Hey Everyone!
I know, I know. It's been forever. I'm sorry! Life's hard, which makes motivation for writing content challenging as of late. But it's cool... I'm here now!
Yesterday, someone on Instagram asked me if I could make one of my Favorites Lists for makeup. It made me realize that DUH I should have already done this and that it would be easy to put one together this weekend. So HERE IT IS!
It's funny, while I was putting this together I realized that makeup is where it all began for me. In junior high, I would do all of my friends' makeup. The MAC counter at the Fairfield Mall was the most dreamy and magical place I had ever been in all my thirteen years. I remember sitting in the chair getting my "complimentary makeup application," which was only complimentary with my mother's gracious purchases of HUNDREDS of dollars worth of product. Thanks mom! Life before YouTube was expensive! I would hold the mirror and have the artist talk me through every technique and product she used. I'm sure I was super annoying, but this is where my education began.
In my early twenties, I used what I had learned to ready friends for burlesque acts and open mic's. It was something I always loved. Weirdly enough, it wasn't till my position at work was suddenly replaced and I was without a job, that I ever thought I could make a career of makeup artistry. So I decided to go back to school, get my esthetics license and pursue this new career.
At school I found an even greater passion, skincare, and the rest is history. Kind of...
It's rough starting out in a new career. I found the side hustle enticing and becoming a freelance artist is an easy way to supplement a fledgling esthetics career. I freelanced for Jane Iredale for a few years and through those contacts I was able to land my job at the luxury hotel spa I'm still employed at today.
I'm sure a lot of you have had your own adventures at the MAC counter. The most important thing I learned from becoming an esthetician is that ingredients matter! The crap that's in most mainstream makeup is appalling once you learn about it. Carcinogens and endocrine disruptors like phthalates, lead, formaldehyde, parabens, PEGs and petroleum bi-products are all on most drugstore and beauty counter makeup ingredient lists.
So... to make life a little easier, I put together a list of my favorite natural makeup brands and products. And not to worry, these aren't the crunchy granola products of yesteryear that only vaguely resemble what makeup should look like. These products can compete head to head with the dirty brands we're all used to, in performance and coverage, minus the cancer.
Make sure you click over and check it out!
Cheers!
Katie, The Organic Esthetician
