Women of Influence Series: Sigourney Cantelo, Beauticate

Each week across March we're celebrating amazing women who influence and inspire us. This week we sat down with Sigourney Cantelo, founder of Beauticate, to ask her what she is currently loving and what keeps her inspired.

Celebrating Sigourney Cantelo, founder of Beauticate

Sigourney has an impressive career having been in publishing for nearly two decades, working across Australia's leading fashion and lifestyle titles such as The Sunday Telegraph’s Body and Soul and VOGUE Magazine. She has won three prestigious Jasmine awards and six Star Beauty awards by Beauty Directory for her journalism skills.

Sigourney now works across her multi-platform beauty website Beauticate, devoted to the Who’s and How-To’s of beauty.

She's not only an award winning beauty journalist, she's one of Australia’s best known and highly regarded beauty and health experts and we are pretty chuffed to say she has recently joined our team of Beauty Foodies to road test our 30 Days Of Beauty Food.

We sat down with Sigourney to learn more!

What is your earliest beauty memory?

The scent of my mum’s scarves leaning in to kiss me goodnight as she headed out to a party. She would usually be wearing Joy by Jean Patou: bold and opulent it was all jasmine and rose blooms over a sticky base of musk and sandalwood. If I catch a whiff of it now: it’s a bit of a dichotomy, it's both the smell of glamour and sophistication but also warmth and homeliness.

Biggest career highlight/most memorable moment to date?

Dancing on a beach in Barbados with Rihanna for the launch of MAC Vivaglam was pretty awesome. She’s one very cool chick.

How did you start Beauticate and why?

I was working in magazines at the time and I really loved having a connection with my readers. I realised that I loved hearing from them and helping them. When I did reader events as beauty director it was really satisfying helping women navigate the overwhelm of the beauty world. I could see that creating a digital offering in the space would offer an immediacy and two-way exchange, so I set about creating a platform where I could help women every day. I love what I do. Getting DMs from readers saying that a video or an article we wrote gave them the confidence to try a new look, or buy a product that made life better in some way is the best part of my day. That relationship with our readers/followers drives everything we do.

When you need inspiration, where do you turn?

We often ask our readers what they’d like to see (it makes sense since they’re consuming the information!) I also listen to my team and I’m constantly being pitched ideas from all the wonderful PR genies I work with. I’m a big reader, which always helps with writing anything. And yes, social media. There are some incredibly creative makeup artists and content creators out there!

The simplest piece of beauty advice you can give every woman is...?

Protect your skin from the sun.

Favourite Beauty Food product?

Berry Bombshell Nut Butter – I eat it with a spoon for dessert.

Favourite thing about being a mum / the most challenging?

The cuddles in bed / the time of some of those cuddles (e.g. extreme earliness!)

How is the beauty industry changing at the moment, in your opinion?

The beauty industry is ever changing. There’s a constant thirst for innovation and newness. The swing towards organic and natural as well as zero waste and vegan alternatives will only continue as we seek to find high powered plant alternatives that don’t impact the earth.

Last book you read?

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton. But I’d also highly recommend The Honeybee which I finished prior to that.

Why should women learn more about collagen?

Collagen is a building block of our skin and as we age it degrades all over our bodies – not just our skin. I’ve found that when I supplement with a bioavailable source of collagen my hair is thicker, my nails are stronger and my skin is better. There are also reports that it helps with your joint health, exercise recovery, reduces cellulite and helps the body stay hydrated.