Monika Joshi

Growing up in Mumbai, India and New York City, I was certainly no stranger to a lightning-speed lifestyle, sleep deprivation and pollution! But add 13 years on Wall Street and my brain was fried, my body was fatigued and my skin… let’s just say it was just as stressed and irritated as I was.

On top of that, my skin was highly sensitive and prone to blemishes. I frequently got rosacea, adding ruddiness and heat to my already fragile skin. Plus—like mother like daughter—my little one also suffered from sensitive skin, which would sting and flare up upon contact with products.

In 2015 my family and I moved to Chicago. I arrived with one fiery promise to myself: to heal inside and out. I owed it my family. I owed it to myself.

Determined to resurrect myself, I harnessed all the energy I’d previously given to work and used it to research everything and anything that came in contact with my body and skin. I examined labels and investigated skincare ingredients like my life depended on it (and in a way, it did).

I was shocked and disappointed… not only by the 1,328 chemicals banned for use in cosmetics by the European Union (a mere 11 are banned in the U.S. for posing a threat to human health)*, but also by the fact that my skin had been suffering for so long—very, very unnecessarily.

You see, safe and natural beauty products that effect visible change are plentiful, but only if you look in the right places. I didn’t use clean beauty products for as long as I did because truly natural lines weren’t even offered in the health food stores I frequented. And sometimes, when you do find something that claims purity, it really isn’t.

Once I discovered natural—and high performing—beauty brands, I made the switch instantly. Within days of using products without harmful chemicals, my skin calmed down. Days after, my blemishes began to disappear by the droves. And after a couple of weeks, my skin was clear, uplifted and radiated with a youthful vitality.

My skin looked beautiful for the first time in my life. My skin was alive again.

I believe everyone else should experience this transformation. So now, I’m on a mission to unearth the absolute finest beauty and wellness products so that you and I, and our families, can have the crème de la crème of beauty all in one place: Art of Pure.

May you live your most luminous life!

— Monika

* Campaign for Safe Cosmetics