Is Taking Care of Yourself Vanity? | Goop

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LIFESTYLE SHOWS UP ON YOUR SKIN

I am not blessed with great genetics, and there was a time where I didn’t take care of myself and was not well—and it showed: I had no energy and awful skin, and I was ill almost constantly. In my twenties, I suffered with terrible acne. In those days I ate badly, had no idea about proper skin care, and used harsh products that made my skin even worse. I had constant colds. It wasn’t until I discovered homeopathy, healthy eating, and proper skin care that all that changed.

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A GREAT SKIN ROUTINE HELPS, THOUGH

Skin care has always been a passion, and I was not blessed with good skin, so my regimen is important, and I follow it without fail.

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EAT CLEAN, WORK OUT, AND CLEANSE

Eating well, thinking well, and exercise really affect the way I look and feel. I gave up refined sugar eight years ago, and now I have a predominantly vegan diet, and I feel fantastic. I avoid alcohol, and I exercise with yoga, Pilates, outdoor cycling, and walking in the park. I love to cook early dinners (between 6:30 and 7 p.m.) and try not to eat after that. I cleanse at least four times a year at the change of every season to reset my body, and I love infrared saunas, as well as a blissful twenty-minute bath.

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YOUR THOUGHTS SHOW UP ON YOUR SKIN

Even thoughts—what we think and what we say to ourselves and others—turn out to be so important. I used to use terrible language toward myself, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve managed to shed many of my fears and gain deeper understanding, so much peace, and self-worth. What helped was shamanic work, manifestation workshops, breath workshops, looking at the past, and books like The Four Agreements.

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KEEP MAKING NEW DISCOVERIES (LIKE: DIAMONDS ARE AMAZING FOR SKIN)

We use diamond powder in our new range, and it’s incredible. It helps blur and smooth, so it’s like your filter, softening the look of your skin wherever you put it. Young skin reflects light very well, while older skin absorbs it—the diamond powder helps skin reflect a bit more light.

1. This moisturizer, which is full of active ingredients, has a rich, velvety texture, but it’s light at the same time. It sinks right in and nourishes and hydrates, with fantastic long-term results and of course the diamond powder for the blur and the glow.

   

   The Organic Pharmacy
   Rose Diamond Face Cream
   goop, $418

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2. What’s great about this cream is it addresses the whole eye area, including over the eyes up to the brow, underneath the eyes, and in between the brows. It’s got quite a few active ingredients, so it smooths and softens the look of wrinkles, dark circles, and puffiness all at once.

   

   The Organic Pharmacy
   Rose Diamond Eye Cream
   goop, $130

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3. This is the product that has highest concentration of diamond powder in it, and here, we’re using it to exfoliate—and we’ve added acids and papaya extract. It’s gentle—I’m against abrasive exfoliants that tear at your skin—but very effective.

   

   The Organic Pharmacy
   Rose Diamond Cleanser
   goop, $73

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1. 

   Cinnamon Projects
   7 AM Incense
   goop, $30

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7

COMMIT TO CLEAN

The skin is a living organ, and we absorb ingredients in creams, lotions, and potions through it. The healthier the ingredients we use, the healthier our skin. It is that simple.

When I was training as a homeopath in my twenties, I came across an article that talked about carcinogens in cosmetics and food. I had never heard of such a thing, and it surprised me. I was shocked that, for example, the apple I had always thought of as healthy had been sprayed with poisonous pesticides and herbicides with horrific side effects that no one spoke about. The pesticides were poisoning not only our bodies but also the animals, birds, and the earth. At the time, “organic” didn’t really exist in the mainstream. I was also shocked to discover that skin care could contain carcinogenic ingredients like formaldehyde, as well as estrogen-mimicking compounds, as in the preservatives known as parabens.

When I first started The Organic Pharmacy, everyone thought I was mad. I was asked all the time, “Why do we need organic skin care?” Clean didn’t exist then, and people had no idea of the harmful chemicals that can go into skin care. Twenty years later, it warms my heart to see the way the industry has shifted so much. I recently spoke to a buyer at a major retail chain who said that if a brand wasn’t clean, it would not be considered. How fantastic is that? Clean is the future. It just makes sense—it’s healthy for us and healthy for the planet.

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FOCUS ON GLOW

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GROW WITH YOUR WORK

It’s incredible to look back and see the journey and how the phases of my career—a pharmacist, a homeopath, a shaman, a CEO, and a yogi—have been so interconnected. My time as a pharmacist gave me a solid foundation in the science of herbs, the human body, and of course, formulation. As a homeopath, I learned that the basis of disease is not physical but energetic, and that for every disease, nature has a cure—you just need to find the right energetic match. It allowed me to go deep into emotional and mental issues, and to get to the root of a dis-ease. It also allowed me to understand plant medicine in a different way than I did as a pharmacist. Both are quite scientific, but they approach science from different perspectives.

I saw many clients with skin problems who had tried everything and came to me as a last resort. Through my clinic, we slowly developed topical skin salves based in homeopathic principles, and they evolved into a line.

In creating and running The Organic Pharmacy, I’ve learned that all CEOs have a much bigger role to play than running a company: We have a responsibility to be the change we want to see in the world and implement it in everything that we do. The Organic Pharmacy, for me, was and is a place of healing where I can use herbs, homeopathy, supplements, detox, and topical care.

As a shaman, I learned that shedding one’s past is critical to freedom and that rituals play an important role in this path. It allowed me to connect even more deeply with the divine mother, our earth, and to go deeper into the energetic layers of the body and access the energy available to all of us in the universe.

As a yogi, I learned the importance of movement as a daily meditation. All cultures say the same thing, as I see it: Purification of the body is fundamental (detox), nourishing the body is essential, and purifying the mind (our words and our thoughts) is crucial, as is having unconditional love for ourselves and others.

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BRING IN THE YOUNGER GENERATION

I started a company with my daughter called House of Roxy that brings shamanic work to the younger generation—there are all sorts of kits for manifestation and different kinds of rituals. She speaks to a different audience, and she’s great at keeping it fun and light and not so heavy.