Everyone Wants Better Aura Points—But What Does That Actually Mean?
From “main character energy” to aura-maxxing, the internet’s latest obsession has moved beyond aesthetics and into everyday routines. Actress Chandler Kinney breaks down why protecting your peace has become the ultimate status symbol.
There was a time when having “aura” simply meant having it. You walked into a room and shifted the temperature. You wore something everyone else was too scared to wear. You knew when to leave the party.
Then the internet gave it a point system.
Trip over your own shoe? Minus 500 aura points. Double text? Devastating. Leave the function before it gets weird, outfit intact and dignity preserved? Aura restored.
And now, aura has officially entered the workplace.
Chandler Kinney has a new title: Chief Aura Officer.
Yes, that is a real job. Sort of.
The actress, who stars as Kimberly in Prime Video’s Legally Blonde prequel series Elle, was tapped as hello’s first-ever Chief Aura Officer, bringing the internet’s obsession with good energy into the decidedly less glamorous world of everyday self-care. Her assignment? Make the tiny things we already do feel a little more intentional — and a lot less mundane.
Suddenly, toothpaste has entered the aura economy.
But behind the playful title is a bigger question: When did we all become so concerned with protecting our energy?
Because aura-maxxing is bigger than an internet joke. Somewhere between “main character energy,” romanticizing your life and the collective decision that protecting your peace is non-negotiable, a generation raised online has started searching for ways to make everyday life feel good again.
For Kinney, that doesn’t require a total reinvention.
“I think aura reset really comes down to my daily micro rituals,” Kinney tells Galore. “You really can use those moments to recenter and cultivate good energy and protect your peace.”
Her first reset happens almost immediately after waking up.
“My first step when I’m out of bed is throwing on a good playlist and brushing my teeth,” she says. “It’s the first way that I kind of return to myself and feel human again after sleeping.”
hello whipped fluoride toothpaste is available in two delicious flavors, mellow mint dream and peppermint stick.
Kinney reaches for hello’s Mellow Mint Dream whipped toothpaste, which she describes as making her feel clean and refreshed while adding something sensory to an otherwise ordinary routine.
Beneath the whipped toothpaste, playlists and very-online terminology of “aura points,” though, she’s describing something increasingly recognizable in Gen Z culture: the ritualization of everyday life.
Open TikTok and the ordinary has become worthy of ceremony. We romanticize mornings. We curate shower routines. We make playlists for walks. We light candles to answer emails. We turn skincare into ritual and an iced coffee run into something worth looking forward to.
At its most cynical, it can look like another form of self-optimization — pressure to make your life prettier, healthier and somehow more productive.
But maybe romanticizing your life is less about convincing everyone else that your existence is beautiful and more about convincing yourself that it is worth paying attention to.
Kinney thinks the shift has something to do with how much information younger generations are processing at once.
“Now more than ever, we are living in such a fast-paced era,” she says. “Especially, I think I can speak for the Gen Z generation, there is such an oversaturation of content and stimuli, and the world can be very overwhelming.”
That overwhelm has created an interesting counterculture. The generation raised with infinite scrolling and perpetual access is increasingly obsessed with slowing things down.
Protect your peace. Romanticize your life. Go on the walk. Make your morning coffee cute. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb.
Or, in the language of the moment: get your aura back.
“For me and for many, many Gen Zers, I think what you’re seeing — this new wave of romanticizing your life and being intentional about finding positive moments and sprinkling a little bit of whimsy into your day — is more important than ever,” Kinney says. “Protecting your peace and your energy is key, especially when life is coming at you quick.”
There’s another reason Kinney feels particularly suited to the conversation.
She has entered the universe of one of pop culture’s original aura-maxxers: Elle Woods.
Long before TikTok taught us to calculate aura points, Elle understood the power of refusing to shrink yourself for people who had already decided who you were. Pink wasn’t an apology. Femininity wasn’t something she needed to abandon to be taken seriously.
Kinney grew up with that message.
“I have been a fan of Legally Blonde since I was a very young girl,” she says. “Seeing a woman who absolutely embraced her femininity and her confidence in the face of so much adversity and doubt was so inspiring to see as a young woman.”
Twenty-five years later, Kinney sees that message differently as femininity itself has expanded.
“Femininity has evolved and taken so many forms and expanded even in the last 25 years since the original movie came out,” she says. “I think it’s an ever-important message for people everywhere.”
Playing Kimberly in Elle has also reinforced something Kinney carries into her own life.
“For me personally, I think it has stood as an ultimate reminder to never doubt myself,” she says, “never let anybody’s opinion of me or perception of what I can or cannot do impact the way that I live my life.”
Which may ultimately be the least ironic definition of aura-maxxing.
The internet jokes about aura as social currency — something that can disappear after one embarrassing interaction and return after doing something cool. But real confidence is far less performative.
It’s built when nobody is watching.
And perhaps that’s why the mundane parts of self-care suddenly matter so much.
“I think the monotony of self-care can make people enjoy it less,” Kinney says. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be enjoying pouring into ourselves and investing in our own mental and physical and emotional health and well-being.”
Her solution is simple:
“Just finding little fun ways to elevate the vibe is the best way to do that.”
Because maybe the ultimate aura-maxxing move isn’t looking like you have everything figured out.
Maybe it’s knowing how to come back to yourself when you don’t.
