Luminous Rose

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.

When AI does its homework, Luminous Rose comes out on top! ✨
I love it when a customer asks the tough questions about ingredients and ‘clean’ beauty. A customer shared this screenshot today after doing some research!

To be ranked #1 for transparency alongside some MASSIVE brands is the ultimate compliment.

I promise to continue keeping it real for your skin! 🌹

I had my pop‑up today… and there was a line at checkout.

An actual line. 😂😂✌️

And two of my products sold out completely.

For a small business, that’s not just “a good day.” It’s a feeling I don’t have words for. 😭

I started this business long ago. I'm formally trained. I built every formula by hand with ingredients I believe in completely. And I've never taken a shortcut—I'm literally going up against big skincare.

Thank you to everyone who showed up today~ in-person and online. You make this work feel meaningful 💖

[you still have until midnight tonight to save!]

The doors are open. 🌹

Today only — we're celebrating with a summer pop-up, two new launches, and a special offer just for today.

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 $𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝟐𝟎% 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐧-𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟏𝟎 𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝟐 𝐏𝐌 𝐚𝐭 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝐍 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐨𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭, 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐨. 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

No code needed — discount applies automatically at checkout.

This is the kind of thing my email community gets first. Consider this your invitation to join us. 🌹

Homemade blackberry treats in-store and two new launches waiting for you.

[Link below]

Twelve years ago today, I lost my mom.

In astrology, twelve years is one Jupiter cycle. A complete revolution. The planet of expansion, wisdom and new beginnings returning to exactly where it was the day she left.

It feels significant this year in a way it hasn't before.

Because something has completed.

My mom and I had a complicated relationship. But what I know now — standing at the age she was when she believed her time had passed — is that I have spent this Jupiter cycle becoming someone she never got to meet.

She couldn't break through where she was.

I have.

Not perfectly. Not without pain. But I have spoken when I was afraid. I have built something when I was uncertain. I have refused to stay quiet when everything in me wanted to shrink.

In my birth chart I carry her Mars — her iron will, her conviction, her fierce refusal to be silent ~ conjunct the very foundation of my birth chart. She is literally written into my bones.

As a child I would feel the weight of that.

Now I feel the gift.

Wherever she is, I can feel what became of the seed she planted. The elderberries. The plants. The iron fist she handed me that I learned to open.

I am still learning. But I am no longer waiting for permission to begin.

To my community — thank you for witnessing this journey. You give me permission to be human in this work. And I hope in return I give you permission to be exactly where you are in yours.

Healing isn't a straight line. But it is real.

And sometimes it takes one full Jupiter cycle to feel it. 🌹

Phenoxyethanol is everywhere. This is a preservative used extensively in 'natural' skincare.

Cleansers, serums, moisturizers — even products labeled “clean,” “natural” and “botanical.” And most women have no idea what it actually is.

Here’s what a trained formulator knows:

✦︎ Phenoxyethanol is synthetic.
✦︎ Not plant‑derived.
✦︎ Not botanical.

It’s made by reacting phenol (petroleum‑derived) with ethylene oxide (a known carcinogenic gas). The final ingredient is considered safe at low levels — but the origin story is nowhere near the clean image the industry sells.

And it often hides under names like:
✦︎ 2‑Phenoxyethanol
✦︎ Ethylene glycol monophenyl ether
✦︎ Phenoxytol
✦︎ Rose ether (the most misleading one)

Why is it everywhere?
Because it’s cheap, effective and sounds less scary than parabens.

That’s marketing — not formulation.

What formal training teaches (that marketing doesn’t):
✦︎ The EU caps it at 1% for a reason
✦︎ It can irritate dry, sensitive and mature skin
✦︎ It’s a sensitizer — irritation builds slowly over time
✦︎ It’s almost always paired with ethylhexylglycerin, which increases both efficacy and irritation

No one is calculating the cumulative exposure when it’s in everything you use daily.

My stance as a formulator:
𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘅𝘆𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗹 — 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗹, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗿𝘆, 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

The real problem isn’t the ingredient.

It’s the dishonesty around it — the natural‑washed language, the “botanical” branding, the quiet ingredient list that doesn’t match the loud front label.

Your skin deserves better than that. 🌹

There’s a part of entrepreneurship we don’t talk about enough:

What it feels like when someone takes pieces of your early journey and tries to build themselves from it ~ without ever acknowledging you.

What it feels like to be unseen in the very places you poured your heart.

❤️‍🩹 It’s a strange kind of grief.
❤️‍🩹 A strange kind of anger.
❤️‍🩹 A strange kind of invisibility.

I’ve experienced this.

Someone stepping into my origin story and acting as if they discovered it themselves.

Someone wanting access to my knowledge, my training, my process… but never wanting to recognize the years I invested to get here.

For a long time, it felt like a threat. (Some days it still does.)

Now I understand it's a wound.

💔 A wound around being unseen.
💔 A wound around being unacknowledged.
💔 A wound around watching a chapter of my story walk away in someone else’s hands.

This year, I’m RECLAIMING MY story.

I’m reclaiming the path I carved with my own hands and heart.

My own authenticity ~ the part of me that is completely mine.

I’m reclaiming the identity I built through training, mastery and evolution.

I am just now learning how to accept myself fully.

I am learning what it means to practice radical self‑acceptance ~ to stand in who I am without shrinking, without apologizing, without letting anyone else define how I began.

And I’m choosing to stand fully in the businesswoman I’ve become ~ one I built on my own, because of who I am.

If you’ve ever felt erased or overshadowed, I hope this reminds you:

🌹 Your story is yours.
🌹 Your growth is yours.
🌹 Your mastery is yours.

No one can ever take that from you.