Why I swapped life in the fast lane to create beautiful skincare for goddesses..
From a young age it’s ingrained in us to strive for the best. The adults around us tell us to work hard, get good grades and don’t make mistakes.. you won’t get a good job otherwise.. The message is clear, “go big or go home”.. being “pretty” special is not an option.
The bar was set fairly high in my house too, my Mum single-handedly raised three children, worked full time and eventually fulfilled her passion of setting up a business selling vintage clothing… super woman right? Of course I couldn’t see that at the time. I was a teenager embarrassed by her hippy Mum. She didn’t wear make up, seemed to permanently live in her leggings and DM’s, and just to add insult to injury, shopped in Oxfam! She was nothing like the other Mums (something I’m very grateful for these days), and I was determined to be nothing like her. So…. I married an alpha male, got a corporate job, moved to the suburbs, and I NEVER wore flat shoes!
Fast forward 25 years, and you’ve guessed it… I’ve turned into my mother!
The husband’s gone, the corporate world and I parted on bad terms.. and the high heels have long been replaced with a multitude of trendy flats (although I must confess to a pair of red leopard print heels tucked away behind my beaded bags!).
I’m not exactly sure when the transition into my Mother happened.. but I feel like it sneaked up on me after the birth of my daughter. Things naturally change when you become a mum yourself and you start looking at the world around you, re-evaluating what you consider important. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been conscientious about the environment (one of the benefits of having a hippy Mum!). I recycled, re-used and I didn’t eat meat . It was a great starting point, but I still felt that I could do more….
And here’s when I think the REAL turning point happened.. As a make-up artist, (my first step on the path to enlightenment!) I used cruelty free products, vegan brushes, and made my own superfood face masks (many happy experiments occurred in my kitchen with my teenage daughter as a willing guinea pig!)…. but my clients were still using skincare products that were packed full of toxins, so bad for them and the environment… and don’t get me started on the packaging.. plastics galore!
It was at this point I decided I should formulate my own skincare range… one that was completely natural and free from sulphates, parabens, microbeads and all manner of nasties…. Et voila… up popped an advert for a natural skincare school in my newsfeed (we could talk about divine intervention here, but I feel like that’s a conversation for another day!)
Beauty really IS only skin deep.. but that doesn’t mean that we can’t love the skin we’re in by offering up daily rituals of loving and taking a holistic approach to our skincare by treating the inside as well as the outside.
So you see.. Pretty Special Beauty is the culmination of a long journey of discovery…. and the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that imperfections are ok …..
Yes, I quite often run out of the house wearing odd socks and only one dangly earring… and yes, I can spend 10 frantic minutes looking for my glasses (invariably on my head) or looking for my mobile that I’m talking to my mother on (you know you do the same!) But despite all this.. I have finally realised that being “Pretty Special” is something to be proud of…
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