Newsroom: Hallie Gould of Byrdie and Lauren Valenti of InStyle: Kitten Fur Fragrances, The Return of Spray Tanning, CoverGirl’s Gen X Pivot, and More

Jessica Matlin (0:06)

Hey, everyone, welcome to Fat Mascara, a very special newsroom. I am so happy that I am able to cram two of my favorite editors into the virtual studio.

Okay. I have the wonderful Hallie Gould, editor-in-chief of Byrdie, and Lauren Valenti, beauty director of InStyle, in my newsroom here, okay? Lauren Valenti, by the way, welcome back. She's just back from returning leave, so, so happy that she was able to make some time. And congratulations, Lauren. So, we're gonna be talking about the headlines of the moment. The two of them are producing stories every single day at a speed that, I don't know, it's kind of superhuman. We're gonna be talking about the return of the spray tan. We're gonna be talking about goddess makeup. We're gonna be talking about plastic-free beauty that is hitting Sephora with much fanfare. I don't want to give it all away. Oh my God, and CoverGirl, that's one of my favorite stories here. I'm giving it all away too much. But honestly, it is so good to have... One of my favorite things about working in editorial is having smart, cool people to talk about the news of the day with. I'd love to roll back my chair and just have a little bit of like a kiki with other editors. And this is what we're doing in real time right now, or sort of real time as you're listening to this, with two of the coolest girls in editorial. So have a listen, let me know what you think. Send me a message, send me a DM, send me an email, Jess at Fat Mascara. Let me know what you think and welcome to the studio, Hallie and Lauren.

Hi, Hallie, hi, Lauren.

Hallie Gould (1:51)

Hi, we're so excited to be here.

Jessica Matlin (1:54)

I'm so lucky to have you guys. Okay, good, Hallie's hydrated.

Hallie Gould (1:58)

She has a tremendous- As I was doing it, I was like, stop drinking the water on camera. No, you can't.

Lauren Valenti (2:04)

At least you have a respectable vessel because mine is literally this tumbler from Rainforest Cafe. That's fancy.

Jessica Matlin (2:13)

Is that old or new? Is it vintage?

Lauren Valenti (2:16)

It's actually from my bachelorette party that Hallie helped plan in Atlantic City and we went to Rainforest Cafe one day.

Jessica Matlin (2:25)

So we are here today. I'm so glad we have a packed newsroom. I want to pack these newsrooms with as many editors as I can. I think three is probably the limit in my virtual studio, at least for now. I'll talk to my producer about that after. But I wanted to talk to you about some of the headlines. I know you guys, I don't even know how many stories you've put out a day, but you're seeing it all. And we're going to chat through what is coming through your virtual desk right now.

I mean, I know Hallie, you've just been inundated the past couple of weeks that I've spoken to you. It's been all about awards, awards, awards.

Hallie Gould (3:03)

Yes, yeah. We just launched last week our beauty awards, The Byrdies. It's our annual beauty award. So a ton of work goes into it. It's like giving birth when they finally come out. But yeah, we're excited. It's seven categories that spans skin, hair, makeup, body, fragrance, which is a huge category for us right now, as well as under 35

Jessica Matlin (3:26)

Okay.

There is a little bit of brands. Every brand has their, every magazine brand title, whatever. They do their awards. Everyone has a system. I did awards 18 billion years ago at Allure. People have talked about how the Allure awards get done, how to InStyle awards get done. Everyone has their own system.

Give me in a nutshell, what are the Byrdie awards? Are you actually sniffing things? You're actually testing things on your arm?

I think I would be remiss if I didn't say people are like, are the awards real?

Hallie Gould (3:56)

Totally.

Jessica Matlin (3:57)

What's going on?

Hallie Gould (3:58)

Totally. So the Byrdies are actually pretty unique in that way. I know that it is traditional for every brand's annual awards to call in a bunch of products, charge for submissions and really work sort of within the confines of those parameters for us because we get so much all day, every day, every year, because we're already trying products and all of the new launches and already have those relationships with publicists and brands and things like that. We really do just nominate products that we love from the year.

Jessica Matlin (4:32)

So it's really organic.