About Karley

A warm welcome to you! My name is Karley and I would like to thank you for your readership. Chic and Green launched in 2007. It is so hard to believe that we've been going strong for 15 years!

BACKGROUND

The short version: I am a mid 40s suburban mom with a passion for skincare and beauty. I have spent more than half of my life in this industry, as an esthetician, educator for beauty brands, formulator, and freelance beauty contributor to magazines around the globe.

The long version:

Professional Makeup and Skincare Experience

• I have spent more than two decades in the cosmetics and skin care industry, dating back to started a Mary Kay business in my dorm at the age of 19. Soon after, I was working for Lancome as a weekend freelancer while in college. My first full-time job after college was as Clarins Counter Manager. Brands I have worked with include Estee Lauder, Clinique and Laura Mercier.
• I have continued to work in this industry in a freelance capacity, most recently for Cargo Cosmetics as a regional educator and makeup artist and as an educator for Exuviance (NeoStrata) at ULTA stores across Western New York. I have also served as a Brand Ambassador (Passionista) for the Estee Lauder company Prescriptives.

Beauty Writing Experience

• An expert in the beauty field and award-winning beauty blogger, I have worked as a print magazine beauty editor, contributing writer, and more. I have penned hundreds of beauty-related articles and my work has appeared in dozens of print publications such a USA TODAY. I have been interviewed by Canadian Living as an expert in my field and have been featured in Green Mom Magazine, the Democrat and Chronicle, Daily Messenger and more. In a leadership role, I also served as the Beauty Editor for Hope for Women magazine.

• While my kids were little, my "day job" was freelancing for beauty and skin care brands writing ad copy, company blogs, newsletters, press releases and site content. I continue to write on a very limited basis for beauty and skin care brands, but am "semi-retired" from that these days.

It's not easy being green...

• In 2005, I took a major interest in alternative health and wellness. My dad had just died at 56 of pancreatic cancer, I had two babies at home, and I began fearing that the ingredients I was using could make us sick.  I spent several hundred hours of online coursework in the field of aromatherapy and became a certified aromatherapist. Additionally, I completed studies in Holistic and Clinical Aromatherapy, Botanical Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Integrative Therapies and Healing Practices, taking online courses through University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Healing.

• Actress Alicia Silverstone has mentioned my blog on the popular website The Kind Life, and I have been featured as part of the Today Show blog network and former MSNBC Going Green Network.

• I went hardcore, I suppose, you'd say. I ONLY looked to the EWG as my main source of info. I left fear trick me into being almost alarmist about ingredients. When you write professionally, though, facts are a must. You cannot turn in an article without fact-checking it (or at least you shouldn't) and you need to be sure that the sources you are using are unbiased, legitimate sources with sound facts behind them. Bloggers can say ANYTHING they want. Anything. They do not have to fact check. They do not have to quote people other than Dr. Mercola, the Food Babe or David Avocado Wolfe, and that is where the natural beauty blogs have gone -- fear over facts. I used to be part of the problem.

• I think that when I started doing print work, that light bulb went off and fact-based writer self had a heart to heart with "green mom blogger" self -- I would NEVER turn in an article with statements based off of internet memes. No. I do research. I look at double blind studies. I look for peer-reviewed articles. I look at the science, not the innuendo. I speak with experts at length.

• My whole blog was founded on this fear trap I had slipped into. Thankfully, I woke up. 

• Don't get me wrong. I am still an avid label reader. I seek "cleaner"ingredients. I detest ingredients like artificial fragrance. However, I am much more balanced. Blog posts do not make claims about ingredients without SCIENCE. This is so important and, I believe, one thing that sets C & G apart.

• Much of the work I did over the years for companies involved ingredients safety and warning label content. I am passionate about being as educated as possible concerning ingredients -- and separating fact from fiction -- this is something I believe is really important.

My Passion for the Industry

• I founded this blog in 2007 to share my passion for beauty and skin care products. I combine research, as well as expertise and training in esthetics, the skin care use of essential oils, makeup artistry and skin care formulation for my articles.

• My own line of skin care, which I crafted until 2009, was featured in publications such as Martha Stewart Whole Living (Body + Soul) and made an appearance in celebrity swag bags at the Blue Planet Film Festival. It was recognized by the CCIC as an official Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free company.

• I am a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT 200) with the Yoga Alliance, a certified Children's Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher, and an EDIT Certified Eating Disorder Recovery Coach.

• It all started with a mom with two babies and a desperate need for "me time" -- that outlet was starting this blog. Here we are, now eleven years into this blog. I have spent the last several years as a magazine beauty writer, with an emphasis on researching skin care ingredients. In December 2017, I decided to hang up my magazine writing hat to continue growing my bustling beauty copywriting & consulting business.

• I live in New York with my husband, two teenagers, and our spoiled pooch, Sabrina.