Moodboards with Anita Bhagwandas

~Moodboards~ giving you an insider-look at the online/offline cultural inspirations, saves and likes of our favourite agency collaborators, community & friends.

This week we spoke with Anita Bhagwandas, the award-winning beauty journalist, author, consultant and speaker. With a rich career in leading roles at Conde Nast Traveller, The Guardian, Glamour, Stylist and Marie Claire, Anita also authors the popular Substack newsletter: The Powder Room.

Marrying personal memoir with cultural analysis, her book: “UGLY: Giving Us Back Our Beauty Standards“, has gained widespread acclaim for its exploration of beauty norms.

So Anita, talk us through your Moodboard…

I’m a pretty early adopter with my substack – The Powder Room and love that it’s a space to write about beauty in a really honest and open way. It’s also been great being interviewed about it by BOF and others. ⤵

I’ve become obsessed with C beauty brands – they seem to do lots of very niche gothy palettes and ranges which is very much my jam. This is by Girl Cult. ⤵

This is one of the most useful things on my phone. It’s a feelings wheel. I’m neurodivergent and struggle with Alexithymia, which is a difficulty pinpointing exact emotions – I know I feel happy or sad, but identifying why or the feeling beyond good or bad can be tricky. This wheel really helps. ⤵

My mates got me a limited print by late photographer Tish Murtha, who never got the recognition she deserved in a very male dominated industry. I’m obsessed with reportage style pictures that capture the mood of a certain period of time, and her work is incredible. There’s also a documentary about her life on Channel 4. ⤵

I love this picture of my friends and at Viva Las Vegas rockabilly festival in April. We had so much fun – this picture takes me right back there. ⤵

I love this image from my book tour last year. It was taken at Latitude festival and was the last stop on a pretty gruelling 6 months of festivals, tv, radio, and events. you can see the relief on my face – I loved doing it but I really needed a break. ⤵

I’m a big metal fan and go to Download festival every year. This was taken this year, with my pal Charlotte, a health and wellness PR. I’ve been to stacks of festivals all over the world – Download is the best by far – despite the mud. ⤵

I saw Mavis Staples sing recently and thought she was magical and so vibrant at 84. She was involved in the civil rights movement and so inspirational. ⤵

The Elf X Liquid Death corpse paint collab is one of the best beauty campaigns/collabs I’ve seen in a long time. I had a LOT of fun with this…as you can see. I didn’t want to take it off! ⤵

I attended my first Hay festival this year, and everyone who took part got awarded a rose made out of book pages. ⤵

I’m excited to get the rest of this tattoo finished on my shoulder by my friend and tattooist Rebecca Vincent tattoo – it’s my 40th birthday gift! ⤵

www.anitabhagwandas.com

@itsmeanitab

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