Die Hot with a Vengeance: Essays on Vanity

by Sable Yong

Journalist and former Allure editor Sable Yong debuts with a sharp-toothed and hilarious essay collection about beauty and vanity, examining their stigmatization in the cultural zeitgeist, and how to shift the focus to use both for powerful tools for self-exploration, interpersonal connection, and cultural change.

The beauty industry has a single mandate: be hot.

In the same week that you might be encouraged to try curtain bangs, contouring, bleached eyebrows, laser facials, buccal fat removal, fillers, and “non-invasive” facelifts, you’re simultaneously absorbing mantras about self-care, body positivity, empowerment, and loving yourself just as you are.

Overwhelmed yet?

Fear not. Die Hot with a Vengeance delves into the machinations of this multi-billion-dollar industry, offering readers an expert analysis of its inner workings with the precision of a scalpel and the humor of a stand-up comedian. Along the way, Yong sets off to answer some of the biggest questions of our time:

How do you break through the noise of beauty and wellness culture’s endless optimization protocols?
How can you find actual authenticity in a world of performative artifice?
Can the antidote to aging be found in a jar, tube, or at the end of a syringe?
Do blondes really have more fun?
Using Yong’s many years of experience as a beauty editor to unlock the industry’s myriad secrets, Die Hot with a Vengeance gives beauty and vanity a neutralizing make-over. At its best, beauty is so much more than an aesthetic; it’s an inspirational mindset. It’s a playfulness inherent to the practice of self-expression.

And yet it’s difficult to engage playfully when it feels like beauty is an ever-moving target. We’re all subject to societal expectations surrounding beauty and vanity, enough so that breaking through the capitalist pressures can feel impossible. Yong argues that while the mandate may be for us to be hot, the beauty industry thrives on us absorbing its teachings so it can keep us in a constant feedback loop of appearance-based anxiety, forever perpetuating unattainable standards. Flipping that imperative, Yong’s debut collection poses the most important question of all: How do you discover your value of beauty so you can free yourself from the loud and bullshitty noise of all these entities telling you that you’re not good enough?

Digging deep into our most pervasive and questionable beauty trends and conventions, Die Hot with a Vengeance offers an incisive yet wry dissection of one of our most enduring cultural addictions. Irreverent, side-splittingly funny, and astute, the book is as amusing as it is insightful, an instant classic for beauty-readers and aspirant hotties alike.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Feminism, Audiobook, Memoir, Womens, Book Club

12 pages, Audiobook

Published July 9, 2024

Reviews

[Jillian B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former Allure editor Sable Yong has written a book of essays informed by her many identities: Beauty industry expert, Asian American millennial, current hot person and former smelly kid. (This book is how I learned that deodorant allergies are an actual thing!) Yong makes incredibly clever and well-thought out points about societal beauty standards while also cracking jokes that had me laughing out loud. It’s pretty much impossible to read this book without wanting to be the author’s best friend, but I will settle for reading any and all books she writes in the future!

[Samantha Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was a book of essays ruminating on modern vanity, but it’s just a memoir of the author’s time working for Allure. For that reason, it reads like a very long magazine article, one of those “A day in the life” segments. Not a lot of substance, in my opinion, just a lot of mundane personal anecdotes about the author’s experiences with make up, the beauty industry, and for optimal irony, the contents of her purse.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

{more like 5000/5 ⭐}

Just when I was sure nothing could top Pixel Flesh: How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women as my #1 book of 2024 (so uh, go read Pixel Flesh after you finish this), Sable Yong wins me over with her sense of humor and BTS look at the beauty/wellness culture. With such a unique perspective on the beauty industrial complex, Die Hot with a Vengeance is able to fall into so many different genres, inviting such a huge audience.

Sable Yong immediately became someone I "follow" on everything from social media to Google as a whole - I don't want to miss a thing. If I didn't hate having multiple tabs open so much, I'd find all her past articles and blog posts and read them, too.

(Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways, Sable Yong, and the publisher; I couldn't believe I won the book I've been most excited about this year! & another thank you to NetGalley, because I'd already requested an ARC for this before winning the giveaway it was approved... whoopsies.)

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I had the wrong expectation for this book as I didn't expect it to be such heavy on memoir and was expectation more of essays on the subject of vanity in a more fact based way and less memoir. But it was an okay book.

[Elina · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an introspective, funny and simultaneously searing collection of essays about beauty culture!! I really enjoyed this book, it made me feel seen

[Des · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ideas are there, though not particularly novel, but the execution is giving a distinctly millennial rambling.

[Jimena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un conjunto de ensayos sobre la vanidad moderna y la industria de la belleza de parte de una joven mujer que trabajó dentro de ella. No es que sea un mal conjunto sino que quizá lo abordé con una expectativa equivocada, esperando un tono más analítico o incluso una exploración más filosófica del valor que otorgamos a lo estético pero, por el contrario y coincidiendo con el pasado editoral de la autora, se lee como un extenso artículo de revista, mordaz, sí, con algunas buenas ideas, pero más inclinado hacia una memoria personal que a un abordaje incisivo o intelectual.

[Queralt✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Die Hot with a Vengeance is a killer title. I read it and I was like ‘I must pick this book up even if it sucks just to say I’ve read it.’ So here we are.

This book is a nonfiction with essays on vanity touching on everything related to looking good and being a (pretty) woman. The essays were mainly observations that were probably true but showed no data or info, like the author thought of a cool statement and rolled with it.

The topics covered were interesting (pretty privilege, organic products, stereotyping the Asian female body, plastic surgery, etc.), but the essays were just 1) depthless, 2) the writing felt like reading the script for a TikTok self-absorbed beauty vlogger, and 3) most essays just ended up talking about the author being very pretty, being told she’s pretty, or trying to make her hair an interesting thing to read about. 1 star, bye.

[Renée]

i definitely did not like this book. every once in a while there was a good thought but otherwise it was the kamala brat campaign in millennial beauty book form (painful, oh so painful). honestly i can’t remember a single essay now or anything really that she talked about

[Tell]

A fun, breezy essay collection detailing the author's experiences and cultural commentary with beauty, beauty products, acne, perfume, and pretty privilege.

Super engaging and accessible, and very on trend with a lot of the discourse we've been having on TikTok about pretty privilege and misogyny.

[Amy Lime · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depending on your engagement and self awareness around beauty culture, I think you may find the topics discussed to be entry level. The deep dives weren’t as deep as I wanted, but it was accessible and I think the range of topics was good. The writing also has a chatty quality to it that makes for a good audiobook.

For context, I have worked in the beauty industry in the past and am interested in feminist cultural criticism, so I’m probably in too deep. Also, I’ve been a bleach blonde Asian, I’m not afraid of body hair, and I may have shoplifted at Sephora as a teen, all of which are experiences detailed in different chapters. Essentially I didn’t like this because I’m too similar to the author 😅

My favorite aspect of this book was when she talked about her experiences as a beauty editor and the mindset and lifestyle that is required to curate trends for the masses. That was new to me and interesting. I also appreciated the more “so what now” type of reflections. Something I find sticking to me is the question of beauty as self expression vs. self preservation.

Would recommend if you are feeling run down from the comparison game and find yourself spiraling about how you look 🫠

Also if you liked Trick Mirror, you might like this (it’s a comp title and that one didn’t work for me either).

* I received a review copy from the publisher.

[☆brooklyn☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new + millennial humor. author pretends to not be extremely conventionally attractive for relatability

[Ashli Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.75*

I really enjoyed this, it’s a deep dive into the beauty world and it’s never ending expectations. It focuses on the authors own experiences growing up as a young woman and their entry into the beauty industry through all of its ups and downs.

I love how much this made me think. It made me reflect upon my own ideals of beauty and the pressures I put on myself, it made me examine why I think this. like why do I feel prettier when my hair is a certain way, why do I think it’s bad to show signs of aging and more importantly: in a world that always has opposing views of beauty (natural look vs expecting perfect facial symmetry, self expression vs not being off putting) why do we strive so much to be perfection, yet none of us can give a definition of what perfection is?

I really enjoyed that the author focussed on all women’s lives, including that of women of colour, gender fluid and other identities because I think it’s such an important thing to focus on how the ideal beauty standard is that of a Eurocentric white washed view (white, tall, skinny, clear skin, long hair) is impossible and lacks the understanding of cultures around the world.

[Gigi Ropp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and engaging while simultaneously triggering to basically all of my insecurities, Die Hot With a Vengeance did a tremendous job at discussing beauty and trends in a raw, honest way while still remaining relatable. An absolute must-read for any beauty aficionado!

[Annalise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still have vivid memories of my mom grabbing the skin around her (not fat) belly and sighing that she needed to cut the alcohol out (again) and eat less bread (but it tasted so good!). I was probably 9 or 10 the first time I really remember her making comments about her body, and the bodies of those around her. She adhered to niches of the beauty industry, particularly buying into the model of the thin white woman and aspects of wellness, including alternative medicine and any and all supplements she could get her hands on. On the other hand, she lost no sleep disparaging women for getting plastic surgery, wearing *too* much makeup (in her own estimation, of course), and dieting too dangerously close to the eating disorder line (even though she was often going on her own versions of these diets). I was always trying to figure out what was and was not acceptable, with the added pressures of growing up in White Evangelical Purity Culture, which wrote off most secular beauty gurus as sinners while simultaneously adhering to the base message of the beauty industry.

Sable Yong's Essays were wildly entertaining, eye opening, and challenging to a lot of the deeply ingrained messages I still hold about my own body. Yong has an incredibly entertaining, tongue-in-cheek way of speaking. She directly addresses the issue of commodification of our bodies, particularly pressing that point that we are attempting to mainstream ourselves to ubiquity. She also stresses the importance of choice, and how difficult it can be to stop judging ourselves for participating in the beauty industry when we are made out to be cast-offs (by capitalism) when we don't. At the root of the beauty industry lies capitalism, selling us this unending need to improve ourselves, to get the latest body updates so that we can remain fresh. But ultimately, as Yong says, our bodies degrade and we all die in the end. It's all about mediating how far we're willing to follow the beauty path and how much we're willing to sacrifice on that path.

As I've gotten older, I've realized how little interest the beauty industry holds (at least the hair and makeup aspects) for me. I'm lazy, I love to read and I'm big into physical fitness, and I mediate everything I do by how much time it will take from these all-consuming hobbies of mine. But that doesn't mean I'm unaffected by it. The TV shows I watched as a kid, the things my mom said day after day, and the general trends of my childhood have all affected how I view my own body. I still struggle with seeing anything but smoothness as unattractive, as a blemish. Any pimple, any sign of hair growth where it "shouldn't" and any cellulite or skin that isn't completely flat is often judged on impulse, sending hot shame through me. I wish I could say I am unaffected by beauty culture, but I absolutely am. I think it would be impossible not to be, living in a culture where we are bombarded by media at all hours of the day and wherever we turn. I do find Yong's essays to be valuable in many ways. Both as a record of beauty in the west and as an examination into how we perform these aspects of culture and how we can keep from being consumed by it all. I know I will be coming back to these essays as my own journey with Western Beauty culture develops, and I can't wait to see what new knowledge I find in the process.

One little post note:
As someone who likes to sew as a hobby and likes to read fashion history, Yong's misinformation on corsets in "No Gore, No Gorgeous" made me cringe. Women in the Victorian era were not universally "tightlacing" their corsets to the point of danger. Many corsets were quite comfortable and provided postural support. For more information, I suggest checking out Bernadette Banner and @sew_through_time on Instagram.

Thanks to DeyStreetBooks for an ARC of this book!

[Isabella · Rating 1 out of 5]

You can tell this was written by a millennial. The phrases "made me feel very main-character energy" and "girlboss" should not appear in print.

I expected more nuanced analysis of current beauty trends, perhaps even some historical context, but this boiled down to "not shaving your armpits can be a feminist statement" and "being yourself is truly beautiful!". This so-called collection of essays seemed more like a list of all the free products she got from her job as a beauty editor. I lost count of the number of times that Yong mentioned that she dyed her hair platinum-blonde and was "all over the first page of a Google image search" for her hair. Skip this and read Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital instead.

[Gabbie Pop · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read for anyone with an interest in dissecting beauty culture within our current cultural landscape, or, indeed, anyone who'd like to deconstruct ones' perception of beauty practices and the like and learn more about the difference between being perceived as a person vs. a body.

[marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who's been a fan of Sable Yong since her xoVain days, I was excited to pick this up. This is a collection of essays about her relationship to the beauty industry. The writing is both conversational and approachable. While there isn't a terrible amount of insight, I still enjoy reading this.

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and Dey Street Books for a free review copy.

[Shannon Manning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly I don't like it I'm sorry. I wanted to discover a new perspective on vanity and I didn't find it in this.

[Lisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Beauty isn’t in the eye of the beholder, so much as it is in the power of the beholder - which classically, historically and boringly has been a male gaze.“ While I enjoyed many parts of this book a lot, there were others that made me frown. In a collection of essays, Yong explores not just her own relationship with beauty, growing up Asian American, but also the beauty industry. As a former editor for Allure, Yong has a lot of insights into the surface level, fast paced and vain ongoings of the beauty magazines. For me the more personal essays were alright, but the ones I really enjoyed were those that dove deeper into how beauty relates to capitalism and the patriarchy. The writing is clever and funny, for instance when Yong writes about bodies as „weapons of mass seduction“ or says that „wealth is a hell of a skincare routine“ or that „diet culture walked so wellness could run“. I also enjoyed how she talked about complex issues such as plastic surgery from many different perspectives- one thought I found interesting was that (relating to public personas being transparent about having work done) „with less and less stigma, transparency becomes endorsement under the guise of empowerment“. Like I said I enjoyed a lot about this book- but then there were also a couple of things I didn’t like. For one thing, the writing style is VERY millenial- a lot of jokey, lol am I right humour. That‘s not always my cup of tea. Another thing that left me feeling conflicted is that the author, while criticising the beauty industry, is also inherently a part of it- for instance, releasing a perfume with the title of her book along with it. This with a book that criticised capitalism felt icky. But for it‘s contents only, I definitely think this can lead to a lot of interesting discussions & even if a lot of it were things I already kind of knew, having it all phrased & reflected again was nice.

[Alexandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

With vitality determining trend cycles, even more rapidly with problem areas that definitely sound made up —strawberry leg, over-boob, chicken cutlets, traptox, neck grins— there are more insecurities being spawned than solutions. A house of mirrors is meant to be unreal. Nothing about it intends to tell you the truth. In fact, its main draw is your own self-curiosity. Luckily, beauty thrives on inquisitiveness, play and ephemera. Nothing is permanent. From the essay “No Fun in the Fun House.”

3.5/5 - There are a few incredible essays in here; especially, the standout “No Fun in the Fun House.” It’s a solid collection, mixing memoir with an analysis of the current state of the beauty and the relationship between beauty and vanity. But as a whole, I liked it rather than loved it. In fairness to the author, I spend way too much time listening to podcasts and watching video essays dissecting beauty, so to me it felt like a couple of the essays didn't offer new insight. But, the ones I loved I really loved. Also, there were a lot of sections I highlighted and I love Sable Young’s voice in everything she unpacks here, so I overall appreciate this.

[Stephanie’s Libby Antics · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tried to pick a salient quote to put at the top of this review, but gave up once I had gathered 17 of them.

I will take away so many things from this book of essays, the author has a way of helping us zoom out from the concept of “beauty” to glimpse a bigger picture from a Birds eye view.

I want to start getting ready in the morning thinking “what would I think looked good if I wasn’t going off society’s conditioning?”. Like she says, you can’t undo all that brainwashing, but it is still a fun thought experiment. More colour, maybe.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thee book for big brain makeup freaks!! This was just smart and witty and enjoyable. I feel a freak who has played the long game of following sables beauty writer (10 yrs basically) and this is So Good!

[luciana · Rating 3 out of 5]

while this book didn't teach me anything new about the beauty industry we're all a part of, it felt good to be reminded some of those things and have an insider's brain into to the beauty industry.

[Parisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

unexpectedly fun! in a meta way, this felt like being in middle school and reading seventeen or teen vogue in the library

[bhakti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because I loved Sable herself and related to the content and her journey with struggling to conform to beauty standards growing up as a minority and then navigating the problematic but rewarding path as an adult that's conformed. Also let's be real it's a fucking great title....But I will say, i didn't come away from the book having learned that much. I would definitely read another book by Sable but I'd like her to go deeper into the theories, facts, figures and history of beauty alongside the relatable stuff.

[suesue · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former beauty retail worker and occasional product junkie, I really enjoyed this! Her stories were relatable, funny, and relevant to what beauty is in today’s social climate. Whether you’re a beauty editor or a sales rep, the goal is all the same, all it takes is some experience, some trial and error, community and good marketing.

[vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely readable, chatty, easy to follow, and light. Not very meaningful or significant in the grand scheme of things I’ve read on beauty. I probably would’ve subtitled it Memoir in Essays, instead of Essays on Vanity - as there is no research, just her own experiences shared. This is not to say I didn’t enjoy my time… I agree with her on many topics and think she is candid, realistic, and smart. I just wanted this to punch more. It’s much more a collection of meandering essays on certain topics like hair, injectibles, shaving, being seen as pretty by society, glow-ups, clean beauty, the wellness industry, self-care, etc.

[Connie]

#GoodreadsGiveaway

[Erin Mary Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at about the third or so essay.

Unfortunately for me, this book of essays read like a lot of low quality youtuber biographies and the nail on the coffin was the "essay" that was just a list of everything in the authors purse. It's giving "I need to hit a page limit."

There's also nothing to learn here. Each of the essays I read seemed to be a meandering stream of consciousness about a single topic. Of what I read, one section in the body oder essay was interesting because we were talking about how deodorant is manufactured and what can cause an allergy to deodorant. There was fact that characterized the essay.

That wasn't really present anywhere else in what I read. Define what a late bloomer is. Tell me the statistics of late bloomings. Give me something that's worth learning about.

And finally there's a lot of "it was just so different back then. We didn't have x, y, z." And I would have liked to see that information structured in a more professional and authoritative way because at present it sounds like the author thinks a young audience would be shocked to learn that foundation formula has improved considerably in quality and variety of skin tones over the years. And maybe it would have been less annoying to read if we were getting a history of makeup and why it changed so much, but we didn't get that.

This is less essay, more memoir in short story format.