If you’re interested, check out the InStyle team’s Twitter updates for all the latest goss.

Beauty writers generally get a pretty bad rap-the stereotypical Beauty Editor being the wispy blonde who earns a living writing fluff about lip gloss in between attending product launches, getting a spray tan, visiting her manicurist etc. BUT speak to any successful beauty writer (or read an interview with one) and you will no doubt discover that it is in fact a fairly difficult role! After all, there are only so many ways of writing about moisturiser that spring to mind before you’ll end up pulling your hair out.

Check out the following excerpts from an interview with freelance beauty editor Katrina Lawrence, who has previously worked at Madison magazine.

Sarah Ayoub: A lot of people dismiss beauty writing as airy-fairy, but there’s obviously a lot of work involved in testing a whole load of product, looking at new research, writing about it in an accessible form for varied audiences (because obviously everyone has different skin tones, hair types etc) – and continuing to do so in an engaging manner. This is obviously a challenge that means beauty writing is just a credible journalistic path to take as traditional news or feature writing. What do you say to this?

Katrina Lawrence: You know, I never call myself a beauty journalist, I prefer to say writer. Because it’s definitely not pure journalism. You’re constantly doing a balancing act between giving practical advice, considering commercial concerns, and wrapping it all up in a fun or pretty package. I actually used to want to be a political journalist (can you believe). And I admit, sometimes the limitations in beauty writing frustrate me. But 99% of the time, I simply enjoy it. And if you can find any job that does that for you, you’re lucky. And, as you said, there’s a lot more to beauty writing than just writing. The testing is fun (of course!). Getting your head around the ever-changing technology of it all is a good challenge. And if you enjoy the business side of beauty, it can be very interesting to meet these amazing marketing and R&D minds working at the big beauty companies.

Thanks to the amazing Sarah Ayoub over at Wordsmith Lane for this excerpt, click on the link to see the full interview (and check out the rest of Sarah’s amazing site).

What do you think? Is beauty writing legit as a form of journalism or does it deserve its bad rep?

* Images thanks to beautydirectory.com.au

As I mentioned in my last post, one of my blog addictions is Girl With a Satchel  which was started by the former Deputy Editor of Girlfriend Magazine, Erica Bartle. 

Erica Bartle

Bartle’s site, which gets up to 10,000 hits per day, covers magazines, media and pop culture and is something of a cult hit amongst magazine lovers and staffers. 

Mia Freedman

Legendary ex Cosmo editor Mia Freedman (legendary because at just 24 years old, she was the youngest person ever to be appointed editor of Cosmo- in the world) is another ex mag staffer who has amassed a bit of a cult following online, thanks to her blog Mamamia. In addition to her weekly column in Sunday Life magazine, Freedman writes about the media, celebrities, fashion, relationships, current affairs, body image and more at Mamamia, which you can peruse here 

Sarah Wilson

Another figure who has left the land of magazines to carve out a career in the land of blogging is Sarah Wilson, who followed Freedman’s footsteps and was also an Editor of Cosmopolitan magazine. Wilson left her post at Cosmo in 2007 and, also like Freedman, started her very own column in Sunday Life magazine. She has recently launched her blog.  

Zoe Foster

Zoe Foster, who was formerly Beauty Editor at Cosmo before taking the Beauty Editor post at Harper’s Bazaar, has also launched a very successful site of her own since branching out from magazines. Her site, Primped is taglined ‘The go-to for the how-to in beauty’ and is well worth a look if you have any interest in all things lip-gloss, primers and the like.

In the US last week, the Federal Trade Commission caught bloggers across the land unawares when it announced new Web guidelines stipulating that all bloggers are now legally required to disclose all payments or free products they receive in exchange for mentions and reviews. The new rules will be effective from December 1- and bloggers who don’t comply will be facing fines of up to $11k.

The FTC says:

The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.

Check out the press release here

It’s all very interesting, considering that magazines have been filling their pages with these kind of endorsements since before the word ‘blog’ was even part of the pop lexicon, yet the FTC has not announced any similar regulations applicable to magazines and newspapers. Especially at the moment, when most mag sales reps are struggling to fill their ad pages and relying on A LOT of ‘added value’ in the form of reviews, product mentions and even conveniently skewed feature articles. Although most editors do have an ethical standard to which they adhere, placing an ‘Advertorial’ or ‘promotion’ badge on lengthy advertorial pieces, this is not the case in many instances- especially beauty pages. Double standards much?

Aussie blogger extraordinaire and ex Deputy Editor of Girlfriend magazine, Erica Bartle, sums it nicely I think: Indeed, are magazines the pretty teacher’s pets who can do no wrong, while bloggers court the derision of the headmaster? For the rest of Bartle’s analysis, head to her amazing blog , Girl With A Satchel (one of my personal faves!)

For more on this issue, read min online’s take here

Bloggers and blog enthusiasts alike, keep your eyes and ears peeled for updated on whether the powers-that-be Down Under are planning to follow suit…

Ordinary Magazine has been started up by some friends of friends of mine- you can check it out here.

I could describe it myself but I choose to leave it up to the clever people behind the mag- here’s what they say:

Ordinary was born when a bunch of us sat about one evening talking about publications that we liked. Or at least didn’t hate. And we came up with…well, not many. Perhaps it was a frustration with the blandness the printed material lining the recycling bins of our city, or perhaps it was just the scotch, but we thought – fuck it – let’s start our own magazine! But wait – we have no money. Wait again – let’s make it an online magazine! (It turns out they’re not that cheap either, but we found that out too late.) Ordinary can be described by what it is not. We are not interested in the beautiful people/alienoids, musical ensembles that move units or breathless advertorials. We are instead curious about the stories of ordinary people: why they go to work in the morning, the choices they make, the pickles they get themselves into, and sometimes out of, and how they cope with the trivial and the everyday. Ordinary will appear on your screens, monthly* as a package of six stories. Perhaps it will be based around a theme, or perhaps it won’t. We haven’t decided yet.

As the above suggests, Ordinary Magazine is a little left-of-centre and this is what makes it great- the journalists behind the mag dare to step outside the usual boundaries of feature writing and the result is an irreverent mix of humour and juicy profiles of ordinary (and not-so-ordinary) folk.

This issue features a profile of a man who dresses up as a Ninja, a story about a pair of underpants (seriously) and a squiz at Opera Australia’s hidden supply of stage props. Seriously entertaining…

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Next up, anyone who appreciates original design and gorgeous, whimsical illustrations need to jump onto Papier Mache magazine, which you can find hiding here My boss got me onto this one and even the contents page is adorable- see?

Papier Mache is a bi-annual magazine that is supposed to be for kids but I think big kids will love it just as much! Check out the fashion page too:

I like that it actually feels like a digital magazine rather than a website, because you scroll across to the right to view each page and its kinda like turning the pages. You can subscribe for free by clicking here (and no I’m not friends with the makers of this one!)

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Another online mag I’ve recently become a fan of is Tangent magazine, which lives here It was started up by a French photographer called Emmanuel who does some shoots for the magazine I work at, along with his business partner Heather.

Photography and fashion enthusiasts will love the out-there fashion editorials!

Gourmet and Modern Bride are two of the four titles that will be no more

Observers over at the New York Times have noted that the closure of Gourmet, a hugely popular cooking mag, whilst sticking with fod mag Bon Appetit signals a choice by the bigwigs at Conde Nast to align more closely with middle class readers in favour of the elite. A sign of the times perhaps?

Harpers Bazaar November 09

Covergirl: Jennifer Hawkins

Cleo October 09

Covergirl: Scarlett Johansson

Dolly October 09

Covergirl: Miranda Kerr

marie claire November 09

Covergirl: Reese Witherspoon

Jennifer looking like a power lady for Harpers, Scarlett looking super sultry for the relaunch issue of Cleo, Miranda looking naughty but nice for Dolly and Reese sweet as cupcakes for marie claire… I’m a fan of the Cleo cover myself, but that might just be because it’s a big jump from the covers Cleo normally trot out- and something different is always exciting, right?

What do you think- which one would make you fork out your pennies at the newsagent?

Reading the recently released magazine circulation figures for the second quarter of 2009, I was interested to see that niche fashion mag Russh posted the second-largest circulation gain; up 29.33% on the same period in 2008. It also made me smile because it’s one of my fave mags. Give me a stack of Russh’s pretty pages, cool layouts, arty shoots and profiles of people who are actually interesting and not just the latest star being pimped out by their PR to promote the latest perfume ANY DAY!

And so after hearing about Russh’s impressive leaps and bounds towards the cash register in newsagents across the country, I started theorising about how finally the rest of the world must have stopped wasting their pennies on trashy tomes like OK!, Famous, New Idea etc etc and decided  to start investing in the ‘good mags’. But alas, this happy theory was shot down when I checked out the rest of the figures and discovered that, inconveniently for me, Famous had come in just behind Russh with a 20.05% rise in sales.

As we all know, Famous is a celeb gossip weekly. So my initial theory about people moving away from celeb-based mags in favour of publications that may have some more individuality and substance didn’t hold up, but I thought I’d still take a look at why Russh is drawing in so many loyal readers of late.

First, here are some pretty pics courtesy of recent Russh shoots…

The July issue has the coverline “you’re beautiful just the way you are…” The July issue has the coverline “you’re beautiful just the way you are…” and doesn’t this just make you want to pick up the magazine and give it a little hug? Inside the covers, the editors have managed to strike a fine balance between this earthy, warm tone and a quirkier, high fashion aesthetic. I have to admit that the beautiful photography and layouts are the main reason I picked up Russh, but after a bit of a read it’s clear that your eyes aren’t the only guest invited to the Russh party- your mind will also be pleasantly inspired too. The articles are in-depth and fluff-free. The content is almost exclusively fashion and arts-based, with profiles of designers Isabel Marant and Marc Jacobs, models Riley Keough and Katie Fogarty and artists Jane McLeish-Kelsey and Richard Prince all wonderfully inspiring.
The fashion is a mix of moody, artsy outdoors shots where the clothes take a bit of a backseat to the beauty of the models and picturesque landscapes. Both shoots have a bit of a dark edge, as seen by the titles ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ and ‘Sorry, No One’s Home’.  These are complemented by more accessible flatlay stories providing a take on the big trends of the moment, such as nudes and khaki, for the slightly left-of-centre girl.

FYI: It boasts a fairly healthy ad page count of 30 out of 146 pages, or roughly 25% of the book. Looks like the advertisers were onto it before we were!

In particular, the film examines the relationship between legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour and her lesser known (but rather more amusing in my opinion) Creative Director, Grace Coddington.

Anna Wintour is rarely seen in public minus her trademark shades

 The cinema was packed out for the session I attended and the audience was chuckling thoughout.

I have to say, Anna was definitely not the ice queen I expected her to be- she actually smiles- repeatedly! And the interviewer certainly uncovered a vulnerable side to this sartorial queen when Wintour admits that despite her immense success, her siblings appear to be merely “amused” by her career. We also catch a flicker of disappointment or even hurt when Anna JR, aka her daughter, Bee, tells us she doesn’t want to go into fashion because it’s such a “weird” world.

 I thought that Grace Coddington’s character really made the movie, her stubborn refusal to part with her romantic ideals really endearing her to the audience. Her daily uniform of baggy black dress and daggy sandals appear to be almost an anti-fashion statement, and I love that Coddington’s passion from her work has nothing to do with the glamour or  the ‘cool’ factor and everything to do with fashion as artistic expression. Her hilarious asides to Anna’s steely directions were particularly fun to watch.

Grace Coddington (right) provides a stark contrast to Wintour's studied sophistication

One of the main messages in the film seemed to be a defence of what many see as the superficiality and downright weirdness of the fashion world. In the opening scenes we see Anna defending her world against those who mock it. She tells us that those who deride the world of fashion are really just ‘insecure’ and jealous of the ‘cool group’ (presumably her). However a more convincing case is presented by Grace, who does laugh at this world she has found herself in (almost by accident) yet tells us that she stays put because, as a self-confessed romantic, her passion for creating beautiful pictures is burning as brightly as ever. 

The movie also got me thinking about magazine editors as the new celebrities. The September Issue is one more example of the current mass movement of editors out of their shiny offices and into the media spotlight. Prominent editors are writing books, penning blogs and columns, Tweeting away and appearing on TV shows. It’s a wonder they manage to get their mags out each month in between all this publicity! To name but a few examples, Nina Garcia of US Marie Claire is a judge on fashion series Project Runway, Jackie Frank of Australian Marie Claire appeared as a judge on model-search series Make Me A Supermodel, and the Editor of Australian Vogue, Kirstie Clements, also took part in Make Me a Supermodel.

Nina Garcia with one of her books

Jackie Frank on the set of Make Me a Supermodel

Kirstie Clements schoozing at a recent YSL launch

The September Issue touches on the way celebrities usurped the supermodel as the face of magazines in the nineties (Coddington vehemently opposed this shift) and now it looks like the editors are getting their own back, becoming bona fide celebrities themselves. With ad pages down across most publications, publishers seem to be nudging their editors to assist in building their brands, with editors such as Frank and Clements effectively emerging as brands in their own rights.

What’s next- editors to front their own mags a la Oprah magazine?

If  you have read any of the recent discourse on Gen Y as dispersed by Gen X-ers or Baby Boomers, you may have gathered that apparently we are all tech-obsessed, self-entitled citizens with miniscule attention spans and bad grammar. Not a very rosy picture, right? Although on the bright side, apparently we do have a great social conscience.
So, who is spreading these rumours about us and how do we stop them? We can start by pointing the finger at generational gurus like Anne Loehr, a 44-year-old ‘generational expert’ (and Gen Xer I might add) who holds seminars teaching Boomers and Gen Xers how to relate to the mysterious Gen Y. 

I read an interesting article in the Washington Post the other day which outlined Loehr’s seminars, which teach interested executives all about the ‘characteristics’ of Gen Y. She explains to her clients that “Gen Y will not buy Nike — that big, ugly globalized company.” We also apparently spent our childhoods “being shuttled to soccer at 9, and the play at 12. You know, the nanny took them.” Hmmm, doesn’t sound too familiar to me!
On the upside, Loehr definitely makes an effort to refrain from judging or critiquing Gen Y, balancing all of her conclusions with comments that remove us from blame despite our unappealing characteristics: “In my rule, there’s no fault.”  But I think  that stance is a little false- stating that a party might be at ‘fault’ for bringing something about (in this case, the characteristics of myself and my peers) is quite clearly suggesting that thing is a bad thing! 

All I can say is, it’s about time we Gen Y-ers started standing up for ourselves! A recent article entitled The Pointless War on Gen Y in New Matilda is a good start!