I am the first one to admit I lived a long time without thinking too deep about what I put on or in my body.

I think it’s a result of an automated but reductionist & dangerous conditioning of the generations before us, that carries into our current reality...something we do completely absentmindedly. You see an advert which basically tells you: ‘if you buy our product, you’ll look like Julia Roberts on our posters after 6 hours in hair & makeup’, they throw in a few exotic sounding chemical ingredients and a pretty flask, you’re online with two clicks on your phone, L’oreal cashes in and you slather yourself in something Julia Roberts herself never did and never would put on her face…

That’s how advertisement works (I should know, I work in advertisement) - it relies & feeds on consumers following it blindly & with no deeper thought - it’s not appealing to our thinking, it’s appealing to our senses and our subconscious in hopes that we won’t start thinking for ourselves & asking questions.

We live in this unfiltered over-saturation of information, anyone with access to Google is now a skin care biochemist expert, yet at the same time - it's 2019 and our most popular and most effective anti-ageing treatment is injecting our faces with poison.

Botox is a toxin created in meat when it rots, it’s exactly the same toxin that kills you if you ingest it, but somehow it’s now generally accepted that to appear younger, you inject your facial muscles with poison to paralyse them...I mean...what the fuck?! This is like Terry Gilliam’s satirical sci-fi comedy, except it’s not?!

And then it doesn't even really work! People more and more realise that ‘no wrinkles’ doesn't equal ‘ageing beautifully’. You have these celebrities pumped with so much fillers and Botox that in their sixties they look like a 28 year old lizard. You don't point them out when talking about ageing beautifully. We point at Meryl Streep, who's going to be 70 soon, ageing beautifully because she's ageing naturally - an adverb derived from the word NATURE. And her beauty comes from first and foremost being a kind and genuine person, living a wholesome aligned life - getting up everyday to do what she loves and is recognised for.. and spread joy through that work.

She remains timeless in her beauty, because she allows for the age to manifest naturally, not ironing it out with needles, lasers, acids and muscle paralysers.

I’ve always been into skin care - as well as all the women of my tribe - I remember my grandma used to have this book on her shelf with a lady on the cover having some sort of torture-looking face treatment done to her, titled ‘Beauty Hurts’. I think I carried that as a sort of internalised message for a long time - I would perform various assaults on my face, from microneedling to acid peels - I mean.., people - ACID..why would you put that on your face? Or anything for that matter, that’s been pre-mixed by godknowswho & whoknowswhere without thinking, without questioning, going just with the results promised in some stupid advert.

As I’m now speeding through my thirties I’m coming to believe that everything and anything we need for a wholesome, well-aligned life inside and out, we can already find in nature.

And my mission is to slowly replace all the cosmetic products I use with my own creations  - combining natural oils and butters, herbal extracts, essential oils, crystal energies & magick. It might turn out to be a life-long journey, but one that I feel passionate about & I’m putting these out there as I go for similarly aligned people to share with.

It all starts with dreaming up a perfect product - a combination of ingredients I myself can stand by and dedicate myself to use, without being tempted or having to look (and spend my money) anywhere else.

Big part of the process is just to plunge into research - I’d say the years and years of being passionate about skin care helps a lot, but this also is a lifelong study - as new trends, new discoveries, new ideas are constantly coming up, so I look outside of my own knowledge for inspiration & research where to obtain these ingredients most ethically and organically sourced.

And I’m also learning to take - my - time with it  - patience being a very challenging concept for a proper Leo with Moon in Aries and ascendent in Scorpio. I’m learning to sit with ideas and projects, not manifest them straight away - because in that stillness they often can take a different form, evolve beyond that first instinctual burst of creative energy.

I’ve got a base oil for an eye balm brewing at the moment: by that I mean, for a few weeks now I've been infusing a combination of anti-ageing, plumping and restorative oils suitable to use around eyes - like sea buckthorn, cacay oil, sweet almond oil, evening primrose, pomegranate seed oil - with the most potent herbs for the sensitive eye area - bilberry, gotu cola, green matcha tea, coffee and macca. After about three weeks, I’ll mix this oil base with 100% shea butter and some essential oils like cucumber seed, carrot seed, frankincense and chamomile….and voila - I’m ready to get refused buying alcohol everywhere I go!

I had lots of people locked in this ‘productivity’ and ‘money-making’ mindset asking me - oh yeah, is that what you’re doing? But did you do your market research? Is this a marketable idea, is there a demand for this, what is your revenue what is your net turnover - and to that I say - do not fucking drag me into your world of ‘productivity’ hell. I do have a job that helps me pay my bills and I also happen to have a huge passion for natural skincare - I am not building a Steve Jobs type of empire, I am just trying to share my journey with people who might feel & think about self care the same way I do.

So I don’t hysterically overproduce - I’m taking my time experimenting, researching, testing and if I create something I believe in - I share it with the world and slowly keep adding new creations that evolve on my own journey, to replace all the store-bought chemical concoctions with my own handmade 100% natural creations.

You can check them out on my Etsy store (just search for ‘MyLavondyss’) & my spiritual blog mylavondyss.com.