Joanna Vargas - Glow from Within

I m going to make you a promise right now: in just a few short months, you can have the fabulous, radiant skin youve always wanted. It doesnt matter if youve suffered from acne since you were a teenager, if youre bothered by persistent dry or itchy spots on your cheeks, or if the fine lines around your eyes and mouth make you look older than you really are. Whatever your issues may be, you can achieve healthy, pliable, smooth skin that positively glows from within.

Heres the amazing secret no one else will tell you: the quality of your skin is not about your skin type, and it has nothing to do with how many expensive products you can afford. Great skin doesnt require undergoing harsh or invasive treatments that leave you looking sun-scorched. Its not just about just being blessed with good DNA, either; even if your seventy-year-old mother looks fifty, you wont necessarily march into middle age problem-free. To consistently achieve that clear, bright, moisturized look that so many celebrities enjoy, all thats required is a solid skincare routine.

Thats right. Armed with a strong, reliable, and consistent plan of action, you can enjoy gorgeous, glowing skin for the rest of your life.

But what exactly does a great routine entail? Is having beautiful skin as easy as doing the same thingwith the same productsmorning and night, day after day? Yes, mostly, but you also need to understand why youre doing it. You have to start with an understanding of the unique biology and structure of your skin, including how aging, nutrition, products, environmental factors, and genetics affect it. If youre not truly familiar with something, you cant fix itand that goes for your skin as well as anything else in your life. This knowledge base about your nutrition, beauty, and self-care routines is the only tool you need to take your skin to the next level.

Its important to keep in mind that everyones skin is unique, so what works for you might not be what works for your friend or your sister. For example, I recommend the moisturizing benefits of marula oil to many of my clients, but I break out within hours of applying it. Its just not the right ingredient for me. In this book, I wont lay out a one-size-fits-all approach for your routine. Instead, Ill show you which five steps are essential for everyone, what ingredients are the best for which skin types or conditions, why certain foods might benefit or harm your skin, and which procedures might be a good fit for your price point or particular issue. My goal is to arm you with both a solid education and practical tools, providing just enough room for you to experiment with your skincare routine in a smartand funway!

But who am I to tell you how to treat your skin? There are dozens of beauty books out there, written by amazing dermatologists, makeup artists, bloggers, and cosmetic industry pioneersall promising life-changing results. Why should you listen to me? The short answer is, because Im an aestheticianor facialist, as my job is commonly calledand I understand healthy skin and top-notch skincare products in a way most others dont. I spend my days getting up close and personal with skin in a very particular way. A dermatologists job is to diagnose and fix a problem. My job is to both nurture your skin in the moment and help you create a long-term, sustainable skincare program. In addition, dermatologists often take an invasive approachlike injecting fillers and Botoxto solving cosmetic issues, while my interventions are gentle, ranging from dry brushing to exfoliation to light therapy. And unlike most makeup artists, I understand the ingredients that go into skincare products and cosmetics at the chemical level, and I help my clients choose the products that best support the needs of their skin. Now, Im not trying to sell you products (though I do have a line of my own). I know that your skin type, budget, current product preferences, and specific skin concerns all play a role in what types of products you buy. My lifes purpose is to help women understand the unique nature of their skin, create a plan to support it, put that plan into action, and then step back and watch as they start to look and feel more confident and beautiful than they have before.

I absolutely love what I do, but in a lot of ways its a career I came to by accident. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, I was close to my family and had a strong circle of friends, but I was an introverted, studious, and artistic kid. I loved to paint and take photographs in the privacy of my room or my backyard. The way I chose to express myself was through beauty, and by the time I was four or five, I collected more perfumes, lip glosses, bubble baths, and bottles of nail polish than anyone I knew. I was a product junkie, and I found the perfect partner in crime in my beloved grandma, who let me apply as much cream and blue eye shadow to her face as I wanted. My moms side of the family comes from Mexico and Puerto Rico, and Latin women are usually very sophisticated when it comes to beauty. My grandma was a case in point, and thats why she indulged me. She didnt even complain when I tried to put hot rollers in her hair!

I went to private school, studied hard and made good grades, then enrolled at the University of Chicagoby anyones measure the kind of place that would produce a responsible, upwardly mobile young adult whod get a good corporate job after college. But I followed my passions instead, picking womens studies and photography as my majors. During my senior year, I had to write a thesis, so I settled on a project about the portrayal of women in society and the media. I asked dozens of my friends, classmates, and favorite teachers if I could photograph them in whatever state they felt defined their standard of beauty. Much to my shock, most of these women showed up for their photo shoots dressed in their favorite clothesbut without a speck of makeup on. Their faces were naked, yet they still felt stunning. Right at that moment, a lightbulb went off in my head: What you put on your face isnt what makes you feel beautiful.Women feel authentically gorgeous when they express whats inside them instead.

I shoved this thought to the back of my mind, and it stayed there. After graduation, I moved back east to New York City. I wanted to become a fashion photographer, but after about a year I realized I just didnt have what it took for a job like that. I was still so quiet, and a career where you need to be on all the time didnt play to my strengths. I was happiest with people one-on-onelike Id been with my grandma. Plus, I was still a beauty fanatic, collecting all the red lipsticks and fancy creams I could get my hands on. I decided to go to beauty school, thinking Id become a makeup artist, and when I told my family, they were horrified. Id always been a free-spirited artist, but this was beyond kooky! As far as they were concerned, people who graduated from the University of Chicago did not throw away their degree to play with makeup for the rest of their lives.

I did what my heart told me to do, though, and I enrolled Manhattans Christine Valmy International School for Esthetics, Skin Care and Makeup. I quickly learned that beauty school is a lot different than most people imagine. Youre not just learning about shades of eyeliner or how to apply foundation; youre also taking classes about bacteriology and learning about layers of skin and the muscles and bones of the face. It was there that I began to understand that good skin isnt just about what you slather on in the morning or the genetics you were born with. Your skin reflects the many parts of who you are and how you live and view your life. Skin is a complex living organand I wanted to learn all about it.