Who are you?
Hi guys! I’m Rio Viera-Newton: your bestie esty, the author of Let’s Face It: Secrets of a Skincare Obsessive, and a beauty columnist for New York Magazine’s The Strategist.
What is Fun Little Treat?
Fun Little Treat is a newsletter where I review and spotlight the best beauty treatments and destinations all over the world, starting with Los Angeles, New York, and London.
Why’d you start Fun Little Treat?
Over the years, I’ve tried my best to help readers parse through the insanely oversaturated landscape of beauty and guide them towards skincare and makeup that makes sense for their budget, lifestyle, and skin type.
Given that I started my career with such an iconic shopping site, product recommendations are what people have come to expect when they see my byline. But recently, I was indulging in one of my gratuitous bath soaks (shriveling into a prune is how I personally deal with London winters), when my phone buzzed.
I reread the text a few times, then stared at the ceiling, convinced the hot stream was to blame for me drawing a blank. Surely it wasn’t possible that, in my six years of writing about beauty weekly, I’d not once covered facials? But not only was that true, as it turns out, I hadn’t written much about beauty treatments in general, beyond a quick mention in a product roundup.
This is especially absurd considering I’m someone whose ideal afternoon is spent getting micro-needling or completely transforming my hair color at the salon. And I’ve been this way since I was a child: I was so obsessed with makeover montages in teen movies, I used to put on The Princess Diaries just to watch the makeover scene, and then turn it off after the grand reveal.
As as I got older, this obsession manifested into a determination to find the people in the beauty industry who are the very best at what they do. Not the most expensive, or the most famous, but the best. And with Fun Little Treat, I’m hoping to share these findings and so much more with you.
So you’re never gonna share product recommendations?
Don’t be ridiculous, of course I will! That’s just not the main focus of this newsletter. I’ll be reviewing treatments or destinations every other week (I have to give myself time to actually get the treatments done, you know?), and inbetween, I’ll share smaller musings about beauty news or products.
