commercial free. (Peacock’s website notes, though, that a small amount of content will still include ads.)

What if you already have TV subscriptions?

Per Peacock’s website, Peacock Premium will come at no additional cost “for all Xfinity Flex customers and Xfinity X1 customers who have a subscription to Xfinity Internet or Digital Starter TV, or equivalent.”

What specific shows will be available on each plan?

You’ll have to peruse on launch day for specifics, but Peacock is promising “thousands” of hours of content with its free plan, which is promising.

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What to Watch on NBC’s Peacock: The Best TV Shows & Movies to Stream

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Parks and Recreation fans, rejoice: NBC’s Peacock officially launches today, July 15. Now, that beloved show—plus a slew of others, not to mention movies and Peacock originals—will be available for your streaming pleasure. Whenever. Wherever. And get this: A version of the streaming platform comes to you totally free. Click here for more information on that, plus to learn about Peacock Premium (which has a value of $4.99 per month). 

So what, exactly, do you get with NBC’s Peacock streaming platform? A large selection of titles will be arriving on July 15, with other things rolling out in the coming weeks. ( Battlestar Galactica, The Office, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, the Real Housewives franchise, and Bridesmaids won’t be on Peacock on July 15, but trust me: They’re coming.) Below, see just a snapshot of the great titles you can start streaming right now: 

Brave New World (Peacock original)

Demi Moore, Alden Ehrenreich, and Jessica Brown star in this new dystopian drama about a utopia that, on the surface, seems wonderful—but slowly the people who live in it begin to question the regimented laws in place. 

The Capture (Peacock original)

A new deepfake thriller that centers on a criminal investigation in which the evidence presented may not be a 100 percent depiction of the truth. 

In Deep With Ryan Lochte (Peacock original)

In 2016, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte made headlines after he was caught lying about being attacked by armed robbers at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. His new documentary touches on that, plus how he’s attempting to rebuild his life. 

Intelligence (Peacock original)

A workplace comedy starring David Schwimmer about a NSA agent who seeks the help of a junior staffer in a move that could disrupt the cybersecurity of their company. 

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home (Peacock original)

Psych fans, it’s time to get…well, psyched. Check out the official description for this highly-anticipated sequel: “After Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter is ambushed and left for dead, Shawn and Gus return to help him and find themselves embroiled in a case involving the personal, the professional—and even the supernatural.”

Fun fact: I started watching this TV show as a palette cleanser after a horror movie. But the first season didn’t hook me. Season two, I’ve heard, is where it’s at. So do I start watching?

Great! Now I can finally look up Britney Spears’s SNL moments any time I want. 

Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent will be available for streaming, too. 

Watching this show is the entertainment equivalent of taking a hot bubble bath, and there’s never a wrong occasion for that. 

The Bravo fanatics at Glamour swear by this show above all else. Don’t miss the boat on this one, my friends. 

Shrek (2001)

A classic children’s movie (with surprisingly adult jokes) about an ogre who saves a princess and…well, you’ve seen this one. You get it. But now you can watch it whenever you want. 

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

A horror movie staple. It kickstarted the found footage genre and still holds up to this day. Maybe pull a me and start watching Parks and Rec after this one. 

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Laser Hair Removal for Dark Skin: What You Need to Know

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Like good sunscreens and extensive foundation shades, laser hair removal for dark skin simply didn’t exist for a long time. But thanks to the growing awareness around inclusivity, along with advances in technology, those of us who were told for years that laser hair removal was a no-go due to our skin tone are now finally able to get the treatment.

First, the lowdown on lasers and how they work: They beam intense light at the follicle, causing permanent damage so hair no longer grows. But because they work by targeting the pigment in the hair—it’s the contrast between dark hair and lighter skin that helps the laser focus on its bullseye—the ideal candidate has traditionally been someone with fair skin and dark hair.

For that reason, laser hair removal for dark skin has been a gamble: Devices weren’t sophisticated enough to completely distinguish between the pigment in brown or Black skin and dark hair, meaning that they could potentially cause dark and light spots, blisters, and even scarring in the skin surrounding the follicle, says Robyn Gmyrek, M.D., of Union Square Laser Dermatology in NYC. But now there are smarter lasers that can be used in a much more precise—and safe—way, making getting rid of unwanted fuzz a reality for a wider range of skin tones. Here’s how to get it right.

The Best Lasers for Dark Skin

The first and most important thing you need to know is how Nd:YAG and diode lasers work for dark skin and dark hair. In recent years the Nd:YAG (or just YAG) has become increasingly popular. “The wavelength of this laser goes deeper into the skin than a diode,” says Gmyrek. “So it more successfully bypasses the pigmentation present in the skin.” Because the YAG basically bypasses the melanin in your skin, it’s the safest option for medium to dark skin. It’s one of two lasers Shobha Tummala, founder and CEO of Shobha hair removal, offers in her salons. (She’ll also use it for fair-skinned clients who have recently gotten a tan.)

But the diode has its perks, even though it might be more complicated for anyone above a 4 on the Fitzpatrick scale (the standard measure of skin type used by dermatologists, with 1 being the lightest and most sun-sensitive and 6 being the darkest). “In patients with dark skin, the diode laser energy has to be delivered in a slower manner per pulse, leaving more time for skin to cool,” says Gmyrek. “It also has an instant cooling device that protects pigment from overheating and being damaged.” The Lumenis LightSheer laser, one of the most popular diode lasers out there, even has a suction mechanism to distract your attention from the pain. “I would overall say that it’s the least painful,” says Estee Williams, M.D., a dermatologist in New York City.

Risks of Laser Hair Removal on Dark Skin

You’ll want to minimize the chances that you’ll develop the most common laser-related side effects for dark or Black skin: hyperpigmentation, or dark spots, and hypopigmentation, in which the skin pigment lightens. According to Williams, hypopigmentation can be harder to treat (although Gmyrek notes that it can sometimes resolve on its own), so ask your laser removal expert to do a test patch if you think you might be prone to it—just to be on the safe side.

Cost of Laser Hair Removal

Expect to need at least six sessions. Although darker skin can sometimes require more treatments than fair, “everyone’s different,” says Tummala. The downside is that the cost can add up quickly, as many providers charge by the session. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’s 2017 stats, the average cost per session was $293—but it varies wildly depending on what part of the body you’re targeting. (Generally, the larger the area, the higher the price.)

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35 Best Engagement Gifts For Couples in 2020: Gift Ideas They’ll Love

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Not even a global pandemic can stop friends and loved ones from saying “I do”—meaning it’s always the right time to find the best engagement gifts. Another thing coronavirus can’t stop? The inevitable “So when’s the big day?” questions the happy couple start fielding immediately after the congratulations.

Getting the future newlyweds something they’ll actually use or were planning to add to their wedding registry, can help the lovebirds keep their sanity throughout the initial stages of planning—especially now when settling on a wedding day is up in the air. And where last year, you may have been searching for the best engagement gifts to hand over in person, presents of the virtual variety are in play—so thoughtfulness and presentation is key. 

From Pinterest-worthy home décor to subscription boxes they’ll actually use, scroll on for the 35 best engagement gift ideas to get them through this unconventional—but still amazing—period of their lives.

All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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Rihanna’s Fenty Skin Care Line Officially Has a Launch Date

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Update 7/14/2020: 

Plans have undoubtedly been bleak this summer, but Rihanna is giving us all something to look forward to now. Fenty Skin officially has a launch date and it is soon. 

The singer and beauty mogul announced the news on a newly created Instagram page for the brand, writing: “Fenty Skin is launching July 31st exclusively at fentyskin.com!!” The caption didn’t give any hint to what the line might consist of—dark spot treatments? Moisturizers made for women of color? Your guess is as good as ours—but it did allude to the fact that we should know more in the coming weeks. 

Time to set a reminder in your cals. This one’s going to be big.

Original Post (3/31/2020): 

When Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2017, it revolutionized the makeup industry based on one single premise: give the people—all the people—products in shade ranges that work for them. And now that that’s finally becoming the norm, Rih has her sights set on doing the same thing for skin care.

In her new interview with British Vogue (she’s the magazine’s May cover star), RiRi confirms that Fenty Skin is, in fact, coming—although she doesn’t have an exact release date yet. “Skin care, it’s the truth. It either works or it doesn’t. There’s nowhere to hide,” she tells the magazine.

Of course, when Fenty Skin does launch, it will no doubt be top-notch. All of RiRi’s endeavors are—whether that’s launching a foundation, designing a line of lingerie, or dropping new music, which fans have been eagerly anticipating for years. “I refuse to release anything that is not up to par with my quality level,” she says about her endeavors with Fenty. “The angle of a hem, the size of a sleeve, the stitch… If it’s not the right stitch that I want.”

Rihanna’s brand is all about quality—and diversity. She says she’s still surprised when people come up to her and suggest that making products for a range of skin tones was a novel, revolutionary idea.

“I’m shocked by people saying, ‘Oh my God, what made you think of making makeup for black girls?’” she tells British Vogue. “I’m like, ‘What? You thought this was, like, a marketing strategy? Like I’m a genius?’ It’s shocking most of the time, then it turns into disappointment that this is groundbreaking right now. In my mind, this was just normal.”

Also normal for Rihanna: having a heavy, active hand in Fenty—down to the words on bottles and product names. That’s one of many reasons the brand is successful: It’s authentic. “I write all of the copy for the websites, the product descriptions, and product names,” she says. “I do have a huge team, but I just don’t necessarily think their tone is mine. I’d feel like a fraud selling something that I can’t stand by.”

Read Rihanna’s full interview with British Vogue here.

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Simone Biles Casually Does a Heart-Stopping Move That Looks Exactly Like Flying

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Simone Biles just did a gymnastics pass so powerful that at the end she fell over. In a mesmerizing five-second clip which she posted to Twitter on Tuesday morning, she performs a double tuck out of a double layout. In non-gymnast’s terms, she basically flies down a runway, occasionally vaulting off the ground, using its resistance to flip even higher into the air.

The joyful clip comes just weeks after she was filmed performing a triple-double dismount, a move that has never been done before. 

She’s the most decorated gymnast in US history, and, I say this in the most loving and reverential way possible: She looks like a slinky going down a set of stairs. “[H]aven’t done a double tuck since I was probably 13 – here you go” she captioned the impossibly impressive video, failing to mention, as Twitter commenters pointed out, that she’s actually adding a double layout to the move, which makes it even more difficult. 

Watch the video with sound—the cheers and gasps of her teammates, the crack! of her feet hitting the runway, and the audio of the shocked spotter jumping out of her way are worth putting on your headphones. 

It’s impossible to watch Simone Biles fly and not feel that little “oh!” of wonder—the kind that’s usually produced by an unbelievable moment in nature or a spectacular poem. She makes human potential feel vaster and more untapped than you realized. In the last split-second of the video, when she goes crashing to the ground, it feels like even she is surprised by her own strength. 

The power to fly is a superpower that humans literally dream of. If anyone is going to come close, we’re glad it’s Simone. 

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.                   

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Meghan Markle Has Super Long Hair Now—And the Internet Is Buzzing

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Meghan Markle was the keynote speaker at this year’s virtual Girl Up Leadership Summit, and along with delivering a powerful speech, she also debuted a new super long, super sleek hairstyle.

While most of the focus of Markle’s appearance was on centered on her speech—in which she urged the young women watching to “chase convictions with action”—the internet couldn’t help but also notice her pin-straight hair, which went, essentially, to the middle of her torso. 

It’s not clear if this was a deliberate choice or the product of Markle, like the rest of us, not seeing a hairstylist in a few months (salons in L.A. just recently re-opened only to close right back up again due to climbing cases of COVID-19), but either way, it looks incredible. It’s a switch-up from the three signature looks Markle’s become well-known for—beachy waves, a messy bun, and a slick ponytail—but it’s also effortless and laid-back, right in line with her style. 

Check out the look for yourself, below. 

YouTube

“She rocks straight hair, and that blue was fantastic,” one fan tweeted in reference to her blue top. Another wrote, “She’s such a good speaker. Her hair has grown soo much. Leaving the U.K. really did wonders for her mind, body and soul. She can be an advocate without restrictions and that is power.”

Speaking of advocacy, Meghan Markle’s speech at the Girl Up Leadership Summit was all about encouraging young women to be unapologetic in their beliefs and values. “This is a humanity that desperately needs you,” she said. “To push it—to push us—forcefully in a more inclusive, more just, and more empathetic direction. To not only frame the debate, but be in charge of the debate—on racial justice, gender, climate change, mental health and well-being, on civic engagement, on public service, on so much more. That’s the work you’re already out there doing.”

She continued, “I know you have already done so much and made so many people’s lives better. The moment we are living through right now asks all of us to do more. It’s a moment where your voices, and your action, have never been more urgently needed.”

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Connie Schultz Interview: ‘Daughters of Erietown’ Is an Ode to Working-Class Women

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It’s difficult to trace back to when I first became aware of Connie Schultz. I was an overly-opinionated bookish girl growing up in Northeast Ohio, writing for the teen page of our local newspaper. I dreamed of college and escape from a landscape dotted by silenced steel mills and poverty generations of hard work couldn’t seem to undo. Schultz—a fierce reporter who turned her writing toward the working class—was everything I aspired to be in the world. Honest. Bold. Maybe I really fell for Schultz after I left, after I started to see how the struggles of where I came from kept informing who I became no matter where I went. I certainly knew Schultz’s writing by the time she won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, for work in The Cleveland Plain Dealer about the “underdog” and the “underprivileged,” code for the people who made each of us.

By then, I was in awe of her.

For years now, in addition to serving as faculty at Kent State University and being a nationally syndicated columnist, Schultz has been a steadying force, demanding decency and justice. In hundreds of thousands of people’s social media feeds# she daily manages a rarity—civil discourse online—even as our nation weathers political chaos. She is ever fair-minded, generous with dog photos when levity is needed, and firm in her hard-earned convictions.

Since June, Connie Schultz has also become something else: a novelist. Her latest book and first novel, The Daughters of Erietown, fell into my hands like something written in a familiar love language. It’s a multigenerational yarn about a family rooted in the working class. It’s a book about how place and circumstance shape people, even as we try to defy life’s inevitable constraints.

Schultz recently sat down with me, via Zoom, to discuss her book. (This marked the fulfillment of one of my life’s dreams, speaking to her about her writing.) The Q&A below has been edited for length and clarity, and contains spoilers.

Sarah Stankorb: There is a line you include in the book—”that’s where you come from, don’t you ever forget it”—which seems to inform a lot of who you are as a writer. And the book definitely makes clear how a person can be from somewhere and become something else and remain both those things, and yet straddle both worlds and never fit, really, in either one.

Connie Schultz: That is the perfect way to describe it, straddle it and never fit in, in my view, in either world.

I had a friend who grew up in a very affluent part of the country. And he said, you know, you are a reverse snob. “You are a working class snob. You think your people are superior to all of us who didn’t have to work so hard.” And I said, “There’s probably some truth to that, but you all seem to be doing fine without our approval.” 

Until I started hearing Bruce Springsteen’s music, his songs, I didn’t realize that our people lead lives of poetry too, and that we can actually put them to music. And it was such an affirming experience to hear his songs, to know that he understood the lives of the people I came from and that he understood something about the life I was living. And then to see so many people who don’t come from that background revere him has been so interesting to watch.

It’s really hard to come from the working class, but I do think it gave me my chops as a writer, certainly as a journalist, because I was so used to working hard at a young age. I was so used to understanding, you know, [as in the book] when Brick doesn’t let [his daughter] Sam go to Smith college because it would be a free ride, and he doesn’t believe anything is really for free. That is so much what I was raised to believe. And so it never occurred to me that I should get an easy way out of anything or into anything. And I suppose that really helped to inform my work and helped make me the journalist I became, good and bad.

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Meghan Markle Just Gave a Powerful Speech to Young Girls at a Virtual Summit

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Meghan Markle gave the keynote speech at this year’s virtual Girl Up Leadership Summit, which is part of the Time Is Now  Women in Leadership Plenary. And what she had to say was powerful. 

The Duchess of Sussex appeared on screen wearing a blue top and long, pin-straight hair, and she urged the young women watching to “chase convictions with action.” 

“I want to share something with you,” she said. “It’s that those in the halls and corridors and places of power — from lawmakers and world leaders to executives — all of those people, they depend on you more than you will ever depend on them. And here’s the thing: They know this.”

Markle continued, “They know that all of you, at a younger age than any modern comparison, are setting the tone for an equitable humanity. Not figuratively, literally,” she continued. “This is a humanity that desperately needs you. To push it, to push us, forcefully in a more inclusive, more just, and more empathetic direction. To not only frame the debate, but be in charge of the debate—on racial justice, gender, climate change, mental health and well-being, on civic engagement, on public service, on so much more. That’s the work you’re already out there doing.”

She added in her speech, “I know you have already done so much and made so many people’s lives better. The moment we are living through right now asks all of us to do more. It’s a moment where your voices, and your action, have never been more urgently needed.”

Watch the full video for yourself, below: 

Meghan Markle gave a similar speech to her all-girls high school alma mater in June, during graduation season. “You are going to lead with love, you are going to lead with compassion, you are going to use your voice,” she said. “You are going to use your voice in a stronger way than you have ever been able to, because most of you are 18, or you’re going to turn 18, so you’re going to vote. You are going to have empathy for those who don’t see the world through the same lens that you do—because with as diverse, vibrant, and open-minded as I know the teachings at Immaculate Heart are, I know you know that Black lives matter. You are equipped, you are ready, we need you, and you’re prepared.”\

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Kate Middleton Got a New Post-Quarantine Haircut and Color

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Like most of us, Kate Middleton has spent the last few months in quarantine. She’s been keeping busy but is no doubt ready to start a new chapter now that the world is slowly reopening. And what’s a better way to do that than a new haircut and color? 

Middleton gave a TV interview on July 14 to discuss her new project: an online education initiative called Tiny Happy People. Per the Kensington Royal Instagram, Tiny Happy People is “a BBC Education initiative providing a range of free digital resources, specifically designed to support parents and carers in developing children’s language from pregnancy to the age of four.” 

During the chat, Middleton gave updates on her own family and also debuted an update to her hair: gorgeous layers, especially around her face where she’s added in more face-framing pieces. It looks like she’s refreshed her color, too, with some more golden highlights, plus a slight dusting on her ends to enhance her signature bounce. 

Take a look at Middleton’s refreshed cut and color for yourself, below: 

Middleton seems to have adopted the “invisible layers” trend we reported on back in November 2019. “The most modern variation of layering is a slight angle around your face, usually starting around your chin and working its way down to the length,”  celebrity hairstylist Alex Brown said to Glamour. 

The result is an effortless, easy-to-style look. “Seamless layers are created by blending the ends of the hair and keeping a straight line while doing this,” Joel Warren, founder and creator of The Salon Project, told Glamour. “This way the hair that is cut falls smoothly on top of one another to eliminate choppiness.”

Whether or not this was her inspiration, Kate Middleton’s new hair is certainly perfect for summer—and may even inspire some who want to go brighter without trying full-on blond. Can’t say we’d blame you with a look that’ll grow in as easily as this.