“Beauty is possible”—That’s the slogan for HEBE, the latest and greatest luxury skincare and wellness company. Sophia lands her dream job at the company and becomes deeply entrenched in its obsessive, self-absorbed culture. When founder and CEO Tree Whitestone asks Sophia to test a forthcoming product named youthjuice, she jumps at the chance. As Sophia becomes more absorbed in the HEBE lifestyle, her eyes open to the shadier sides of the business and she must ask herself what she’s willing to do for beauty. The story shines with a bold performance from narrator Suzy Jackson, who packs a punch with colleague frequent alliterations. Jackson embodies multiple characters; her range reaches from Tree’s elite, holier-than-thou attitude to Sophia’s roommate Dom, with the gravelly tone of a heavy smoker, to twittering young interns sounding fresh out of the Valley.
VERDICT A satirical look at the cultish nature of beauty and influencer mentality, Sathue’s debut deserves to be heard. Jackson’s narration pops and snaps the sharp dialogue and alliterative writing like bubblegum. Similarly disturbing tales about the dark side of the beauty industry are Ling Ling Huang’s Natural Beauty and Mona Awad’s Rouge.
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