Sali Hughes (born 21 February 1975) is a Welsh journalist, writer and broadcaster. She is ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s resident beauty columnist.

Early life and education

Hughes was born on 21 February 1975 and grew up in

Blackwood, Caerphilly Blackwood ( cy, Coed Duon) is a town, community and an electoral ward on the Sirhowy River in the South Wales Valleys administered as part of Caerphilly County Borough. It is located within the historic county of Monmouthshire. The town hou ...

. Her father worked in politics for the Labour Party and her mother worked for a local education authority. She has three brothers, and attended

Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni is a Welsh-medium school situated in the village of Fleur-de-Lys in the Rhymney Valley. Cwm Rhymni was founded in 1981 with just over 150 pupils and has since grown to 1,684 pupils with 1,164 at the Gellihaf campus an ...

, a comprehensive school. She initially worked as an assistant to make-up artist Lynne Easton for two years while looking for work experience at magazines. This included working on photo shoots with

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

and

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...

, and television commercials.

Career

Journalism

Hughes's first job in journalism was as a staff writer for the men's lifestyle magazine '' Loaded'' in the mid-1990s. She then wrote features and opinion columns for various publications as a freelancer including ''

Grazia ''Grazia'' (; Italian for ''Grace'') is a weekly women's magazine that originated in Italy with international editions printed in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Colombia, France, Germany. Greece, Indonesia, I ...

'', ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'', ''

'', '' Glamour'', '' Stylist'', ''

Shortlist A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

'', and ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

''. Since January 2011, she has been ''The Guardian''s resident beauty columnist, featuring weekly in its Saturday magazine and online video tutorials. She also appears weekly on BBC Radio 5Live. Hughes presented an edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''

File on 4 ''File on 4'' is a current-affairs radio programme produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. First broadcast from Manchester in 1977, it is produced in Salford by the BBC's Radio Current Affairs department. It has won more than forty aw ...

'' in October 2020 about her experiences as a victim of abusive comments from internet trolls.

Writer

Hughes' first book, ''Pretty Honest'' was released on 25 September 2014. It was a beauty handbook and was published by the 4th Estate division of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

. Two years later she released her second book ''Pretty Iconic'' which was about influential beauty products. In 2019, Hughes' third book ''Our Rainbow Queen'' by

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

was released. It was about the fashion trends of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. Her fourth book, ''Everything is Washable and Other Life Lessons'', published by

Harper Collins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...

UK, was released in September 2022.

Personal life

Hughes married comedy writer

Daniel Maier Daniel Maier (born 1968, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England) is a comedy writer and performer for television, radio, print and the stage. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School of Newcastle upon Tyne. Between 2002 and 2012, he was part of the wri ...

in October 2017. They live in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

with her two sons from a previous marriage. In 2018, she co-founded Beauty Banks, a charity that provides those living in poverty with basic daily hygiene essentials and personal care items.

References

External links

4th Estate Publishers

RCW Literary Agency

Beauty Banks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Sali 1975 births Living people Cosmetics people The Guardian journalists People from Blackwood, Caerphilly Welsh journalists Welsh women journalists Welsh columnists Welsh women columnists Welsh non-fiction writers