Two days after news broke of the largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice, colleges and universities impacted are beginning to make decisions about the future of the students at the center of the scandal. How much did these students know? How culpable does that make them? And, of course, will they get to stay enrolled at their universities?

The universities in question are numerous and widespread — USC, UCLA, University of San Diego, University of Texas, Wake Forest, Yale, Georgetown, and Stanford — and many have already taken action by firing coaches and administrators implicated in the $25 million bribery scheme. And while none of the universities as entities have been accused of wrongdoing by the Department of Justice, all eight are now being sued by two Stanford students who claim they sought admission the legitimate way and were "never informed that the process of admission was an unfair, rigged process, in which rich parents could buy their way into the university through bribery."

USC said in a statement that it will be reviewing applications of the students and graduates involved in the scandal on a case-by-case basis and will also deny admission to any prospective students in the current admission cycle who were involved in the scheme (of which there are reportedly half a dozen). UCLA issued a similar statement: “If UCLA discovers that any prospective, admitted, or enrolled student has misrepresented any aspect of his/her application, or that information about the applicant has been withheld, UCLA may take a number of disciplinary actions, up to and including cancellation of admission."

One such student is Lori Loughlin's younger daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli, a part-time YouTube star, full-time freshman at USC. Her parents have both been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for paying half a million dollars in exchange for having their daughters falsely positioned as rowing recruits to USC. Olivia has not been charged, but it was revealed that she partook in fake crew photos that were used in her alleged falsified application.

Another is Isabelle Henriquez, daughter of the founder of a Silicon Valley investment firm and a junior at Georgetown, who reportedly knowingly partook in the scam. Her parents allegedly paid at least $425,000 to secure Isabelle a spot at Georgetown — which included bribing a proctor to help her cheat on the SAT and Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst to admit her as a tennis recruit despite the fact that she's never played the sport. (Ernst was paid nearly $1 million.) While Isabelle herself has not been charged with any crimes, Georgetown said in a statement that the university is reviewing details of the case and will take appropriate action.

A spokesperson for Yale University  told the New York Daily News that the school may take further action as well.

We will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.

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I went to one of the top public high schools in Washington State — and most of the students were rich and white. My family was middle-class; my mother is an immigrant, my father was raised in poverty, and neither inherited wealth. And though I did grow up with economic privileges that I don’t seek to deny, the degree of wealth that surrounded me in my youth baffled me. Many of the families in my community had boats (some even private planes) and summer homes. If one of my classmates received a brand new BMW for their 16th birthday, it was considered “cool” but not unusual. These people were really rich.

When news of the college-admission scandal broke this week, I can’t say I was surprised. Growing up among conspicuous wealth gave me an early insight into just how unfair our educational system and existing social hierarchies really are.

Many of my fellow students were groomed since elementary school to be the most competitive college applicants they could be — and that costs a lot of money. They were on the debate team, served as members of the student government, and played varsity sports. As the SATs neared, many took prep courses and some even hired private tutors who gave them tailored training on how to ace the standardized test. I knew that many of my fellow classmates submitted flawless application packages that were curated by professionals, complete with carefully edited personal essays, excellent GPAs, and stellar SAT scores. Of course, those who were legacy applicants had even more of a leg up.

The majority of students in the United States don’t have access to this kind of educational support. There is an enormous valley between the experiences of wealthy and low-income Americans as they relate to education and access to resources. Over the past few decades, wealthy — usually white — families have relocated to communities similar to where I grew up, a phenomenon dubbed “white flight,” while low-income and non-white communities have often remained trapped in crumbling urban school districts. And because local property taxes help to fund public schools in the U.S., schools in lower-income areas receive substantially less money than those in wealthy ones, which contributes further to the educational disparity. So there’s nothing really new about powerful individuals paying hundreds of thousands, up to several millions, of dollars to get their children into elite colleges — usually, they just take a more indirect or socially acceptable route, like buying a building for the school.

“It’s the oldest story in the book — people with money use their money to access whatever they desire,” said Danielle Jackson, 31, who works in media and lives in Tampa, FL. But privilege goes well beyond money: It manifests in access to resources, social capital, and the reinforced belief that we are entitled to certain spaces.

Meanwhile, low-income students and students of color being admitted to schools often angers those who feel entitled to these slots. It's led many racially and economically privileged students to argue that those from underrepresented groups only get into schools because of policies like affirmative action. “[My] being admitted to a great university was such cognitive dissonance to some of my classmates,” said Jackson, who is Black. “It made me the subject of scrutiny, hostility, and skepticism since the day I got my welcome letter.”

First-generation college graduate Michael Butler, 31, of Philadelphia, PA, had similar experiences growing up. “Stereotypically, students of color can be seen by their mostly white classmates as anomalies or exceptions,” Butler said. “They often spend their academic careers working to prove they belong.”

While students of color, low-income students, and other marginalized individuals are routinely questioned for their presence in academia, students who come from money continue to receive free passes.

“I attended a private liberal arts school which had quite a few legacy students. The students weren't really quiet about their parents having money and having connections at the school,” said Shelly Barker*, 26, a web developer in Philadelphia who, as a first-generation student from a low-income area, lacked the resources her peers from wealthier backgrounds often boasted about.

There is some statistical data to back up these personal anecdotes. Take Harvard University, for instance. Fifteen percent of students admitted to the school last year were Black, and 8% of the undergraduate student body is Black. Comparatively, over 33% of legacy applicants were admitted to the classes of 2014 through 2019, and legacy students make up roughly 14% of the undergraduate population, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Ultimately, though the specifics of this recent scandal are undeniably extreme, if for no other reason than the scale and intricacy of William Singer’s network, the lengths these parents went to to get their kids into prestigious schools are not that surprising. This scandal just lays bare the status quo that has existed beneath the surface for generations.

As it stands, each of our futures is decided, in part, by the parents we were born to; the preschools we attended as children; the zip codes where we grew up; the quality of the foods served up in our school lunch halls. We’re shaped by whether there were dedicated college counselors present on our high school campuses and whether our parents managed to graduate from high school or attend college. I am not surprised by this scandal. What does baffle me, though, is the fact that some people are.

*Name has been changed

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Out of all the celebrity tattoos in Hollywood, the massive phoenix on Ben Affleck's back reigns supreme as the one we've been most fixated on for the longest. Nearly four years since the ink was first unveiled — accidentally, captured by paparazzi — Affleck has talked frankly about the much-discussed piece for the very first time. Guess what? He loves it, and doesn't really care what you think.

On today's episode of Ellen, Affleck sits down with the comedian and talk-show host to promote his latest Netflix film, Triple Frontier. But you can't talk about Triple Frontier without talking about Affleck's back tattoo (sorry, guy): After all, when Affleck was first caught with the ink, he was on set for the film Live By Night, and later told Extra host Mario Lopez that it was fake and "for a movie. "

Fast forward three years, and Affleck was spotted on a beach in Hawaii shooting Triple Frontier, with that "fake" tattoo on full display. A tattoo cannot possibly be temporary if it lasts a full three years; Affleck had been caught in a lie. Soon, Matt Damon said his piece, stating that he supports his friend in "all his artistic expression " — a blasé remark nowhere near as shady (and fun!) as what Affleck's exes had to say about it. (Jennifer Garner's reaction is best summed up by the scathing Southern line "bless his heart," while Jennifer Lopez told Andy Cohen in 2016 that the tattoo was straight-up awful.)

Affleck knows all about it. He goes on Twitter. He sees your memes, okay? And he doesn't seem to care, because he's doing fine. Only after Ellen joked that the phoenix is literally rising from his ass did Affleck admit that the tattoo has real meaning for him. "I like it," he said. "It's not something that I sort of kept private. It wasn't like I was doing photo shoots or whatever." Then he addressed those sad beach photos, the moment when we all knew in our hearts the tattoo was brutally real. "We were two hours north of the city, on some island in Hawaii," he recalled. "They got a picture of my tattoo and, yeah, the sentiment ran against [it], [but] I love my tattoo. I'm very happy with it."

There you have it, folks. He loves his incredibly large, very colorful back tattoo, thank you very much, and he won't let the negativity bring him down. Now that's what you call a phoenix rising from the asses — er, ashes.

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Although Beto O'Rourke officially kicked off his presidential campaign on Thursday morning with a video, what everyone will truly remember from his announcement is the dreamy, Americana-infused, Annie Leibovitz-shot Vanity Fair cover story published the day before, in which O'Rourke, who spent much of his youth as a freewheeling musician, deals in lines like this: "Man, I'm just born to be in it."

O'Rourke's rise to political stardom came when he challenged and came closer than anyone expected to beating widely loathed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm election, running a social media-heavy race VF described as "a marathon of live-streamed political performance art" that drew inspiration from punk rock and didn't accept corporate donations.

His credentials include three terms as a U.S. Representative for Texas' 16th District, which he spent in the minority party, not getting much of a chance to leave a legislative footprint. He has a voting record that will undoubtedly be challenged by opponents, since he has voted with Republicans on immigration, financial regulations, and healthcare, although he has defended this by saying it was difficult to get legislation passed in a Republican-controlled House. Being a native of El Paso, he has spoken out against President Trump's border wall and has promised to challenge him on immigration and border security, but his votes to ease requirements on Customs and Border Protection agents are likely to come up.

In the profile, O'Rourke comes off as earnest, bookish, enthusiastic — that loaded term "likable," even. But as far as his actual policy ideas go, so far, he's all romance and little substance. And trying to beat Donald Trump is going to be very different from almost beating Ted Cruz. In such a crowded race, it remains to be seen what he will bring to the table.

"It definitely will not be sufficient to just have an inspiring aura. Democratic voters want to know what worldview a candidate has," Adam Green, cofounder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which backed O'Rourke for the Senate but has endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president, told the Dallas Morning News. "In the Texas Senate race, when someone as inspiring as Beto had a plausible chance to defeat Ted Cruz, it was a no-brainer to support him, and there weren't many questions asked about his specific positions on a lot of issues. In a presidential primary with many good options, including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, a lot of progressive voters will obviously apply more scrutiny."

It certainly stings that in spite of his comparable lack of experience or detailed proposals (or maybe, because of these things?), O'Rourke is already getting the rockstar treatment. (There may not be an issue section on his website, but there's already a ton of merch for sale.) The VF profile is loaded with the freedom and poetry distinct to being a man, a luxury women running for office aren't afforded. Men are allowed to "just feel" that they're going to win, as O'Rourke declares. The writer even suggests that O'Rourke could be "destined" for the presidency: "He has an aura." It's certainly worth it to do a mental exercise and try to imagine whether a woman could get away with O'Rourke's hubris.

Pundit Erin Gloria Ryan pointed out how differently Warren, a two-term senator with substantially more accomplishments under her belt, was treated by the same magazine. "For a fun experiment, switch the genders. 'Is Beto O'Rourke actually unlikable?' 'Elizabeth Warren: I was born to do this,'" she tweeted.

2 candidates, same mag. 1 is a 2nd term senator with detailed policy proposals that have driven the substantive side of the 2020 primary conversation, the other just lost a Senate race to a guy everybody hates. What else is different about them?? Hm gonna need a thinking cap pic.twitter.com/JngsGo7OTi

— Erin USC Sailing Recruit Ryan (@morninggloria) March 13, 2019

NBC's Kasie Hunt asked how people would react if it had been Hillary Clinton, whose credentials also topple O'Rourke's by far, saying the cover quote, "Man, I'm just born to be in it."

I'm imagining Hillary Clinton giving the same quote and wondering about the reaction. https://t.co/KYvLJvBJt6

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) March 13, 2019

O'Rourke, being the charismatic progressive that he is, is of course "acutely aware" of being a white man in the most diverse field of candidates ever, in a country where demographics are swiftly changing and people want more leaders who represent them.

"The government at all levels is overly represented by white men," he told VF. "That's part of the problem, and I'm a white man. So if I were to run, I think it's just so important that those who would comprise my team looked like this country. ... But I totally understand people who will make a decision based on the fact that almost every single one of our presidents has been a white man, and they want something different for this country. And I think that's a very legitimate basis upon which to make a decision. Especially in the fact that there are some really great candidates out there right now."

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One hot day in July 2014 in Fairhaven, Ma., Conrad Roy III was found dead by suicide in his pickup truck. He had purchased a generator to trap the carbon monoxide from his the car’s cabin as he sat parked behind a local K-Mart. He was 18.

These details about his death may not sound familiar until you hear about the attractive young woman that the state of Massachusetts has found responsible for Conrad’s death. Michelle Carter, 17 at the time, was Conrad's friend, and maybe-girlfriend; they had met in person less than five times but, in teen relationship speak, they were "talking.”And in his final hours, it was texts from Michelle that the court says led him to take his life. She sent messages urging him to get back in the car as it was filled with toxic gas, even asking him if he'd "done it yet." His final phone call was to her — 47 minutes long. Unlike the texts, all 60,000 exchanged between them, the content of that last conversation remains unknown.

The "texting suicide case" captured headlines nationwide — and now it's the subject of a new documentary, I Love You, Now Die, which premiered at SXSW on March 9, and will air on HBO later this summer.

As audiences will learn from Erin Lee Carr's film, released in two parts, there is much more to the case than a bully and a victim. On February 11, Michelle was found guilty of coercing Conrad to die by suicide via her text messages. She was first sentenced to prison in June 2017 when a judge found her guilty of manslaughter, but had not yet served time as she waited her appeal.

Carr has devoted her career to telling the stories of complicated women, like Gypsy Rose Blanchard, whose story captivated the world in her 2017 HBO doc, Mommy Dead and Dearest, and her upcoming documentary about the rampant abuse within the USA Gymnastic community. But this case, The Commonwealth vs. Michelle Carter, unlocks a brand-new conversation around mental illness in high schoolers, technology, domestic violence, isolation, loneliness, girlhood, misogyny, and pop culture.

But most of all it asks: Can words kill?

Ahead Carr tells Refinery29 about why she thinks America has such a fascination with teenage girls, and if she could ever believe Michelle.

Refinery29: I’ve already watched it twice now. It’s so timely and so unique. What attracted you to the story?

Erin Lee Carr: "What a beautiful compliment! I have a pretty long standing relationship with HBO and my beat has always been crime and the internet so this is a case that fell squarely into that Venn diagram. It just made a lot of sense to try to cover it. Part of it was the “ice cream” — the Cara Delevingne-looking girl. She captivated everyone, but I thought there was something so dangerous that happened underneath this story, and so I wanted to cover it in a real way."

Do you think her looks are why the story gained attention initially?

"I think that, yes, we as a society care when pretty young white women get involved in manslaughter. But I also think it had a lot of staying power. It is a case that was hot at the beginning and has remained so because there are unanswered questions."

So you were following it from the beginning?

"Yeah I started in 2015."

You’ve said this was part of an "unofficial trilogy." Can you talk a little about that and the threads that you’re looking for in stories?

"My first film was called Thought Crimes and it was about a New York City police officer [Gilberto Valle] who was convicted of conspiracy to kidnap, rape, and torture young women. It was violent and crazy and Gilberto unfortunately did not like the film. I thought it was very fair. But after that I was like ‘I want to make films about complicated women.’ So Gypsy Rose Blanchard [in Mommy Dead and Dearest] was the object of many many hours of obsession for me, thinking about her as a human and figuring out why she did what she did. For Michelle Carter, it was the same. There are so many reasons why I want to explore all of them. My fourth film is about the sex abuse story with the US Gymnastics. It is really listening to a survivor chorus and hearing what our thoughts around believing women in the #MeToo era, and what that really means. My friend at Refinery[29] Leah [Carroll] said, 'You’re the patron saint of complicated women.' And I said, 'Put that on my tombstone.'"

In this documentary, you used the pop up text messages to convey the conversation between the two main teenagers. That really highlighted the difference between the way teens and adults communicate.

"There was genuine franticness about the volume [of texts]. We had a record, in real time, of the degradation of two people’s mental state as primary evidence. As a documentary filmmaker, you can’t really get better than that because you knew at the time what people were thinking. I feel very lucky to be a filmmaker working in this age where I have access to these materials. I hope this film sparks debate about girlhood and mental illness and loneliness. I think those are all things that are uniquely...like, you can read those text messages, but when you see them come up on the screen and you’re experiencing them on your screen, you’re going to have a reaction."

What was it like reading those texts messages on paper?

"It felt really voyeuristic. I moved up to Massachusetts to cover the trial, and I was sitting out on a porch with a print-out of all these text messages. The sun was shining and I was drinking my coffee and I felt sick to my stomach. It was so sad."

What do you think this case tells us about America’s perception of teenage girls? Because we even see Conrad’s mom saying that she had specifically warned him about manipulative young girls.

"That stuff is in there because it mirrors our media portrayal. But I don’t think women are inherently manipulative. I think she was just trying to exist as a person and tried to get attention the way she found she could get attention. I don’t know that she was aware enough, or cognizant enough, to be aware that she was being manipulative. But my all-time favorite part of the film, and I am not embarrassed to say this, is when Dr. Peter Breggin is like, 'Men are terrified of women.'

The fact that I get to make this feminist allegory about a crime case where a doctor is talking about being frightened of women, I was like, made in the shade. This is what I was meant to do."

Where there any different challenges in this documentary compared to Mommy Dead and Dearest?

"Mommy Dead and Dearest was so much easier. I had access to the main person, and there were incredible characters. There was a crazy crime, but there was also a sense of playfulness, in that everyone was living their life after the fact — every moment of their life was not about a tragedy. It felt very different with the Roy family. I’ve done probably 140 interviews in my life and it has become something I’ve really enjoyed doing. When I interviewed Lynn Roy [Conrad’s mother]… it was just so painful. I actually had pneumonia at the time, and she didn’t want us to be there. It’s really painful asking people about the worst thing that ever happened to them, and being careful and thoughtful. I slept the whole next day. I had one of those days where my job was a little too painful. I think that it is important to stay connected to that because this is not entertainment."

Have you seen Eighth Grade?

"No! I am such a doc weirdo that I’m like, ‘Docs only!’"

There’s one scene that reminded me of Conrad’s videos of himself in the documentary. It’s something that we really see in Eighth Grade: young people are really using technology to work through their issues in a way that no other generation has.

“[Conrad] was singular in that way. He feels special to me that he had awareness, and we lost something really special and really thoughtful. Yes, you see him sort-of joust and be playful in the text messages, but he was a very smart, sensitive, good kid that lost his battle to mental health issues.”

The Carter family denied your request to be interviewed. Was that for legal reasons or were they not interested?

"They were really not interested in participating. It made complete sense to me. Their kid was facing a 20 years prison sentence. Then when she was found guilty, which I was honestly more shocked than anything about, she was allowed to stay at home under her appeal. So when they finally sent her to prison, I emailed her lawyers once again and was like, ‘I know you’re sick of hearing from me, but I am still here and still waiting even if you want to do an off-the-record.’ I really wanted to honor her at every juncture and see if they could participate while acknowledging that she is fighting for her survival."

At the movie’s SXSW premiere, you asked the crowd if they thought that Michelle should go to prison for what she did, and only a few people raised their hands to indicate 'yes.' Were you surprised?

"I was genuinely shocked. Jesse Baron, [a journalist] who is in the doc, and I were just chatting and we said, ‘We [the public] all feel that way because she is in prison now.’ We are able to have that emotional rendering. But had she not been in jail and just been this person at home pending her appeal, I think people would be more angry [at her]. It depends what part of the case you’re in."

If you had been given the opportunity to talk to Michelle, would you believe what she had to say?

"I don’t think I would believe what she would say."

This documentary also reminded me of another case currently happening in Philadelphia. Rappers are testifying in Supreme Court that rap lyrics are poetry, and not threats. It is the same conversation defining the difference between a written word and an actual viable threat. Do you see this becoming a bigger issue?

“That’s a good question. I really hope that this case and this film generates a sense of awareness about how we treat others. So that when you do text somebody else, or you’re tweeting, we need to remember that somebody else is on the other side of that. I just think we have lost our way a bit when it comes to this. I am in no way technology-phobic — I am a product of this technology explosion, but I am also very wary of it. We can contain those hopes and those fears in those same space.”

Watch I Love You, Now Die on HBO summer 2019.

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Once upon a time, Elizabeth Holmes was America's youngest self-made female billionaire and the head of biotech company Theranos, which promised new blood-testing procedures that would revolutionize health care. But, beginning in 2015, the cracks in Holmes' tech empire and veneer of prestige started to show, with reports trickling out that the level of technology she championed was "exaggerated" at best. In 2018, Holmes was formally indicted on charges of fraud, and now faces upwards of 20 years in prison.

With a fall this great, people are naturally obsessed with Holmes, and the many more stranger-than-fiction details of her life — wolf/dog, mysterious fiancé, deep baritone, and calculated image included. Inspired by Steve Jobs, she donned a uniform centered around a signature black turtleneck, and always paired it with straight blonde hair, bright lipstick, and a clean French manicure.

"She has a consistent, uniform look," says Amanda Sanders, an image consultant based in New York City. "It becomes recognizable. It’s smart in and of itself, because her look became her trademark." Ahead, see how that beauty uniform evolved — and what Holmes looks like now.

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It’s that time of year, friends — the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival is soon to descend on Indio, CA for a two-weekend-long orgy of music, surprisingly awesome food, and of course, the most outré and eye-candy-ish attire that concert-goers can pack into their cars. While “festival style ” is met with its share of eye-rolls these days, we encourage you to put down that bottle of haterade — there's no denying that scrolling through those slideshows of the best looks provides at least a handful of Pinterest saves.

If you’re a seasoned attendee, you know that festival-friendly footwear requirements are Goldilocksian in their specificity. Temperature is a concern: desert weather is scorching during the day and cool at night. You don't want total foot coverage, but also need something that will protect your feet from mud, beer, rain, and maybe — ew — Porta-Potty fluids. The shoes also need to sustain you for hours of walking, dancing, and standing in line. You also, um, likely want to look cute.

Armed with these parameters, we set out to find the impossible — a stylish, comfortable, weather-appropriate festival shoe. We've outlined some scenarios you may encounter at the legendary music fest, along with the right footwear to help you navigate each one. Click through to find your magic pair, and know that they were all chosen for maximum function and cuteness.

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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Virgil Abloh, Louis Vuitton's artistic director of menswear, has not been shy about the impact Michael Jackson has had on his life and his designs. In a new profile for The New Yorker, after writer Doreen St. Felix points out the poor timing of Abloh's adulation. Now Abloh has spoken out to belatedly condemn the widespread allegations that Jackson sexually abused young boys — including Wade Robson and James Safechuck, the subjects of HBO's shocking, talked-about new documentary Leaving Neverland.

Abloh's inaugural show at Vuitton was called "We Are the World," named after Quincy Jones' classic 1985 charity single featuring Jackson and dozens of other music superstars. The second one was inspired by the 1978 film The Wiz a Black take on The Wizard of Oz(initially a Broadway show) starring Jackson and Diana Ross . The set for his fall 2019 collection, shown in Paris in January, was intended to recall Jackson's iconic 1982 music video for "Billie Jean," with some items on the runway referencing the late star. He admitted to listening to the so-called King of Pop while he designs. “When I have Michael Jackson singing in the background, it’s a different type of shirt, it’s a different kind of boot, it’s a different fit of pants,” he told The New Yorker.

But when St. Felix asked Kanye West's former longtime creative director if he had heard anything about Leaving Neverland, Abloh's response came off as more than a little tone deaf. Abloh replied that he is focused on “the Michael that I thought was universally accepted, the good side, his humanitarian self.”

On Thursday, following a backlash, Abloh and Vuitton addressed the documentary further. “I am aware that in light of this documentary the show has caused emotional reactions. I strictly condemn any form of child abuse, violence or infringement against any human rights,” Abloh said in a statement released exclusively to WWD.

“We find the allegations in the documentary deeply troubling and disturbing,” added Michael Burke, Vuitton’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Child safety and welfare is of utmost importance to Louis Vuitton. We are fully committed to advocating this cause.”

Of his most recent men's show in January that referenced the singer, saying: “My intention for this show was to refer to Michael Jackson as a pop culture artist. It referred only to his public life that we all know and to his legacy that has influenced a whole generation of artists and designers,” Abloh said in Thursday’s statement.

Louis Vuitton will not produce any items “that directly features Michael Jackson elements” and tells WWD that that the collection, when it reaches stores, would “purely reflect the true values of the brand and of our artistic director.”

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Welcome toMoney Diaries , where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking millennials how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we're tracking every last dollar.

Today: a human resources specialist working in construction who makes $52,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on Glossier Play Glitter Gelée.

Occupation: Human Resources Specialist
Industry: Construction
Age: 26
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Salary: $52,000
Paycheck Amount (Weekly): $900

Monthly Expenses
Rent: $850 (I have one roommate and we split the rent evenly for a two-bedroom/two-bathroom apartment.)
Student Loans: $0 (My parents paid for college, and I am so grateful.)
Car Payment: $318.73
Utilities: Around $100
Cable: $80, split with my roommate
Phone Bill: $130.45
Netflix: $0 (Thanks, Mom & Dad.)
Apple Music: $10.59

Day One

7:15 a.m. — Wake up feeling very well-rested — a nice surprise for a Monday morning. Last week was crazy at work, and I'm looking forward to a quieter week ahead. I get ready for the day, make myself a piece of toast with jelly for breakfast, and take a coffee with me to work.

2:15 p.m. — My day is busy. On Mondays I do payroll for the week, which always takes up most of my day. I stop to eat lunch around 12:30. I have grilled chicken, raw red peppers with ranch, a piece of garlic bread, and a cookie. Once my payroll duties are completed, I catch up on emails and other admin work.

3:30 p.m. — Before leaving for the day, I take time to read some of my favorite websites: Into the Gloss, Man Repeller, Byrdie, and Cupcakes & Cashmere. Glossier released a new makeup line today called Glossier Play, and I buy two eyeliners and a glitter cream shadow because I am Glossier-obsessed. $44

4:30 p.m. — I leave work and stop at the mall to get a new phone. I am overdue and desperately need an update. I end up getting the iPhone XS and a case. I keep my same plan — but my contract is up, so I pay $171.46. $171.46

7 p.m. — My roommate and I get dinner ($10) and eat while we watch Parks & Recreation. We end up watching for almost three hours — oops! I quickly pack my lunch for tomorrow and we clean the kitchen. I wash my face, change into my pajamas, and am in bed by 10:30. $10

Daily Total: $225.46

Day Two

6:45 a.m. — Wake up freezing. It's supposed to hit 10 degrees in Pittsburgh today, and I am already dreading going outside. I get ready for the day, grab a coffee and granola bar, and am on the way to work.

12:15 p.m. — My morning absolutely flies by, which I am grateful for. I break for lunch. I packed a spinach salad with cannellini beans, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds. I scroll through Instagram and eat. The afternoon is pretty steady as well, and I continue to work until about 3:30, when I leave for the bank and post office.

4:30 p.m. — I get home and eat some chips and salsa while watching last night's episode of Vanderpump Rules. Team Stassi for life. I'm going to dinner with my family at my Nunnie's (grandmother's) tonight, so I hop in the shower and get ready.

7 p.m. — It's Fat Tuesday today, or Carnivale as my Italian family calls it, so we all gather and eat spaghetti, steaks, and sausage for dinner. For dessert we have paczki (stuffed doughnuts) that are at every Pittsburgh bakery on this day.

10 p.m. — I get home feeling stuffed. Then I wash my face and change into my pajamas. I listened to a beauty podcast today, Fat Mascara, and they said that tapping your face after putting products on is good for your skin, so I begin lightly tapping away, hoping my roommate doesn't hear. I watch a little TV and am in bed around midnight.

Daily Total: $0

Day Three

7 a.m. — Wake up and am loving how bright and sunny it is. Daylight Saving is on Sunday, so I know I only have a few more mornings of this sunlight until summer. I get ready and make toast for breakfast. I fill up my coffee cup and am out the door.

12 p.m. — This morning is pretty busy, and I decide it's time to break for lunch. I have tuna salad, an apple, and peanut butter crackers that I bring from home.

3:30 p.m. — It's Ash Wednesday, and for lent I'm going to try to limit my phone time. I downloaded the Moment app to help me, and I'm hoping to actually stick to it!

5 p.m. — After work I grab a snack from home before heading to the tax office. I work at a small firm during tax season to make some extra money. My best friend works there, so it's nice to have mini catch-ups throughout the week with her. I can pop in and out at any time, so it's super convenient, and the people who work there are really nice. I listen to my favorite podcast, Seek Treatment, on the way there and eat some Cheez-Its.

8 p.m. — Finally home!! I get to my apartment, and my roommate made shrimp stir-fry for dinner. What a gem! We eat and catch up on This Is Us. I change into my pajamas, do my skin-care routine, and am in bed by 10:30.

Daily Total: $0

Day Four

6:30 a.m. — I get up and jump in the shower. It's freezing today, and getting out of the nice warm shower is so hard. I get ready and leave for work. I go through the Dunkin' Donuts drive-through and get a large coffee and an egg-and-cheese English muffin. I pay with a gift card ($5.66).

12:30 p.m. — I took a half day at work today because I have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. (Ladies, remember to go get a Pap smear!!) For lunch, I eat a turkey-and-salami sandwich with salt-and-vinegar chips from home. I get to my appointment and am planning to treat myself with a Starbucks after. I have so much built-up anxiety before every exam, but it's really not bad! I meet my mom after, and we go to a nearby Starbucks. We both get caramel macchiatos and she pays.

5 p.m. — I kind of lie around for a while watching TV and scrolling through Instagram before starting dinner. I make chicken-noodle soup and a salad with cucumber and cannellini beans.

8 p.m. — I change into my pajamas and wash my face. My typically oilier skin has been so dry lately that it's causing my skin to freak out. I do some research on good moisturizing products and plan to go to Sephora or Ulta tomorrow after work. I put on the season premier of The Real Housewives of New York City. I LIVE FOR THIS SHOW. These women are my favorite out of all the different Housewives franchises.

10:15 p.m. — I get into bed and try to watch an Allegra Shaw vlog on YouTube, but end up passing out about 10 minutes in.

Daily Total: $0

Day Five

7 a.m. — Wake up, shower, put on makeup, and get dressed. Rockin' some wild hair because I don't have time to do it, but at least it's Friday!! I eat oatmeal with peanut butter for breakfast, make a coffee to go, and am on my way to work.

12 p.m. — On Fridays our company gets us lunch from a few local restaurants. I wasn't feeling very hungry, so I got a bowl of cream of mushroom soup with some asparagus. The afternoon is dragging for me, so I make a cup of coffee from the office Keurig and count down the minutes until I can leave.

5 p.m. — I finally get back to my apartment. I catch up with my roommate, and then we both start getting ready. We are going out for sushi and then helping our friend with her bridal-shower invitations tonight.

8 p.m. — We have a great time at dinner. I get a tuna roll, a salmon roll, and a gin and tonic. $21.20

12 a.m. — We get home pretty late after doing the invitations and chatting. I eat some Cheez-Its and am off to bed.

Daily Total: $21.20

Day Six

11:15 a.m. — I wake up and cannot believe that I slept in this late. After my late night, I'm not complaining! I get up, make coffee, and eat some yogurt. I don't want to eat too much because I'm going to lunch with some friends SOON. My roommate and I chat and eat.

1 p.m. — I get ready for the day while listening to the Jonas Brothers. Their latest drop, "Sucker," really inspired me to get back in touch with my middle school playlists. We go to a taco place about 10 minutes from my apartment. I get a chicken taco, a carnitas taco, and a spicy mojito. It's soooo good. $24.61

3 p.m. — I run to the mall to get a few things for my trip to Florida next week. I get two pairs of shorts, a top, and a denim jacket from American Eagle ($118.27), a new Drunk Elephant night serum from Sephora ($45), and exfoliating gloves from Ulta ($7.76). $171.03

6 p.m. — My roommate and I decide to go see a movie and then go to BRGR for burgers after. I touch up my makeup and we go! I get my ticket and a small popcorn. (My favorite food in the world might possibly be movie-theater popcorn.) $18.71

9 p.m. — After the movie, I get a burger and a Southern tier IPA and we split fries. $30

10 p.m. — I change into my pajamas, do my skin-care routine, and read until I fall asleep around 11.

Daily Total: $244.35

Day Seven

9 a.m. — Went to bed pretty early last night, so Daylight Saving Time doesn't seem to affect my wake-up time at all. I get out of bed, shower, and then make myself coffee and a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast. I scroll through Instagram while I eat. Then I get ready and clean up the apartment.

12 p.m. — I drive to my Nunnie's house for lunch with my family. We're having spaghetti Bolognese. I gave up sweets for lent, so instead of the chocolate-chip cookies for dessert, I eat some raspberries.

5:30 p.m. — Next up is dinner at my other Nunnie's. We have spaghetti there as well. Every Sunday is an all-day spaghetti feast.

9:30 p.m. — I get home and change into my pajamas. I make a big cup of green tea and watch Top Chef. I get into bed around 11 and catch up on Instagram until I fall asleep.

Daily Total: $0

Money Diaries are meant to reflect individual women's experiences and do not necessarily reflect Refinery29's point of view. Refinery29 in no way encourages illegal activity or harmful behavior.

The first step to getting your financial life in order is tracking what you spend — to try on your own, check out our guide to managing your money every day. For more money diaries, click here. Have questions about how to submit or our publishing process? Read our Money Diaries FAQ doc here: r29.co/mdfaqs

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Making a pivot in your career can be a terrifying prospect. Sometimes, the fear of leaving behind the comfort and stability of a job — even if it’s making you kind of miserable — can make it seem better to just stay put. But is putting off long-term happiness worth it?

It's a dilemma Cynthia Pong is all too familiar with. Pong is the founder of Embrace Change, which specializes in helping women of color to transition in their careers and to realize their true ambitions. But just a few years ago, her own life looked very different. Pong initially started her career working as a public defender, but soon realized that it wasn’t the path for her. So she decided to make a switch.

Today, Pong coaches women who are feeling stuck, helping them to set and reach professional goals and resist the temptation to settle. Working from her own experience, she helps her clients realize there is always a way out of an unfulfilling job or career — as long as you’re ready to put in the effort.

We sat down with Pong to chat about her journey, how she came to be a career coach, the toughest lessons she’s helped her clients learn, and how you can get empowered to make changes in your own life and career.

Tell us about your background — what did you study in school, and what initially made you want to pursue that path?

“I started undergrad thinking I was going to go into astrophysics, but ended up focusing on ethnic studies. From the beginning, working for social change and participating in activism on campus was a steady thing. But after spending a summer doing a labor-organizing internship in Los Angeles, I decided it would be better to try to make social change from inside the system, so I decided to go to law school.

“I initially thought I wanted to do juvenile defense work, which was representing kids who are accused of ‘delinquency’ and basically trying to keep them out of jail. But I didn’t have the stomach for it. Even though I was trying to keep kids out of jail, I knew I couldn’t have a 100% success rate, and I couldn’t deal with that. So I started working in adult criminal court as a public defender.”

What first made you think about becoming a career coach?

“I started burning out after year three as a public defender and ended up taking an unpaid sabbatical. After a few months of recovering, I started to get an itch for something else.

“I first started my coaching business, Embrace Change, in 2015 as a consultancy to work with nonprofits and social-justice organizations and help them improve employee engagement and satisfaction. But it was hard to get buy-in, despite my own experiences in working in the nonprofit world. In the spring of 2016, I did a training for lawyers, and it blew up online. Hundreds and eventually thousands of people watched it. That brought with it my first big pivot.

“I started doing mindfulness, stress management, and wellness training for both for- and nonprofits. I was getting way more traction doing this than the nonprofit consultancy, but I missed working with people and helping them with deeper change. I loved sitting down with clients and talking to them about their life plans and goal-setting. So I ended up posting on my Facebook page and offering a few free one-on-one coaching sessions, and that’s how it happened.”

Your coaching work focuses on women of color. How did you land on this niche, and how does it set you apart from other career coaches?

“I have always been motivated to get more women and women of color in positions of power. And because of who I know and who is comfortable coming to me for advice, my first dozen clients were women, and a large number were women of color. As I was learning where there was the most synergy, I realized it was with women of color. So I started to more explicitly say I worked with women, then it turned into women only, and then women of color. Now pretty much all my work is pretty specific to women of color. Sometimes, though, I’ll make exceptions.

“I’m certainly not the only one who specializes in this clientele, but I do hear from a lot of people that I was the only one they found. There is a huge need; one of my clients recently told me she’d had prior coaching experience with a white man and didn’t feel psychologically safe with him.

“I realized it can add a burden to have to explain to somebody how a certain experience you had was racist or sexist, or about a lived experience of being from an immigrant family. My clients have told me how much they appreciated that I understood their lived experiences in the workplace.

“You shouldn’t have to explain to your coach why you feel a certain way — that’s a lot of work. Ideally, there should be a baseline of understanding. In hindsight, my focus on women of color wasn’t something I strategically set out to do. I just kept listening to myself and my clients, looking at who came to me and where their needs were.”

What’s the most common struggle you see among women you coach? And what are some solutions?

“It sounds so corny, but not believing in themselves. Sometimes it’s imposter syndrome, but sometimes it’s much deeper than that: It’s really feeling like they don’t deserve things, whether it’s a salary, or a title, or attention, or the ability to build their own career. We’re so socialized to be a certain way, and not step out of a box, that we don’t even know there’s a box.

“There’s so much doubt that we have about ourselves, and that’s also tied up with fear of failure. I’ll suggest things to people sometimes, and they’ll just say, ‘I can’t do that,’ and I have to show them that it is actually possible. Often people don’t believe it until they see it.

“Recently, someone responded to one of my Instagram stories and shared how they went in and negotiated for a raise, even though they were terrified. And they ended up getting something like 184% of their previous salary. I asked to share this story, because people don’t believe that kind of thing is possible. But if we don’t believe, nobody’s going to believe.”

What’s the most common mistake you see women committing in their professional lives?

“It might take different forms, but essentially not standing up for themselves. One of my clients is super accomplished, and yet in certain professional contexts, especially when she’s with higher-ups, she has a pattern of deflecting or making herself smaller.

“A couple of my clients are in toxic workplaces where they are mistreated — whether it’s being terribly underpaid or erased in meetings. When I hear about things like this, I mostly tell clients: ‘They don’t deserve you, and you need to get out.’ But obviously, not everyone can just do that.

“I do think it’s about realizing that sometimes you may not be able to change a workplace and may need to leave. As a rule of thumb, I say give it a few tries and do some experimentation. Give it three to five trials, try different variables each time, and see if you get any different results. If you don’t, the message is clear.”

In addition to private coaching, you have a workshop called “Stop Settling in Your Career.” What does “settling” mean to you, and what are some of the things you incorporate into this workshop to help women stop doing it?

“I define settling as having to accept less than what you want. But there is an asterisk: Sometimes it’s okay to have less than what you want if there is a good tradeoff and you have done a cost-benefit analysis. Or if it’s a temporary means to an end and you’re diligent about not getting stuck in that situation.

"For instance, if you’re switching from one career to another and don't have a lot of experience yet, you might have to take a pay cut or drop to a lower level and work your way up. In some industries, there’s no way around that. So you may have to settle in that sense, but you should have a plan and keep making moves to get to where you want to go.

“Settling might also mean being stuck in the wrong job for you, whether it’s because it’s something you used to like and no longer find meaning or fulfillment from, or because something turned out to be not what you thought, or was an expectation that other people, like your parents or society, had placed on you.

“I encourage people to think about how they want to be remembered and what they want their legacy to be. I just listened to a podcast that asked: ‘What do you want people to say about you when you’re not there?’ It’s asking yourself, within the work context, what do you want the point of your life to be? And also reflecting on your goals — is what you’re doing now going to help get you there? If not, you could be settling in some way."

What is the proudest moment in your career-coach journey so far?

“My proudest moment so far was getting fully booked, which just happened! In terms of client successes, it was coaching a client to negotiate her first five-figure contract.”

You’re based in NYC — do you have any offerings for people elsewhere in the country or world?

“I recently turned the Stop Settling in Your Career workshop into an online workshop, which is available on my website. One is explicitly for women who are salaried professionals working at some sort of a company or organization. The other is for freelancers or small-business owners who have to negotiate with clients and client boundaries. There are workshops for both groups, as they are very different.

“In terms of my one-on-one coaching, I use video conferencing so my clients can be anywhere in the world. I’ve had clients in Australia, California, India — thanks to technology, geography is not an issue.

“I also run a monthly newsletter, called "The Trajectory," which includes resources related to women, career, and negotiation. I also run an Instagram account where I do things like a weekly video that addresses a question someone has asked me or something that has popped up in my coaching so more people can benefit. Most of my social media posts have to do with some piece of career-negotiation advice or empowering women in the work context.”

You made a pretty significant career pivot, and it’s worked out great. But a lot of people who feel stuck in careers are too afraid to change — especially if they’ve got student loans or expensive rent. What is your advice to them?

“I just encountered a client in her mid-30s who thought it was ‘too late’ for a career change. I told her: Everything aside from death is a course-correctable situation. Like I say in my workshop, you’ve survived so much, you can make it through this, too. But the first part is to convince yourself that you deserve to do it. The first negotiation is always with yourself.

“For people who are miserable in their jobs and want to get out, make a plan and prepare. The money is a huge, huge thing. So first, you have to get on top of your finances; otherwise, it’s always going to be your number one excuse for why you didn’t do something. Get help, whether from a certified financial planner or one of the many resources out there. But figure out what’s going on with your money and try to save as much as possible while you’re in your [current] situation.

“I’m not a financial planner, but shooting for a four- to six-month cushion means you can more responsibly take on a risk to move on to something else. If you’re going from one job to another, you may not need that big of a cushion. It’s a good idea for everyone to start building savings, no matter what.

“Next is to set a hard date for yourself. While I’m not a big fan of the whole ‘it’s too late’ narrative, the longer you wait, the later it does get — that’s just the passage of time. So once you have an emergency fund, it’s important to set a hard deadline. Otherwise, it’s so easy to kick the can, and soon it’s another year later and you’re still there.

“If you’re making a total change, you will also need to find some way to build a network and get some credibility in the new area. If you don’t know what you want to do, then if you can save up and take a break, that’s best — though most people can’t.

“If you are working and living paycheck to paycheck, change can be challenging. That’s why squirreling away as much money as you can is the first step. But it can be done — even for people who don’t have as much financial stability.”

Where do you hope Embrace Change will be in the next five years?

“Hopefully, it’s more of the same — I’m pretty happy with the configuration of things. I’ve been working on my book for a while, and I would love to get that published. I’d also love to run a retreat and bring all the women I’ve worked with together. I think it would be so amazing to have everyone physically present in the same place. So many cool connections and collaborations could happen.”

— In Partnership with Levi's® —

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That’s what makes self-advocacy such a critical skill for women. We’re not always lucky enough to have a benevolent boss or a workplace that inherently recognizes our worth and power. But we can always learn to speak up about our needs, champion our own work, and find allies who’ll help us succeed. As much as education and skill, it’s the ability to self-advocate that can take a career from “middle of the road” to “top of the org chart.”

Inspired by the new season of CBS All Access’ The Good Fight, now streaming, we spoke with five female powerhouses — from a digital marketer to a filmmaker to a psychotherapist — about the obstacles they’ve faced at work, how they fought to overcome them, and how doing so changed their career (and sometimes, their whole company).

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The aftermath of a piercing should be an uncomplicated experience — but it's not unheard of to get an infection, or for an unidentified fleshy bump to pop up right near your brand-new piercing hole. While the former warrants a visit to the doctor, that bump isn't generally something you should panic about: It's most likely just a harmless keloid.

So, what exactly is a keloid? Dermatologist Ellen Marmur, MD, explains that it's an area of irregular fibrous tissue that usually forms at the site of a scar or injury, which includes piercings. Not sure you have one? While your physician or dermatologist can tell you definitively what the bump is, if it looks like an angry pimple on the surface of the skin with scar-tissue texture, then congrats, you've got a keloid! But your cute new nose or lobe piercing doesn't have to be plagued by the bump forever. With the help of a medical professional, you can have it safely removed.

Remember: This is not a pimple, so please don't pop it like one. Since it's not actually acne, there's nothing to squeeze out of the bump. In fact, doing so could potentially cause an infection, which is much worse than some overgrown scar tissue. Instead, Dr. Marmur suggests several different removal methods for keloids, including non-invasive surgery that can remove the growth. Unfortunately, even with this method, there's a possibility the keloid will return. In that case, Dr. Marmur suggests an alternative option: low-dose steroid injections that can shrink the overproduction of collagen in the area that triggered the keloid to form in the first place.

Not into either of those options? Concocting your own at-home remedy is possible with a mix of honey and vinegar, but chemically exfoliating the bump away is even less of a sure thing. Ultimately, the choice is up to you — as long as you get a medical professional opinion first, of course.

Got a question about your body piercing? Leave us a comment below!

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If you have never cried at work, in my opinion you are a robot. Everything makes me cry these days. The news? Come on. Gillette commercials? I'm wrecked. Onions? Forget about it! Climate change? Buh-bye, game over, I need to excuse myself from this brainstorm to go cry on the toilet, can someone please send me notes of what I miss?

It may be that I have over-productive tear ducts. Or maybe it's just that I'm a woman. (Haven't you heard? Women are emotional, and that is why there is a gender wage gap.) Either way, I've wept at work on more than one occasion, and as a result I've gotten good at navigating where to do it so that no one ever knows. Ne'er a mascara trail is left in sight. Take it from me, a gigantic crybaby: These are the foolproof places to cry at work when you don't have an office door to close and all the walls are made of glass.

The coffee machine. Nothing like tears to cut the bitterness of bad office coffee. Let's say you've had a rough morning and you reach a breaking point while waiting for your K-Cup to brew. If someone walks by and asks why you're crying into your cup, just say "for the skin- and hair-boosting properties — it's the new collagen." Or if it's a Monday morning, deflect the question by asking how her weekend was. She will say: "It was pretty chill. My husband and I took the kids up to see my in-laws and they drove me crazy, but that's nothing new. Weather was nice, though — a lot better than staying in the city for the weekend, haha. Okay, better slog through some emails, booooo. See ya."

The cold brew/kombucha/beer tap in your startup's kitchen. Sure, you'll probably run into a well-meaning feminist bro who says he doesn't identify with the patriarchy (yeah, okay) and whose shoulder you can most definitely cry on should you choose to accept the support. Few things stress men out more than a woman in tears — use that to your advantage.

A bathroom on a different floor. Just like you have a poop bathroom on another floor, you can also have a cry bathroom. Get comfy in one of the stalls without the fear of someone recognizing your shoes. (If you don't have a separate poop floor, you are so brave.)

Under your desk. Maybe you just happened to check your phone while you were drafting a work email, and maybe you got a text from your hookup along the lines of: "I don't want to be presumptuous, but it feels like you want something more serious than I do, and I'm not in a place right now where I can commit to anything but would be down to keep hanging as friends, though." Go under your desk and rock back and forth. Intentionally bump your head when you finally come back up so you have an alibi if someone asks why you're crying. You were down there to plug in your charger, and bam! Also, you did want something more serious than he did, but that is not the point, and he should know that.

In your boss's office when she's not there. Test out her pens, take a mint or lozenge from the candy bowl, spin around in her swivel chair, poke around in her Post-it notes where she has left breadcrumbs of an ongoing legal battle with her estranged husband, and weep (for yourself, for her). Blow your nose, wipe away the mascara streaks, and be on your way before she returns from her tenth meeting of the day. (But do not dispose of the tissue in her trash can — pocket until you leave, and then choose a different trash can.)

On the roof of your office building. Only far above the city can you really be free with your emotions. Ball your hands into fists and shake them at the sky while you scream, "I rue the day you were born!" about whoever has dared to cross you.

In the bodega on the ground floor of your office building. Perfect for when you are both hungry and sad. You know those little square napkins that all bodegas have that are thinner than tissues and not really equipped to sop up any liquid? They are actually perfect for absorbing tears. So cry it out in the freezer section, treat yourself to a delicious snack, and take a stack of napkins to go.

In the stairwell. Stairwells are for mom-calling, nose-blowing, rage-texting, Juul-smoking, illicit work affairs, and ugly-crying. Just make sure that you go three or four stories above or below the floor you work on.

Trash room. No one will walk into the trash room while you're there, and if they do, they must have something to hide and therefore will not call you out for your tear-stained face. You don't just meander into the trash room.

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Just when you thought you'd perfected your spring hair inspiration moodboard, Julia Roberts went and got a haircut that'll make you reconsider that appointment you made for "just a trim."

Days before the official start of spring, the actress visited her longtime go-to hairstylist Serge Normant to get a fresh new lob that couldn't be more perfect for the season. The celebrity hair guru posted a photo of Roberts on Instagram that showed off her choppy shoulder-length cut and natural-looking blonde highlights. "New," Normant captioned the image, alongside the scissors emoji.

Roberts hasn't posted the haircut on her personal Instagram yet, but she has received seals of approval from her fellow A-listers, including Heidi Klum and Sarah Jessica Parker, who wrote, "Gorgeous!!!! X"

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A post shared by Serge Normant (@sergenormant) on Mar 14, 2019 at 4:06pm PDT

Long bobs are clearly the way to go this season, with stars like Karlie Kloss and The Bachelor winner Cassie Randolph all getting in on it. But there's just something special about Roberts' new look that has us particularly obsessed. As Normant once told us, "The magic of Julia's hair is that people catch a feeling from it." Trust us, we're catching all the feelings from this dreamy cut.

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Anthropologie has long been the destination for things that are just plain pretty. The Philadelphia-based retailer and big-sister brand to Urban Outfitters and Free People has cultivated a whimsical, feminine aesthetic ever since its founding in 1992. Now, despite having over 200 stores, they still manage to make its range of lifestyle offerings (clothing, home decor, furniture, and beauty) feel hand-picked, and every time we walk into — nay, are pulled in — to a store we’re amazed to find that we still, after all these years, just want everything.

So you can imagine our elation when we heard that the brand was adding sizes 16W - 26W to their range of apparel offerings (joining its size run of 00P - 14P and 00 - 16). The new line is called APlus, and it’s filled with all of the sophisticated and worldly beauty that we’ve come to expect from Anthro. “It’s a joy to see this collection come to life,” says specialty sizes buyer Aly Kauffman, “and it’s an assortment that we look forward to growing as our customer shares her wants and needs.” The 120-piece collection launches today on the brand’s website and in 10 retail locations across the US.

Equally swoon-worthy is the group of muses that Anthro tapped for their inaugural campaign — we were thrilled to see It-girl faves like Paloma Elesser, Candice Huffine, and Ali Tate frolicking throughout Mexico City in the cheekily-titled Late To The Party, a short film released by the brand commemorating the launch of APlus. So it was with great seriousness and deliberate scrolling that we combed through the 120-piece collection to narrow down our top 15 faves. Click on through to see what we picked, or investigate the full collection for yourself, which is live and shoppable as of press time.

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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At least 49 people died and dozens were injured when a gunman with white nationalist views opened fire at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday. The attack, which was live-streamed on Facebook, happened during Jumu’ah, one of the holiest and most attended congregational prayers. A second mosque in the area was also targeted.

Prime Minister Jacinda Arden called the shooting a terrorist attack. "This is one of New Zealand's darkest days," she said. "There is no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence."

Authorities said three people are in custody in connection to the attack. A 28-year-old man was charged with murder and will appear in court on Saturday. Police have not yet released the names of the suspects. They also said officers had disarmed an improvised explosive device (IED), and were on the process of disarming a second device attached to the suspects' vehicle.

The alleged shooter left a 74-page manifesto in which he spoke at length about his white nationalist views, including his hatred for Muslims and immigrants. The man said he drew inspiration from shooters like Dylann Roof, who in 2015 murdered nine Black churchgoers in South Carolina, and Anders Breivik, the Norwegian far-right terrorist who murdered 77 people, including children, in a 2011 attack. Breivik has often been a role model for white nationalists: Last month, an U.S. Coast Guard officer who planned a large scale domestic attack on several prominent lawmakers and media figures cited the terrorist as an inspiration.

The gunman seems to be the latest shooter to be radicalized online. His manifesto notably included a fair amount of "shitposting" — the act of aggressively posting poor quality content to derail conversations in online forums — and also references to far-right, fringe memes. But it the repeated references to "white genocide," wanting the attack to "reduce immigration rates," and other white nationalist talking points illustrate that these seem to be his true beliefs. The shooter also made several references to the United States' Second Amendment rights and President Donald Trump, saying he supported him "as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose? Sure. As a policy maker and leader? Dear god no."

In response to the attack, Trump tweeted: "My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!"

An attack of this magnitude is pretty much unprecedented in New Zealand's modern history. The nation's violent crime rates are extremely low compared to the rest of the world. According to authorities, in 2017 there were only 35 murders in the country — a 40-year-low that translates to about seven deaths for every 1 million people.

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