How Donna Thinks The Beauty Industry Has Changed Over The Years

[0:02:38] BB: So, you mentioned, Donna, you're like, “Oh, how much it's changed.” So, what would you say are like the three top things you'd say in beauty that have changed?

[0:02:50] DF: I think for me, and this is obviously a post-COVID thing that has really changed is the input in the face-to-face real meetings, meeting people face-to-face. When I started, it was very much, I was going to launches, I was going on press strips, and I was making those relationships. So, when pictures were coming into my inbox, eventually when we did get email. I was noticing them because of the name of the PR or the publicist rather than the content. Does that make sense?

[0:03:26] BB: Yes.

[0:03:26] DF: So, I think that's one of the biggest, biggest change. Obviously, the other change is that there's just more information now. So, I am getting my inspiration, not just from my inbox. I'm getting it from social media and so many other touch points, so it's not just coming to me directly it's just the world around me is so much – I'm more in touch with everything. I'm not just relying on what's happening in my inbox.

I guess for beauty, specifically, and it was what I was talking about before. It's so much we're talking more about the feeling behind beauty and trends. It's not so much the official. It's not, I'm not looking for stories. This is a new red lipstick. I'm looking for stories that might be about who's worn it or the impact it may give to you.

[0:04:24] BB: The impact, like how you feel wearing the lipstick? What story comes from wearing that lipstick or that red lipstick particularly or whatever? Yes, yes.

[0:04:33] DF: Exactly.

[0:04:34] BB: Yes. And also, the age of beauty. Like I was talking to my best friend and her 11-year-old wants her Ulta gift card or Sephora gift card so she can get her skincare products. I'm like, “What? I wasn't even – it was just like not even in the realm of what you were thinking about at 11 or 10 or 9,” which just blows me away.

[0:04:57] DF: Yes, it's scary. I actually worked on the British version of Cosmo Girl, which was the teenage version of Cosmopolitan and this was back in the early 2000s, launched in 2001. I was very mindful back then because websites were just, magazines were kind of dying out and websites were just coming online, and more of these young girls were being known, the skincare trends and it had access to more of it.

I was mindful back then, but now it's a whole different ball game. And I just think brands and editors and publicists have got a real responsibility in how they are promoting these brands that girls clearly covet. I think there's a really good opportunity for an education piece there. Look, they're always going to go into Sephora. They're going to what it's – you can't take that craving away. I think as journalists, we can educate the teenagers and their parents about what they need. We can't pretend that it's not going to – that it’s going to go away.

[0:06:12] BB: Oh, I don't think it's going away. That is for dang sure. That is for dang sure. Okay, Donna, that was our little tangent on all things beauty for the people out there who love some beauty. I mean, I love a damn good lipstick.

[0:06:24] DF: Yes, that's what made me think about the red lips. I love it. I love it.

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