I have been a makeup artist since 1991 and a licensed esthetician since 2005, and in 2013 I founded my own skincare and fragrance line, version.O. I have built ingredient glossaries for beauty brands, including an essential-oil line of about 200 single oils, and I have rewritten whole brands' labels into INCI-compliant ones. I have also worked brand-side, writing the copy on the front of the bottle, so I know how the claims are made, because I made them. Now I read the ingredient lists for the people they were written to impress.

The Shelfie Audit. Send me your shelf and I tell you what to keep, toss, and swap.

Ingredient Librarian. A newsletter that decodes clean beauty one ingredient at a time.

I take no brand deals and I sell no house line. I earn a small affiliate commission when you buy something I recommend, disclosed every time.