Hi! I’m Rebecca Mockaitis, PR Manager and model, and I am proud to be a member of the Inner Beauty Cosmetics team. I found this brand—or you could say this brand found me in an unconventional way—when I was working as an elementary school art teacher and model. I heard a new clean cosmetics line was looking for models, and while that was nothing I hadn’t heard before, this brand was different: They were looking for models that were cancer survivors, had autoimmune disease, fertility struggles and/or pregnant. I checked every box!
Sure, many cosmetic lines pride themselves on being clean, but this one was developed by a woman whose background in cosmetic product development and MS diagnosis challenged her to create a line that not only performed, but was safe for sensitive bodies, like hers. This line is for everyone, but she wanted women to represent it who prioritized the safest formulas to put on their skin. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have qualified. But a few life-altering events have led me to make very careful decisions about what products I choose for my body.
After being married for a couple of years, I still was struggling with infertility. I didn’t understand why someone young and perfectly healthy would have this issue, so I kept it to myself and was disappointed month after month with each negative test. When I thought I finally became pregnant, my doctor said those symptoms I was feeling were actually due to a rare and rapidly growing cancer that she discovered in my thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes. Ultrasound and biopsy confirmation also revealed an autoimmune disorder. This would be enough of a whirlwind on its own, but it was being told to put my baby plans on hold that hurt the most.
I felt scared knowing there was something toxic in my body. I wanted to carry a baby, not cancer. It was important to me to get it out as soon as possible. A few months later, I underwent a total thyroidectomy to remove the lump, my thyroid, and lymph nodes but it didn’t guarantee that everything cancerous was gone. My oncologist also recommended that I receive radiation to kill any remaining cancer cells.
The treatment for my specific type of cancer involved ingesting radioactive iodine. To prepare, I had to stick to a diet to deprive my body of iodine, which caused me to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. It turns out there is iodine in everything. After receiving the radioactive iodine, I was quarantined for a week due to being physically radioactive. Again—not the ideal time for a baby. I was told again to wait to try to conceive.
During this time I committed myself to rehabilitation and a healthy lifestyle. I already exercised regularly and ate well and mostly stuck to clean products, but I always seemed stumped by makeup. Either they performed but the ingredients list was miles long and questionable, or the products were “all natural” but chalky, flaky, poorly pigmented and did not look good on my skin. I decided to give up on makeup for a while and just focus on fertility. Eventually I became pregnant!
This is when I met Julie. Julie is more than just the brand founder; she is someone who deeply cares about this population of sensitive bodies because she lives it.
To say I also have a sensitive body is an understatement! From struggling to conceive, to cancer, autoimmune disorder, pregnancy, and now being a nursing mother of an infant… my need for clean products has only increased. We shared our stories over the phone and she visited me in my home with some samples (and a gift for my baby). The rest is history!
Julie works with a team of doctors, chemists and toxicologists to develop each of the formulas for Inner Beauty, so not only am I confident that the formulas are safe, but I actually feel confident that the products look good on me, too. It’s amazing that something so beautiful can be born of such challenges, and it’s an honor to be a part of something so transformative as Inner Beauty Cosmetics.
Share your story to be featured on the blog by emailing us at pr@innerbeautycosmetics.com.
]]>Hey there!
I’m Sandra Zhang, student and model living in New York City. I was so happy when Inner Beauty Cosmetics launched, because even though clean beauty is in, I had never found one that prides themselves to be safe enough to use for women who had cancer, pregnant, and had autoimmune diseases. I thought that was absolutely incredible!
As an eczema sufferer, I find it almost impossible to try skincare and makeup products that have ingredients that don’t flare up my skin. Eczema is quite a complicated skin condition that varies from person to person, but mine in particular is caused by fragrances, air quality, and various natural/synthetic ingredients—this actually means that I can never know if I'm going to get a bad reaction from a product until after I use it. With that being said, modeling makes it almost impossible to not come in contact with products that do not irritate my skin. After almost every photo shoot, I would have to deal with the after-effects of having various irritating and unknown toxic chemicals on my skin.
On top of eczema, my skin type is also sensitive. This combination of eczema and sensitive skin makes finding the right products quite a struggle! After finding out about Inner Beauty Cosmetics, their story, and their purpose, I was immediately drawn to it and jumped on the opportunity to try them out!
Knowing that each formula is developed with a professional team of chemists, doctors, and toxicologists makes me feel confident in using them.
Not only are the products formulated especially for those with sensitivities, they are tested by dermatologists to be safe for sensitive skin too. I’m so happy that I can use every single one of their products and I look forward to seeing more wonderful products come out!
Best,
Sandra Zhang, Model
February 22, 2020
Share your story to be featured on the blog by emailing us at pr@innerbeautycosmetics.com.
]]>Hi! I’m Holly Bowen, a Holistic Nutritionist, currently pursuing my Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner Certification. As someone with an autoimmune disease (I have Multiple Sclerosis), I know how important it is to take care of our bodies by eating right, reducing our toxic load and prioritizing stress management all while going above and beyond to not get sick, because the truth is, when we don’t take these things seriously, our body becomes more vulnerable to an attack on our immune system.
So, with the recent spread of COVID-19, I’ve been making sure not to skip on taking care of myself, ensuring that I do my best to keep myself healthy during this worldwide pandemic. Knowing that Inner Beauty goes above and beyond to put health first, I was so honored when they asked to me to share about the measures I have been taking to give me the best chance at avoiding the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Holly Bowen, Holistic Nutritionist
March 30, 2020
Share your story to be featured on the blog by emailing us at pr@innerbeautycosmetics.com.
]]>Hi, I’m Brooke.
I’m a certified nutritionist, founder of nutrition & lifestyle brand Lovewell, model and new mama. With all of those titles, it can be a challenge to balance daily life, and even more challenging to do so in a mindful, healthy way. I’d like to share with you how I came to know Inner Beauty Cosmetics and how this brand has made my mom-preneur journey a little easier and definitely cleaner.
For more than 12 years, I worked in front of the camera, modeling and acting. As talent, it was always vital for me to keep up with appearances. I paid top dollar for cosmetics and skincare that would give me the results I needed to maintain a “camera-ready” appearance. I worked out. I ate well. After becoming a nutritionist, I invested even more time and energy into creating a healthy lifestyle. So you can imagine my surprise when I became pregnant and learned that many of my “#modelife” and “#wellness” choices were actually pregnancy-health no-no’s.
It was time to make a healthy change. It was time to clean things up. My plan? Remove any and everything that’s not pregnancy-safe from my lifestyle.
As a nutritionist, making changes to my diet was the easy part. I read one book on prenatal nutrition and the rest was history. However, when it came to self-care, skin care and beauty, I was a little lost. As I began my quest for pregnancy-safe beauty, the first thing I learned from my research was that there's so much “junk” in the products we buy to care for ourselves. I also learned that many of the products being marketed as “healthy” or “natural” contain harsh chemicals that aren’t good for my health—or my baby’s. I sifted through all of my products. I felt like I was throwing away everything! However, after a couple of months, I began to find my happy place with pregnancy-safe products.
That “happy-place” looked something like this:
Keeping this list in mind helped me navigate my personal care during pregnancy and I still use this same list as a compass for purchases as a breastfeeding mom.
Because of its clean, pregnancy-safe ingredient list, Inner Beauty Cosmetics has become a staple in both my self-care and beauty routines. I can rely on the products to perform well—I enjoy wearing the Skin Tint Foundation for work or running an errand; it feels like nothing, like skin! I love to layer on the Stay Calm Lip Balm + Primer and Shine Infusion Lip Oil at the end of my skincare routine as a bit of a “lip treat".
Brooke Slade
Model + Certified Nutritionist | Founder, Lovewell Nutrition Co.
May 10, 2020
Share your story to be featured on the blog by emailing us at pr@innerbeautycosmetics.com.
]]>Hi! I’m Rebecca. October is very important to me because it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I’m a Triple Negative Breast Cancer Survivor. I just recently celebrated my 5 year anniversary of being cancer-free. I get nervous saying that out loud (as much a want to scream it from the rooftops!).
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was 35 years old, living life with my husband and two sons (ages 7 and 3 at the time). I was excited about just getting hired at my new job that I was about to start as a Speech/Language Pathologist when it all came to a grinding halt.
My life saving treatment included a double mastectomy, eight rounds of some of the toughest chemo therapy there is, and reconstruction. Before cancer, I always tried to look and feel pretty. But there just isn’t room for that when you’re fighting for your life. Nothing is pretty about it. Nothing. How do you put mascara on your one little eyelash that is holding on for dear life? How do you draw eyebrows when there are absolutely none there at all? Do you wear a wig, a hat, or scarf on your bald head today? And let’s not forget the main event: my chest. What was that? These are the things you see on the outside, but what about the parts you can’t see, like what is going on inside your body and your mind? It was a completely life-altering time.
I’m so very lucky that I have the best family and friends who swooped in to do things I will never forget. Their love literally held me up in the toughest battle of my life. I’m not so sure I’d be here if it weren’t for every single one of them.
Right after my mastectomy and just as I was starting chemo, I found out about “Unite for HER,” a beautiful foundation with a beautiful founder (Sue Weldon) who knows what it’s like to fight the fight. UFH provides complementary therapies (yoga, massage, clean eating and cooking, clean beauty, counseling, the list goes on and on) for those going through breast and ovarian cancer at no cost to the recipient. I learned a lot about “good for you” nutrition and beauty—like the safe, clean makeup products from Inner Beauty Cosmetics — through UFH. They educated me (and continue to do so) in keeping my life healthy. They do such wonderful things and continue to have a little piece of my heart.
Because these two companies align in their shared vision for delivering safe cosmetics to all women— including those battling cancer and cancer survivors — Inner Beauty is donating a portion of their proceeds to Unite for HER this month. How amazing is that?!
I’m very interested in clean beauty products. I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but let’s be honest, I’m 40 and I want to look and feel my best without compromising my health.
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