Our motto "Simply Luxurious. Naturally You." is something we are very passionate about at Lux & Lye. The first part is our heart for our products and the second part, "Naturally You," is our heart for our community.
Growing up in a household of 5 women, I was taught what it meant to be a woman through the powerful women in my life. I learned many amazing things about a woman's strength from my mother and grandmothers.
However, I was also taught, not as much through words, but through actions, that a woman is a source of grace and beauty, as long as she had makeup on and was dressed to impress. A phrase was jokingly thrown around "I can't leave the house without my face on." As a young girl, that lighthearted comment meant so much more. It meant that to be considered beautiful and presentable to the world, I would have to cover up.
Flash forward to college when I made sure to dress to impress with my face covered in makeup and clothes that represented the grace and professionalism I wanted the world to see me as. It was when I met my now husband that I started to realize how much my childhood shaped how I viewed myself.
When I was dating my now husband, I felt I needed to wear makeup anytime I saw him. The idea of not wearing makeup was something I had tried in the past, though anytime I showed up to class or work sans makeup I typically got the comment "Are you okay? You look tired."
These comments solidified the idea that a woman is supposed to wear makeup out and about. When my now husband would tell me I looked beautiful without makeup, and that he preferred me with no makeup, I didn't believe him. I thought he was just trying to make me feel good about myself. Today he still tells me I am beautiful and reminds me that I don't need anything on my face to be the woman he married.
It took me years of hearing him tell me that I was ENOUGH before I started to believe it, and some days I still struggle to feel enough. Yet, because of this truth that he helped me realize, I am now more confident in my body and how I choose to live in it than I ever was growing up in a household full of beautiful and strong women.
Because of how I was raised and what I was taught by the women in my life and society, I have struggled to view myself as a beautiful and strong woman from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep.
My goal with Lux & Lye is to help women, men, and everyone to recognize the true beauty they are in the skin they have. We don't choose who we are born as, but we can choose to learn to listen to what builds us up, instead of tearing us down.
We truly believe that every person is beautiful and capable of amazing things and we want to use Lux & Lye to encourage and build you up so you can live a life authentic to who you are, and not as others want you to be.
Esse Quam Videri-to BE rather than to SEEM
With love,
Natalie, Founder Lux & Lye LLC