Totally Spies magnificence: the return of iconic devices

At least once in our lives, we’ve all dreamed of stealing a magical object or superpower from one of our favorite characters. When I was in middle school, my heart belonged to two different worlds: one moment I would have done anything for Thor’s hammer, the next I was dreaming of melting walls with Clover’s laser lipstick from the animated series Totally Spies. As for the first, I was never worthy like the son of Odin, but judging by the latest media frenzy in the social media beautyverse, I still have hope for the second. Recently, a particular video seems to have driven thousands of TikTok users wild. It was posted by Gaëlle Garcia Diaz (model, actress, and YouTuber), who launched her brand Martine Cosmetics in 2018. The content, uploaded to the brand’s page, starts by showing a tweet from a user complaining that “no one has ever created a makeup line based on gadgets from the animated series Totally Spies”. Gaëlle responds with “Chiche”, a French colloquialism meaning “challenge accepted”. After showing us the illustrations of the iconic spy gadgets, the surprise moment arrives: the founder holds the first prototype of the Powder-Phone (Cipria-Com) in her hands. Remember it? It was a crucial gadget for Sam, Alex, and Clover. Visually, it resembled a powder compact, but it functioned like a modern smartphone, allowing them to communicate with Jerry, analyze DNA samples, and project holograms. Now, we see the Martine Cosmetics logo on it, and maybe we’ll be able to use it ourselves very soon. Gaëlle’s project is a nostalgia-driven initiative aimed at fans of the 2000s series that combines the look of tech gadgets with the functionality of beauty products.

The McBling of Totally Spies: makeup and nostalgia

Why are we dreaming of a Totally Spies comeback right now? It’s no coincidence. 2026 marks the rise of the McBling aesthetic, which channels and sparks the collective imagination around the Beverly Hills lifestyle, the very home of the three protagonists. Glitter-encrusted flip phones, bright pink, and compulsive shopping: these are just a few recurring elements in the series. Yet the narrative genre Spy-Fi has many layers: the spies are the perfect blend of a futuristic mission (Y2K) and a mall afternoon (McBling). In short, it’s a universe where Charlie’s Angels shake hands with James Bond. What captivates us most is the theme of the “double life.” By day, Sam, Alex, and Clover deal with typical teenage issues (boys, shopping, rivalries), but a call from the WOOHP (World Organization of Human Protection) transforms them into secret agents. When Jerry, the founder and mentor of the organization, calls them for missions, we see the key elements that still make our hearts race: beauty gadgets. Each mission begins with the delivery of high-tech tools disguised as fashionable accessories. But which ones can we expect to see in our makeup collection besides the Powder-Phone?

• Laser lipstick: a timeless classic. It could cut glass, steel chains, or open holes in walls.
• Net-shooting mascara: a mascara tube that, once activated, fired an ultra-strong net to trap enemies.
• Explosive nail polish: could be applied or thrown to create small controlled explosions.
• Laser ring and receiver earrings: jewelry used for emergency communication or precision cutting.

Even Apple adopts this framing

Marketing campaigns by tech giant Apple are always meticulously designed and target a specific audience. Last week, an unusual video surprised users, sparking a question online: is Apple entering the beauty world? Spoiler: the answer is no, but here’s how it came about. With 53.4 million views (and counting), the company uploaded a TikTok featuring a tiny Apple-branded compact blush reminiscent of Elle Woods’ laptop in Legally Blonde 3. From candy pink to the embossed Apple logo, the blush looks real, even complete with a mirror. However, the brand has no makeup collection, this is a clever marketing move to launch the MacBook Neo, released on March 11 in four colors (including the “blush” shade). According to George Lakoff, a frame is a mental structure that shapes how we see the world. When a word (or image) is evoked, an entire system of related concepts is activated. This is how Apple applied these theories: by appropriating the language of beauty, it colonized a semantic area where attention is at an all-time high, turning a simple launch into a pop cultural event. The linguist argues that those who control language control the debate. Adopting the Y2K aesthetic and McBling activates a powerful nostalgic frame for Millennials, while appealing to the hyper-saturated aesthetic taste (dopamine-content) of Gen Z. In the comments, some users linked the iBlush to Jerry’s gadget arsenal in Totally Spies!, confirming the strong desire for a return to the spies’ universe and suggesting Diaz might be on the right track.