Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Skylight Books, Los Angeles
 **_“When I tell you that beauty is a monster, I need you to know it is my favorite kind.”_** So begins Arabelle Sicardi’s blazingly original collection of essays. A former beauty editor, Arabelle has devoted their entire adult life to the subject of beauty—they have analyzed it, criticized it, praised it, benefited from it, loathed it. Now, in _The House of Beauty_, they get to the contradictions at the heart of it: beauty and horror, two sides of the same coin. With their signature blend of intellectual rigor and poetic sensibility, Arabelle explores how beauty myths are crafted, sold, and weaponized, from corporate boardrooms to your local nail salon. Follow alongside Arabelle as they trace the global trail of the shimmering mica in your beauty products, choose-your-own-adventure-style, or journey into the past to unearth the sinister connection between fragrance and fascism. Bear witness as they visit a tech convention focused on the next horrifying frontier of body modification, or as they ask what’s at stake in the braids we weave in our hair. Sharp yet tender in their observations, Arabelle challenges readers to reconsider beauty as more than a product of consumption, inviting a vision of beauty rooted in community and self-care, one that transcends industry-driven ideals. Equal parts exposé and cultural reckoning, _The House of Beauty_ cracks open an industry that sells dreams and wields power. Once you have encountered Arabelle’s words, there is no looking back. **Arabelle Sicardi** is a Taiwanese American writer exploring beauty, care, and crisis. They’ve written for _Allure_, _Teen Vogue_, and the _Cut_; run the scent collective Perfumed Pages; and founded the Museum of Nails Foundation. They split their time between Los Angeles, California, and New York City.