The biggest mistake new writers make in the world of beauty is sounding like they’re writing an ad.
Say you’re given one shampoo and you have to write about this shampoo. How are you going to make that different from the advertisement for that shampoo?
You’re not paid by this company. You are paid by your readership.
Your job is to be an editor. It’s the single biggest edit you’ll make in your career as a beauty writer.
If it’s a product that you absolutely hate but you have to write about it for the story, you have to acknowledge that maybe you hate it, but maybe there’s somebody who doesn’t. Maybe you have fine hair and somebody has long, thick, coarse hair. There’s always a way to let the reader know that an editor had her hands on this—that it didn’t come out of a factory; that it’s not all rainbows and unicorns.
“You have to speak truth to power,” says Danielle Pergament, “and the power, in this case, would be Procter and Gamble or Estée Lauder. You have to say, ‘This is the most amazing eye cream I’ve used all week, but at the same time, this one thing happened.’ Or, ‘I didn’t love the smell.’”
You have to be honest. It’s the most important thing you can be as a beauty writer.
