Luminous Rose

A little while ago I received an email inquiry: ‘Are you interested in selling your building?’

This question seemed to have come out of nowhere but cosmically speaking it was right on time. I am currently in my closing Saturn square. This happens around age 51-52 for EVERYONE.

For a long time, I've been trying to define Luminous Rose. Am I a skincare company? A retail store? An astrologer? Do the workshops and gatherings fit into any of that? I think I've been trying to put the business into a box because somewhere along the way I decided that I needed to be able to define it. And if I'm being truthful, some of that came from my own beliefs about what a successful business should look like and some of it came from expectations I've picked up from the world around me.

Every 7 years, Saturn creates tension. Around 51-52 we are being asked the following:

✓ What structures in my life are still meaningful?
✓ What direction feels more authentic moving forward?
✓ What responsibilities or roles feel complete?

It’s about adjustment at this stage of life.

This building is probably the best example of this. When we bought it, I wasn't even planning to open a store. I needed to get my formulation lab out of my house. That was it. But then we found this beautiful old building with large windows with so much character and history. We created this beautiful space and I thought, why not open a storefront too?

Then people started asking when I was open, so I started opening more. And there were Saturdays when I would sit there in this gorgeous space on a beautiful summer day and hardly anyone would come in. I would go home feeling bad about it. Not because the building wasn't serving a purpose but because I had started believing it was supposed to be doing more.

But here's the thing: I make my skincare here. I see astrology clients here. I host circles, workshops and pop-ups here. I open my doors when it feels aligned. People don't generally stumble upon Luminous Rose while they're out shopping. They intentionally come here. I'm a destination business and when I finally allowed myself to admit that, a lot started making sense.

We do this to ourselves in so many ways. We decide what success should look like, what our careers should look like, how productive we should be, how much money we should make, what our relationships should look like, what we should have accomplished by a certain age. Some of those expectations come from other people and from society. But eventually we internalize them so deeply that they start sounding like our own voice.

At some point, we have to be willing to question the expectations we've inherited and the ones we've created for ourselves. We have to ask whether we're still moving toward something because we truly want it or because we've been telling ourselves for so long that we should.

By the way, I am NOT selling the building. I love this space.

The purpose of this Saturn transit is essentially a reality check: what’s working? What is sustainable? And how can I stand in my OWN authority without outsourcing it.

This could be what this whole thing was here to remind me of.
We don't always need to become more. Sometimes we need to become more ourselves.

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I am hosting an in-person workshop on Saturn on Oct 17. If you would like to learn more about your own personal Saturn placement or where you are within the cycles of Saturn, this workshop is for you! We will then craft our own anointing Body Oil to help us strengthen our own boundaries in who we are becoming. Info in the comments!

For decades, Big Skincare has run the exact same playbook:

Convince women that their changing, maturing skin is a "problem" or a failure.

Sell them a synthetic, chemically-laden illusion in a bottle to "fix" it.

We are told to fight our lines. We are sold multi-step routines packed with toxic synthetic fragrances and harsh chemical fillers~ all hidden behind greenwashed marketing labels that claim to offer eternal youth.

It’s time to call it what it is: corporate gaslighting.

The lines on your face are not a design flaw. Your complexion responds to your stress, your hormones, your environment~and the seasons of the sky you were born under. As we transition through our seasons, our skin doesn't need to be aggressively stripped or chemically frozen. It needs to be deeply nourished, respected and met with true devotion.

I founded Luminous Rose to give women an alternative: skincare made with absolute transparency. I don't use vague botanical metaphors or hide toxic shortcuts under the word "fragrance." I formulate every single small batch myself, calculating precise dermal limits so your skin gets exactly what it needs to thrive naturally, healthily and radiantly.

Aging isn't something to fix. It is a powerful, sacred transition. It’s time to stop letting corporate boardrooms dictate how we feel about our own faces.

Let's ditch the anti-aging gaslighting and choose honest formulation instead.

Last night I opened our century-old barn to 15 incredible women.

There’s a story behind this barn. It was built in 1913 by a German farmer who, according to the story, built it to attract a wife.

More than a century later, we gathered there under candlelight and shared a nourishing meal prepared by Chef Lauren from The Vibrant Veg . We shared stories, laughter and pieces of ourselves.

After dinner, we sat in circle and one theme kept rising to the surface:

Our presence matters.

Meet my most concentrated facial treatment yet. ✨

This nourishing pressed serum melts into a rich balm that instantly softens dry skin while using plant-derived collagen to visibly firm and plump fine lines.The secret? Lupine Flower Extract.

Rich in active lupeol sourced straight from the seeds, this powerhouse botanical naturally boosts collagen synthesis to restore bouncy, youthful elasticity.

Safe to say, it’s the upgrade your skincare routine has been waiting for. I use this in the evening and let the goodness regenerate my skin while I sleep!

(Pro tip: A little goes a very long way!)
https://www.luminousrosebeauty.com/moisturize?scrollToProduct=night-recovery-pressed-serum

When we build something out of our own survival, it stops being just a business. It becomes a sanctuary.

For a long time, I thought my life’s work was to hold together things that were trying to break. I thought love meant over-functioning~ being the one who could handle everything, give more, do more and take care of whatever needed taking care of.

The truth is, healing didn't come from finally figuring out how to fix everything around me. It came when I realized I had to choose myself.

When I look at Luminous Rose now, I see so much of that journey in it. I took this part of myself that had always wanted to nurture and care for others and I started bringing some of that care back home to myself. I made something with my own hands.

In a way, I mothered myself in the places where I needed it most.

Luminous Rose was born out of my need to put care into something I truly believe in. I wanted to build something that could help others but on a foundation that didn't require me to run on empty.

I realized that my ability to nurture was a gift. It wasn't something I just give away and it wasn't my job to keep giving until there was absolutely nothing left of me. That realization changed the way I created. It changed what I allowed into my life. I started caring deeply about what I was giving my energy to. And I built from there.

This is why skincare feels so meaningful to me. It’s a small, personal act of care. You wash your face. You put something on your skin. You slow down for a minute and just pay attention. Sometimes these tiny acts are where we begin finding our way back to ourselves. Your skincare routine is not a chore but actually a boundary.

I think so many of us spend years waiting for an apology, an explanation or some kind of outcome from the situations that hurt us. But eventually, you realize your closure can't live in someone else's hands. It has to come from you.

I've been a little quiet here lately.

My attention has been pulled toward other things~ what we're willing to protect, what matters to us and what happens when we decide to speak up about something that matters.

And I've been thinking about how much that actually has to do with Luminous Rose.

Because maybe this was never just about skincare.

I've been thinking about what it means to care for ourselves when we're constantly being asked to care about everything else.

What if caring for yourself isn't selfish? or tending to your body isn't vanity? What if aging isn't something to apologize for?

What if beauty could be about something other than becoming acceptable to someone else?

I've been thinking about tending.

To~ a body, a life, a community, a relationship, a future.

And I've realized I want more of that.

I want to talk about women in midlife and what happens to us as we age. About beauty, but also about what we're being sold and what we're putting on our bodies. I want to share deeply about astrology and meaning. About the things we're willing to protect. About coming back to ourselves.

I think I've outgrown the map that used to tell me where I was supposed to go.

I'm learning to make my own.

And Luminous Rose gets to grow with me.

I don't have to make Luminous Rose me.
I don't have to make astrology me.
I am the person.

And the work gets to be an expression of who I'm becoming.

So I'm not coming back to Luminous Rose.
I'm coming FORWARD with it.

Luminous Rose gets to change as I change. And maybe some of you are changing too.

What does the woman who no longer abandons herself want to build?

That's a question I'm sitting with right now. ❤️

Last week, I posted on Maria Henry Astrology about Mars. I wrote about how the house and sign where your natal Mars lives is the exact blueprint of where your raw courage resides. It’s easy to write those words behind a screen. It’s a lot harder to live them.

Today, I stepped out of my comfort zone and hosted my very first live pop-up astrology event.

I’m going to be completely honest with you all: I was absolutely terrified.

Even after 5 years of deep study, my inner critic screamed that I wasn't ready, that I didn't know enough to do this many readings back-to-back. This was my Mars moment. Courage isn't the absence of fear; it's your heart beating fast and choosing to move forward anyway.

I took a deep breath, dropped the perfectionism and trusted the universe.

I ended up reading for 11 incredible human beings back-to-back. We looked at life purposes, we unraveled deep psychological projections and we connected on a soul level. It wasn't seamless but it was beautifully real. I walked away energized, deeply humbled and reminded of why I fell in love with astrology.

To anyone waiting until they feel "100% prepared" to chase their dream: you will never feel ready. Your courage is waiting for you on the other side of your comfort zone.

Chase it. Your chart already gave you permission. 🔥

There is a quieter side to running an artisan skincare brand that isn't always mentioned. It’s the complexity, the tracking of shipments across oceans and the refusal to take the easy way out.

To be honest, it would be much easier~ and cheaper~ to buy mass-produced ingredients from a corporate bulk broker. A corporate brand would do exactly that to maximize profit margins.

But Luminous Rose has never been a corporate identity.

When I look for ingredients, I am looking for the soul of the plant. That’s why I bypass massive commercial brokers to work with small, family-run, specialized suppliers who build direct ties with independent growers and distillers. They treat harvests with reverence, not just as numbers on a spreadsheet.

For example: It’s why I source our organic Damask Rose hydrosol directly from the south of France.

It would be simpler to use synthetic rose fragrance mixed with standard water. But true, authentic hydrosol requires a slow, traditional steam-distillation process that coaxes out the living, soothing micro-droplets of the rose. It carries the heritage of the soil, the sun and centuries of artisan craft.

The logistics of overseas sourcing can be incredibly complex. There are customs delays, seasonal variations and unpredictable timelines. But every single obstacle is worth it.

I do this because I believe that what you put on your skin matters. If I am asking you to use these products as a ritual to tend to yourself, then the ingredients inside them must be treated with that same tenderness and respect from the very earth they grew in.

Every bottle you hold is a map of deep intention, global connections and a refusal to settle for mass production. You deserve nothing less than that level of care. 🌹

A few weeks ago I was at a communal table at The Deliciouser (an amazing restaurant in Madison, WI) ~ the kind of place where you end up shoulder to shoulder with strangers. The woman next to me asked what I did.

"I'm a skincare formulator," I said. "...and an astrologer."

Then, before she could even react, I did what I always do. "I know ~ weird combo. They don't really go together."

She didn't miss a beat. "I'm a chef and a singer," she said. "Those two really don't go together either. I don't care." 🙂

I've been thinking about that sentence: 'I don't care."

Because I've been apologizing for the astrologer in me since the day I started studying charts. Explaining her away before anyone could ask. Making her smaller and more palatable so the formulator could stay credible. The formulator in me studies what’s beneath the surface. The astrologer in me studies what’s beneath the soul.

Both are forms of healing. Both are forms of listening. BOTH ARE FORMS OF BEAUTY.