Just over 100 days ago, I went cold turkey off Instagram and all social media. What I didn’t expect was how much mental space, clarity, and inner authority I would regain.

In this episode, I share a long-form reflection on why I left, what changed after stepping away, and what I’ve learned about attention, creativity, comparison, productivity, and emotional regulation along the way.

This is not an episode meant to convince anyone to quit social media. If it doesn’t feel like a problem in your life, carry on. This is simply a field report for those who feel curious 

Episode 79. Field Notes From Leaving Social Media

✨ Moonday Notes — my weekly love letter with seasonal rituals, skincare wisdom, and herbal support.

✨ Stratum Aesthetics Apothecary — herbal skincare, castor oil packs, body oils, and tools I use every day.

If you’re coming out of the holidays, or really any period of indulgence, stress, illness, or disrupted routine.. you might be feeling bloated, foggy, sluggish, or noticing changes in your skin. Breakouts, dryness, sensitivity, and inflammation are common signals that something feels “off.”

The instinctive reaction is often: I need to detox.

In today’s episode, I want to reframe detox entirely. Instead of thinking of detox as something extreme that you do to your body, think of it as a natural process your body is already designed to do when the right conditions are present.

This conversation is about understanding how detox actually works, why it slows down after periods like the holidays, and how to support your system so you feel better without punishment or extremes.

Detox is not a juice cleanse, tea, or program. It’s a natural, ongoing physiological process.  In this episode I share a holistic herbalist point of view on detoxification and how you can support your skin by supporting this natural process. 

Shop My Curated Apothecary

Castor Oil Support

Castor Oil Pack (used for liver and lymphatic support)

Podcast episode: Castor Oil: Everything You Want to Know

Nervous System Support

Yoga Nidra (YouTube): Ali Boothroyd

EFT Tapping (YouTube): Tapping with Brad

Skincare Products Discussed

Laurel Detox Mask

Live Botanical Oasis Enzyme Mask

Laurel Unburden Serum

✨ Moonday Notes — my weekly love letter with seasonal rituals, skincare wisdom, and herbal support.

✨ Stratum Aesthetics Apothecary — herbal skincare, castor oil packs, body oils, and tools I use every day.

Have you ever set a New Year's goal you were genuinely excited about… only to burn out by February?

In this episode, Emily shares the seasonal planning framework she stumbled into last year, a way of working toward goals that follows the intelligence of nature instead of relying on willpower, urgency, or constant output.

Instead of rushing to become a brand-new person on January 1, this approach honors the natural sequence of change: winter for structure and rooting, spring for strengthening and direction, summer for expression and expansion, and fall for release and refinement.  Through this, you can create lasting and sustainable change in your life. 

Emily walks through how this played out in her own life: from finances, to writing, to her annual fall shed, and why this method created more ease, clarity, and sustainable progress than any traditional goal-setting system she’d tried before.

This episode focuses specifically on winter: how to use this season to build structure, shift identity, and create systems that actually hold your goals.

Mentioned in this episode:

episode 80: The Art of Decluttering 2.0: The Fall Shed Ritual

✨ Moonday Notes — my weekly love letter with seasonal rituals, skincare wisdom, and herbal support.

✨ Stratum Aesthetics Apothecary — herbal skincare, castor oil packs, body oils, and tools I use every day.

If your skin feels dry, sensitive, dull, or like it just wants a blanket this time of year, you’re not imagining it. Winter changes the light, the air, circulation, digestion, and hydration in the body, and your skin feels all of it!

In this episode, Emily breaks down why winter skin behaves the way it does through a holistic, seasonal lens and shares practical ways to support your skin so it feels comfortable, nourished, and resilient throughout the colder months.

Join the waitlist for the upcoming Evergreen Facial Massage Program

Listen to related episodes on circadian rhythm and internal weather

✨ Moonday Notes — my weekly love letter with seasonal rituals, skincare wisdom, and herbal support.

✨ Stratum Aesthetics Apothecary — herbal skincare, castor oil packs, body oils, and tools I use every day.

Once a month, I disappear from the world ... on purpose.

In this episode, I’m sharing the ritual that changed my relationship with rest, my creativity, and my work. It’s simple, nourishing, and surprisingly radical in the best way — because it asks nothing of you except to slow down enough to meet yourself again.

Holistic Herbalism Podcast 

Digital Minimalism — Cal Newport

✨ Moonday Notes — my weekly love letter with seasonal rituals, skincare wisdom, and herbal support.

✨ Stratum Aesthetics Apothecary — herbal skincare, castor oil packs, body oils, and tools I use every day.

Today I’m teaching you a new language.  A way of understanding your inner ecology so you can make sense of what’s happening inside your body and on your skin.

This framework is the foundation for so many future conversations about rosacea, breakouts, digestion, nervous system patterns, and intuitive skincare. Once you learn it, your skin and your whole inner world start to feel more understandable.

Why your body behaves like a living landscape

The 4 patterns that run your inner ecology:

How these patterns show up emotionally, physically, and on the skin

Why you can experience “microclimates” in different parts of your body

Simple ways to support yourself when you’re out of balance

How this lens helps you avoid random internet trends and trust yourself more

This episode is a introduction to a deeper kind of body literacy, one that helps you connect the dots between your emotions, your digestion, your skin, and your overall vitality.

Magnesium Body Butter

✨ Moonday Notes — my weekly love letter with seasonal rituals, skincare wisdom, and herbal support.

✨ Stratum Aesthetics Apothecary — herbal skincare, castor oil packs, body oils, and tools I use every day.

In this episode, Emily shares the five inner-ecology pillars that support the same outcomes people often seek from retinoids: smoother texture, brighter tone, fewer bumps, and a calmer, more resilient barrier. She also breaks down the difference between dietary vitamin A and topical retinoids, why supplements aren’t a shortcut, and how lifestyle, warmth, nourishment, movement, and nervous system harmony create skin that naturally renews from within.

December’s Product of the Month: the Tri-Doshic Balancing Abhyanga Oil, a favorite daily body oil ritual for grounding, nervous system support, and bringing more warmth and unctuousness into the body.

🛒 Tri-Doshic Balancing Abhyanga Oil – available in the Stratum Aesthetics online apothecary

You can link these as you like:

Rose & pearl moon milk recipe 

Lymph Brush for at-home lymph support

CBD bath salts from Cause Medic (the best ever)

This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not individualized skincare or medical advice. Always check in with your own body and your own practitioners.

Today’s episode is part two of the vitamin A mini-series. Last week we talked about retinoids, what they do, how they interact with the skin, and why they can be so destabilizing from a corneotherapy and vitalist perspective.

If you've ever wondered:

“What should I use if I don’t want to thin my barrier?”

"Is bakuchiol actually a natural retinol?”

“What ingredients mimic the benefits of retinoids without the irritation?”

“Is tallow really ‘nature’s retinol’?”

…this episode is for you.

Here’s everything discussed that you can find at stratumaesthetics.com:

Unburden Serum (Product of the Month)

Solar Return Serum (moth bean extract, plant peptides, antioxidants)

Oasis Enzyme Mask (papaya + cranberry enzymes)

You can browse all curated products + learn more about my holistic skincare philosophy at:

👉 stratumaesthetics.com

And if this episode resonated, please share it with a like-minded friend! Word of mouth is how this podcast grows, and I’m endlessly grateful.

✨ Shop herbalist-formulated skincare & self-care — Shop here

🌿 Explore more: blog posts, rituals, and resources at stratumaesthetics.com

In today’s episode, I’m diving into one of my most requested topics: retinol, Retin-A, retinaldehyde, retinol esters, the whole retinoid family, and how these different forms of vitamin A actually work in the skin.

This episode is the first in a three-part Vitamin A series.

I’m breaking down:

The conventional view of retinoids

The difference between retinol, retinaldehyde, retinyl esters, retinoic acid & Accutane

What vitamin A actually does in the skin (differentiation, turnover, collagen)

Side effects, irritation, contraindications & when not to use retinoids

Why oxidized retinol can cause inflammation

How the formula around vitamin A matters just as much as the vitamin A itself

Why retinoids thin the barrier and disrupt the microbiome

The wild history: the dermatologist who helped bring Retin-A to dermatology is the same doctor who later coined the term corneotherapy

How the medical model shapes the way dermatology thinks about skin

Why the “skin as machine” paradigm creates a very narrow way of treating skin

And the corneotherapeutic + herbalist lens: what happens when we force cell turnover instead of supporting the skin’s natural intelligence

If you want the full picture of retinoids this episode will help you understand exactly what these ingredients do, who they’re right for, and how they affect the skin’s ecology.

✨ Shop herbalist-formulated skincare & self-care — Shop here

🌿 Explore more: blog posts, rituals, and resources at stratumaesthetics.com

In this episode, Emily dives into the heart of herbalism.   What even is herbalism? How is it different from “clean” or “plant-based” skincare, and why do herbalist-formulated products feel so alive?

She shares how her love of plants began at the Denver Botanic Gardens (and the fairy-tree elderberry that started it all), why whole-plant medicine is so much more than supplements or buzzwords, and how herbalism reconnects us to the intelligence of nature.

You’ll hear about:

The roots of herbal medicine and how it became “alternative” in the West

Why whole-plant formulas work differently from isolated actives

Common misconceptions about herbalism

How working with plants brings creativity, confidence, and embodiment back into self-care

What makes herbalist-formulated skincare uniquely potent and gentle

Whether you’re just herbal-curious or already steeping teas and mixing tinctures, this episode will leave you feeling inspired to reconnect with the land, and with your own body.

If this episode resonated, share it with a friend and let Emily know what landed for you.

The Beekeeper’s Apothecary by Kaylee Richardson

Energetic Herbalism by Kat Maier

Herbal Medicine for Beginners by Katia Swift & Rin Madura

Body into Balance by Maria Noël Groves

Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide by Rosemary Gladstar

✨ Shop herbalist-formulated skincare & self-care— Shop here

🌿 Explore more: blog posts, rituals, and resources at stratumaesthetics.com

This episode is for educational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment.