T LOunge for May 19th 2025

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PinCafé Clotilde at Maison Colbert – Paris, France

It’s MONDAY, darlings. No need to be coy about it. Best to just find ourselves a chic, mid-century-inspired Parisian LOunge and simply spend the day in it. Over the weekend, we watched an insane number of stars hit the red carpet, which means we are about to completely overwhelm you with frivolities. Order something extremely French and prepare to be distracted.

Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping Movie: Everything we know about the hyped prequel
We have some very exciting cast announcements.
We’re going back to Panem!
In case you are new here, the Hunger Games franchise has gotten yet another chapter with the prequel, Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which first arrived in book form and will soon be adapted into a movie.
First announced on 6 June 2024, Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is the second prequel in the series after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which was adapted for film in November 2023 and starred Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth.

Bridgerton season 5 is officially happening: here’s everything we know so far
Which Bridgerton sibling will get their love story next?
Dearest gentle reader, we come bearing some truly excellent news. Your favourite frothy Regency-era romance show is not nearly finished yet. Yes, Bridgerton season 5 is officially happening. And so, for that matter, is Bridgerton season 6. Ahead of next year’s season 4, Netflix has announced that the show will continue for at least another two seasons — which is music to our ears (music that sounds an awful lot like a string quartet rendition of a Pitbull song, by the way. IYKYK.)

This is the Best Perfume to Wear if You’re Trying to Meditate (No, Really…)
The power of scent
Spiritual wellness is a huge trend in fragrance right now—some of the best perfumes for women contain ingredients designed to enhance and complement practices like yoga and meditation. And one brand in particular is leading the charge—with one of my biggest style crushes at the helm.

There isn’t a summer perfume out there that I haven’t tried—these 23 are undeniably the best of all time
The best fragrances for hot weather, this way
As a beauty editor with an affinity for all things scent, one of the topics I get asked about most is the best summer perfumes. You see, selecting the best perfume for summer is complex. Firstly, we have the issue of longevity. Truthfully, even some of the most long-lasting perfumes out there will struggle to hold up under the sun. Why? It’s basic physics—heat causes fragrance to evaporate at a faster rate, resulting in the scent ‘fading’ more quickly. (Although, there are some great holiday-approved scents that hold up in the heat.)

I’ve been feeling frazzled lately, but this unexpected fragrance note calms my senses like a comforting cup of tea
The alternative gourmand
When I’m feeling overwhelmed, beauty rituals are invaluable at providing some much-needed grounding and calm amongst the chaos of daily life. And while there’s a lot to be said for the moment of calm that cleansing your face can provide or the almost meditative state that painting your nails can imbue, for me it’s fragrance that offers up the most reliable shortcut to tranquility. And, right now, there’s one note that I’m gravitating towards when I’m really needing some zen: tea perfumes.

I’ve Struggled With Back Pain for *Years* – but Experts Say These 6 Gentle Exercises Could Seriously Help
You asked, we answered.
Luckily, there are plenty of gentle movements that can easily be done at home, and without much equipment. The best back pain exercises are simple yet effective, can relieve tension, improve fitness and wellbeing, and help reintroduce physical activity in the lives of those who struggle with traditional workouts, myself included.

19 best flip flops, because they’re having a real moment in fashion (but not in the way you might think)
Wondering what the biggest trends in footwear are right now? Let us take you back to basics via none other than a humble pair of the best flip flops.
Sure, mesh shoes, ballet pumps and wedges are all continuing to have their moment, but it’s not always about making a statement. It’s not always about picking a shoe that’ll really stand out, or really ‘offset’ your look, sometimes the more minimalist, the better. And it’s certainly not about spending endless amounts of money on uncomfortable kicks that’ll look good for one Instagram picture and cripple you for the rest of the day…

49 sad songs that will make you ugly cry every single time
Pass us the box of tissues…
Sad songs really do hit differently, don’t they? While music has the ability to evoke emotions in us like happiness, motivation and excitement, it can also make us cry at the drop of a beat.
Whether it’s the lyrics, the melody or the accompanying music video, everyone has that one song (or, in our case, plenty of those songs) that has the power to crush our souls and make the tears stream down our faces.

Trixie Mattel, The Diva Next Door
In the business of drag, there are very few like Trixie Mattel, having been the first of her kind for the YouTube generation of creators and performers. And in the near-decade I’ve been following and covering drag entertainers, all the way back to the first time I stepped foot into World of Wonder’s studios, just about everyone has a story to tell. My tour guide during that profile of a famous drag queen derailed by the pandemic skipped right past everything, cutting a straight line to the studio where “the magic happens” on UNHhhh, as she said. No mind the queen launching a new show I was there to speak with. Queens across “the franchise” speak effusively about her generosity and warmth, despite the humorous thorns. She comes up in conversations I’ve had with friends of hers or peers in the industry or even random artist, all obsessed with her style and wit and ingenuity.

‘Where Will My Teddy Sleep When I Get Married?’ And Other Musings On Being A ‘Teddy Bear Adult’
ELLE’s Naomi Pike doesn’t have a mortgage, a baby or a husband. But, like a growing number of adult women, she does have a teddy…
A few Saturdays ago, I received a text from a friend asking me to sleep over at her house. She was going through a rough time. So, I hastily packed an overnight bag. In went the requisites, and then came decision time. Would he come with me? Or the more accurate question was: could I fathom leaving him behind?
The ‘he’ in question is not a husband, a baby, or even a dog, but my teddy bear – who doesn’t have a name for a reason I’ve never really understood.

18 Festive Memorial Day Nail Ideas to Welcome the Start of Summer
Designs range from summery to Americana.
If you’re itching for summertime, then chances are you’re counting down the days until Memorial Day. After all, the holiday, which falls on the last Monday of May, is the unofficial start of summer. The weather is warmer, summer Fridays are well in motion, and it only makes sense to spend time with friends and family while you’re in the sun…with a margarita in tow and the BBQ fired up, of course. If you live for this time of year like so many others, what better way to celebrate than with a festive manicure? Whether you opt for bright neons, a classic shade of firetruck red, or something a bit more patriotic, there are plenty of ways to welcome longer days and vacation vibes à la nails.

Me, Stanley Tucci, and a Food-Filled Escapade Through Florence
In the midst of filming his new show, Tucci in Italy, writer Jessica Chapel joins the actor and travel host to uncover his side of the country.
I’ve traveled to Florence to spend time with Tucci while he films his new 10-part docuseries, Tucci in Italy, with National Geographic and BBC, which premieres on May 18. He has been filming for four months, with another three to go, but the show is already highly anticipated: Two years prior to filming in 2024, CNN canceled his two-season Emmy-winning show, Tucci: Searching For Italy, which had gained an avid following thanks to the actor’s charming deep dive into the culinary scene in Italy, his motherland. From chatting with the locals of Naples, the birthplace of pizza, to indulging in tastings of Minoro’s fresh limoncello—the world learned the potential of Tucci as a well-rounded, fun, and informative travel host.

Why the Shape and Size of Ice in Your Drink Matters
We all know that ice chills and dilutes our drinks, but let’s take a scientific look at how it can affect taste and texture.
An extra-large, crystal-clear ice cube is perfect for an Old Fashioned, but it would do a cup of cola no favors. Likewise, the crushed ice that makes a Big Gulp so cool and refreshing on a hot day would result in a watery, weak Negroni. One size or shape of ice isn’t better than another. Different ice performs different functions for different drinks.
We all know that ice chills and dilutes our drinks, but let’s take a scientific look at how it can affect taste and texture. Two important concepts should be kept in mind.

The Restaurant Waste Revolution Starts Here
From California to Colorado and beyond, restaurants are rethinking how to approach food waste for a more sustainable food system.
Restaurants are evolving from farm-to-table and seasonal to exceptionally sustainable thanks to waste reduction. Chefs and operators agree on two keys to joining this movement: starting small and adapting to change.
Changing sourcing, habits, and menus are the inevitabilities that come with any commitment to wasting less, and the benefits are cultivating creativity in the kitchen, spending smarter, and minimizing dining’s impact on the planet. Here’s where the tradeoff is so worth it.

Ralph Fiennes to Play President Snow in ‘Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’
Fiennes is set to portray the diabolical politician who was previously brought to life by the late Donald Sutherland.
Lionsgate‘s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping has found its President Snow.
Ralph Fiennes will play the ruthless Panem dictator in director Francis Lawrence‘s forthcoming film in the franchise, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. Joseph Zada, Whitney Peak, Mckenna Grace, Jesse Plemons, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Maya Hawke, Lili Taylor and Ben Wang have been previously announced as castmembers in the movie that adapts Suzanne Collins‘ best-selling novel.
Fiennes follows in the footsteps of the late Donald Sutherland, who portrayed Coriolanus Snow in the series’ first four films that kicked off with The Hunger Games hitting theaters in 2012. Blyth starred as a younger version of the character opposite Rachel Zegler in 2023’s prequel feature The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

‘Amy Sherald: American Sublime’ Skillfully Highlights Black Style And The Politics Of Visibility
Sherald’s monumental solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art is rooted in the power of Black figures and the visual representations of our interior lives.
What does it mean to see and to be seen? Amy Sherald’s monumental solo exhibition, American Sublime begs this question. Spanning nearly two decades of work, the exhibition, currently on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art is an assemblage of close to 50 portraits that reimagine the American realist tradition by centering Black subjects in moments of stillness, style, and sovereign presence.
Most known for her widely lauded 2018 portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, and more recently, for her 2020 portrait of Breonna Taylor, Sherald’s work serves as its own meditation on Black American life—her imagery existing somewhere between the fantastical and the mundane. Her vivid, large-scale paintings offer representations of Black interiority and the “every day,” an aesthetic and political commitment that refuses representational [read: racist] logics which so often render us as spectacle.

Don’t let a messy house stop you from hosting
No one cares as much as you do.
Inviting people over to hang out at my house is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I don’t need to leave home. On the other, I’m plagued by anxiety, not because I don’t enjoy seeing my friends, but because of all the tidying and cleaning I feel pressured to do even for a casual evening of watching TV.
In an instant, I transform into my mother, frantically scrubbing and organizing. To welcome guests into a house that shows signs of life — a pile of unopened mail sitting on the dining room table or crumbs in the couch cushions — is to open yourself up to judgment.

The real Queen Charlotte: revisiting the royal’s remarkable life on the anniversary of her birth
Queen Charlotte may be a popular character in the Bridgerton universe. But Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the real Queen Charlotte, was a captivating historical figure
Masterminded by US producer Shonda Rhimes, Bridgerton has won praise for its gripping plot, lavish aesthetic and the refreshing racial diversity of its talented cast. Yet while most of those in the Bridgerton world are fictional, taken from Julia Quinn’s historical romance novels, Queen Charlotte was a real-life figure (and in fact doesn’t feature in the Bridgerton books).
Born on 19 May 1744, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, styled as the Prince of Mirow, and Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The family ruled over Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a small north-German duchy situated in what was then the Holy Roman Empire. And while the ubiquity of varied racial representation in Bridgerton is a reimagining of how London high society looked at the time, in regards to Charlotte (brilliantly brought to life by Guyanese-born British actress Golda Rosheuvel in the series), there are theories that she did in fact have mixed racial heritage.

“Let’s Monetize This Friendship”: Will Forte, in Conversation With Seth Meyers
When Saturday Night Live alumni reunite, things tend to get nostalgic, and maybe a little but chaotic. But when Will Forte and Seth Meyers get on the horn last week, there was a rare, lived-in warmth between the two comedians, spun out of two decades of laughter and friendship, cultivated over many late nights in writer’s rooms. Shortly after the show’s 50th reunion special, he two managed to clear some time in their busy schedules to discuss Forte’s role in The Four Seasons, Tina Fey’s latest Netflix series, where he plays someone so loyal he’d do anything to keep his friend’s marriage from unraveling. That’s not totally dissimilar, Meyers pointed out, to how Forte operates in real life. “You strike me as a person who would take that upon yourself when a friend was in need,” he said. In conversation, the two get sappy while talking about the emotional whiplash of the SNL 50th anniversary special, the enduring genius of Tina Fey, and that one Traveling Wilburys song they won’t stop singing.

For Colman Domingo, Telling the Story of Nat “King” Cole Was Personal
When Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor set out to write Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole, a new play about the titular singer and pianist’s attempts to become America’s first Black television host, they wanted to do so on their own terms, with a careful balance between work and family. “We’ve got to live a full life in order to bring this to our work,” the two-time Academy Award-nominated Domingo told McGregor, the artistic director of the New York Theater Workshop, when they got together earlier this month before the show opens this week. Working beyond the cramped quarters of your typical writer’s room—by the pool in Mexico, for instance—allowed the duo to think more deeply about Cole and his relationship with Sammy Davis Jr., played by Dule Hill and Daniel J. Watts, respectively. The production, McGregor says, is as much a biopic as it is “a love letter to my Black brothers and their extraordinary journey and especially these two, who we have built the show for and around.” While Lights Out was in previews—and Domingo prepared to host the Costume Institute Gala—the collaborators convened once again to discuss the legacies of their subjects, the beauty of tap dancing, and how they both honor their late mothers in both work and life.Story of Nat “King” Cole Was Personal

Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson Take Us Behind the Scenes of JJ Abrams’s Duster
Over a decade after turning Lost into a cult favorite, Josh Holloway and J.J. Abrams are back together. In Duster, Abrams’s new ‘70s-set crime series in collaboration with LaToya Morgan, Holloway is a brooding mafia getaway driver whizzing Rachel Hilson, who plays the FBI’s first Black female rookie, through the Arizona desert in his eponymous red muscle car. The show is a headless adrenaline rush—stunts, shootouts, car chases, and a few scenes almost too racy for the kids, Holloway laughs. But the duo’s camaraderie, despite their differences, is the takeaway, something they’ve found equally rewarding in real life. “I like our contrast,” Holloway tells Hilson when they stepped away from a long day at work to talk about the little miracles that brought them together.

Beef Tallow Is Trending—Here’s How to Use It in Your Cooking
Once a staple in American cooking, this fat is making a comeback.
Beef tallow fell out of favor in the 1990s, but it’s back big time. It’s popping up in restaurants and home kitchens, and on TikTok, where health influencers debate its benefits. This versatile animal fat has a long history as a cornerstone of the human diet. While we aren’t advocating you add beef tallow to your beauty routine as some on social media are, we spoke to chefs and a nutritionist to get their take on why beef tallow is worth having in your kitchen, and the best ways to use it in your cooking.

What the Soil Level on Your Washing Machine Means—and How to Properly Set It
It can make all the difference.
You might have used your washer for years, only to one day find yourself staring blankly at the buttons, realizing that you don’t actually know what it all means. For instance, tucked somewhere between the temperature and spin settings is the soil level. Not sure what this means when it comes to your washing machine? You’re certainly not alone, but you shouldn’t sleep on these settings much longer.
Learning how to properly use your washer’s soil level setting can elevate your laundry game, helping you better address the individual care of your garments.

8 Household Uses for Vodka That Go Beyond Your Bar Cart
This staple spirit isn’t just for cocktails.
Vodka isn’t just a bar cart staple. The transparent spirit has multiple non-consumption-based home uses that’ll finish off a bottle without mixing up a martini. In fact, the common liquor, distilled from grains or potatoes, can be a natural alternative to many synthetic cleaning products and an inexpensive, shelf-stable swap in a pinch.

20 of the Most Beautiful Small Towns to Visit Around the World
From a traditional Japanese village to the music capital of Ireland, these small towns have all the beauty and charm you could ever ask for.
Despite their tiny size, small towns can be packed with personality, history, and, of course, beauty. Some, like Banff or Grindelwald, are flanked by soaring mountains, giving them an extra dose of wonder. Other small towns draw attention for their architecture—the whitewashed walls of St. George’s in Bermuda, for example, are exceptionally photogenic. There are also those towns, like Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, that overlook the ocean, adding an additional layer of allure to the scenery.
To find the most beautiful small towns around the world, we spoke to travel experts who have traveled far and wide in search of the best destinations. Read on to see their picks and get all the inspiration you need for your next small-town trip.

[Photo Credit: melia.com]

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