I have always been curious about beauty. Sometimes, it’s mystical to me, and when you see it in someone or something, it requires a sort of je ne sais quoi. I think it's best summed up by Gisele Bündchen when she is asked in a Vogue interview what the definition of beauty is. She states, “Beauty is just an energy that someone eliminates.” What I find most intriguing is that Gisele is a well-known, stunning supermodel that most would recognize if they didn’t live under a rock. She has been surrounded by and met glamorous, gorgeous people throughout her career, and she attributes beauty to something happening internally, seeping its way out to reflect on the outside.

Now, beauty isn’t everything, but I believe every woman holds the right and ability in her hands to feel better in their skin, giving them power in a non-Cleopatra way. For instance, have you ever seen the movie I Feel Pretty with Amy Schumer? A few spoiler alerts: she falls off a bike at Soul Cycle, hits her head, and wakes up to see herself in the mirror. When she catches her reflection, she sees that her appearance has changed, and her character believes she is now a beautiful woman. Although, her appearance did not change. It was most likely the bump to her head creating an illusion of a change in her appearance. Now that her character feels and thinks she looks beautiful, she lands her dream job and acts in new ways that unlock her. This movie illustrates that when we feel confident in our skin, we feel empowered and live without limitations and self-consciousness, and a life without those is a life I’d buy a ticket to.

“Beauty is just an energy that someone eliminates.”

- Gisele Bündchen

Beauty can be expressed in many ways, such as how we carry ourselves through gestures, mannerisms, demeanor, language, sensuality, embracing our femininity, posture, and walking. It’s paying attention to the details, such as a spritz of perfume, the hairstyle that compliments your face shape, make-up that extenuates your best features, and curating your clothing pieces to express who you are. Your natural beauty can be nurtured by prioritizing health, skincare, grooming, pampering yourself with an at-home spa day, supplements, colorful food, water, and movement so that you glow with vibrancy. An essential part of all of doing these things and paying attention to these details is not meant to be a chore, yet another thing to add to a glow-up checklist, to buy a bunch of products and blow your money, or to follow in the footsteps of what makes someone else beautiful.

I like to think of it as if you are playing around with a new recipe. You are figuring out and having fun with the ingredients of your hair, make-up, style, skincare, and nourishment of your body. See what creates your unique flavor and brings out the best of it. Add one ingredient at a time and build it up into your masterpiece. No one is grading you here, and there are no right or wrong rules. While it takes time and discipline to develop a new recipe, it is easier to do that than live without feeling great in your skin. In my opinion, when you are not feeling confident, it shows up in every aspect of your life. You are walking around with this anger, self-loathing, pure annoyance, and irritability. It's because you aren’t doing what you know you must do to feel at best, which will show up consciously and subconsciously. Some ways might get you stuck in the Venus fly trap of jealousy, anxiety, comparison, self-imposed limitations, and lack. I think we've all been there one time or another, and it brings out insecurities we may have had since we were young. When we are surrounded by and look for beauty and indulge in what makes us feel that way, it's only a matter of time before we will start to see ourselves as an expression of beauty in the world, too, and the negativity we've felt chained down by will dissipate.

“when your inner essence is not whole with the ingredients that ignite your heart, beauty will not be yours.”

Out of everything I've learned after reading about beauty, it is so much more than the superficial standard we are sold. You can do all the things on the outside, and believe me, I've bought all the products, and when your inner essence is not whole with the ingredients that ignite your heart, beauty will not be yours. I found that it is a way of living, and beauty will breathe through us when our heart is ignited with passion, creativity, playfulness, warmth, humor, grace, kindness, and gratitude and when we hold inner peace and embody love. A wonderful thing is we get to choose what the embodiment of all those things looks like. When we sit down and find a better way to work through the obstacles that keep us from the lightness in our hearts and take a moment to get reacquainted, trust, and accept ourselves, we can open many doors to a more fulfilling life. Beautiful people may not look like the status quo, but when they are in your presence, they light up that room in ways you cannot put your finger on, making them remarkably stunning. The tending of their hearts and others, their soul and character shining through their eyes, captivates you.

Uncovering Beauty is a case study and I want it to be a place where it can help you break free from that Venus fly trap that keeps you stuck. As I unpack the layers of beauty throughout the Uncovering Beauty collection on my blog, I hope each piece I write will help you connect the dots to make the picture you did not see so clearly before. I hope that gives you the tools and inspiration you need while you are having fun cultivating your flavor of beauty that results in your unique essence within you that radiates out. In a world that is always showing us that we don't measure up to the ideal ever-changing standards, my wish for you is for once in your life that you feel good enough and don't feel the need to compare anymore because you know what beauty means to you from now on because you created it yourself. From my heart to yours, I hope you finally feel beautiful.