My whole life, I have lived with an ongoing struggle with my skin. Growing up, I remember being proud of my skin color, hazelnut with a hint of orange zest. I loved the beauty mark on my forearm and the luminous glow my skin gave off like a firefly in the summer. But as I grew older, I began to encounter several challenges with my skin, mostly due to allergies, eczema, acne and keloid scars.

Being a plus-size Black woman in Venezuela, I have been through a very interesting process of self-awareness of my body shape, how I look from the inside to the outside. This process has brought me greater self-awareness of the meaning of being a Latino American Black woman. I started feeling passionate about this subject when I was a kid.

When Layla and Mya started their business, Suga Babes, in April 2012, they had one dream - to sell sugar scrubs online to family and friends.

For someone who spends her lunch hour lurking around beauty shops and returns to work with swatched arms, the Indie Beauty Expo (IBE) is my literal heaven. Having stumbled upon it last year through a co-worker’s suggestion, I made sure to attend this year’s as well.

Having  good skin that doesn’t need to be filtered with VSCO, Instagram, FaceTune, or whatever other enhancing apps that exist, is something a lot of us desire. Not to say we don’t love these apps or filters, but that not-so-humble filterless brag on social media about “minding your business and drinking water” to maintain your healthy skin is goals for many of us desiring perfect skin.

A few weeks ago, I came across a custom botanic perfume making workshop hosted by Aba Love Apothecary. The workshop involved making your own perfumes using essential oils extracted from plants. As an individual who enjoys perfumes, the selling point was using non-synthetic fragrances to develop my own, personal fragrance.