verstimulated, over-reactive, over-opinionated, overwhelmed. Sometimes modern life, especially now it’s so often spent online, can
just feel a bit much.
Perhaps more than at any other time in human history, the ability to develop healthy boundaries and make a conscious, daily choice to absorb only what is nourishing and positive, while deflecting the negative, has become a vital life skill.
As the saying goes, it helps to have a thick skin. But perhaps the notion of having a healthy skin barrier is equally important. We can achieve this through properly protecting our skin, with products such as CeraVe’s ceramide-rich moisturisers, and by taking the time and effort to truly take care of body and mind.
O
Julia Molony meets two joyful influencers who’ve learned how to hold on to all the good stuff
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PHOTOGRAPHY: Amber Grace Dixon FOR BRIDGE STUDIO. Photography assistant: Bradley Polkinghorne.
MAKE-Up artist: Zara Findlay using Bobbi Brown.
STYLING: Sasha Barrie. Hair: Marcia Lee. Nails: Lucy Tucker
Healthy
barrier,healthy
Self-love is a journey, with many pit stops on the way
It sits beautifully underneath my foundation, giving my skin a glow that lasts, no matter how busy my day has been
skin
No two women embody the art of focusing on the positive in order to stay mentally strong and balanced better than Felicity Hayward and Mia Maugé.
Both are thought leaders on social media. Both are tackling oppressive beauty standards in their own way. Daily, they brave the slings and arrows of social media, and come out smiling.
Hayward is a plus-size model and body-positivity pin-up who shares her creed of joyful self-acceptance with almost 300,000 followers on Instagram. The hashtag she invented, #selflovebringsbeauty has become her personal motto.
But self-love hasn’t always come naturally to her. “It’s a journey, with many pit stops on the way,” Hayward says over a video call.
Growing up, she was aware her body type did not fall into conventional representations of beauty. But she was lucky to have learned the value of self-expression through fashion from her beloved nan, who died earlier this year. “My nan was such a powerful force in my life,” she says. “I always had big legs, I always had a big bum, but she taught me resilience… I’ve always had the thought in the back of my mind, my nan would like this, I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”
Felicity Hayward
Lucy Stride
Entrepreneur
By Sophie Jarvis
*Based on internal Bobbi Brown data, October 2020 to October 2021
Shop CeraVe Moisturisers now at superdrug.com
Cream ribbed-knit cashmere peplum sweater, Altuzarra. Earrings, Lucy’s own, Maria Tash
Ivory silk tuxedo dress, Winser London. The Phoenician 24-carat gold-plated earrings, Alighieri
Julia Molony meets two joyful influencers who’ve learned how to hold on to all the good stuff
By Sophie Jarvis
‘and i’m
feeling
good’
agE of elegance
Julia Molony meets two joyful influencers who’ve learned how to hold on to all the good stuff
By Sophie Jarvis
‘and i’m
feeling
good’
agE of elegance
The model
mindset
For Mia Maugé, making the radical decision in her fifties to stop dyeing her hair launched her on an entirely unexpected new career direction as a model and influencer. Embracing her natural grey at the suggestion of her teenage daughters forced her to confront a deep-seated fear of ageing that she had internalised since childhood. She dreaded going grey, not because she hated the colour but because of what it represented: “Me being over the hill, past it. Undesirable, irrelevant – because that’s what I had been taught for decades.”
More than
skin deep
The experience prompted her to question a broader culture of shame around visible signs of ageing. “Anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle, anti-sagging,” she says of the messages directed at women by the media. “Everything I was seeing was anti-me. It was anti-everything that I actually was in my natural state. That is not a healthy place to be mentally.”
Maugé has resolutely rejected the concept of anti-ageing. The adversity she has experienced over the course of her life – growing up mixed race in London in the Seventies, losing her father at a young age, and experiencing a traumatic accident in a nightclub which left her with a serious facial injury in her twenties – have, she says, helped forge her resilient spirit. “I went through a little period of ‘why me?’ and then I just morphed into this strong person,” she says. “I’m very solution-based. If there is a problem, I’m very much ‘how can we fix this?’ That’s empowering. You find empowerment in finding solutions.”
While her activism gives her a sense of purpose and keeps her motivated, in recent years she’s learned the importance of taking time out to replenish. “I’m a big advocate of taking care of yourself before you give.” For her, that can include something as simple as her daily skincare routine. “It’s key in my wellbeing. I really enjoy it. The feeling of just applying product and taking that moment, it feels nurturing.
I take my time and I have a little moment to myself. I really enjoy it.”
Nourish your skin
to nourish your soul
In order to feel balanced, healthy and well on the inside, it’s vital to provide the right nourishment for the mind, body and soul.
The same is true for our body’s largest organ, our skin, but luckily this has its own natural brick wall called the skin barrier, protecting it from harmful elements and holding on to the moisture it needs.
Keeping this barrier healthy is one of the most important things you can do to keep skin looking supple, hydrated and fresh.
When your skin barrier is compromised, skin is weakened and becomes more susceptible to damage from external stressors such as environmental irritants, excess heat and cold, and UV rays. Clues that this barrier has been compromised or is damaged include skin that appears dehydrated or irritated and inflamed. It might also look rough and uneven, or could feel dry and itchy.
CeraVe moisturisers are developed with dermatologists and formulated with three essential ceramides to help protect the skin’s natural barrier. These three ceramides are also identical to those naturally produced in the skin. In healthy skin, ceramides form part of the protective glue within the skin barrier, locking in moisture and keeping out impurities.
Hayward endures constant criticism as a result of her attention-grabbing style, both online and in real life. But the haters only serve to strengthen her resolve. “The more people troll, the more I understand that there is so much more education that needs to be done,” she says.
For Hayward, self-love starts with self-care – making space for things that invoke the pleasure of being alive. For her, the “dopamine hits” include walks with rescue dog Matcha and wild swimming at the tide pool in Margate. She fills her environment with things that bring her joy: beautiful fragrances, crystals and uplifting music.
Mia Maugé
I’m a big advocate of taking care of yourself before
you give
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at bobbibrown.co.uk and book your
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Healthy
skin
healthy
life
Healthy
barrier,healthy
skin