Month: March 2022

Reading Between The Lines

meagenleaLeave a comment

Growing up with food allergies my Mom always taught me, “if you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t consume it”. Over the years I have been guilty of believing the fabulous marketing companies are investing in and promoting, and unfortunately there have been a few that I have fallen in love with just to find out that they are horrible and have hidden ingredients or change the name of an ingredient to make it seem like it is a clean product. Thru this process of swapping old for new and clean items, it can become overwhelming. It is a lot of information to process, and things are constantly changing, verbiage is constantly changing.

So I will be honest there was a point in time right after my Mom passed away that I just didn’t care anymore…but after having kids your mindset shifts. So here we are, I guess in a sense…going back to my roots…of reading labels and doing the research. Don’t believe the marketing or the greenwashing.

With household products, cosmetics, etc. the if you can’t pronounce it rule doesn’t fully work, but I think there is still a lot of validity in it. 

I have a short list so far, but will continue to post and update as this journey processes as this is not just a diet or a fad, it is a lifestyle!

  • MTalc
  • Formaldehyde
  • Phenoxyethanol
  • Phthalates
  • Grapefruit Seed Oil
  • Paraben
  • Oxybenzone
  • Methylisothiazolinone
  • Mineral Oil
  • BHT
  • PTFE (Teflon)
  • Butylparaben
  • Blsmuch Oxychloride
  • PEGs
  • Lake Dyes and FD&C Colorants
  • Propylene Glycol
  • Retinyl Palmitate
  • Petrolatum

x0_meagen lea

Clean Beauty and A New Endeavor

meagenleaLeave a comment

I have briefly talked about this to a few people, but I thought I would go into more detail on this new endeavor I am embarking on! My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer a little over 10 years ago, this is when this journey began. We started researching what was in our food, daily products, water, literally everything we were coming in daily contact with we researched and modified or adjusted. I had always had food allergies growing up so the food portion we had already done our due diligence on, but just perfected it as new researched emerged and environmental changes emerged. The everyday products though and things we had been told were safe and effective is what really was alarming. 

This entire process was hard, it was hard to find a clean product to replace what we had been using that worked well. I have always made sure that the products I swap to are in fact good modifications and actually work. For example…shampoo…oh goodness, this was a hard one, many of the initial ones we tried were horrible! Your hair would still be greasy, or it would smell weird. Or lotions, weren’t moisturizing and they felt like pure water leaving your skin still feeling dry. There were so many trials and errors with this journey, and there still is! 

The one thing that I didn’t truly starting to look into until about 3 years ago was makeup…which I know is probably one of the worst things out there! But I will be honest, I have ALWAYS loved makeup, I love watching tutorials, I love playing around, contouring, eye shadow, all the things! So I was not about to settle for some junky product. So about a year and a half ago, a friend introduced me to a women to sold Crunchi. I was SOOOOO hesitant, but then Black Friday came around and I thought, what do I have to loose? If I hate is great, I tried, if I love it then that would be amazing! At that time I was using Too Faced, Morphe, Jaclyn Hill, and Dior products as my daily routine. 

I placed an order for foundation, primer, mascara, setting powder, concealer, a brush, and eyeliner. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed. The foundation felt very, very similar to Dior, but better. I felt like it went on better, you could layer it if you wanted and it didn’t cake, you could go light with it for a “flawless” look. This was the big one for me, I have always been picky with foundation. Everything in that order, I was amazed by and shocked at how good it was! And here we are a year and a half later, many, many orders later, and having used almost all of their products now and still in love! 

So, a slight tangent, but trust me this all comes back together! I went from working more than 40 hour weeks in the property management industry for 10 years. My last 3 years my career had really started to take off and my next promotion was to a Regional Manager which had been my goal for such a long time! I got pregnant with Anchor, and I loved how my mom was able to stay at home and raise me, I didn’t want to pay someone else my salary to raise our child so I made a very hard decision to leave my career to become a stay at home mom. I am so blessed that I had this opportunity, but 2 babies later, you start to loose yourself and in a strange way, wonder what your purpose is. I’ve been dealing with postpartum depression too which I am sure does not help the whole situation! So one night my husband and I were talking and he said we should start a business. I had been tossing around getting my personal training certificate, he mentioned that he thought I would be great at being a Doula or Midwife, but right now with two babies that seems like a little too much. So then I said, I love Crunchi makeup and have thought about selling it before. So the next day I signed up, we set up an LLC and here we are! 

I don’t want this to just be about selling a product, I personally cannot stand when people are pushy. I want to create a space where I share all the things I have learned. Things I love and hate, things that have kept me sane, and going thru all the chaos that is life! So bare with me on this journey, it is a learning experience and never ending! 

Below is a link to the private Facebook page, feel free to join, and feel free to chime in!

My Oddinary Facebook Page

The link to shop Crunchi products is on the top bar of this page, feel free to poke around check it out, and ask all the questions! 🙂 

x0_meagen lea

It’s been awhile…

meagenleaLeave a comment

It has been a little bit since I hopped on here. Moving was crazy with two babies, getting settled in was a lot of work, then the holidays and then I look up and we are already in March…with a 2 year old and 9 month old…time goes by in the blink of an eye!

During that time lots has happened, changed, shifted, and all for the better. My goal moving forward is to be more present and consistent with this and have it be the glue between my other social media formats (Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Group) 

So where do I begin…going from being a fulltime career driven women to a stay at home mom was a drastic change of pace for me. I was used to the non stop portion, but not the loosing your identity portion, and you know maybe I did loose some of that while working in my career. Who knows! But here we are today, 2 babies later and 2 1/2 years since leaving the corporate world which was my life for the last gosh many years. I won’t bore you on all the details, but my husband and I were talking one night and he said we should start a company. I had been pondering things that peak my interest, personal training, doula, midwifery, healthy lifestyles, then it dawned on me…I love health and wellness and sharing my journey with everything my mom and I learned and the things I continue to learning and sharing. And I found one product and company I absolutely LOVE and have been using for over a year now and thought…why not create a space where I can share this amazing product along with tips, tricks and other products I have found throughout this journey…so the next day I signed up, created a Facebook group, a business email account, and created an LLC…

I am so excited to share this journey in different formats so you can pick and choose what you prefer. The blog will continue to be the same content, life, beauty, health, whatever I am in the mood for talking about at that time. My Instagram account and Facebook page will continue to be positive vibe driving with hints of health and wellness trickled in here and there, and my private Facebook group will be more in depth health and wellness. 

I am excited to share this more in depth and more consistent! The link to the private Facebook group is here; https://www.facebook.com/groups/467831628359249 Feel free to join! 

I look forward to seeing you there!

x0_meagen lea