We recently had the chance to connect with Michelle Blush and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michelle, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Normal is so subjective because every day is so different despite my best efforts, but typically my work days look like this: Wake up around 6 am, most likely was up just a few hours before that soothing my 6 month old or feeding her, so I’m definitely ready for coffee. While my Nespresso machine does its thing I start the feeding train: first cat, then dogs, then bottle for the baby. Hopefully by this point my toddler is awake, and then I’m making him breakfast while hopefully taking at least one sip of my iced latte.
Once he’s sat down eating comes my first attempt to work, and that means sitting down to make sure my morning post of the day is ready by 7:00. I like to test the algorithm and my ideal posting time is early—between 6:00 & 7:00 and I don’t like to preschedule my posts so I usually work on them until right before posting. Editing captions, checking timing, etc. it all takes up endless amounts of time so I’m constantly squeezing it in between child rearing.
After the post has been made it’s time to get my son into the car and onto Montessori, so we load up the car and head in. Then I get about 2 1/2 hours of just me and the baby, so I try to pick up or actually clean, shower & get ready, put her down for a nap, and MAYBE drink my coffee.
At 11:00 it’s time to pickup my son, so we load up the car and get him then head to my mom’s house to drop them off while I head to work. Believe it or not now I have to setup for work and actually work my entire shift.
I turn on all the lights, the bed warmer, the candle warmer, wax pots, and towel warmer. I make the bed, clean the floors, make my hot towels, put away laundry, cut my muslin strips for waxing, and then I set my intention for the day. I believe in clearing the energy of my space before my clients set foot inside, so I’m always at my space prepping at least an hour before anyone shows up. This helps me take my time and ensures everything is perfect.
Sometimes I’ll plan out any content I want to get during the appointments but usually I capture in the moment unless I’ve got a burning idea in my head. After my clients are finished for the day, it’s time to clean up and head home! Sometimes I’ll grab dinner for the family on my way home, but usually I’m ready to return to my family and spend a little while with my kids before bedtime.
Once the babies are in bed, it’s time to do a little more work, so I’ll edit or post more content either from earlier that day or I’ll create new things in canva or play around with AI.
Usually by 9:00 I am spent and so it’s time to bed, so I make sure I’ve done my nighttime skincare routine and make my way into my bed where I’ll hopefully get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. It sounds like a lot but I truly feel so blessed that most days working both my jobs as mom and entrepreneur is a joy and it’s honestly still pretty fun even though it is hard!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m Michelle! I’m a licensed esthetician and business owner based out of northwest Indiana, I specialize in skin health, healthy aging, and relaxation. I’m a big advocate of self care and consider myself to be a healer. I heal people’s skin, but I also heal their hearts and their minds by providing a sanctuary for people to ease their minds and recenter themselves. This goes beyond vanity, because this is a means to help people refill their “cups” so-to-speak. It’s more than just a facial, my clients tell me this literally almost every single appointment.
My story is very similar to a lot of my millennial peers: I grew up in the 90s, graduated high school and went to college, graduated college and entered the worst job market since the Great Depression. I was lost for nearly a decade, just bouncing around waiting tables and hoping I’d find my calling. My major in college was Anthropology, with a focus on people and culture, and in a way my desire to understand people came into play in all of my jobs. I was always promoted into leadership roles, but never truly satisfied. Then in 2018 I suffered two enormous blows: the miscarriage of my first pregnancy, and the loss of my father. Tragically this all happened within the same week. Needless to say, I started spiraling into a deep depression, and I needed something to hold onto before I drowned in my grief. That’s when I decided to go back to school with plans of becoming a makeup artist.
Makeup was definitely not my calling as it turns out, but skincare—and most importantly, the human connection that came from providing facials—really called to me. I knew I’d made the right choice for myself. I wish that was my happy ending, but sadly more trauma was on its way. I had 3 more miscarriages, the last one being right as the world shut down for COVID. Then came two years of my inability to get pregnant. I’d about given up, and was preparing to spend $25k on IVF when in the summer of 2022 I found out I was pregnant with my son.
I was terrified of losing this pregnancy. At the time I was also working an incredibly toxic esthetics job and my boss was overworking me like crazy while at the same time telling me that all my coworkers were talking badly about me behind my back. I knew if I stayed I was going to miscarry again, it was just a gut feeling. So I decided to create an LLC and get the ball rolling on my business. I get Hyperemesis Gravidarum with all of my pregnancies (it’s where you can’t stop throwing up), so I took medical leave from my job and behind the scenes got the business started. Finally, I was free from working for others and I’ve never ever looked back.
So what makes me and my space different? If you want to talk about products, I’m a snob—I only want the very best for myself and my clients—so I only carry skincare companies than align with my values. Epicutis is an EWG verified, truly clean, and has patented ingredients that they produce in their USA based laboratory with NO animal testing. If that wasn’t enough their results are mind blowing, they have published work in medical journals, and are truly revolutionizing the future of skincare. And that’s just one of the lines that I carry.
Right now I’m working on really cultivating the client experience and growing my skill set so I can continue to provide the most luxe experience for my guests!
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
This is a subject that I’ve experienced a lot of in my life. I think my general takeaway is that at its core, the betrayal that finally breaks the bond is when the lies we tell ourselves about our relationships become revealed and the veil becomes lifted from our eyes. This both shatters our perception of the people we thought we knew, and simultaneously destroys your own self worth because you trusted in them. People will wrong you in your life, and it’s usually never a malicious intent but rather more of a self-serving means to an end. Kind of like stepping on stairs to reach the top. You have to detach from the insult in this, because it doesn’t serve you to have resentment.
That being said, the repair happens when both parties acknowledge each others’ truths and still want to participate in each others’ lives. Knowing and understanding intentions (and also altering your expectations of others) is extremely helpful for maintaining healthy boundaries for your own mental health and the relationship with others.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There is, and it really hurts to talk about it, but that’s what I do really well, I talk about things that are hard and painful because I know it helps others, and that gives my life meaning. And that’s why this story is so important.
It was the morning I was scheduled for a D&C because I’d miscarried our second pregnancy. This was my second miscarriage in 6 months, and it was also just 6 months after the sudden loss of my father. I had just graduated from Esthetics school and thought surely this pregnancy and the timing was right—even though I was just beginning to start my journey as an esthetician.
I remember being in my bedroom sobbing all morning, wishing my body would spare me from going through the ordeal of a surgery, and just let this thing pass out of me naturally. I begged and prayed, and cussed and damned,
The crushing weight of grief was too much, I couldn’t handle it. It felt like my skin was holding in boiling pain beneath the surface. It felt like too much to exist. My face hurt from crying so much. I decided I couldn’t bear to lose another thing that I treasured so much, so I tried to take my own life that day.
The intent was there, the supplies were there, and I tried to hang myself in my closet. And then like a flash my mind thought of my husband, and how he would be the one to find me, and I couldn’t bear the thought of him losing me after he, too, lost so much. So I stood up, and we had the surgery, and life carried on,
And if you’re wondering, did anyone notice the marks on my neck? If they did they didn’t say anything. Years later I read a story about a teen who attempted suicide, same way, and told
his AI no one noticed, and it was one of the reasons he ended up eventually committing suicide. It broke my heart because I’d been there, but because I am older I understand that everyone has their own stuff going on and sometimes it’s hard to notice other peoples’ stuff. Things get missed, moments that seem trivial to one person mean everything to another. But the most important lesson I learned is that even if it’s the worst it’s ever been, life will ALWAYS get better.
I suffered two more miscarriages after I “stood up” that day. But today? My 6 month old is giggling as her daddy changes her diaper. My toddler is still sleeping in, warm and cozy in his bed. My family is full of love, and I’m so grateful for them and for this life. If I didn’t stand up that day they wouldn’t be here. If I didn’t stand up that day I wouldn’t be a licensed esthetician. If I didn’t stand up that day I wouldn’t own my own business and feel such joy and fulfillment every single day.
You never ever know what is around the corner. Never ever give up.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
It actually is, and I really pride myself on that. I don’t use filters when I show up on camera (unless for aesthetic reasons), and sometimes I’ll literally show up looking like I rolled out of bed. It’s my subtle IDGAF attitude about appearances and conformity that I think people are attracted to when they seek me out as a provider or continue to watch my content.
I think the only thing that I don’t publicly talk about is the fact that I smoke weed to decompress, but I also don’t find it to be anyone’s business (plus I live in a state where it’s illegal yet surrounded by states where you can legally purchase) and it’s not a big part of my personality but it is something that I do enjoy on a daily basis.
I actually think this helps me keep my balance of calm, cool, collected mama and creative, unbothered, esthetician, businesswoman, and content creator. Maybe it’s because I’m a millennial and the concept of weed being widely accepted as the social norm is still hard for me to remember—especially because not long ago I was buying weed from some random hippie in town.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What light inside you have you been dimming?
In many ways: girlhood. As I get closer to a certain age (I’m 37) I accept more and more that the joys and perks of youth are slipping away day by day. It’s a really weird feeling, to know that you’ll never again be young and completely free from obligations and responsibilities, especially when having so many of them as an adult and especially as a mother. You can want children more than anything in the world, and at the end of a long day of work, when you’re exhausted and hungry, and it’s just the beginning of the second shift of the day that the longing for that freedom can creep in. And so I have to let that light dim, because that version of myself lived her life and one day (not far from now) her kids will be grown, and while I won’t be young I will be “free” of this kind of of obligation to my children. They won’t need me as much as they do now. So I let the light of girlhood dim and let the glow of womanhood wash over me. This way, the grief of losing that version of me doesn’t hurt as much, and it helps me settle into my true purpose. It also helps me keep me true identity and not fully lose myself into the role of “mother”. It ensures that I stay multifaceted. Dimming the light allows it to still shine, so it still exists, but right now this phase of my life needs to shine bright.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @estie.michelle
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1D7ik7GY72/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Yelp: Blush Aesthetics Valpo
Image Credits
@studio_after_hours on IG
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