American beauty expert, Lauren O’Connell, is the Beauty Editor for Cosmopolitan Middle East magazine and a science geek. Or geek chic as she likes to say. Lauren has a Bachelor of Science in bio-mechanical engineering, a Master of Science in nursing, and a memorable way with words. She combined her passions for beauty, wellness, and science to create skincare and makeup ingredients-focused content with a cosmic twist for her social media platforms and website, planetlauren.com.

Lauren frequently interviews celebrities and beauty brand founders, including Huda Kattan, Mario Dedivanovic, Jo Malone, and Charlotte Tilbury. She moderated the fireside chat at the Futr World summit in Abu Dhabi between Michael Ward, CEO of Harrods, and Kerem Atasoy, Vice President of Farfetch. She’s also hosted panels and events for Beautyworld Middle East, Cosmoprof, Cosmopolitan Middle East, The Retail Summit, and The Sustainable City Equestrian Show. 

After the success of Lauren’s Instagram Live series, Cosmic Chats with Lauren O’Connell, she’s in the process of launching her podcast, Planet Lauren, where she interviews influential people in the beauty, holistic health, and wellness industries about anything and everything under the sun. Forever on a journey of self-exploration, Lauren aims to uplift other women while figuring out how to navigate her own internal compass.

Lauren is a New York Film Academy certified broadcast journalist. In addition, she’s trained extensively as a TV and events presenter under the tutelage of Gareth Davies, creator of the Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars television programs. She’s guest starred on Dubai’s DXB Today news show and The Real Housewives of Dubai. She’s the author of her Manifest Like Lauren e-book, where she shares her tips and tricks to manifesting her dream life. Lauren’s also a social media influencer with over 70,000 followers and is currently developing her own beauty brand.

Lauren lives in Dubai with her husband, two children, and labradoodle puppy, Teddy. She’s known to frequently answer the age-old question, “Mom, what’s for dinner?!”.