How I Cleared Up My Pregnancy Acne

After years of struggling to get pregnant (read about my pregnancy story here), it finally happened. My at-home pregnancy test read positive! I jumped for joy when I read that plastic little stick. Standing in my bathroom staring at that stick is a moment I’ll never forget and one that seems so long ago now that I’m in the middle of my second trimester. (Due May 2018 with a girl!) I can honestly say becoming pregnant has been the best thing to ever happen to my life, and simultaneously the worst thing to ever happen to my skin. Okay, FINE,…

View Post

The Best Nontoxic Beauty Products I Tested In – 2017 – Broken Down By Category

As the year comes to an end, I look back on all I’ve struggled with and overcome: a receding hairline and hair loss; intense perioral dermatitis flare ups; annoying acne; and dry/dehydrated and irritated skin. While there were many lows, there were also a lot of highs. And many of those highs were due to finding efficacious, nontoxic, green products to help ease me back towards healthy skin. Therefore, as we wrap up this year, I decided to outline down below in seven categories, including Dry Skin, Acne, Dermatitis, Brightening, Hair, Body, and Eye + Lip + Neck my favorite products…

View Post

Essential Oils For Acne, Wrinkles & Pregnancy

Essential oils are tricky. They’re powerful enough to soften wrinkles, lighten pigmentation and heal burns. But if you have reactive skin like I do, they’re also capable of causing irritation, breakouts or sensitization. Doing too much, too fast, too soon will set you up for the aforementioned. Unfortunately, those were my experiences early on dabbling with essential oils, but I’ve realized after the fact that it wasn’t them, it was me, or rather my lack of knowledge about how to use essential oils and more specifically which ones to use. Mine is not an uncommon story. And as more and…

View Post

Q&A with True Moringa co-founder, Emily Cunningham, on improving Ghana’s economy with Moringa oil aka “argan oil on steroids”

When I first heard the story of skincare brand, True Moringa, I was blown away! What the two founders have created is truly inspiring. Kwami Williams, a former aerospace engineer (yes, becoming a rocket scientist was his initial aspiration), and Emily Cunningham, a Harvard economics graduate, are proving with True Moringa that a beauty product can be efficacious, eco-friendly, and nontoxic while uplifting poverty stricken communities. Now that’s beautiful. The two met during their undergraduate studies on a trip to rural Ghana with MIT’s D-Lab program where they were challenged to develop a practical solution to the area’s poverty challenges. The…

View Post

The Power Of Marula Oil – with African Botanics founders, Craig & Julia Noik

Sitting down to breakfast at Rose Cafe in Venice, CA with husband and wife founders of organic luxury skincare brand, African Botanics, I found myself completely intrigued and engrossed in these two. Husband and wife teams do that to me. For it is a true testament to their love, friendship and consideration of each other to not only share a life together, but share a work identity.

View Post