Sabah Karimi, founder of VEXA Beauty
Six months of expert-led PR support
Beauty PR does not always need to begin with a product launch, a celebrity endorsement or a brand announcement. Sometimes the strongest opening is the person who understands the subject well enough to answer the question a journalist is already asking.
That was the approach behind our expert-led work with VEXA Beauty and beauty specialist Sabah Karimi. Fragrance advice, the cost of beauty routines, changing retail trends and everyday product questions offered several routes into consumer journalism. The point was not to make every article about VEXA Beauty. It was to make Sabah's relevant knowledge useful to publications with established audiences.
We provided six months of expert-led PR support. The wider historical Published Press archive records 13 distinct article URLs between July 2025 and May 2026, including MailOnline, The Sun, Retail Week, Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping and Glamour. Those dates describe the available archive, not a claim that all 13 articles appeared within one six-month campaign.
The client
VEXA Beauty was the client, with Sabah Karimi acting as the expert voice for the campaign. The value we could offer journalists lay in her knowledge of beauty, fragrance and consumer behaviour. A reporter working on perfume care needs a source who can make the subject understandable. A consumer editor looking at affordable treatments needs practical, realistic information. A retail journalist examining beauty-sector competition needs a perspective that relates to the question being investigated.
This matters because an expert-led campaign can introduce the same spokesperson to different readers without presenting exactly the same material every time. A fragrance feature, a money-saving article and a retail-industry story have different purposes. Their shared requirement is a person who can contribute something pertinent.
The objective
The aim was to increase VEXA Beauty's visibility through credible editorial opportunities built around Sabah's specialist knowledge, rather than paying for promotional space or expecting journalists to write about the business simply because it existed.
We wanted the campaign to be relevant to beauty readers and useful to journalists. In practice, that meant looking for subjects where expertise could help an article already taking shape: product longevity, shopping decisions, changing treatments, fragrances, seasonal beauty trends and the way consumers engage with the sector.
The PR strategy: lead with the question, not the brand
An effective expert comment answers the journalist's question first. The source's name and credentials are important, but they are not the story on their own.
For VEXA Beauty, fragrance gave us a particularly useful subject. People routinely ask whether perfumes expire, how to make a scent last and which fragrances suit changing preferences. These are natural features for beauty publications because they give readers advice they can use. A specialist can explain what to consider without having to turn the article into a sales pitch.
Consumer spending supplied a second group of opportunities. Editors often cover affordability, everyday beauty habits and the value of particular products or treatments. There is a substantial difference between an advert saying a product is worth buying and an expert helping readers understand an option or avoid a mistake.
A third route was wider industry and trend commentary. Specialist retail publications are interested in how beauty businesses and consumer habits are evolving; lifestyle titles tend to approach the same broad sector through what readers wear, buy and try. The campaign could address both, provided the contribution matched the article.
Fragrance expertise in Marie Claire and Good Housekeeping
Marie Claire published an article examining how to tell whether a perfume has expired. That is a particularly good example of the sort of question that makes a specialist valuable. Readers are not necessarily searching for a new brand; they want to know what happens to a product they already own, what changes to look for and when it might be time to replace it.
The historic record connects Sabah to that Marie Claire feature. It is useful proof because the subject is specific and the publication is immediately recognisable to the intended audience.
Read the Marie Claire feature.
Good Housekeeping's archive includes articles concerning fragrance preferences and vintage scents. The February 2026 vintage-fragrance feature also appears in a Yahoo! UK version. Those are separate published URLs, but they concern the same underlying topic: they should not be mistaken for two entirely separate original story ideas.
Read the Good Housekeeping vintage-fragrance feature.
A further feature in London Daily News discussed ways to help a favourite scent last longer. The subject illustrates the same editorial principle, although that archive row was not ticked for the press-image gallery.
National consumer coverage: useful advice about the cost of beauty
The Sun's July 2025 article looked at affordable beauty tips, treatments and ways of reducing spending. For a consumer readership, the attraction was practical advice about looking after yourself without unnecessarily high costs.
That is a different route into the media from a fragrance feature. It is driven by the household budget rather than a product's shelf life, but a beauty specialist can still make a relevant contribution.
Read the recorded Sun article.
The wider archive also includes a later Sun article on beauty spending, alongside an Independent feature relevant to foundation and mature skin. These are useful examples of the breadth of consumer questions in which beauty knowledge can be relevant.
MailOnline also recorded coverage concerning Ellie Goulding's evolving appearance and style. Celebrity-focused reporting requires a different editorial approach from a how-to guide: the journalist is examining a familiar public figure, not seeking a general beauty tutorial. The record illustrates another type of story where a beauty source may be relevant, without implying that the celebrity endorsed the client.
Read the MailOnline feature.
Retail, beauty trends and different types of journalists
Retail Week covered Ulta Beauty's interest in the UK market. This is not the same assignment as advising a reader about perfume: the journalist is looking at a business development and its possible significance for the sector.
The record is valuable because it demonstrates why expert-led PR can extend beyond consumer tips. Where the spokesperson can genuinely address an industry question, their knowledge may also interest trade or business journalists.
Read the Retail Week analysis.
Other recorded examples range from Glamour's discussion of tanning while wearing fake tan to Living360's coverage of spring nail colours and art. These topics differ from each other, but each begins with an accessible question or trend that an appropriate beauty specialist can help explain.
Read the Glamour feature.
Read the Living360 feature.
What the campaign demonstrates
The recorded coverage shows a mix of mainstream consumer, women's lifestyle, retail and specialist beauty journalism. This is more useful than an unqualified claim of 'national exposure'. It tells a prospective client what types of questions generated editorial opportunities and why a professional's particular expertise mattered.
It is also important not to confuse the number of archived articles with the number of independently developed story ideas. Articles can be syndicated, publications can use slightly different names in the source records, and coverage can appear outside the contracted period. The complete historical table below is provided for transparency; the six-month engagement is stated separately.
The results
The historical Published Press archive contains 13 distinct recorded article URLs across publication labels including MailOnline, The Sun, The Independent, Retail Week, Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, Glamour, MarketingSherpa, Living360 and Yahoo! UK. Each entry in the table can be considered individually rather than relying on a single headline number.
The selected images following the table are screenshots of actual recorded coverage. They illustrate publication, not an endorsement by those outlets and not evidence of sales, leads or search rankings.
Published coverage results
| Date | Publication | Topic or article | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| MailOnline | Ellie Goulding's fashion transformation analysis | Read coverage | |
| The Sun | Affordable beauty tips and tricks | Read coverage | |
| Retail Week | Ulta Beauty expansion to the UK | Read coverage | |
| The Independent | Wearing foundation for people over 50 | Read coverage | |
| London Daily News | How to Make Your Fragrance Last Longer | Read coverage | |
| MarketingSherpa | Strategies for attracting customers to consultations | Read coverage | |
| Marie Claire | 5 Red Flags Your Perfume's Gone Off - Leading Expert's Sniff Tests That Say Bin It Now | Read coverage | |
| The Sun UK | Saving money on beauty treatments while looking glamorous | Read coverage | |
| Good Housekeeping | Fragrance types or examples of perfumes | Read coverage | |
| Good Housekeeping | These vintage fragrances still smell as good today – no wonder they're making a comeback | Read coverage | |
| Yahoo! UK | These vintage fragrances still smell as good today – no wonder they're making a comeback | Read coverage | |
| Living360 | Spring nail art and color trends | Read coverage | |
| Glamour | Can I tan with fake tan on? The experts weigh in | Read coverage |
Images from the coverage
The outcome
VEXA Beauty is an example of a campaign in which the expertise was more important to the journalist than the company announcement. A recognisable brand name alone cannot answer a reader's question. A relevant specialist can.
The broader lesson for beauty businesses is that there may be several editorial audiences for the same expertise. Fragrance care can work for a specialist beauty reader; money-saving advice can work for national consumer media; industry change can work for a retail publication. The work is in recognising those distinctions and making sure the contribution is genuinely useful.
The historical coverage demonstrates relevant editorial visibility. It does not establish an independently verified rise in sales or website traffic, and we do not present it as one.
Results at a glance
| Result | Details |
|---|---|
| Campaign | VEXA Beauty: expert-led PR |
| Duration | 6 months |
| Expert | Sabah Karimi |
| PR approach | Expert commentary answering relevant reader questions |
| Historical press records | 13 distinct; archive dated 6th July 2025 to 3rd May 2026 |
| Publication names | 12 |
| Selected press images | 9 chosen, 9 files ready, 0 files to source |
| Selected publications | MailOnline, The Sun, Retail Week, The Independent, London Daily News, MarketingSherpa, Marie Claire, The Sun UK |
| Expertise focus | Beauty, fragrance and consumer advice |
Frequently asked questions
Can a beauty brand secure press coverage without launching a new product?
Yes. This case shows how relevant beauty knowledge can support expert commentary on questions journalists are covering already, including fragrance care, consumer spending and trends. A product launch is only one possible route into editorial media.
What made Sabah Karimi suitable for different publications?
The subject and reader need determined the fit. Advice about perfumes was relevant to a beauty magazine; comments about affordability were relevant to consumer journalism; retail developments were relevant to a trade publication. The same generic quote would not have served every article.
Does every press mention need to be about the company itself?
No. Expert-led PR is often valuable precisely because the story is about the reader's question, not about the brand. The company receives an opportunity to be associated with useful, credible expertise where it is appropriately identified.
Can a campaign guarantee coverage in Marie Claire or national newspapers?
No. Editorial decisions are made by journalists and publications. The publications in this case are historical examples, not a list of titles we promise future clients.
Explore related services and examples
Read about our Beauty & Skincare PR approach.
See our Consumer Product Brands PR service.
Find out how we work with subject-matter experts.
Could your knowledge be useful to a journalist?
If you have genuine expertise that helps explain something readers care about, there may be more relevant story opportunities than a standard business announcement would suggest. Fair PR works with businesses and experts to identify those angles and introduce appropriate commentary to journalists.
