Photo: Imaxtree
Practicing yoga, energy healing, meditating, discovering your spirituality… all of these are components of the New Age movement. But if that’s your limited understanding of what New Age is, then you’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with your beautiful skin.
According to proponents of the New Age movement, cultivating inner peace is reflected in outer beauty. In that way, New Age skincare is best understood as a lifestyle, the goal of which is to align and balance our bodies in the greater context of the universe. This is accomplished through various tools, including crystals and high-vibe ingredients.
If we lost you at ‘crystals’ and ‘high-vibe’ ingredients, keep reading. The Youthist teamed up with Charlotte Devereux, Cofounder and Product Developer of cult skincare brand Girl Undiscovered, Tori Marinelli, Holistic Health Coach and Founder of the ritual driven personal care line Être Bien and Jia Jia Zhu, Cofounder of high-end, crystal based Harris Zhu Jewelry. With the help of these 3 experts, you’ll discover everything you need to know about what the New Age movement is and how it relates to skincare.
WHAT IS NEW AGE SKINCARE?
Although you’re likely only seeing it in skincare as of late, the New Age movement actually dates back to the 1970’s and 1980’s. The New Age movement was rooted in religious, metaphysical, and occult communities. They believed that the New Age would be a period of love, light, and personal transformation and healing.
Today, the New Age movement is alive and well, albeit it’s far more encompassing than it was in the past. New Age is a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to conventional Western culture and wisdom. It fuses Eastern and Western metaphysical traditions with understandings from motivational psychology, parapsychology, consciousness research, and quantum physics. The movement draws on the language and symbols of spirituality, mysticism, holism, and environmentalism.
In terms of you, your body, and your skin, the New Age movement emphasizes that the mind, body, and spirit are interrelated and interdependent. Those three components make up the individual, who is also interconnected with the vibrations and frequencies of the universe.
Marinelli explained that energetic connection in more detail: “Essentially, as scientists have discovered, everything in the universe vibrates at a specific frequency, and therefore, everything has a certain energy associated with it. This is a little bit of an oversimplification, but the idea is to understand that, regardless of whether or not we can see it or fully understand it, energy affects us nearly constantly.” The idea behind New Age skincare, then, is to create products “that focus on the connection between your mind, body, and soul. They go above and beyond nourishing your physical body and go below the surface to impact you emotionally and spiritually.”
In the New Age ideology, skincare – like any other product – has energetic properties that can be harnessed for healing. Being mindful of that energy, from development to packaging, is an important aspect of New Age skincare.
Marinelli told us about the important of intention in New Age products: “Every decision we make during the development phase of a product stems from the intention behind it. This means that the elements of each product, from the essential oil blend to the crystal it’s infused with, are carefully chosen to support the intention of the overall product. We believe this helps to harness the power of each individual element, ultimately creating a beautifully harmonious and powerful product that helps to align your intention (mind) with your body and soul.”
The New Age movement brought to the mainstream the idea that raising your vibration to align with the universe is healing, because low vibrations result in physical, mental, and emotional ailments. High-vibe products that increase your energetic frequency and align your mind, body, and soul with universal energies are plenty. But one of the most popular New Age skincare tools right now is crystal skincare, which we’ll talk more about next.
CRYSTAL SKINCARE
Crystals are one component of the original New Age movement that has remained throughout the decades. They’re also probably the most visible aspect of New Age skincare today, as crystal infused serums and jade rollers take over the shelves at even the most mainstream beauty stores. So, what exactly is crystal skincare and what are the beliefs behind it?
Crystals are believed to be reservoirs of energy that can help with transformation and healing. According to Zhu, “Crystal energy is vibrational and an evolution of creation. It is a relationship between the metaphysical and scientific realms. Each crystal from the earth carries its own unique energy.”
An expert in crystals, Zhu tells us how these gems and human beings are fundamentally connected through their uniqueness and their relationship with their environment. “A crystal formation is influenced by its environment and growth on our planet. For instance, the weather and how that may have impacted its surroundings; where it was found all has an impact of what the crystal may look like. As humans, we are all unique in our own emotional and physical being based on our ancestors, experiences, and relationships. Crystal energy and our energy create a natural draw towards each other…There is a vibrational energy that draws us together.”
By tapping into that connection, we can harness the healing and transformative power of crystal energy. And, according to Zhu, the healing and transformation we can get from crystals is wide and varied. This is because “Different crystals carry different energies”, and certain crystals have a direct impact on your how great your skin looks. In particular, quartz was a favorite among all of our experts. Devereux calls rose quartz “a miracle stone that helps to reduce tension and helps your skin to radiate with health and happiness”, Marinelli calls it “the stone of love and gentleness”, and Zhu says crystal quartz is “the master of all healers.”
Devereux offered similar explanations for using crystals in their line: “Crystals are well known for their ability to help balance and heal the body.” At the same time, she recognizes that there is a degree of psychosomatics in the relationship between using crystals and the power of belief: “…thinking positively about how they can help your skin and well-being can set your mind on a more liberating path. A stressed face looks very different to a calm face, so just knowing the benefits can put your skin into a more relaxed state.”
Whether they work through your belief or through energy is really a matter of personal opinion, but all of our experts agreed that there are very real benefits to crystals. And because all things are connected, from a New Age point-of-view, every ingredient of the product has to work harmoniously in order to bring you benefits. Which brings us to New Age skincare ingredients…
NEW AGE SKINCARE INGREDIENTS
When using crystals in skincare and beauty products, the other ingredients are just as important to the vibration, and therefore healing power, of the final products. That’s because, according to Marinelli, “each individual component undoubtedly affects the energy of the final product”. That’s why New Age skincare ingredients should work in balance and harmony with each other if they’re to bring those properties to your mind, body, and soul.
Devereux, says that “This is where science and mysticism cross over. Crystals are millions of years old and our key ingredients are grown in wild and connected to the earth, so together we believe that they can create a very special energy.” Marinelli whole-heartedly agrees. She told us that “natural ingredients that come from the Earth contain much more vibrant energy, as opposed to synthetic fragrances and preservatives made in labs.”
THE FUTURE OF NEW AGE SKINCARE
The New Age movement has been around since the 70s but, today, the language of high vibrations and universal energy has spilled into the mainstream. As more people tap into their spirituality and explore alternative approaches to Western culture, this movement is likely to get stronger. Meaning that you’re likely to find a lot more crystal-infused anti-aging creams on the shelves in the future.
Whether you subscribe to the notions of universal connectedness, high vibe ingredients, and the healing power of crystals is a personal choice. But these products are on the rise for a reason, and in our quest for beautiful, eternally youthful skin, we’re willing to give most things a fair chance.
