Newspaper & magazine beauty geekery...
...have I told you I'm also a journalist and I write for a load of newspapers and magazines? Have a read of some of my recent work...
Last week I gave a shoutout to some other beauty writers on this platform, and I hope you’ve been enjoying their work as well. But I realised that some people who’ve found me through this platform might not know that I also write quite a lot of stuff for UK (mostly, although if you’re an editor not in the UK and you want to commission me, please do get in touch as I’ve also written, and been translated, for a number of other markets) newspapers and magazines.
I usually post my journalism work on my Instagram account but someone told me I need to start showing my face on there and use green screen to talk people through the feature — like I did for this feature on facial hair removal
and this one on making your blow dry last five days
And I’ve, predictably, failed to stay on top of things and have either only posted things on stories, or just not posted them at all. So I thought I’d share all the features that I’ve failed to get round to greenscreening on Insta.
Many of these are paywalled. Where the website allows me to, I’ve shared a gift link that should allow you to read it, even if you’re not a subscriber. But I make no apologies for my features being paywalled. It’s literally how I get paid. I feel like there is probably a big think piece to be written about how, in the UK at least, the fact that the BBC website existed and always gave away free news meant that many newspapers and magazines didn’t paywall their work as early as they should have done and, as a result, I feel that UK readers — more so than in the US — expect to be able to read journalism for free.
It never made sense to me that the same feature that I’d written for the paper version of the newspaper, that someone had spent money to buy, would appear on the newspaper’s website where anyone could read it without paying. It just felt disrespectful to the readers who had paid. That’s now changed — or at least is changing — because the number of people actually paying for a physical newspaper is dwindling, so the physical newspapers can no longer subsidise the websites.
I have so much to say about the way in which newspaper websites work compared to how newspapers work — in terms of what they feed the audience, the different audiences they attract, and how the sort of features that are commissioned have changed as a result — but I’ll leave that for another time.
Here’s where (apart from here) you might have spotted my work over the last few months…
By the way, some email clients might chop this newsletter off in its prime, if so, do read it in the app, or click on the link that lets you see the entire thing.
The truth about health and microplastics
Women’s Health — May 2026
This was a really deep dive into the truth about microplastics and our bodies. I spoke to a lot of people at the cutting-edge of this ever-growing body of research to work out what was scare-mongering and what was reality. It’s easy to panic, but there’s not as much grounds to do so as many headlines might have you believe. Read it on Readly here.
Comparing Primark make-up to premium
The Sun — 14 May
This was a story that the minute I went to the press launch, I knew was an absolute shoe-in. Val Garland was hosting it — apparently because, entirely organically, she had talked on her Instagram about how much she loved Primark’s Pro… makeup and how it had earned its place in her kit. Budget products always make a good story. This wasn’t about doing down more expensive products, but genuinely seeing if lower-priced ones could compete. Find out here.
A very unusual type of permanent eyeliner
Daily Mail — 15 May
This was a brilliant story that a contact of me came to me with. A friend of hers had had the ashes of her dead dog added to the ink that she had used to create her semi-permanent eyeliner. Claire, the dog’s owner, agreed to talk to me and I wrote her story as a first person piece. This meant it had her byline on it, and a little line at the end that said “As told to Claire Coleman.” We call these “ghosted” pieces in the trade, and they’re increasingly common as newspapers and magazines want first person stories, rather than interviews — I think it’s because editors think they feel more relatable to readers. Read it here and let me know.
Gillian Anderson’s Cannes curls
The Times - 16 May
This was a fun one — an old-school beauty story, sparked by an A-list appearing on the red carpet with a new hairstyle. I was asked to write it by an editor friend who knew I was a naturally curly girl, and spoke to my long-time (curly-haired) hairdresser, Nadia Dean from John Frieda, and Caspar Finch from Hersheson’s, who I’d met at a press appointment earlier that week. Online here.
Arm depilation
Daily Mail — 11 June
Hair removal is clearly something that readers are really interested in at the moment because I’m being commissioned to write a lot about this sort of thing. It’s an area that is a bit frustrating to write about because I’ve been covering it for about 20 years and although IPL and laser treatments have improved, and got less expensive, over time, there’s not really anything brilliant and new on the horizon. If it’s something that bothers you, you can read it here.
The facelift renaissance
Daily Telegraph — 13 June
This was a really interesting piece to work on. It was about the idea that not only are facelifts on the up, but they’ve gone from being this guilty secret to something that women are happy to talk about. The two women that I spoke to for this piece had incredible results and well, never say never…! Have a look at their befores and afters here.
The rise of pricey toothpastes
The Times — 13 June
This was pegged on the launch of a new dental range in the UK and I think it’s a really intriguing part of the wellness boom that people seem open to the idea that toothpaste is something people are prepared to spend money on. Obviously there have been pricey toothpastes around for a while, but it’s the fact that there are so many more of them out there these days. Take a look here.
The Best After Suns
The Sun — 27 June
Oooft, when I was asked to do this, I was a bit wary. I mean obviously my whole thing is about not getting sunburn and so talking about what product people should use after getting burnt felt a little bit off message. But, once I cleared with the commissioning editor that I could talk about prevention being better than cure, I went ahead and wrote it. Sorry don’t think this one’s online…
Keeley Hawes — I’ll have what she’s having
Telegraph Online — 1 July
The headline on this was not what I intended it to be when I pitched the story. The fact that Allergan, the people behind Botox and a number of other aesthetic products, have signed up Keeley Hawes as a spokesperson was interesting enough in itself, but — as mentioned above — newspapers are really going for that first person thing at the moment and honestly, she looked amazing and I wanted to try what she had so that’s kind of what I pitched. But I couldn’t ignore what really happened, and so wrote it into the story, and that became the headline. You can read it all here.
Tired eyes
Daily Mail — 9 July
This was a piece that was written ages ago and — as is often the case — when something isn’t time-sensitive, it often languishes on the back burner. Until — suddenly — it appears (with a timely, heatwave twist). Delighted to be able to interview my favourite aesthetic doctor, Wassim Taktouk, for this one. He’s so smart (and also hilarious on Instagram.) Anyway, the feature’s here.
The great anti-mosquito guide
The Times — 11 July
One of the things that I love the most about this job is getting stuck into something really niche for a day or two, speaking to the people who have dedicated their entire lives to it, and distilling their amazing knowledge into some practical advice for readers. This is one of those pieces, so if you want to know why you always get bitten and what really works to soothe a mozzie bite, it’s all here.
It’s mad, when people have asked me how work’s been going recently, I’ve said it’s been quiet, because really it’s felt that way. But putting this together, I realise that I’ve had at least 11 editorial pieces published in national newspapers and magazines in the last few months and, obviously, the lead time on these varies, so some were written months ago. But I guess it’s that freelance thing of feeling that unless you’re so busy and stressed you’ve barely got time to breathe, it feels “quiet”.
Anyway, let me know what you thought of this little round-up — good, bad, or indifferent. Until next time…