I listen to Sable Yong's podcast about fragrance, which is how I heard about her book. I did enjoy her writing, but it was in a slightly different tone than what I had expected based on her audio work. However, it was funny and clever.

A memoir from a beauty editor that balances being funny and serious. It’s about the social construct of beauty, a peek behind the beauty industry curtain, and everything in between.

I’ve worked on the social ad side of publishing since college, so a lot of this was familiar to me, but it was interesting getting the perspective from the writing side.

It’s funny and accessible, with hilarious chapter titles.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

Die Hot with a Vengeance was a great essay collection. It was an excellent read. I would read more from this author again.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A nice collection of essays about vanity and beauty culture/the beauty industry from an author who worked as a beauty editor in NYC for years. It was interesting to see her perspective on beauty since she had a backstage pass to all kinds of crazy and expensive products and treatments during her time as a beauty editor. I also read this while I was in NYC, so it was cool to feel like I was there in the same setting she was. Even if you are not someone who is super into beauty (I am also not really), just being online or living in our society as a woman, you are exposed to all of this content anyway so it was still quite relatable. If you like essays I would recommend!

Thank you to publisher for giving me access to an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I genuinely enjoyed this book! The combined essays give a heartfelt expression of what the beauty and wellness industries have become - from the perspective of a person paid to trial and error products and services from both. A few too many funny/ironic asides for my taste, but Sable's voice comes through strong as she weaved a narrative around her year's as a beauty editor. If she started a podcast, I would listen.

In this essay collection, Yong — beauty writer and former digital beauty editor of Allure — gives readers an inside look at the beauty industry, although not in a way they may be expecting. Yong peels back the curtain on trends and fads, sharing her own relationship with “beauty” to underscore how socially (and systemically) constructed our idea of beauty really is. I appreciated her emphasis on the individuality of beauty, how we should only do what feels right and authentic to ourselves, not what is advertised that week on social media. Bonus points for writing that is engaging, with a great sense of humor.

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.

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. Not bad, just not what I wanted or expected.

“I think everyone should try being blonde at least once, if for no reason just to notice how differently you’ve perceived by the world.”

DIE HOT WITH A VENGEANCE is a series of essays about the beauty industry by Sable Yong, former beauty editor at Allure. The capital-B Beauty industry is a fascinating series of contradictions - it tells you to embrace your womanhood, because you're worth it! But be sure you don’t look too old! Have fun with makeup but not TOO much fun! I’m just as susceptible to skincare trends, Sephora sales and drastic hair makeovers as the next girl, even while I understand that on a societal level, it’s all bullshit.

What I really loved about these essays is that Yong understands the nuances. She’s not writing a screed against Beauty - she too enjoys trying new products, dying her hair, and looking hot for various gazes. But she also fundamentally understands the inherent darkness of it all: the touting of whiteness, of youth, of pain, of capitalism, of a certain look as the Ideal…which can change at any time. (RIP my once-thick eyebrows.)

My favorite essay was probably “No Fun In the Fun House,” about how beauty culture has morphed in the age of social media. "Beauty is now for everyone, whether they want it to be or not. It can sometimes feel like terms and conditions you're forced to agree to just to participate in society now. And opting out of beauty can feel like more of a deliberate and fraught choice than opting in." SO TRUE.

How do we navigate this? Well, I did love Yong's reminder that Beauty is a choice. "Try shit out...and then a little while later, you might change your mind, and that's fine too. Vanity is a portal towards self-discovery; it’s a process that often requires coddling your deepest insecurities while indulging your fantasies.

And also:
“Sometimes patience is the best way to deal with flaws. Lots of times you’ll come to realize that what’s flawed was your perception.”

I could go on with a million more quotes I highlighted, but I've waxed poetic enough. Read the book if you're at all like me, an avid participant in Beauty who also hates it a little bit.

On paper this should have worked for me! I love a good essay collection that blends personal experience with cultural criticism, but I read the intro + first three essays and I didn't feel like any of it was really *saying* anything or connecting to anything larger. It was more rambling, recounting ideas I've already heard, and disclosing childhood experiences. The latter could be interesting but I don't feel that I really had a vested interest in the author that made me care unfortunately!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Navigating ever-changing beauty standards while trying to be content in your own body is exhausting. These essays unpack the various ways that beauty culture exists in conversation with capitalism, race, sex, class, and more. Sable Yong’s writing is accessible and zeitgeist-y, maintaining a lighthearted tone while dissecting the pervasiveness of Big Beauty with nuance and offering ways that we can interrogate our own relationship to beauty, on our own terms. Highly recommend!

I was hoping this would be a little more incisive, but there wasn't really anything here I hadn't read before.

this was interesting, i liked some of the essays and related to them but others fell a bit flat for me

I may be biased because I enjoy Sable Yong's work. I look forward to the new release of  her podcast "Smell Ya Later" and her Substack. Die Hot with a Vengeance was an enjoyable read with nuanced opinions on beauty. It was intensely relatable. Sable voice and sense of humor really shows through. I hope to see more from this author and voices like hers.

I loved these essays! Lots to unpack and something that everyone could relate to. As a woman who struggles with body image (don't we all) this really hit home.

I would recommend Die Hot with a Vengeance to fans of Jia Tolentino's essays and essay collections, Allure magazine, and dyeing your hair every few years to reflect your current state of mind. As a listener of Sable's podcast "Smell Ya Later," I was excited to read this book. The most compelling essays in this collection were the ones about her own beauty journey as a teenager to now, and the relationship between wellness, diet culture, and capitalism. Sometimes, the essays felt a little repetitive and I wasn't sure what the difference was between them. If you you like reading articles about peoples' personal relationships with beauty then this is the drawn-out version of this and I would recommend!

{more like 5000/5 ⭐}

Just when I was sure nothing could top Pixel Flesh by Ellen Atlanta 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.)

This was a little bit of a letdown, but I think I might have had too high of expectations. I was hoping this would be the Beauty equivalent of Emily Ratajkowski’s phenomenal “My Body”, but it fell short for me. The essays broached interesting topics, but failed to get past surface level observations that didn’t seem to bring anything new to the discussion. I was actually surprised by this, as I’ve followed Young on social media for some time and was expecting more developed thought with some of her musings.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

"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, lip fillers, and “non-invasive” facelifts, you’re simultaneously absorbing mantras about self-care, body positivity, empowerment, and loving yourself just as you are."

To quote America Ferrara, “It is literally impossible to be a woman.” Journalist and former Allure editor Sable Yong debuts a comical collection of essays about beauty, vanity, and growing up with social media. She delivers a witty, realistic depiction of what it’s like to grow up in today’s beauty culture and the impossible standards we must meet. With essay titles like, “I Know What You Did Last Sephora” and “What Glows Up Must Come Down”, you will be laughing just as much as you’re hugging your knees and crying in the shower about the fact that there’s a 2002 version of Bowling for Soup’s “1985”.

I would have enjoyed this title more as an audiobook but that's just my non-fiction preference. Fantastic debut for Yong!

Sable Yong is hilarious!

As my former colleague, I knew what to expect with Die Hot with a Vengeance (snark, hot takes, and witty descriptions), but I was pleasantly surprised when it was all that and so much more.

My favorite parts were, of course, the snippets of her previous job at a certain beauty magazine that I may or may not currently work at. Would 100% read more from Sable… always!

(Thank you, Dey Street Books and NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.)