The Powder Room by Anita Bhagwandas

Anita Bhagwandas is a beauty journalist and author (UGLY: Why the World Became Beauty-Obsessed) whose Substack, The Powder Room, treats fragrance as one lens on bigger questions, body image, gender and class, rather than a straight product beat. She was a two-time finalist at the 2026 Fragrance Foundation UK Jasmine Awards, in the Special Recognition category, for her fragrance journalism, so the industry recognises the work. The value here is a no-BS stance that interrogates a launch's marketing as much as its juice, from a writer with an explicit mission to reject the beauty industry's dissatisfaction-driven sales model. Best for readers who want smart cultural commentary around scent, not just a list of notes and a score.