Back To Clean Beauty & Safer Skincare

I am so excited to share this post with you today!

This subject has been a long time coming and I’m letting you in on a little secret of why I haven’t shared more about my makeup or skincare routine in years. In fact, I’m so pumped about it that I filmed an IGTV video to chat more about it in a fun and casual catch-up style. It made me realize how much I miss filming videos, too. Is there a possible vlogging comeback on the horizon? There just might be!

In case you want to save that chat for later, let’s get right to the good stuff here on the blog. Today we’re talking skincare, makeup, how I’ve been slowly changing everything over to be safer for me and my family, and what I’m looking forward to the most on this journey.

Longtime (like looongtime) readers might remember the days where I shared videos, posts, and tidbits about my makeup and skincare routine on the regular. As a former competitive and professional dancer for the NBA, I am no stranger to high-quality and efficient products made for the stage, appearances, and everyday wear.

I’ve been investing in skincare since middle school and had a turning point almost five years ago when I finally turned the product labels that I swore by around. I found out what was in everything that I was using including harmful chemicals, toxins, and a lot of things that I couldn’t even pronounce. Not great.

My introduction to Beautycounter led me down this road to label reading, and I’m now sharing the company’s mission to change the current state of the beauty industry because I feel so strongly about this.

Back in 2015, I watched an informational video and found out eye-opening information that I couldn’t unlearn. Essentially, what we are putting on our skin seeps into our bloodstream, which can directly affect our health long-term. It’s pretty heavy stuff.

To sum it all up, here are five facts that are taken directly from a Beautycounter booklet:

• Decades of studies indicate that serious health issues (like cancer, infertility, and asthma) are on the rise and due in some part to our ongoing exposure to toxic chemicals.
• The U.S. has not passed a major federal law governing the cosmetics industry since 1938. (Um, that’s 80 years.)
• There are more than 80,000 chemicals on the market today. Many don’t have any safety data. This is particularly true of those used in the skin-care and beauty industries.
• The European Union has banned or restricted 1,400 ingredients from personal care products. The U.S. has banned or restricted 30.
• The FDA does not have the authority to remove harmful ingredients from the products we put on our bodies every day.

If you’re seeing all of this for the first time, it’s a lot. I know. It’s overwhelming. You’re either rolling your eyes, feeling like you just got punked, or might be experiencing a little bit of both. At least that’s how I felt!

Naturally, thinking that I had too much to replace with an all-or-nothing mindset, I put everything I learned that night to the side and ignored it for years. Years. I purchased the Nourishing Rosewater Mist (something I tried and became obsessed with at the party) along with a Touchup Skin Concealer Pen, and I went right back to using my normal products after they ran out.

I couldn’t really tell you why I didn’t make a bigger change back then besides that all-or-nothing mindset. I just couldn’t get past it! I wanted to replace everything that I was using all at once, and I felt like it was impossible and too expensive. Well, friends, unless you have the money to invest in a completely new skincare and makeup line in one swoop, starting small and slowly replacing what you’re running out of is the way to go!

Fast forward to about three years ago, I started seeing Beautycounter pop up on more of the feeds that I follow and got that feeling that I initially got at the party. I started asking myself why I hadn’t started switching over to a line that promises clean and safer products, and I didn’t have an answer. I proceeded to research, I approached a few of my friends who became Beautycounter consultants, and I almost signed up for that killer discount and ambassador role. I was really, really close.

The only thing that held me back is the fact that I didn’t want to get involved in direct sales. It’s never been my style to sell to my friends or potentially come across as shilling products just for a commission. That’s actually the complete opposite of what I created this space for and why I wasn’t ready for that title. The truth is, you’re in control of how much you talk about it, and that’s the only way that it would work for me.

That said, I wanted the skincare back then, but I couldn’t justify the expense after Scott unexpectedly lost his job and a move was in our future. That was also the start of our infertility journey, so I wasn’t in the best headspace and didn’t make my needs a priority. So, I continued to purchase “as natural as possible” products that I could pick up at local convenient stores and called it a day. (I’m laughing thinking about this now because the prices that I found there often came out the same anyways with a bonus of harmful ingredients that I don’t want on my skin!)

Fast forward again to about a year ago, and I relearned the same information I already heard in a new way. I knew that the products I was using weren’t the safest options, but I had no idea just how much ongoing exposure to chemicals and toxins can affect you. (Feel free to take a minute to scroll back up to the middle of this post and read that first bullet point. Woof.)

That statement really hit home for me, and it was more than time to make a change. The good news is that Beautycounter makes access to clean and safer-for-you beauty extremely easy. When formulating products, they prohibit the use of over 1,500 harmful or questionable ingredients and highlight The Never List that includes a long list of repeat offenders you might find in big brands of the beauty industry.

Feeling like I would be missing out on an opportunity that is obvious for me in my story of slowly switching over to clean beauty and safer skincare, I approached yet another friend about becoming a consultant for Beautycounter and put a timeline on it.

I decided to go for it, ordered the Countermatch Discovery Set, and loved that my enrollment came with a few extras to get me started.

For full disclosure, I am a Beautycounter consultant and I am thrilled to be here as a resource for anyone who has questions, wants to learn more about the brand or safer skincare, and/or doesn’t know where to start.

Unlike most brands that you can simply head over to the website (it will show me as your consultant with the links I include in my posts), or for the NYC locals, visit the Beautycounter store in Soho to get started! If you mention my name as your consultant at checkout, message me with your loot description (I’m always down to hear about your favorites and thoughts), and I will send you a thank you treat in the mail. Also, if you’re into discounts, sign up for this newsletter list that shares emails from me about the latest updates, products, and sales so you don’t miss them!

Now that it’s all out there, you’re probably wondering what this means for this space and my social pages. Well, not a lot, really. My focus with this blog is to share healthy lifestyle inspiration with a little bit of family, fun, travel, and everyday adventures in the mix, too.

My main mission with this new endeavor is to share the importance of clean and safer skincare and makeup. I’m not as focused on growing a team as I am about changing my products over to this line and sharing my reviews with you. Of course, if you have any questions, or if you would like some direction from me along the way, I’m your girl!

I plan to highlight what I’m currently using, what I really love, what I might not recommend as much as other things, and so on. I’ll probably share most of my reviews on Instagram, but will sprinkle them along with alerts for sales in with Friday Favorites. And for that, I am truly looking forward to sharing all of it with you.

Here’s to moving on from feeling icky about what we’re using and making a change towards #betterbeauty one product at a time!

Looking to be in the loop on the latest on clean beauty and safer skincare? Sign up for my Beautycounter email updates for more on my favorite picks, new product peeks, alerts on sales, and more.

You can also email beautycounter@lifeinleggings.com.

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Thank you so much for your support, and I am SO. EXCITED. to feel confident about writing in the beauty and skincare space again. Yay!