The one dollar accessory Anya Taylor-Joy can't live without

(Image credit: Getty Images / Larry Bussaca)

published 17 November 2020

Anya Taylor-Joy has fast become our new style and beauty icon since gracing our screens as chess playing superstar, Beth Harmon in the Netflix mini-series The Queen’s Gambit (alongside these other must-watch Netflix shows). For anyone yet to be drawn into the shows slick aesthetic, it tells the story of a young orphan who discovers and masters the game of chess in 1960s USA.

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Based on a book by American author Walter Tevis, The Queen’s Gambit is arguably one of the best shows on TV right now so it’s no surprise everyone has turned their attention to its brilliant star Anya Taylor-Joy. Throughout the mini-series Taylor-Joy showcases stunning 60s beauty and fashion looks, but that got us thinking about what the actor can’t live without irl.

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Luckily, it’s not all that costly to steal her style, as she revealed to Harper’s Baazar, the one item she can’t live without is a humble hair scrunchie. Taking a dive inside her handbag, she showed off her favourite hair accessory “usually velvet, usually a crazy colour” alongside a lip balm from Armani and bottle of perfume. And while she doesn’t usually wear too much make-up, preferring a natural look, her go to products are “mascara and a little something on the lips”.

When it comes to skincare Witch Hazel and Rosewater are her two favourites, both of which are available at most drugstores and won’t cost the earth either.

But the secret to her gorgeous hair? Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer, which she uses religiously to keep her hair smooth and shiny.

So there you have it. Scrunchies are officially back in style and Anya Taylor-Joy approved!

Lydia is a freelance travel writer, and Lifestyle News Editor at My Imperfect Life

Her travel writing has been published in BBC Good Food, Oh magazine, Harper's Bazaar UK, Town&Country, ELLE UK, MailOnline, Woman, and woman&home

She began her career compiling fashion and beauty pages for teen magazines at the BBC where she interviewed and styled some of the world's biggest pop acts—from Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato to One Direction—before joining celebrity magazine Now, as Fashion and Beauty Director, and later Woman magazine as Lifestyle Director.

Travel has been a constant passion over the course of Lydia’s 14-year career. At 19, she took her first solo trip to Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico and has gone on to explore parts of 53 countries, returning to many often.

At 23, she quit her job and traveled out of a backpack for a year, living on just $26 (£20) a day. Of the 15 countries she visited, 13 were explored by land in a bid to cut her carbon footprint. Some highlights from the trip include a teaching by the Dalai Lama in the foothills of the Himalayas, sleeping on the world's largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, and being completely overwhelmed by the magnificent Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border.

In 2015 Lydia traveled solo through India and Nepal for three months, visiting some of the most spiritual places in the world, and completing Nepal’s Annapurna Base Camp trek over the course of nine days.

In 2021 she spent three months traveling solo through Portugal and Spain where she was on a mission to hunt out the best restaurants, find one-off boutique hotels and visit incredible art exhibitions.

Day-to-day she manages a global team of nine news writers and oversees news content on My Imperfect Life

Follow Lydia on Instagram @lydiaswinscoe