My Conscious Beauty Journey
First of all, I wanted to just say hello to you all as it’s been awhile since I had the time to put in the proper effort for blogging since my other business venture, In Bloom Drops is preparing for its upcoming launch. I’m so grateful for each and every one of you and with many new faces, I wanted to just take the time to share a little more about myself and my journey.
What exactly is ‘conscious beauty’? That’s how I like to start when describing the beginning of journey. The beauty industry is renowned for dialogue change and new concepts with a blurred understanding that leads to mistrust. Some examples might be ‘organic’, ‘pore-shrinking’, or ‘wrinkle-reducing’. It leads us to question whether it’s a new gimmick to entice us to purchase or if the product will actually do what it says on the bottle. I have been there as a consumer myself, getting excited about a cream that promises to reduce cellulite or a moisturiser that will minimize pores and leave a natural glow. Combine these promises with beautiful packaging and I am sold! As you might imagine, I am a magpie in a beauty hall.
This all changed, however, after a literal overhaul when my mum went through all of my daughter and I’s products and enlightened me on the nasty ingredients inside, even ones labelled organic! This led me to begin questioning what I saw on the bottle and I started to do my own research. From there I began to feel empowered with new knowledge and my conscious beauty journey really began.
So back to the question I posed earlier, what is ‘conscious beauty’? Conscious Beauty to me embodies a deep understanding of how we should see beauty holistically. It isn’t just about skincare or beauty products actually, it is about taking care of our mind, body and spirit.
It’s about taking notes and gathering information about ingredients and the impact they have on our health and the environment. Also, it requires us to step back and create choices for ourselves that will benefit ourselves and in turn less waste. The beauty industry is one of the worst culprits for plastic waste which is impacting the world oceans.
It is also important to note that it is a journey, not a destination! It’s a journey of discovery and continuous learning. No one is perfect, there are definitely certain aspects of my life or routine that people would say are not ‘conscious.’ However, just as beauty itself is personal, our routines, the products we choose for ourselves and family, so is our understanding of ‘conscious beauty.’ I just say the main aspect is to understand beauty and the health of our skin comes from embodying those three pillars, MIND, BODY & SPIRIT.
Along my journey it became obvious to me that not everyone has the energy, time or passion in beauty. That many people want to know what products to use, what’s worth their money and don’t want to spend the time researching products. I totally understand this perspective and began to conceptualise my beauty journey into a blog to empower and share my knowledge with other ‘glow getters’.
This blog is a space that documents my beauty journey from my beauty regime, products I have tried and tested, particular ingredients I love and why along with just giving an honest transparent opinion on products and treatments. I don’t have advertisements and buy all the treatments and products myself, I want to be a trusted source for my friends and followers that my opinions aren’t swayed by advertising. Everything I write about or mention is something I have truly tested and tried.
As I mentioned earlier, conscious beauty is about the mind, body and spirit. In my posts you’ll see that I advocate about the importance of self-care and taking the time for oneself. As a mother, so much is expected of you and it’s so easy not to create the time for yourself or believe that you don’t deserve the time. It took me a while to learn this lesson myself, but I know I am a better mother to my child after I have taken care of myself, whether that looks like working out, going for a walk in the park, having a blow-dry or doing my beauty rituals every day. My beauty rituals are my form of meditation, the conventional form doesn’t really work with me, whether that is my 5-10 minutes morning skincare routine or a DIY facial in the evening, it is when I reconnect and check-in with myself.
My Morning Routine
The question I get all the time is what exactly is my routine? I keep it super simple and only want to spend 10 minutes maximum on it with everything else I have going on in the mornings.
Step 1: I love to cleanse with a balm or oil/serum-based cleanser. My current favourites are the Zelens Cleansing Liquid Balm and Romilly Wilde’s Light + Energy Serum Cleanser.
Step 2: Generally I love to use a toner, nothing too heavy, my ultimate favourite is a rosewater spray from the heart of the purest rose water in the world, Iran. Elize by Rabee has created a spritz with 100% pure rosewater mixed with flakes of 24-carat gold. Doesn’t get much more glow-getting than that!
Step 3: I tend to use my active ingredients in this step, Vitamin C is crucial for my skin as I suffer from hyperpigmentation. I love Bybi Vitamin C serum for a more natural alternative but also clean based brand Allies of Skin do a great Vitamin C serum.
Step 4: I love to lock in my actives with a nice moisturiser, currently using Dr Barbara Sturm’s Moisturiser but I also love Romilly Wilde’s Power Pair, which is the Face Oil and the Face serum for a natural boost of hydration and rejuvenation.
Step 5: Arguably the most important step, SPF. I recommend wearing this even if you’re not going out of the house or it’s a cloudy day. I love to use a tinted moisturiser with protection such as MZ Skin’s Tint & Protect and the Suntegrity 5 in 1 has a great consistency, coverage and has SPF 50.
Step 6: Say something kind to yourself and admire your natural glow before going about your day!
The beauty products I write about and use myself are both clean and/or conscious where they work for my skin, actually show results and are from brands that have an ethos I align with. I use natural based products along with more clean cosmeceutical based products, for me, it’s about finding the best products for my skin. It’s my ‘conscious choice’ to be like this through the knowledge I have learned and continue to do so. I love everything beauty, my beauty world is inclusive, holistic and embodies the true understanding, it all starts from within.
My conscious beauty journey has taken me to incredible places and when I’m not doing mum duties, I am working on launching my latest endeavour, In Bloom Drops which seeks to change the way we hydrate through drops of pure distilled botanical water. It really puts an emphasis on the importance of the health of our body, in that mind, body spirit mantra.
Finally, I wouldn’t be a great Conscious Glow Getter without sharing some of my best glow-getting tips. I’ll leave you with these!
Keep it simple – less is more
Always take off your makeup
Nurture not torture your skin
Keep hydrated
Take exercise regularly
Thanks so much for reading, more amazing things to come to the blog very soon…stay tuned!
xo, Steph