T LOunge for August 15th 2025

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PinCosta Esmeralda Bar and Restaurant – Sardinia, Italy

Darling it’s FRIDAY and the world continues to be engulfed in flames, much to our annoyance. Let’s all spend our time ignoring reality in virtual Sardinia, shall we? Beats the alternative.

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Darren Aronofsky on 15 Years of Black Swan
When Darren Aronofsky met Natalie Portman at a Times Square diner in 2000, the rising starlet was a junior at Harvard, fresh off the first Star Wars prequel. Aronofsky, who had just broken through with his grippingly bleak addiction drama Requiem for a Dream, wanted Portman to play a ballet dancer in his next film.
“He didn’t even have a script yet,” Portman tells Vogue. “But when he told me he wanted to make something in the world of ballet, I was just excited to explore that with him.”
Aronofsky’s younger sister studied ballet, and her stories of backstabbing dancers and gruesome injuries—combined with the plot of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Double and a script that had been floating around about two actresses competing for a role in an Off-Broadway show—eventually morphed into Black Swan.

Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys Go Delightfully Dark in The Beast in Me
The two Emmy winners go big in a juicy Netflix thriller centered on a lonely author and her new subject, a wealthy scion accused of killing his missing wife: “These deeply isolated characters finally discover a really perverse friend.”
Here’s the question,” Matthew Rhys begins over Zoom, his screen box sandwiched between mine and Claire Danes’s. “Who has the beast within them?” Danes reacts with the wry, weary smile of someone very familiar with Rhys’s jokes. “I am plenty beasty,” she says. “Right, good—this is a strong start,” Rhys replies. I’ve spoken with both Rhys and Danes several times, and they’re always playful, thoughtful, off-the-cuff interviews. This isn’t typical for most actors of their stature—and it’s all the more striking given their penchant for portraying dark, volatile characters.
What a thrill, then, to see these Emmy winners go toe-to-toe in The Beast in Me, an eight-episode Netflix limited series launching all at once on November 13. As Danes rightly points out, “The success of the show rests almost entirely on the dynamic between our characters.” It’s a brainy, stylish cat-and-mouse thriller driven by two slithery performances—each impossible to pin down, but vividly compelling from start to finish.

Jenny Han says fans have “not picked up on” a lot of Easter eggs in The Summer I Turned Pretty
What are we missing.
The Summer I Turned Pretty creator, director, and screenwriter Jenny Han has seen the endless fan theories about the beloved yet frustrating love triangle between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah. But the author says there are Easter eggs that fans have not yet picked up on.
In the most recent episode of TSITP — which aired on August 6 and featured the infamous peach scene — fans were given Conrad’s (Christopher Briney) POV as he spends some lengthy, uninterrupted time with Belly, played by Lola Tung. While TikToks and blogs have continued to emerge as to what’s going to happen, Han said that there are some details that fans have missed.

The Rise of Unlikeable Fragrance: How Women Are Reclaiming Perfume as Power
Less romance, more resistance
I’ve always been drawn to bold, unabashedly synthetic scents—those heady aldehydic rushes and ambroxan-rich drydowns that make your head spin, leaving you demanding another hit. But as a teenager, I had a problem: the only perfumes that made me feel something—those sharp, metallic, animalic things—were filed under masculine. My favourite scent, in fact, was literally called Masculine. I bought it but never wore it. I kept it hidden in my bedroom and sprayed it in the confines of my home, breathing it in like a secret indulgence. I daren’t wear it out. I couldn’t smell like a boy. Not because I didn’t want to—but because I didn’t think I was allowed to.

If Regular Pedicures Aren’t Cutting It, You Need to Learn About Paraffin Treatments—They’re a Godsend for Dry, Cracked Heels
Plus, they boost circulation and muscle relaxation
My feet are rarely ever in tip-top shape, even if I’ve made a concerted effort to stay on top of upkeep and pedis. I have chronically dehydrated skin, and it extends to my toes and heels, which are nearly always cracked. I’ve tried all manner of foot salves and balms, and while they definitely help keep things moisturised and extend the life of my pedicures, they’re not a fix.
And then I heard about paraffin pedicures—a spa treatment that involves dipping your feet in warm, melted wax to soften the skin, while providing other therapeutic benefits. Consider me sold. Ahead, I break down the treatment.

Cool-Toned Eye Make-up Is Back: Here’s Why You Should Embrace (Not Fear) It
After years of warmth, it’s time to cool off
As a millennial, I always learnt to shy away from cool tones and lean into warm browns, shimmering golds and rich burgundys. And I know I’m not alone: for many of us, there is an innate fear of greys, clays and muted browns. “There’s a nostalgic hesitation around cool tones, and it probably stems from those early 2000s frosty blue eyeshadows and silvery greys that felt more metallic robot than modern chic,” says Jamie Genevieve, make-up artist and founder of Vieve. “We’ve grown comfortable in our safe zone of warm browns, bronzes, and golds because they feel wearable and flattering.”

Sarah Jessica Parker and Michael Patrick King Think They Gave Carrie Bradshaw the Perfect Ending
On And Just Like That…, why they felt ready to finish the series, and the three nods to Sex and the City sewn into its finale.
And Just Like That… creator Michael Patrick King has been working alongside Parker since the beginning, first serving as writer, director, and eventual showrunner on Sex and the City. “I’m always aware of where we started, and I’m always aware of where we’re finishing,” he says from his own Zoom screen, pointing to Carrie’s tutu, which is mounted in a box on the wall behind him. “When we ended Sex and the City, we had a conversation,” says King. “I said, ‘I think this is where we are,’ and she agreed. And we walked away.” King says that the two shared a similar moment this season. “We both look at each other and go, ‘I think this is where we are,’” he says. “The thing that I get from Sarah Jessica is this complete willingness to stop when we want to, and not just keep going because we can.”
While she’s still processing saying goodbye to the role of her lifetime, Parker is confident in the choice to end the series. “I feel really good about the principle by which we’re making this decision,” she says. “It’s hard for a lot of people to understand if they see it doing really well. It’s an agonizing thing to say out loud, with Michael in a room, sitting across from me. But also it feels right and good.” Carrie’s ending, Parker feels, “honors the audience. It doesn’t just exploit them in some way.”

How Fragrance Helped Me Navigate a Mental Health Crisis
I had to ask myself: what is the scent of peace?
April 2024 was, candidly, the worst season of my life. It was the starting point for a series of events that led me to have what can only be described as a mental breakdown. My now-husband’s father passed away after a long battle with his health. I was moving apartments in New York City, which is one of the most stressful experiences you can have. I decided to quit my job. And, to top it all off, I was trying to plan a wedding.
Needless to say, I was under a tremendous amount of stress and just not feeling well. After ignoring signs from my body for weeks, I had the worst panic attack of my life—during my partner’s graduation party, no less. One moment, my sister and I were sneaking off to go pick up catering, the next I was lying on a stretcher, attached to all sorts of machines. The experience left me with what my psychiatrist labeled as panic disorder, alongside a healthy dose of agoraphobic behaviors.

I’m All About Luxury Jewelry—These Are the Investment Pieces I Never Take Off
And exactly how I stack them.
When Marie Claire asked me to come up with a concept for my first column, a voice in my head immediately said jewelry. It’s been such a huge part of mine and my family’s lives, and, in my humble opinion, a must-have for elevating any outfit. I grew up watching my nana layer her costume jewelry, then watched my Aunt Lori as she started to build her collection and personal taste. (All while also curating the jewelry we’ve carried here at Hirshleifers over the last 30 years!)
I’ve always loved the way jewelry makes me feel and the way it evolves with me throughout my life. I still have some of my first pieces that I wear to this day, 20+ years after I bought them. Which brings me to the meat of my first column: The jewelry I never take off and how I stack around it.

Queen Elizabeth Used “Twilight Sleep” Drugs Now Deemed “Radical” During Princess Anne’s Birth 75 Years Ago
The late Queen gave up the controversial practice when Prince Edward was born.
Princess Anne is celebrating her 75th birthday on Friday, August 15, and life in the Royal Family looked much different when she came into the world in 1950. Queen Elizabeth—who married Prince Philip in 1947—was still a princess while her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, sat on the throne. Prince Charles was just shy of two years old when his little sister was born, and like the future King, Princess Anne was born in a way that would be deemed extremely controversial in 2025.
Over the years, multiple royal sources have stated that the late Queen experienced a pain-free birth method using drugs that put her into a “twilight sleep.” Most recently, Milli Hill, author of The Positive Birth Book, told the Daily Mail that Princess Elizabeth joined women around the world in choosing to be sedated during her birth, a method viewed by some as progressive.

For And Just Like That… Fans, It’s Not Goodbye—But ‘Farewell’
At an intimate brunch in the Hamptons, star Sarah Jessica Parker reflected on the end of the Sex and the City reboot, and where the show’s legacy goes from here.
It’s days before the surprise And Just Like That… series finale and the fans on the bus to the Hamptons with me were in a nostalgic mood. When asked to recall their first memory of Sex and the City, almost everyone had an immediate answer.
Depending on their age, their first viewing experience varied. One person sheepishly admitted she was old enough to rent the first season at Blockbuster while on a trip with high school girlfriends, another yelled out that she had actually rented the DVDs from Netflix when that was still a thing.
But no matter if you watched the show live or decades later on streaming, everyone who has loved Sex and the City for the past nearly 30 years has an answer on how the series made them feel. It wasn’t just the catchphrases, fashion, or key moments that made the show so iconic; it was the core four women at its center—Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha—and how they inspired us each in their own way.

Chris Columbus Thinks ‘Home Alone’ Reboot Would Be “A Mistake”
Although Home Alone fans have been patiently awaiting Macaulay Culkin‘s return for nearly 35 years, it might take a Christmas miracle to get director Chris Columbus to reboot the franchise.
The Oscar nominee, who directed the 1990 holiday classic and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), recently shot down hopes of an official third installment in the beloved films, which were penned by John Hughes.
“I think Home Alone really exists as, not at this timepiece, but it was this very special moment, and you can’t really recapture that. I think it’s a mistake to try to go back and recapture something we did 35 years ago,” Columbus told ET. “I think it should be left alone.”

Liz Kingsman Joins Netflix’s ‘Pride And Prejudice’ To Play Anna De Bourgh
The actress and comedian will play Anna de Bourgh, the daughter of Fiona Shaw’s Lady Catherine in the series, which recently started production in the UK.
Deadline revealed in April that the series would star Emma Corrin, Jack Lowden and Olivia Colman in the roles of Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy and Mrs. Bennet, respectively. As we reported a few weeks back, the cast also stars Rufus Sewell will star as wise patriarch Mr Bennet.
Cast as the Bennet sisters are Freya Mavor, Heartstopper‘s Rhea Norwood and newcomers Hollie Avery and Hopey Parish. Louis Partridge will take on the scheming Mr Wickham, with Jamie Demetriou playing the pompous Mr Collins, Daryl McCormack as Jane’s beloved Mr Bingley, Siena Kelly as his sister Caroline and Shaw as the fearsome Lady Catherine de Bourg.

The 15 Best ‘Sex and the City’ Episodes of All Time, Ranked
As the world waves farewell to Carrie Bradshaw — for good, it seems — with the end of ‘And Just Like That,’ I couldn’t help but wonder… which episodes of ‘Sex and the City’ stand the test of time?
This is it — Carrie Bradshaw is hanging up her Manolos this week as And Just Like That… draws to a close.
The revival of the wildly popular series, which saw Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis return to the streets of Manhattan, became a divisive show. Some fans resorted to hate-watching, hoping any glimpse of Sex and the City magic might be re-conjured before it was too late.
And while Kim Cattrall declined to return for Michael Patrick King’s three-season HBO reboot, there’s no denying these women defined a television genre and guided a generation of women through sex, love and friendship in the chicest way possible.

‘And Just Like That,’ Michael Patrick King Talks Carrie Bradshaw’s Ending: “This Is Where We Wanted to Leave Her’
The ‘Sex and the City’ writer-director and ‘AJLT’ showrunner explains to THR why he chose to end the beloved franchise (even though everyone’s still talking about it).
So did everybody on the cast kind of know going into filming the season that this was it, or did they find out when filming the two-part finale [episodes 11 and 12]?
No, no. You always leave the window open. The finale, which turned out to be episode 12, wasn’t written at the beginning of the season. You let it all be organic, and as it starts to become, “Well, we can’t do more than we did with Carrie and Aidan. I mean, that’s it. Right?” We did everything. Then it becomes a realization, as the show starts to crest to what it is, you start talking, “I think this is it.”
We didn’t tell people that it was the final season when we were filming. And we made a decision during the press junket to not to say “final,” because if you say the word “final” at the beginning of a season — and a lot of shows do it because they want that to be the thought — but if we had put the word “final season” out, people wouldn’t have struggled with Carrie and Aidan the way they did. They would have just assumed, “Yeah, it’s over. It’s a final.”

Tanning Is Back, But the Obsession Goes Beyond Y2K Nostalgia
I asked experts for the real reasons why Gen Z is using the UV index to time their tanning sessions.
In the year 2025, we all know the dangers associated with tanning and unprotected sun exposure. In my decade-long beauty editor career, I’ve written countless stories preaching sun safety. Dermatologists and aestheticians constantly stress the importance of staying out of the sun to prevent premature aging, and more importantly, skin cancer. Not to mention, there are legitimately hundreds of excellent sunscreen options to choose from on Sephora, Ulta, and Amazon to protect your skin. Despite all of this, it seems that Gen Z (and even Gen Alpha) have missed the memo—or simply chosen to ignore it.
Tanning is back—and arguably bigger than ever.

As Julian Fellowes teases a Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age crossover, Tatler asks: Who could play a young Violet Crawley?
Following in the footsteps of the late Dame Maggie Smith would be no easy feat, but Tatler has the runners and riders who could grace our screens as the young Dowager Countess of Grantham
‘Why does every day involve a fight with an American?’ Never have the words of Downton Abbey’s Violet Crawley been more apt. The late, great Maggie Smith’s portrayal of the Dowager Countess of Grantham must surely go down in history as one of the most iconic performances in the history of British television – but could the arch aristocrat soon be returning to our screens? Perhaps, if Sir Julian Fellowes has anything to do with it.
The writer did not rest on his laurels after the blockbuster success of Downton Abbey, and his latest series, The Gilded Age, has just been greenlit for a fourth season following its staggering success on both sides of the Atlantic. Another smash-hit period drama, the HBO series follows the social upheavals of 1880s New York, taking inspiration from the real-life stories of the Vanderbilts and the Astors, who battled for control of Manhattan’s monied elite.

‘Hacks’ Production Designer Rob Tokarz on Creating Season 4’s Singapore Trip and Designing Deborah’s Luxury Suite
The Season 4 finale of “Hacks” took Ava and Deborah far away from the sunny Los Angeles skies into the world of Singapore. While the episode follows Deborah after walking away from her Late Night series, the backdrop and elegance of Singapore follows both characters as Deborah attempts to do standup in a Singapore casino using a translator.
With a new location, production designer Rob Tokarz began brainstorming ideas to bring the world of “Hacks” and American standup into Ava and Deborah’s Singaporean trip, and collaborating with his Singaporean team to create their vacation.

8 Things Making Your Closet Messier, According to Pro Organizers
Constant closet chaos? These items may be to blame.
Getting dressed to impress should be a positive part of your day—but when your closet is cluttered, you might come to dread the daily to-do. “An organized closet will transform your life and confidence,” says Jenny Dietsch, founder and chief executive organizer of Getting it Done Organizing. “When everything is easy to see and divided into dedicated zones, finding and wearing the pieces you love becomes effortless, making mornings smoother and less stressful,” she says.
A well-organized closet can be a serious time saver, but if you find yours becoming cluttered constantly, there may be some common culprits at play.

The Surprising Ingredient That Takes Martha’s French Toast Over the Top
Make your French toast the Martha way.
If there’s one brunch recipe you should learn to make, it’s French toast. It’s a versatile dish that everyone will enjoy, suitable for both casual and formal occasions. Making French toast is straightforward and requires only a few staple ingredients you likely already have in your fridge and pantry. But Martha Stewart adds a special ingredient that elevates this classic, sweet breakfast dish.
French toast is made with bread, eggs, milk, sugar, and sometimes vanilla or cinnamon to enhance its flavor. Ahead, learn how Martha borrows from the bar cart and uses Grand Marnier to boost her French toast.

Jason Momoa Shares His Favorite Beach in the World—and What He Wishes More Visitors Knew About Hawaii
The ‘Chief of War’ creator and star has recommendations for first-time visitors to the Aloha State.
While he loves living “all around the world,” there’s no place like Hawaii for Jason Momoa. “I love other places, and I would probably live in other places more, but this just feels like home,” he said.
“There’s certain foods, there’s the way the water feels for me, the way that the sand feels for me, the way the air smells, how my skin feels here—it’s just a deep connection,” Momoa told Travel + Leisure in an exclusive interview from Hawai‘i. “It’s where I’m from. It’s where I was born. It’s my culture. It’s a wonderful thing to come home. This is where I’m rooted.”

Las Vegas Is Filled With Hidden Kitschy Wonders—Here’s a Local’s Guide to 11 Experiences You’ll Find Nowhere Else
Vegas does escapism better than anywhere—these are the most wonderfully weird ways to do it.
Las Vegas is a city known for embracing the high and low. You can just as easily land in a $5,000 per night penthouse suite and munch on $2 hot dogs while tossing pennies in one of the city’s last remaining coin-operated casinos. Indulgence truly takes many forms in Sin City.
So when it comes to keeping visitors dazzled and delighted, Vegas pulls out every trick in the book—and a few outside the book, too. Wandering around the Strip, with its flashing marquee lights and sky-high fountain jets, it’s hard not to slip into a YOLO mindset. After all, there’s a reason Las Vegas is often called the “heart of American escapism.”

[Photo Credit: nikkibeach.com]

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