Kelly Gilbert
Founder, The What Supp Co. | Former Beauty & Health Editor, British Vogue
Kelly Gilbert is a beauty and health editor with more than twenty years spent testing products, interrogating the science behind them, and telling readers the truth about what actually works. As Beauty & Health Editor at British Vogue, and through bylines in Glamour, the Financial Times’ HTSI, The Times and The Sunday Times Style, she built a career on cutting through marketing noise - the same instinct that now runs through everything The What Supp Co. publishes.
Alongside her editorial work she co-founded BCC Beauty Consultancy, through which she both advises major houses - Chanel, Shiseido, Clinique, L’Oréal Paris, Bobbi Brown, Unilever, P&G - and co-creates brands from the ground up, among them Klira, Decree and Dreem Distillery, with several more under NDA. Two decades on both sides of the beauty business gave her an unusually clear view of the gap between what wellness products promise and what they deliver.
“I’ve worked with Kelly for many years and have always been impressed by how she combines her entrepreneurial instincts with rigorous research, and an inquisitive approach. Her journalistic experience has given her an acute insight into trends, forecasting and consumer habits.”
- Jo Ellison, Editor, HTSI, Financial Times
She founded The What Supp Co. in January 2025 to do something about it, starting with vitamin patches - one of the fastest-growing formats in wellness, and one most brands were making cheaply and overclaiming wildly. She set out to build one that held up to scrutiny instead: pharmaceutical-grade, made in the UK, honest about what a patch can and can’t do. The result is Patchtech™, and a range built on a simple idea: the vitamin patches you actually want to wear, that actually work. It’s now stocked in selected Boots stores nationwide and covered by titles including The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, Grazia and HTSI.
“Most supplements treat you like a patient. I’d rather meet you where you actually are: busy, a bit sceptical, and after some support that fits your day rather than a regime that runs it.”
- Kelly Gilbert, Founder
Kelly writes The What Supp Co.’s Health Hub herself, bringing the same clear, sceptical, jargon-free voice she brought to the page at Vogue to the questions people actually ask about vitamin patches and wellness. No hype, no miracle cures - just the facts, explained properly, by someone who has read them.
Credentials & experience
- Founder, The What Supp Co. (2025-present)
- Former Beauty & Health Editor, British Vogue
- Co-Founder, BCC Beauty Consultancy - advising and co-creating beauty & wellness brands
- Brands co-created through BCC: Klira, Decree, Dreem Distillery (plus others under NDA)
- Consultancy clients: Chanel, Shiseido, Clinique, L’Oréal Paris, Bobbi Brown, Unilever, P&G
- 20+ years in beauty, health and wellness journalism and brand strategy
Written for
Kelly’s own editorial bylines, as a journalist and editor: British Vogue, Glamour, HTSI (Financial Times), The Times, The Sunday Times Style and Cosmetics Business - including “How I got my beauty and wellness brand The What Supp Co stocked in Boots” (Cosmetics Business), on the 18-month journey to launch and land in Boots.
The What Supp Co. in the press
Since launch, The What Supp Co. has been covered by:
- Sali Hughes on beauty: vitamin patches are all the rage - but are the effects more than skin deep?
The Guardian - Former British Vogue Editor Kelly Gilbert Launches Zillennial-focused Supplement
WWD, 14 January 2025 - How We Got Stuck On Wellness Patches
HTSI, Financial Times - The Patches That Want to Fix Your Sleep, Sex, and Focus
The Atlantic - The Beauty Consumer Trends Set to Define 2025: Vitamin Patches
Vogue Business - Wellness patches go mainstream
CNBC
“wearable patches have become more mainstream, with brands like The What Supp Co ... marketing products that they say deliver the same results as oral vitamins without having to swallow pills.” - Do vitamin patches work? We asked the experts
The Sunday Times Magazine - From dull skin to a hangover - there’s a patch for everything
The Sunday Times Style - I wore vitamin patches every day for a month - here’s what they did for my energy and focus
Women’s Health (UK) - Transdermal Patches: Innovation or Another Overhyped Wellness Shortcut?
BeautyMatter - Do vitamin patches work? We get the expert low-down
Get The Gloss - Can a patch boost sleep - or perk up your libido?
Daily Mail
“Dip Out made me feel like the best version of myself.” The What Supp Co. Dip Out Chill patches, 4/5. - What Supp Co. is Revolutionizing Wellness for the Zillennial Generation
TrendHunter - Print feature
Grazia
Elsewhere
- Instagram: @wowwee_kg
- LinkedIn: Kelly Gilbert
