Why I Am Obsessed with Beauty Products Again, and I Hope You Will Be Too...
Tank Top / Denim Shorts / Sunglasses / The Most Shiny, Minty NEW Lip Gloss
Recently, I have gotten back into beauty in a big way. It is where my career really started- as a 22 year old makeup and skincare publicist. I spent so many years in the trenches with many of the most awesome (and, sometimes, in all honesty, awful) beauty brands out there. And lately, all I want to do is research skincare, stalk cult products, and write about every detail.
Often times my beauty escapades were as a publicist, figuring out how to position new brands and new products, predict the on-trend under-the-radar sleeper hits, build brand buzz and create news when there really was nothing newsy to share. Other times, it was as an on-air expert, scouring the market for those diamond-in-the-rough holy grail products, pulling together trend reports, and figuring out the unique backstory angles to share wth viewers about my personal favorites.
Every single day I devoured the beauty articles in WWD, and on Fridays (the WWD Beauty issue, my favorite day of the week) I spent hours hanging on every word. Then, I got kinda burnt out and a little jaded. Sometimes, when you know too much- when you see too much- you lose the passion, ya know? So I started paying more attention to fashion- and as my life changed (kids, the 'burbs) other topics crept into my scope.
I started to take for granted just how fascinating the beauty industry was, how innovative and, in many cases, how approachable. Fascinating + Innovative + Approachable = EVERYTHING I LOVE.
Other factors that contributed to logging hours spent at Walgreens, CVS, Sephora, Ulta and scouring K-Beauty sites and obscure online skincare importers? Read on...
1- My chats with Hannah Simpson, the wonderful woman I go to for my Microcurrent Facials (more on that HERE and also check out the Highlight on my Instagram for the play by play)- her passion for skincare and her belief in the way your skin can truly transform through the right products and treatments is infectious.
2- A renewed interest in stalking the product-related posts- including new favorites, launch event news, etc.- of my OG "beauty girls". See, most of us grew up together in the biz (Polly Blitzer, Alyssa Hertzig, Andrea Lavinthal, Amber Katz, Lori Bergamotto, Stephanie Huszar, Melissa Gold to name a few- click on the hyperlinks to land on their Instagram profiles because you NEED to follow them) and even though our lives are infinitely different now, I noticed the bond over beauty doesn't really change a bit.
3- The Instagram "shelfie" movement. Beautiful images of delicious looking products often coupled with detailed mini-reviews in the caption send me down the social media rabbit hole in the best way possible. Some of my faves? DevsDay, DirtyBoysGetClean, Off Duty Diary.
4- A handful of expert, authentic, super-informative beauty blogs- specifically, the Brit beauty blogger with the best sense of humor to boot, Caroline Hirons and the anonymous, refreshingly honest writer behind the The Critical Babe. Reading the posts these women write bring me back to the inquisitive way I used to approach the business.
5- My impending (milestone) birthday. Forty is around the corner. I truthfully have zero issues with the number itself, and in most ways I still feel like I am in my early 20's (except when it process a mortgage payment or fill out medical forms for my kids' summer camps or take 2 days to recover from a Tito's-on-the-rocks-with-a-splash-of-soda-and-lots-of-limes bender). But I notice subtle changes in the way I look- a little more lumpy here, a bit less perky there- and not-so-subtle changes in the way I feel when I make the effort to take care of myself. Taking care of my skin, keeping my hair healthy, slapping on makeup- these are little things that make a big difference. And as such, taking the time to find the best products, and share said products with anyone who wants to listen, is an adventure I want to go ALL IN on.
So, to make a long story still kinda long but not as long as it could be, my passion for learning about, testing and sharing skincare, makeup and haircare products is re-ignited. And I feel good about it because I know that when it comes to this subject matter, I innately know my sh#t.
Hope you will enjoy reading my beauty content as much as I will no doubt enjoy creating it for you.
If you don't mind leaving a comment down below with any topics you would love to read about, or specific products or brands you want to learn about, I would be MOST grateful!
xoxo