ABOUT ME

I knew breast cancer would have me fighting for my life, but fighting for my face? 

 

I never would have imagined how chemotherapy and radiation treatments would ravage my hair, skin, eyelashes, eye brows, not to mention the little number it did on my confidence and self-worth.  While I battled stage 3 cancer with one arm, in the other arm I balanced a full time job, bounced a newborn baby and juggled a life I fully intended on continuing.  Suddenly, the daily task of facing the day became a struggle of epic proportions.   How could I walk into the office and do my job while I worried myself sick about someone noticing my missing eyelashes and under-eye hallows?  Would my new infant daughter, only capable of recognizing shapes and vague patterns, recognize me without eyebrows? 

 

Before we get all carried away with this pity-party, I must acknowledge that some seriously excellent talk therapy and an amazing support system told me "um no, Julia, your husband and daughter will obviously still love you and it’s got nothing to do with your eyebrows."  I knew this, of course, but deep down those were the dark little questions that would haunt me at night as I desperately wished I’d magically wake up in the morning, dash to the bathroom mirror and see my former pre-cancer self staring back. 

 

Eyebrows intact or not, I had to get up and face the day, so with nothing but a bag full of expired makeup I’d had since high school, I taught myself to create the illusion of real eyebrow hairs, natural eyelashes and built an illusion that reflected the version of myself I lost to cancer.  This kicked off a deeply impassioned quest to discover the most effective and efficient beauty secrets designed to conceal, control and trick the untrained eye into no trace of debility. 

 

As I built the skills and re-discovered confidence, I started sharing what I’d learned with friends, family, and loved ones struggling with their own battles; aging, pigmentation, hair loss, hormonal changes, scars, you name it.  There’s a makeup product and a technique for it and chances are I’ve tried it.

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How could something as simple as applying makeup give us the power to survive our most destructive battles and get on with life?  Human beings have been applying makeup to our faces for thousands of years, bringing all sorts of meaning and power with every smear of a finger or stroke of a brush.  Bringing this longstanding human tradition into the modern age of daily makeup application, presenting to the rest of the world a face we recognize as our own is a pre-requisite for confidence, stability, normalcy, womanhood, motherhood, and identity. 

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Brave Beauty launched in 2019, five years after I beat the cancer that ripped a hole through my life. No matter what your battle is, I hope makeup empowerment inspires you to face the world, face first.