At home in the U.K., Liz Earle doesn't have to introduce herself much anymore. As a magazine beauty editor turned TV personality (she's the former host of Beautywise on BBC One and Liz Earle's Lifestyle on ITV), the author of 30 books on everything from cellulite-busting to organic baby food, and a beauty entrepreneur, she has become nothing short of a natural-lifestyle icon. But as her 14-year-old brand, Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare, rapidly expands worldwide, the 46-year-old mother of four (Lily, 18; Guy, 16; Gabriella, 8; and Christian, 6) finds herself spending more time than she'd like expanding her fan base—and less time with her VIPs back at home.
"There's always that compromise and that feeling of guilt," says Earle, who calls her kids' schools at the beginning of the year to try to plan her trips around their various activities. "There's nothing worse than a child coming home and saying, 'I have the play next Tuesday, and you'll be on a plane somewhere.'"
Earle's career craziness took off well before she had kids. As a magazine editor, she had a big name in the beauty world, so she started hosting Beautywise in 1984. But, she says, she was more interested in plants and organic food: "I remember writing about the perils of trans fats 20 years ago, and it wasn't taken seriously."
That whole-body approach to beauty and health helped Earle transition naturally to her life's next chapter—and eventually move her family from London to a 100-acre organic farm in England's rural West Country. Her love of botanicals led to the creation of the midprice natural skin-care line in 1995 with best friend Kim Buckland, a former John Frieda executive. (The Superskin Concentrate night treatment, at $70, is its most expensive item, while most others cost less than $25.)
"When I started the business with Kim, we were young mothers," says Earle. "We had 35 seconds in the bathroom and wanted each product to be in childproof containers so no one could rip off the top and spill it down the sink."
The parent-friendly philosophy behind the business started at the top: The partners made a pact to schedule meetings that didn't conflict with school drop-offs or pickups or dinnertime. Three years later, they opened their first store, on the Isle of Wight, with a stock of revolutionary items. The Orange Flower body wash was among the first without the potentially irritating foaming agent sodium lauryl sulfate; the popular Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth cleanser keeps skin soft and breakout-free with potent plant-based ingredients. Today the line is available at Studio Fred Segal stores and at LizEarle.com.
"I really do feel that looking good is about nurturing your skin. We all need to be a bit kinder to ourselves—aging isn't a disease, and we shouldn't treat it as such," Earle says, with a perspective that's uncommon in her line of work. "No one will love you less because of the depth of your wrinkles."
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