From the editor
it’s 8.47am and I’m staring at my face in the mirror. My pores look big. There’s a light dappling of acne scarring across my cheeks, even after a rigorous course of isotretinoin. Ugh, the circles under my eyes are so dark! I look tired. My split ends are out of control.
Eight months ago, these things would have seen me lunging for a heavy slick of foundation, in a bid to plaster over what I saw as flaws (or certainly, I was sure, what other people would view as flaws). Instead, I cleanse, pop on a serum and plonk myself at my “desk” for the day.
A lot of things have changed for me during lockdown and my relationship with beauty is one of them. As the team and I met the challenge of putting a magazine to press from home, the professional strength I was able to find – even during moments of intense personal anxiety
– was beautiful. As I battled the lingering sense of claustrophobia many of us felt at our routines being restricted, my body’s ability to run was beautiful. And as I watched loved ones get ill, the health I was lucky enough to have was beautiful. Who needs blusher when you can marvel at the flush of blood pumping in your cheeks?
Beauty can be seen as frivolous and superficial, but this month Cosmopolitan is celebrating how totally and utterly false that notion is, with a bumper beauty special. Beauty is about selfexpression, it’s about experimentation and creativity, and it’s certainly about self-care. It’s about learning to love your natural hair (p24), memories stirred up by the nostalgic products of your past (p34) and the evocative power of a signature scent (p98). It’s about feeling good, whether that’s with a foundation that feels like it was made for you (p26) or with nothing but a smile and a dab of SPF (never skip the sun cream, folks).
Looking “polished” once felt like the ultimate way to communicate that
I had my sh*t together, even when I very much did not. Now? I’m learning that not having my sh*t together is kind of beautiful in its own way.