Truthfully a year ago I would never have been comfortable posting a photo of myself, untouched and makeup-less.  So here is me—raw, early morning skin that I feel completely comfortable wearing and showing to the world!

My Safer Beauty Transformation

*As much as I talk about non-toxic living and better beauty, I never have really shared the whole story, so here goes…*

I grew up in a very healthy home—I remember in high school and college, I was the girl with shampoo from the organic store, a bottle of tea tree oil to help with breakouts and mineral makeup in my bag.  That’s just the way things were and thankfully I trusted my mom’s natural approach.

But it wasn’t until about 2 years ago, even after becoming a nutritionist, that I learned first hand the WHY behind safe skincare and my eyes opened.

I never suffered from really bad acne breakouts as a teenager, yes minor ones and constant ones but never anything terrible.  But as an adult, the acne, constant blemishes and pores just feeling yuck never went away.  Makeup, even the “better” options, always felt gross on my skin, but I didn’t think my skin was “pretty” enough to go without, so the cycle continued.

About 2 years ago, at the age of 25 my hormones began to change and that disrupted my world, both physically and emotionally.  I was at the end of my rope dealing with chronic migraines that put me in the ER and wiped me out for weeks at a time, complete exhaustion no matter how much I slept and excruciating PMS symptoms.  

But I ate healthy, right?

My makeup and skincare routine didn’t really matter because I ate healthy, right?

Natural beauty products don’t actually work, right? (Yes, I had wasted lots of money trying “natural” products that didn’t work).

I thought “natural beauty products” were for the more crunchy style person, not the girl who shopped at Anthropologie, right?

Looking Beyond Diet

But then, a stranger, now good friend, sent me a random email about this *then* not-well-known company called Beautycounter whose mission is to educate and get safer skincare products into the hands of everyone.  

Honestly at this point I was desperate for some answers and solutions to my misery, and I thought hey, I might as well give this a “better beauty thing” a try.

This was the starting point and truly a defining point in both my personal and professional life.

I knew from my nutrition training that skin health started from the inside out and if the products I used could decrease the internal stress on my body and increase natural detoxification, then maybe, my skin would heal and glow!  Maybe even my migraines would diminish (as I had researched that toxins can often stimulate migraines)!

What started with me purchasing two safer products—blush and sunscreen—catapulted into SO much more than I ever could have imagined.

Better Beauty Gave Me More Confidence

Learning about better beauty, the scary effects of toxins and the power we have to make changes not only gave me inner confidence to go out makeup-less, but it also gave me the confidence to share the knowledge and importance of better beauty.  

YES, something as simple as your shampoo or lipstick does have the power to influence not only your life and health, but also future generations!

This statistic is what fired me up to share…

Over 287 toxic chemicals are found in a baby’s umbilical cord—217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, 208 cause birth defects and 180 are known carcinogens in humans.*

*2005 American Red Cross Study

This blew my mind!  If a tiny human not yet exposed to the world had already been exposed to that many toxins during pregnancy, this growing child was already under so much stress that would influence their development, learning abilities, and future.

I knew one day my husband and I wanted to have a family, and I also watched other friends both grow their families or struggle with infertility.

With this knowledge, even as scary as it might be, I knew I had to share, I had to be an influencer for change and do what little I could to impact others—not just helping them create a safer beauty routine and feel confidence in their skin, but also impact their future.

Desperation Brought Beauty

Honestly, at the time I was mostly doing food blogging, something that was draining me, but I was scared to educate on a different topic, even though I was and am so passionate about better beauty.  But I took the leap and started casually sharing why safe beauty and non-toxic skincare is so important.

YOUR responses blew me away!  Each day I got emails saying…”Thank you for sharing!”  or “I want to start a family one day too and this ‘non-toxic’ living approach couldn’t come at a better time.” or “I finally feel that my acne is going away and my skin feels amazing.”

Out of desperation came so much beauty.

Your stories and the impact I see by something as little as changing our approach to lipstick keeps me fired up!

No, we don’t have the power to control every toxin or stress that we come into contact with daily, but we DO have the power to control what makeup and moisturizer we use and what cleaning products enter our homes.

My Skin and Hormone Healing

I got so excited about sharing safer beauty with others, that it took me some time to realize how amazing my skin felt and looked!!  Over time, I realized my hormonal acne started to go away, my skin felt smooth and my pores finally felt clean, my hair thickened like crazy, my migraines slowly diminished (also due to working on my hormones) and my energy and passion for life slowly started to come back!

I visibly saw first hand the effects of safer beauty and eliminating toxins from my life.  The effects weren’t instant, but looking back, the change is drastic!

• Today, I am confident to go to dinner with no makeup.
• Today, I am confident that my daughter who is about to be born has been given the best possible chance from conception.
• Today, I am confident that in sharing, I have hopefully influenced others futures.

Better Beauty Education

What I have loved about being involved with Beautycounter is that it truly educated me and opened my eyes to the real harm of toxic products and the real beauty of safer ones!  If I had not become involved with Beautycounter’s mission of educating and getting safer products into the hands of everyone 2 years ago, I would not have the firm foundation of knowledge and passion to share safer skincare that I have today.

Beautycounter was a starting point of my education on better beauty and safe skincare and I haven’t stopped educating myself and others on non-toxic living.  This opened up so many doors for me and is truly one of my favorite parts of my business today!

Something as little as lipstick was a starting point for me, to turn around my health, hormones and skin but more importantly to be conscious of my purchases and decisions in all aspects of life.

I truly am SO thankful for Beautycounter giving me this opportunity and the passion to explore other areas like non-toxic living, women’s hormones and stress that affect our lives so much!  

Even more, I am thankful to share this knowledge with you!!