Welcome to The Powder Room by Anita Bhagwandas
Welcome to The Powder Room!
I’m a London-based award-winning journalist and author. You may recognise some of my work from my beauty columns in The Guardian, or writing for Vogue, Elle and Conde Nast Traveller.
I’m enthralled by beauty culture and standards because it’s what made me become a beauty editor; I wanted to be as close to the source as possible, having spent much of my childhood and adulthood feeling like I’d never fit in. I’m always been fascinated by beauty history, and how it shapes the way we view beauty today and all I ever wanted from the magazines I read as teen, and into adulthood, was somebody to give me the no BS advice and product I really wanted and needed. So, that’s much of what I cover in The Powder Room.
Where did my obsession with beauty start?
From the age of four I knew that I didn’t fit the mould of what was seen as pretty, or even averagely attractive as a plus sized, dark-skinned goth growing up in not-very-diverse Wales in the 1990s. And over time it eroded my self esteem, piece by piece.
Since then I have dedicated years and a fortune trying to ‘fit’ the mould of how society thought I should look. I’ve spent my career working on some of the world’s biggest magazines in the world only to be an outsider here too in this glossy world.
No matter what I did, how little I ate, how much makeup I wore and how much I obsessed over my appearance, I still didn’t feel attractive. Why? Well, because I now know that there are systems in place that are carefully designed to keep us in this state of perpetual dissatisfaction. Why? To sell us self loathing, and a tonne of crap we don’t need. How does it end? Rash decisions to have dangerous surgeries, dashed hopes from products that don’t work, feeling like we have to look a certain way to fit the beauty standard. That’s pretty grim, right?
That’s why I wanted to create a brand new space; the ultimate beauty magazine if you will. A place to explore beauty on our own terms, and to break through the conditioning we’ve been handed that tells us we’ll be ok if we just lose 10lbs, or have a facelift.
This Substack is where you will read my completely unfiltered columns, hot takes and unpopular opinions on beauty culture and no holds barred beauty product reviews. I’ll tell you what’s worth it, and what isn’t (eye cream is a farce, just FYI.) What’s more, this isn’t just a place for me to talk about beauty, it’s a place for YOU to. This is a beauty community designed to be empowering, and non judgemental - there’s enough shame sold to us by the beauty industry, so I won’t be adding to that by telling you to ditch beauty products entirely. But I will be there to guide you, as we help each other create our own rules around beauty, and reclaim it as a means of joy and self expression; rather than something that makes us loathe our appearance more and more.
The Powder Room is our new regular beauty column that slips into your inbox every Friday.
Think of it like the real talk you’d have at 2am in a club bathroom…no bullsh*t, no empty words, just the things that really matter. You’ll get direct access to me; I’ll read every comment, and write back when I can or have something to say, but most of all I think we all deserve a safe, respectful beauty space where everyone is welcome.
How does it work?
FREE SUBSCRIBERS
You will get:
Some access to The Powder Room community.
2ish posts a month direct to your inbox or the Substack app every Friday.
PAID SUBSCRIBERS £5 a month /£50 a year
This is for those who love the column, want to get a bit more involved, and who want to support independent journalism allowing me to keep this thing going. Along with my heartfelt gratitude, you‘ll also get:
4+ posts a month, one of which will be a something a little different- a more personal essay, something non-beauty related or or an insightful interview for example.
The Beauty Hotlist: This is my definitive round-up of the new beauty launches that are really worth your money. Bonus: it drops every pay day.
Complete access to The Powder Room community- commenting and chatting with me and the wider community.
Beauty Chat: I will from time to time throw a little get together where you can ask me anything beauty related and I will answer it!
First to know about IRL events and get togethers.
FOUNDING SUBSCRIBERS £150
ALL of the above PLUS a 30-minute Zoom call with me to discuss anything from your beauty routine (and if it’s working for you) to discussing how to write or even get into beauty journalism. Just sign up and drop me a line to arrange a time!
*If you can't afford to become a paid subscriber, don’t worry. You’ll always get the free bi-monthly newsletter, so in return please do like my posts, comment with your thoughts and send them to a friend you think would like them. Thank you!
I’ve reached a turning point in my personal journey to find self-acceptance in the last few years, and I wrote about that in UGLY: Giving Us Back Our Beauty Standards. One of those pivotal moments was uncovering where beauty standards originated; a history that’s conveniently hidden from us by the beauty and fashion industries, and ignored by the systems of oppression that profit from it - namely, capitalism, patriarchy and racism and many more. It’s also my story of growing up feeling far from the beauty standard, and how that affected my entire life; including unknowingly sending me down the career path to beauty journalism. If you’ve read it, let me know what you think…
But don’t just take my word for it:
‘Anita's deep dive into beauty, its history and the pressure to look "perfect" is essential reading' - Caroline Hirons
‘A bold, beautiful undertaking - this book unravels what we think we know about beauty, both in how we view ourselves and others. Anita’s thorough research, lived experience and brilliant prose makes it a must read for anyone struggling to find their place in the world.’ - Poorna Bell
"UGLY is provocative, powerful, and will challenge everything you thought you knew about beauty standards. I'm so grateful for Anita Bhagwandas's work." - Virginia Sole-Smith
UGLY is available at: Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles and excellent independent bookshops too like this one. And as an audiobook.
Outside of the UK, it’s available in places like: Amazon India , and Allen & Unwin in Australia.
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People
Anita Bhagwandas is an award-winning beauty journalist writing about beauty standards, culture and identity. She’s the author of UGLY: Why the world became beauty-obsessed, and how to break free (Blink)