Hi there, its been a few weeks now since I've posted. For those who missed the news, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on 29th July. His name is Ronan. I've been spending the last almost four weeks (wow time goes fast!) getting to know my little man and having lots of snuggles. He is perfect, just like his big brother. Now i'm ready to get back to the blog (while he snoozes in my arms). Here is the next post in #MyNaturalBeautyJourney by the lovely Laura from a new blog 'Clean Beauty Mamas'. Over to Laura for the introduction...
Hello! My name is Laura, I am a makeup artist, holistic therapist and currently 37 weeks pregnant with my first baby.
I have recently set up my blog Clean Beauty Mamas which is inspired by my own natural beauty journey and pregnancy. I focus on informing mamas and mamas-to-be on what wonderful organic, non toxic, cruelty free and high performing products are out there that are perfectly safe to use during pregnancy and beyond! Did you know over 280 toxins have been found in newborns umbilical cord blood, some of which were beauty ingredients! You can read more on that here.
One thing that I have noticed, is that women are so careful with what they put on their skin during pregnancy and on their children but somewhere down the line the switch is made to the toxin loaded products that crowd the high street. I guess that’s the power of advertising! My aim with Clean Beauty Mamas along with the rest of the awesome organic beauty community is to show you you can be a natural beauty for life!
My personal natural beauty journey started in my first job after school, 12 years ago. It was a really lovely natural beauty boutique which sold products such as Dr Hauschka, Suki and Neom, it was great to discover and learn about these brands and their ethics. Before, this job I think I was just nicking my mums Dermologica products which just dried my skin out!
During this time I decided I wanted to be a make up artist so moved to London to train and work. This is where I started to dip in and out of organic beauty as I was working on different makeup counters which definitely weren’t organic and as a freelance makeup artist I used mostly Mac because of their trade discounts and a girl’s gotta eat!
On the counters, I would get a lot of customers who were ill/had an illness/knew someone who had been ill and they were very choosy with what they were putting on their skin (and rightly so!) and to be honest I never felt comfortable suggesting products to them. This is when I started to look into other areas of beauty and studied holistic therapy, where I could use much cleaner products and encourage beauty from within also. I absolutely love aromatherapy and essential oils have so many fantastic uses.
Over the last 5-7 years I would say the quality and choice of organic skincare & makeup brands has improved dramatically. They’re fresh, modern and perform as well as (if not better) than the big names that we get used to seeing everywhere.
My favourite skincare brand to use is Pinks Boutique. My skin has never been so good and my favourite go to makeup brands that I use on myself and in my professional kit are RMS, Well People, Ilia, Kjaer Weis, Inika and Dr Hauschka. I thought it would be impossible to replace my favourite foundation, but the RMS Un-Cover up or Kjaer Weis foundation are serious rivals and are now my staple foundations, which I now only need to use in the winter months.
It has been two years since I made the concerted effort to completely detoxify my beauty bag and I am so glad I did, I am now in the process of detoxifying my household products. Being pregnant as it does with many other women has further heightened my concern of which products we use as we want only the best for ourselves and our families! Hopefully, my blog can help people with the switch to natural as I have done all the hunting and researching for them! One blog post which I think mamas-to-be will find really useful is my guide on which essential oils are safe to use during pregnancy as they can be so holistically healing when your body is going through so many changes.
Hopefully one day you will see Clean Beauty Mamas natural skincare products on the shelves…..
Laura x
Thank you Laura and all the best with your new arrival! Hopefully your blog will encourage more mums-to-be to make the switch to cleaner skincare and beauty products. I also made the switch once becoming a mum, it definitely changes your outlook on life. My skin couldn't be better at the moment though so i'm so happy I switched to natural skincare. At a time when i'm sleep deprived and feeling run down, is usually a time when my skin suffers and breakouts happen...but it's still looking healthy and hydrated even with big black bags under my eyes haha!
If you would like to feature your story in the #MyNaturalBeautyJourney series, please get in touch by emailing hello@thenaturalbeautybox.co.uk - inspire others to make the switch to better their skin, their health, the environment and the welfare of animals.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Emma xx