My story and how it all began
When did it all start?
I've come a long way from experimenting with oils and waxes in my dorm to help heal my dry, sensitive acne-prone skin.
Hi, I'm Meghan and I love to research and design beauty products.
10 years ago I moved to China to start my first degree in Biological Oceanography. From a very young age I've always wanted to have a career in marine protection. Protecting our environment back home (the Seychelles) is crucial as our economy and livelihood depends heavily on it. I had the opportunity to go to China to study Biological Oceanography and at the same time learn a new language.
My first year in China was amazing. I absolutely loved the culture and sightseeing. Unfortunately, the weather, the food and the environment, in general, did not agree with me. I already suffer from dry, sensitive, acne-prone skin. The environment in which I was exposed to made it worse.
Like any other person suffering from acne-prone skin or simply wants a good facial moisturiser, I started searching. To my surprise and it was indeed a surprise everywhere I went they will offer me the same thing and that was 每白 (mei bai).
Meibai? Ever heard of it?
Mei bai translates to beautifully white. Every single store in China was advertising this cream, especially to dark skin girls. To them, my issue wasn't my bumps and spots, but my problem was the colour of my skin. Cray cray right?
But what is it?
Mei bai is a bleaching cream that whitens the skin. The cream dried out my skin, even more, made my bumps and spots even worse. Now I know some of you might ask, why in the world would you ever put bleach on your skin? My answer is I don't know but here's how I felt.
When you are subjected to discrimination and you are made to feel like the ugliest and stupidest person on the planet, you will do the extreme to be accepted. The sad part is, there are a lot of people out there who uses such products and cannot see that it is extreme.
What do I mean?
Because society and environment they are subjected to have made such practices seem normal. When in reality it is not.
So yes I bleached my skin because I didn't want to be dark anymore. Dark skin didn't only mean that I was ugly and stupid. It also meant that I couldn't get a part-time job, I couldn't dance on stage anymore because they will hire only Caucasians or very light skin girls, I couldn't find a husband because that is what I was told and that is
what other Chinese girls will mention. If you're whiter you will easily find a husband. It's funny how a society can make you doubt yourself and this kind of mentally exist everywhere around the world not only China.
It came to a point when I said enough is enough. I am beautiful the way I am. That is when I started designing my beauty products to find a solution to my skin problem instead of hiding them under layers of makeup and bleached skin.
Finally something that worked
The products I was making worked. My skin slowly started to heal. My skin wasn't breaking out as much and the scars were slowly fading. There are different reasons why people suffer from acne-prone skin. I have hormonal acne which means I still get breakouts. The difference is that they are not as bad and my skin doesn't heal with dark scars anymore. Follow me either on Instagram or Facebook if you don't mind seeing me showing off my skin when I am stressed every now and then lol.
The reason I do so is that I want to show other women and men in my situation that having imperfect skin is perfectly normal. My skin is not perfect but I have learned to use the right products to help keep my acne under control, keep my skin moisturise and feeling stunning at the same time.
Oh no! Another issue?????????
During my journey of designing my products, I realised that we were faced with an even a bigger problem. I was in my first year of my Masters then. Finally I had products that worked, was selling on the side to make a bit of money, and I was happy and feeling beautiful. But there was an issue.
Researching more about the ingredients I was using to make beauty products I noticed that there was a link between disruption of the
environment's natural ecosystem, the packaging being use and the ingredients.
Most of the time we don't think about what is in our skincare and cosmetics.
Majority of the time we don't think about the ingredients within our products and the packaging being used. A lot of these ingredients goes through our drains and ends up in our streams, lakes and ocean. In return harming marine life and the environment as a whole.
The same goes for the packaging. The beauty industry in 2018 produced 142 million units of packaging, which unfortunately majority of it will end up in landfills (will not be recycled) or worse in the ocean.
From 2009 till now (2019) I have learned and still learning how to design better beauty products which contain ingredients that are biodegradable and offering a system which encourages people to reuse and recycle.
I still have a lot to learn but this is the reason why I dedicated my studies to marine science. But I also have the other side of me. My other passion is to offer beauty products that make you feel beautiful.
Empowering anyone and everyone through makeup.
Makeup is a way that can help boost confidence and bring certain empowerment into someone's life. It definitely does that for me. Sometimes when I'm down or just tired from work I will wear some nice lipsticks and a bit of eye makeup. That is enough to brighten my day.
Not everyone can buy beauty products
Unfortunately just buying beauty products and wearing them is not possible for everyone. A lot of people get allergic reactions to different sort of makeup. That is why I do focus more on beauty products for sensitive skin.
I have made it my mission to provide you with a range of products that suits every complexion, and skin type.
The journey does not end here. I am continuously researching and designing new products so that I can provide only the best of the best. Feel free to contact me at seybeautenaturelle@gmail.com and let me know what you like about SEY cosmetics and how it can improve.