It taught me that what goes on your skin matters as much as what goes in your body. These days it's also the reason I can walk out the door without giving my skin a second thought.
The best job I've had, and the most relentless.
Arkie is three, and on the weeks Kyeden is away for work the mornings are mine to run solo. Wake her, dress the half of her that wants to be dressed, find the other shoe, get something into her that isn't just toast, out the door, on time, usually on broken sleep.
One morning sticks with me. Arkie had been unwell and we'd been up most of the night. I caught myself in the mirror and I looked exactly how I felt, wrung out and flat. There was no time for a proper routine and none at all for makeup. I scraped together three minutes, cleansed, pressed in a little balm, and almost straight away my skin looked more alive. The colour came back. I looked like I'd actually slept.
I was still exhausted. But I felt a bit more like myself, and on a morning like that, walking out the door feeling like yourself is not a small thing.
For a long time, I thought I was just doing motherhood wrong.
I'd just run my first half marathon. Training, staying active, eating well, doing everything I thought I was meant to. And I felt worse, not better. Bloating and gut issues, puffy and inflamed, headaches, my psoriasis flaring, exhausted all the time, caught in a strange loop of feeling wired and completely drained at once. There was anxiety, stretches of depression, brain fog. And the harder I trained and the cleaner I ate, the more weight I put on.
None of it felt dramatic enough on its own, so I blamed the usual suspects: no sleep, FIFO life, postpartum hormones, getting older. But it kept stacking up. I knew something wasn't right. I just couldn't explain what.
When the diagnosis finally came, Hashimoto's, an autoimmune condition, it was relief and fear at once. Relief because there was a real reason and I wasn't imagining it. Fear because the more I read, the bigger it felt.
“I stopped asking how to fix each symptom, and started asking how to support my body as a whole.”
That changed how I saw my skincare too.
I'd been so careful about what I ate, and I'd barely thought about what I put on my face. Your skin doesn't keep the outside out. It takes things in. Skincare was part of supporting my body. I'd been treating it like it was separate. So I looked at what my routine was doing, and most of it was band-aiding the surface while wearing my skin down underneath.
Most routines wear your barrier down. We built ours to do the opposite. First the oil melts away what the day leaves behind, makeup, sunscreen, sweat and the build-up that dulls your skin, without stripping it. Then the balm gives the barrier back the lipids it needs to stay hydrated and comfortable. Less for your skin to react to, more for it to work with.
A lot of this began long before I thought about skincare.
I grew up with a mum who was health conscious for all of us. She taught us about food, about moderation, about how what you eat actually makes you feel. She's probably why I love to cook and why I ended up so into nutrition. We still had the foods kids love. I just also learned why whole foods mattered.
Those are the values that ended up shaping Élaument, years before any of us thought about making skincare.
The filtered-water moment.
After Arkie, I noticed how many things sold as natural or organic were nothing of the sort once you turned them over and read the label. Like most mums, I was so focused on what went into and onto her that I'd stopped paying the same attention to myself.
The diagnosis made me question all of it. Skincare, perfume, makeup, deodorant, even the water I drank. I remember thinking, I give my baby filtered water, so why am I not doing the same for myself? That was the lightbulb.
I'm not going to tell you what any ingredient will do to you. What I can say is there are open questions in the research about how some of them interact with the body, and once I had a name for what mine was dealing with, I wasn't willing to gamble.
So we left them out. No synthetic fragrance, no parabens, no phthalates. That was the standard I'd already set for my family.
Élaument is what came out of all of it.
Two products, short lists, nothing I wouldn't put on Arkie or myself. The diagnosis taught me that skincare is part of my health. Being her mum taught me to act on it.
If your days are full and there's not much left for you by the end of them, this is the small thing that gives a little back. One step, morning and night, and you get to meet the day looking like yourself.
I hope it does for you what it's done for me.
Two products. That's the whole range, on purpose.
Macadamia and jojoba oils sit close to skin's own lipids, beeswax holds moisture in, with sea buckthorn, black seed oil, vitamin E, chamomile and calendula. A pea-sized amount melts in and gives the barrier the lipids it uses to hold water, so skin stays hydrated and comfortable and looks awake through the day. The one I reach for on the hard mornings.
Macadamia, castor, MCT and a touch of rosemary extract. A few drops melt away makeup, sunscreen and the day's build-up without stripping it, so skin feels clean and still comfortable, never tight. A calm base for the balm to do its part.
Cleanse, then restore. Morning and night. That's it.
The two work as one routine. The oil takes the day off without stripping it, the balm puts back what skin needs to stay hydrated and supported. Most people start with both, which is why we put them together and made it the better price.
Two products against a cupboard full.
| Élaument Routine | A typical routine | |
|---|---|---|
| Cleanses without stripping your barrier | ✓ | ✗ |
| Replenishes the lipids the day removes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Oils matched to your skin's own | ✓ | ✗ |
| No fragrance, parabens or phthalates | ✓ | ✗ |
| A complete routine in two products | ✓ | ✗ |
| Australian made and owned | ✓ | ✗ |
| Backed by our 30-Day Promise | ✓ | ✗ |
Collected independently through Judge.me
The softest my face has ever felt. I feel like I don't need to wear makeup.
My skin feels so soft, hydrated and calm. You can really feel the quality in the ingredients.
I have naturally oily skin, so I was a little hesitant at first. My skin feels so much more balanced and healthy.
Give it a month. If you don't love how your skin feels, email us and we'll refund you. No need to send anything back.
Start with the routine.
Barrier Support Bundle · $139.50