Mona Esser Pennock

I feel that beauty comes in form of light. Light is the real beauty of life. The light sits in the heart center. For me the shen (the light and spirit that sits behind our eyes and can glow through our skin) is deeply connected to where we are in our life: are we living towards our highest most grounded truth? Or are we playing into other people narratives? Beauty for me is realness, showing your natural essence. Beauty is following your intuition and creating a life that feels good for you and serves others. Beauty for me is also color, scent, and movement. I believe that when we commit to our truth and destiny direction, we are infinitely beautiful. I always felt that beauty is connected to a feeling, a spark of resonance. My mom taught me that staying natural, authentic, and pure is real beauty.

I used to work in the beauty industry and therefore tried a lot of things but always fell back on more simple, clean beauty routines. I love oils the most I would say. My absolute favorite is the LESSE Ritual Serum. I start my morning face routine by washing my face with cold water and on some days, I ice my face. I then apply the new LESSE moisturizer or the Weleda Almond Face Lotion that I was recommended to me by an amazing New York based facialist, Cali Strauhs.

She also recommends to use cream before oil, so I use the LESSE Ritual Serum after I moisturise. On most days I do Gua sha with the LESSE Sculpting Tool. It’s truly heaven – so smooth and relaxing. I work from home and during my work with clients I spray the heritage store rose water or ISUN Ormus Crystal Infused Jasmine Mist on my face and neck between sessions. It refreshes me and resets my energy. I love using the LESSE Lip Balm, Weleda Everon Lipbalm, and Ilia Lip Mask. I am a lip person. I have so many different natural lip balms. It’s my thing. My favorite SPF is the Elta MD 46 Spectrum – it’s so light and effective.

I drink a lot of teas and water yet still sometimes my skin calls for a midday hydration infusion – and especially in winter I will apply Weleda Skin Food or my favourite  Cream Mask by Dr. Hauschka who my glorious friend Nane Feist introduced me to a year ago. I use this mask before every flight for delicious post-flight juiciness. In the evenings I use the osmia charcoal soap and apply the Schaf Revitalizing Serum or iS Clinical Active Serum recommended by my friend, Eva Alt.

 I also love Pai Rosehip Oil, Pai Charcoal Night Oil or Weleda Awakening Oil. For blemishes, I use Bee Propolis from my grandma’s bee buddy in South Germany, Luvos Heilerde (healing earth from drug store in Germany), or the LESSE mask. I am also a big body oil person, I adore Jasmine so much. The Herbivore one is divine – I use it several times a day on my neck and hands too. I love all the Weleda Body Oils – especially the lavender for relaxation and Buckthorn for hydration. In the summer there is nothing more attractive than glowy jasmine skin!

Water is the source of all life and beauty. One of my good friends is the co-founder of the showerhead filter brand,  Jolie, and I’ve been showering in clean delicious water for several years thanks to Jolie. It has brought out more of my Piscean mermaid beauty: healthy long hair, and soft glowy skin 🙂

I like the concept of starting at the source of things and that is certainly water. I am so happy that in 2020 I decided to stop doing highlights – so my entire head is fully my natural color now. I am a big CROWN AFFAIR lady. Their products work so well for me. The shampoo, the conditioner, and the glorious hair mask. My girlfriends originally told me about their magical dry shampoo. I like using the Christophe Robin Lemon Mask Shampoo once a week for hair brightening and then also their Christophe Robin Brown Paste Volume Shampoo. Brigeo Scalp Revival is so glorious, and makes my hair so clean.  I keep my hair supernatural and rarely style it, but I love using the Crown Affair Styling Gel – it’s easy to apply. I like using hair clips to bring texture into my hair and I try them before I enter into a date or appointment. I have been collecting combs from Turkey to Peru and enjoy carrying them in my purse for detangling – at the beach in the summer or after long winter walks with beanies involved.

I also like simple wood brushes from German drug stores and of course Villa D’assia Mint Brush. We launched the first Gemsun Hairclip this summer and I love how unique and clever it holds the hair up. It feels gentle and strong yet not too much pressure. It comes in 4 colorways.

I use very little makeup but love color. I like accentuating my lips so I have a lot of lip products. My go-to is the RMS Tinted Lip Balm in the berry tone called Twilight Lane. I love all the SAIE lipsticks and glosses. The glosses stay on long yet don’t have the sticky, gluey, artificial texture. I like their Glowy Super Gel too.

I never use foundation but love the RMS Concealer. The SAIE Liquid Cheek Blush is heavenly too. Ilia makes a good lip gloss too.  I also love a lip colour by Ilia called rumba. I haven’t really used Mascara in the last 4 years – I like how dreamy my eyes are without it. I often use Weleda Skin Food as a glowy base before going out, then I apply concealer on a few spots if needed.

As shared earlier I believe beauty is a commitment to yourself and honoring your individuality. Meditation, movement breath work and sharing your thoughts and vision with your journal can be very expanding and rejuvenating.

I am a face reader and I believe that our face holds our potential, talents and needs. Seeing your face and body as sacred is a huge achievement and will naturally bring you the brilliance we are so often seeking outside of ourselves. It’s all right here – we have to choose to see it. To embrace the self is the practice. I love supplements and the wonders they do. My husband is very knowledgeable in this realm and has shared so much wisdom with me over the last few years. I love everything that Paul Stamets creates with Host Defense.

I have been taking functional mushrooms for almost a decade now, like lionsmane, reishi, and cortecyptes just to name a few. I take Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Vitamin E. I love nuts like sacha inchi and drink a lot of rose and rosehip tea. I don’t drink alcohol or coffee – simply because it doesn’t taste good to me, which is great because it aligns with my own spiritual and wellness practice.

I love going to the farmer’s market and eating seasonally. Balance is the key – colorful eating is strong for me. One of my teachers once shared with me that a piece of chocolate or a bowl of greens can both hold the same level of health on us, depending on how we treat and see the meal. I have been seeing my acupuncturist Stephanie Dixon for years at the Rooted Refugee in Ridgewood. She is an angel and master healer to me. I work with her on all parts of my being. I work on living my life as intentionally as possible and bring the sparkle of light everywhere I go.

As shared above, I love the power of daily ritual and practice. Having time in the morning dedicated for your individuals desires is freedom.  I can’t share enough how important meditation is. All of us are able to do it. I love acupuncture for pressure release and overall healing.

I also treat myself to a floating session as much as I can. It brings me into a new state of softness and trust. Traveling is another formula of wellness for me – the richness of different air, food and scents is so real for me. I like ‘traveling’ in my own city too – exploring new areas and attractions or little gardens is so expanding.

I grew up in Tunesia and Portugal because my parents worked in tourism. My love for jasmine flowers and fleur d’oranger started when I lived on the half island Djerba in Tunisia. The delicate scent of these white flowers still brings me back to my childhood years. I look for perfume oils wherever I travel – recently I went back to Morocco and stocked up on some orange flower essence rollers. It’s a perfect base to layer with my spray perfumes. I love the jasmine oil perfume from Fab India – a store in Mumbai, India. I used to work for le Labo and Parfum Christian Dior which deepened my appreciation of fragrances. Right now I wear L’eau D’Hiver from Frederik Malle. I also still like the collection Privee CD Bois D’Argent. My forever go-to has been Musc 25. Notes of Musc are so personal and soft and go so well with my flower rollers. I like the Le Labo Neroli too. My dream is to create a scent for my business be-shen.

I really like learning about herbs and old ways (aka grandma tips). The bee propolis is something that really helps, it takes out the inflammation from my blemishes. I live by a simple ‘less is more’ beauty routine. Water is essential. Doing the inner work is essential to radiate beauty from within to your skin, hair, and body expression.

Several natural lip balms, a lipstick for the day, rose water mist, concealer, travel size perfume, flower essense perfume roller, in the summer mini SPF, small ivory comb, and hair clips of all kinds.

I mostly create wellness rituals at home for myself. I work a lot with baths and as mentioned spirtual practices. There are a few places that are coming to me: I love the Cagaloglu Hamami in Instabul – it’s a luminous experience. Please go if you can – acupuncture at Rooted Refugee with Dr. Stephanie Dixon NYC, and Cali Stauhs Facialist NYC.