My interest in beauty started from a very young age. I remember vividly watching my mom applying makeup in the mirror, and being captivated by the smell of her Obsession perfume. My mom also had her beautician license, but didn’t keep it to cut hair. She often would make jokes about keeping her license to keep her girls stocked with professional salon products. My interest began there, mostly because I struggled with naturally curly fine hair and longed to have the perfect curls I saw in magazines. In my teens, I tried product after product and spent thousands, only to find out nothing worked.  

Beyond struggling with my hair, my face began constantly breaking out in my 20’s. Again, I tried product after product and was discouraged with the results. It wasn’t until I was 23 that I discovered a skin care routine that kept my face clean and zit free. The reality is they don’t make many affordable products that are oil free and fragrance free, which are recommended for breakout prone skin. Besides being breakout prone, I have combination skin. This means some of my skin is oily and the rest is dry. Even though I nipped my breakout problem in the bud when I was 23, it took me until a few months ago to find moisturizers that would both prevent breakouts and moisturize. As you can imagine, my skin type also forged an ongoing battle with makeup. After going to top of the line beauty stores for recommendations, in the end I found myself buying affordable products that worked just as well in drug stores. In addition, having a wedding on a budget forced me to find reasonably priced fade resistant/waterproof products also in drug stores (after buying some very expensive items at the mall!).  

My beauty struggles resulted in spending an incalculable amount of time (and money!) in stores and on the web trying to find what works. While most people will give up after a few minutes of searching, I will sit for hours comparing and contrasting websites, products, and articles to determine the best products and information to help me achieve my goals. I know your time is valuable, so let me do the work for you.  Research motivates me, and I would love to share my knowledge with you. See, I don’t believe the myth that you get what you pay for, simply because I supported high end businesses in the past and paid for name brand products and services far in excess of what they should cost.  Time and time again, I discovered high end beauty stores sell products for almost double what you pay for the same product in drug stores.  I want you to be able to achieve the same results without breaking the bank and going into debt.

While you might be thinking that my beauty product war was one of endless consumption, I believe it all had a purpose.  To help you save money, and free you from a vicious cycle of using products that don’t work.  I truly believe reducing consumption and focusing on being grateful for what you already have is one of the keys to being happy. In these trying economic times, I want to help you save money and put you on the path to achieving your very best.

Being your best both inside and out is crucial to your personal happiness.  My life started from the outside in, but I now understand working from the inside out is far more important. No doubt, my interest in these products started from my motivation to improve myself in a backwards direction. While now I think the money and time I spent improving my external features was a direct result of something missing inside of me, nonetheless I’ve gained valuable experience in evaluating beauty products searching for my own answers. While evaluating my career goals, I was struck by the fact that I could help others advising them on a subject that I love!  

I believe your physical body is just a shell encapsulating all the goodness inside of you.  This realization will allow you to naturally look and feel your best.  As vain as beauty products may seem, used responsibly they help you to feel good and build self confidence.  But as with all areas of your life, you should use them only as one component of your total wellness plan, and in such a way to not disturb the delicate balance of your present life. 

I sit in awe today and truly grateful for all the information and experience I have gained through innumerable people and resources that are too great to list here. What I do know is life (and for me God) blesses you with the right people to help you discover your path, and all it takes is for you to be present and alert to the signs that lead you in the right direction.

I want to help you win your battle with beauty products. If you can’t find the answers you’re looking for, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Think of all the money and time you’ll save by knowing my tips for affordable quality beauty products. But don’t stop there, this is about more than saving money and time. It is about you tapping into the best you in all areas of your life. Realizing all the while, the goodness in you has always been, and will always lie within, rather than outside of you!

Namaste (all the goodness in you salutes the goodness in me),

Tranquil Beauty Insight