Being a successful beauty editor involves much more than giving new exfoliating skin care tools a spin and repurposing your bathroom as a personal beauty closet — there’s a lot of specialty knowledge, smart writing and trend spotting, too. And at Ed’s “Secrets of Being a Sought-After Beauty Editor” panel in NYC last month, he was able to nab the full how-to for these well-coiffed jobs.
You’ll need a solid roster of contacts
Beauty is a small niche of an already tiny industry, so having that editor who will vouch for you when coveted positions open is everything. “If you don’t have a connection you have to make one, says Carly Cardellino, online beauty and fashion editor of Cosmopolitan.com. “If you have connections you have to water them so they grow.”
Your network extends outside of your future boss. Establishing relationships with hair stylists, makeup artists and beauty public relations professionals is also necessary in getting the beauty scoop. “You’re seeing PR people and makeup artists constantly,” says Alessandra Foresto, associate beauty editor at O, The Oprah Magazine. “If you’re friendly with them and send them an email, it kind of helps a little more. You want to get those products and get that exclusive before everyone else.”
There’s a lot of out-of-office work
The beauty department acts as a separate limb and functions differently. That means spending a lot of time away from the desk in order to get info suited for your readers. “It’s important for us to attend events hosted by the brands where experts (makeup artists, hairstylist, and research and development scientists) introduce us to the products and answer all our questions,” says Foresto. “It’s how we find the best products to feature in stories and show our readers.”
Unlike NARS’ hottest new palettes, it’s better to keep things simple
Like any section of a magazine, there’s jargon specific to the beauty department, deskside (when a product representative presents it at your desk, rather than at an event), being one of them. However, it’s equally important to stay away from “beauty speak” when you’re writing for your readers. “Every magazine I’ve ever worked for has had a list of banned words,” says Alyssa Kolsky Hertzig, beauty director at Shape. “There are also words that a lot of beauty sections try not to use now — words that you would never say in really life like “tresses,” “manes,” and “pout.”
“The best heds, deks and copy are exactly the way that you speak,” adds Elaine Welteroth, Teen Vogue’s Beauty & Health Director. “Blogs do that and we’re sort of following that trend more.”
You should have a penchant for seeking out new trends
Look for ingredients, packaging and other aspects that impact a product’s effectiveness. “We don’t want to keep going to events and seeing the same thing,” says Cardellino. “It’s kind of on [the brands] and on us to ultimately turn it into something really awesome. The innovation [of a product] really helps us come up with cool ways to push it.”
The most obvious perk of the gig is free beauty products. But how does one manage all that stuff? “I try things that come in and they somehow speak to me,” says Hertzig. “We don’t test everything. It’s kind of just the ones that jump out at you. “
“I try and test as much as possible at work, like fragrances and makeup,” says Sophia Panych, associate editor at Allure. “So my beauty routine in the morning isn’t totally changed up every day.”
