With a career background spanning over 15 years working as a beauty journalist on prestigious titles, it’s little wonder it may seem like Sigourney Cantelo is living the glamorous life. But now the founder of Beauticate is peeling back this ideal of polished perfection in a move to become more raw and real with her audience.
To do this, Cantelo is relaunching her YouTube channel, youtube.com/sigourneycantelo, and promising to give readers a much more personal glimpse into her home, office and family life. To find out more about Cantelo’s latest project, BEAUTYDIRECTORY chatted to the beauty journalist about the platform relaunch, getting honest with readers, and some of the lengths she’s gone to in order to deliver the ‘perfect’ image.
What is your reason behind relaunching your YouTube channel?
There are a variety of reasons. I saw it as a chance to offer something more, something different to our readers – giving them a glimpse into life in the Beauticate office, and indeed, life at a beauty and health website. Beauty editors lead a colourful, often fantastical life, and I’ve always thought it would be interesting to document that – the events, the products, the send-outs, the cupcakes and balloons… Snapchat has given us a taste, but 10 second grabs are never enough and they disappear after 24 hours. I’m still not sure how I feel about creating content that has an expiry date.
Video is becoming as ubiquitous as photography and I love how three-dimensional it feels – we can demonstrate things so much more easily and you do get a more generous slice of reality than a perfectly-styled Instagram shot. Of course things are still edited – it’s impossible to record life verbatim without boring the viewer, but you can tell more truthful and realistic stories.
The reason I branded it Sigourney Cantelo rather than Beauticate is because YouTube, as a platform, is much more about personalities and people than brands. It’s an intimate, confessional medium and it lends itself well to that kind of content. Running a business from home and with a second baby on the way, I wanted to show what that looks like, and that yes, it’s often messy, hard and complicated but it’s doable. As a working mum, you might not do either job perfectly but that’s okay. It also allows us to have another platform on which to work with brands in unique ways – both within beauty and across other verticals.
Why did you decide it was time to get honest with your audience?
I think we could all do with a bit more honesty in the media. With my own little girl on the way [Luella, born 4.30am Sunday, Feb 28], I found myself thinking about the pressures of social media and I think any move towards realism is positive. I’ve always tried to be honest and real in my writing, but video allows us to reveal aspects of life that even words can’t communicate.
Will you look to deliver a raw and real feel to all aspects of Beauticate - including the website and social media?
Beauticate will still be inspirational and aspirational. Our Instagram feed will still be beautiful and styled, none of that is changing. You need to tailor the content to the medium. YouTube just allows us to give a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create all that.
Why do you think it is important for influencers to be honest?
In this age of airbrushed perfection and styled, square-cropped photography, honesty is refreshing and relieving. Life’s hard enough without the pressure of trying to be perfect! We’re all just doing the best we can and when there’s an opportunity to express that, I believe it should be expressed.
How did you feel when the story about Essena O'Neill broke? Did you agree with her that influencers need to be more real?
I thought Essena was brave and I loved that she took a stance for something that is a real issue. I think it’s healthy that influencers are honest with their followers – particularly when those followers are impressionable young girls.
You've previously mentioned your husband is an Instagram husband. What are some of the craziest things you've got him to do?
Just the usual stuff – asking him to take 30 photos to only use one; or getting him to take them from above; moving us around to the right light source/background etc. He usually gets cranky after a minute or two so I have to pick my battles. Now [that] I want him to video things – it’s really going to get interesting!
What’s the most insane thing you’ve done to get a shot?
Damien and I got up early in Santorini and climbed onto someone’s roof to get the perfect ‘blue dome’ photo, which was pretty funny!
Are there any other social media traditions you're guilty of?
Totally! Styling food before we can eat it… Standing on chairs to get the perfect bird’s eye view… Shooting on slabs of marble, and sheets, and editing images. I love Instagram, it’s a lot of fun, but it shouldn’t rule our lives or be the only way in which we connect with our readers.
What are you hoping to achieve with your relaunched channel?
To offer something more to our readers and hopefully help or inspire them in some way. I’m also hoping it will spread the word of Beauticate and bring in a broader audience – we have such great content and access, video just adds another layer to that.
What sorts of stories will people be able to expect from it?
In addition to the content we create for Beauticate (we’ll still be doing beauty how-tos and our beauty interviews with celebrities), there will be baby, home and health hacks, behind-the-scenes in the Beauticate office, the latest beauty cupboard round ups and vlog style content from events, travel diaries and treatment reviews that will feed into our new GO-TOs Spa & Salon Directory.
