Reacting To Celebrity Beauty News

Glancing back over my most clicked-on stories this year I’m wowed by how celebrity beauty hooks are still so popular. Despite having a window into A-listers’ worlds via social media, people still want editorial takes on a famous face’s hairstyle transformation, or an evolution of their signature beauty look. Aesthetic details of the characters these people play are similarly well received – should a show/film/tour be trending. (Think: ‘We’ve discovered the exact make-up products worn by Jenna Ortega in ‘Wednesday’’, for example.) But then, our favourite screen characters are influencing style like never before, so that’s hardly surprising.

My focus when writing these stories is to not only to deliver the details but add value. I try to avoid summing up what others are saying about something – they can read Insta comments for that – but hopefully bring something new to the conversation: translate a trend, extract significance, enable simplified shopping, provide expertise.

The latter is generally where I need your help, by facilitating access to pros for commentary; insights from an industry insider is the next best thing to those from the actual subjects I’m writing about. Here, instead of ‘get the look’ e-blasts – which are sometimes useful, if received early in the day and with the potential of exclusivity – I prefer a simple offer of bespoke quotes with the promise of a quick turnaround.

Mostly though, it’s the other way round, and I approach PRs for these, generally working with a few key contacts I know I can rely on. So if you have talent in a position to do this, don’t hesitate to reach out. If I don’t bite your hand off, the chances are someone else would. You can tell the expert – and your clients – that their words will be well read. The stats don’t lie.