Why was it important to you to represent your family and your heritage and your brand?
When I close my eyes and these references come to me, it always ends up going back to my family and my Uncle Mahmood, who made essential oils in the ‘70s and ’80s. After a long path of me already working on Orebella, I found a bottle of his and everything felt like it came together full circle. Which is really craz to have this passion for something, but also knowing that my family lines were also as passionate about it as I was. I love my family so much, and I love where I came from, and I always want to be able to in any way support and acknowledge that.
What’s your favorite way to take a moment for yourself?
Before, when I was in treatment [for Lyme disease] every day, I would wake up, I do my vitamins, do all of my health ritual stuff. I would make my protein coffee and have a juice and go outside and sit next to this tree and write in my journal, my morning pages, five pages. And with that would probably trigger some poetry. I would play with my dog and be outside. That was on the off days of my treatment when I didn’t have to do anything. Now, I like to make sure that every day I do one thing that makes me feel good, and one thing that makes me feel unique or different or excited about the day, whether it is just jumping into my—I want to say a cold plunge, but it’s literally just my pool and a pipe bursted so it won’t heat up—and I jump in there in the morning and it makes me feel good.
What beauty rule do you swear by?
I stand by always washing your face before you go to sleep. A hundred percent. I have some friends that have the most beautiful skin, and [they] will literally wake up in the morning and I’ll be like, Did you just not, you didn’t wash your face? And they’re like, No. Obviously do you, because your skin is perfect. But me, if I leave my makeup on one night, I wake up and I’m breaking out. I stand by making sure I wash my face before I go to sleep every night, making sure I do my skin care, at least putting lotion on and drinking a big bottle of water.
Fill in the blank. I feel most beautiful when ____.
When I’m with the people I love, I feel confident in myself. And when I’m in the sun. Honestly, when I’m in the sun, I feel like I a hundred percent feel most beautiful.
Ariana Yaptangco is the senior beauty editor at Glamour. Follow her @arianayap.
