Tag Archives: Bold Babes

Beauty My Way: Annie Tevelin

I think you’re really going to give a hoot about today’s 312 Beauty guest. Annie Tevelin is the founder of SkinOwl, a line of pure and simple skincare. You may know her from her buzzed about Beauty Drops – little vials of skin care salvation – and if you don’t, allow me to introduce you. She’s a stunning beauty and a force of enlightenment –  I’m ready for her Ted Talk already. I picture there being a meditative group beauty steam mid-session. Annie’s guidance on how we can take small steps for bigger change in our lives is like a permission slip for us all to not be so hard on ourselves. I hope you connect with what she has to say as much as I do. And, if you also have a weakness for cute pups and pinky nude lipstick recommendations, you’ll be satisfied.

Annie Tevelin SkinOwl

What was your career like before you started Skin Owl? Was doing makeup on music video sets as exciting as it sounds?
I think I had a lot of amazing jobs, but I never felt like I had a career. SkinOwl was the first time I actually felt like I found something I wanted to do for the long haul. I was a film major in college, so moving to Los Angeles was always part of my plan. I was lucky to work with some of most incredible musicians and actors and directors during my time in that business. I feel blessed for the experience, because it ultimately led me to the world of beauty and eventually starting my own business.

You’ve built Skin Owl on a platform of selfcare, which feels really supportive. How did you land on that concept?
I think sometimes we teach what we must learn. I’ve made it my life’s work to help people, be it friends, family or strangers. I feel what people go through on an almost cellular level, which at the end of the day can be as exhausting as it is exhilarating. SkinOwl was a way for me to give back to myself while accepting that part of myself. To follow my dream in starting my own business is selfcare. To use my own handmade skincare is selfcare. To put healthy, results driven skincare into the hands of OTHER people is also selfcare. You help yourself when you help others wholeheartedly. I figured if I needed a little extra love and pampering, so did other people. There’s something beautiful about giving yourself what you need first so that you can really be there for others.

SkinOwl Candles

How do you suggest we all get to loving ourselves a little more?
I think people have this idea that change has to be grandiose to mean something. “I have to lose 20 lbs.” Or, “I need to change my job.” To me, loving ourselves is about taking baby steps; putting one toe in the water and seeing how that feels. Small changes with time can have a very big impact on your life. Loving yourself is about setting yourself up for success, not failure. If you want to quit smoking, it’s less about “I’m never smoking again,” and more about “Maybe I’ll have one less cigarette today.” It’s giving yourself the proper time to process your challenges and successes, so that you feel your life wholeheartedly.

Can you change your skin overnight?
Absolutely. Can everything you can’t stand about your skin change overnight, I’m not too sure about that. But I have experienced life-changing results with our Beauty Drops overnight. I have also dramatically changed the way I FEEL about my skin overnight. And that’s what really matters. A glimmer of hope and faith that your skin can get better is Kryptonite.

SkinOwl SkinOwl Monkey Pup

What are the ways you unwind? Any morning or night rituals?
I love hanging with my pup, Monkey, going for drives or going on walks with him around LA. Unwinding for me is about doing really simple things – changing my scenery often, cooking, taking a long shower, and steaming. I am obsessed with facial steaming. SkinOwl’s Beauty Steam has changed my skin and my outlook. It’s five minutes I get to spend alone, in silence, focusing on my breathe. I swear I feel like a different person when I’m done. Clearer, more alert, and definitely more relaxed.

What gets you through the tough moments?
I feel blessed to feel loved and accepted by the people I surround myself with. My husband, my friends, my family. They are there unconditionally. To listen, to push me, to tell me things I don’t want to always here. They are loyalty and love, in a nutshell.

SkinOwl Annie

Your eyes and smile stand out so much in every photo – what are you putting on your lips and lashes?
Wow, thank you! I use Eyes of Horus Mascara every single day. I have a lot of lashes and they are long, but I have no volume. This mascara gives me everything and I love it. As for lips, I’m a lip liner girl first, then lipstick. Stains are my go-to finish these days, as I’m awful at remembering to reapply. I love all of the bright lip tars from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. I love mixing beet juice with a little lip balm, it’s my perfect poppy pout color. My everyday color is Vapour’s Siren Lipstick in Chere.

SkinOwl Neck+

What are you working on right now for Skin Owl? Any dream launches that you’re secretly making that you can share?
We are so excited to launch our Neck+ Concentrate domestically. We launched it exclusively with Cult Beauty, based out of London, in April, and it has been bananas. It’s an area that goes unnoticed a lot of the time. It’s great to create something green AND super effective for that area. We also just launched three candles – High Tea, Gardenia, and Currant. They are absolutely intoxicating. And the vessel they are in is so feminine. They make me happy. We are currently working on something else, set to launch in September. I won’t give away too much, but it’s pretty cleansing…

Thanks, Annie!

Inspiration in Accidental Success

RMS Beauty

It was nearly five years ago. I was in New York for The Makeup Show—practically triple the size of the Chicago show that inhabits the Bridgeport Art Center every June. Inside the massive convention center was a tiny table manned by an even tinier Rose Marie Swift. Ya know, THEE RMS Beauty. Friend to Giselle. Preferred makeup artist of Victoria Secret models. Architect of the nouveau dewy J. Crew model glow. At the time, I didn’t know RMS from REM but appreciated how her kind and approachable smile lured me into conversation. I used the personal interaction to get a recommendation on skin care…by way of her makeup line. This was a time before I really understood the impact ingredients had on my skin.

I’ve always flagged this moment as one that kickstarted my passion for green beauty. Her “Un” Cover-Up and Living Luminizer were instant proof that eco-friendly did not mean ineffective. I’ve always had a serious respect for Rose Marie. Now, consider it full-blown admiration. I must have read this recent interview with Rose Marie in The Cut a dozen times. In the vein of inspiration week, let’s talk about it.

I’ll summarize with cliffnotes, but I encourage you to read in full, too…

  • Interested in curing acne? Rose Marie says load up on probiotics by the MEGA dose.
  • No one poops properly (yeah, I really heart her for giving legit advice about this topic in New York magazine)
  • She shares a dog with Miranda Kerr. And it eats sprouts.
  • When asked how she got her start in the makeup biz, she says, “I actually never wanted to be a makeup artist. I completely faked it. I still don’t want to be a makeup artist.”
  • And, if that level of honesty doesn’t shock you, consider how she responded when asked how she started RMS Beauty: “I didn’t want to create a line; I’m lazy. I started writing for the BeautyTruthsite, talking about all the chemicals in the cosmetics industry. And doing that, I actually got more work. It lifted me up to somebody who had something to say…J started looking at the pseudo-green lines that were out at the time, and was just like, This isn’t a green brand! And before I knew it I had a makeup line.”

Bless you, Rose Marie.

Between us, I always feel like such a dud when asked where do you see yourself in [insert # of years] question. I loathe that question. Sure, I have goals and vision. And in business – particularly for the entrepreneurial set – you need a plan. But, I don’t want to prescribe how my life, passion and career unfolds. And I find incredible inspiration in an accidental makeup artist turned green beauty mogul who to this DAY admits she’s “lazy” and didn’t necessarily pursue any of her success.