Meet Australia’s Beauty Blogger Extraordinaire Eleanor Pendleton
Eleanor Pendleton, the editor and publisher of Gritty Pretty. (Photo: Tommy Ton)
With our plethora of American blogs and never-ending product lines, it’s easy to forget about other countries’ contributions to the beauty world. But Eleanor Pendleton, the editor and publisher of Gritty Pretty—her award-winning Australian beauty blog-turned-digital magazine—is ensuring that doesn’t happen. The twenty-something beauty editor first realized her path during a Cosmopolitan Australia internship. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life,” she says.
It was in her teens that the former tomboy’s beauty obsession began when she won a Kaboodles lipgloss in a Girlfriend magazine competition. It only became more intense from there. “What excites me about skincare is the constant innovation and science behind it,” she says. “Because of the experts I interview for my articles, I’m now naturally well-versed in stem cells, malic acid and peptides. But what makes skincare really exciting is that there is always something new to be learned—brands are constantly finding ways to innovate or discovering new ingredients to utilize.”
An issue of Gritty Pretty. (Photo: Gritty Pretty)
To that end, Pendleton started Gritty Pretty in 2010, a time when fashion blogs were starting to take off Down Under, yet there was a dearth of beauty websites. The then FAMOUS magazine beauty editor saw a blog as “an outlet for me to talk about the beauty products and trends I didn’t have space for in my magazine pages.”
When Pendleton took on the role of beauty editor for InStyle Australia, she took a few years off from blogging, but last year she redesigned the website and simultaneously launched the country’s first online magazine dedicated to all things beauty. In just two digital quarterly issues, she’s scored Australian mega-model Laura Bingle Worthington (wife of actor Sam Worthington) for her cover—which crashed the website because of too much traffic—and won ReadyMag Online Magazine of the Year, four weeks after launching.
Part of her success, perhaps, is thanks to her “no BS” approach to covering an oftentimes very superficial subject. “As a person I believe in the notion: If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all. So if there’s a beauty product, brand or trend that won’t service the Gritty Pretty reader, then it doesn’t make the cut. I don’t believe in reporting negative reviews.”
At the same time, she keeps things somewhat light. “We try not to take Gritty Pretty too seriously,” she says. “Yes, retinol and alpha hydroxyl acids are freaking awesome for skin, but as women we just want to know what products work. With so much out there, we make beauty simple.” And fun. Since it’s online instead of on paper, the magazine features animated images and graphics. “We’re really pushing the boundaries in the upcoming issue,” she says.
Eleanor Pendleton, the editor and publisher of Gritty Pretty. (Photo: Adam Katz Sinding)
While the land of Oz and the US are polar opposites seasonally, Pendleton believes there are more similarities than differences. “Generally I think the US considers Australia to be a small blip on the radar, but our choice in beauty brands is extensive so we are happy to play around with new products,” she adds. Because of geography, skincare and sun protection are perhaps more on Aussies’ minds than they are Americans.
As Pendleton continues to innovate, bring on contributors, jet-set around the world to fashion weeks and grow her Gritty Pretty brand, it’s clear what she’s creating is relevant far beyond the borders of Australia. Says the editor, “A lipstick isn’t a cure for cancer, but it sure can boost one’s confidence and mood.” Spoken like a true beauty lover.
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