Episode 138 - How To Be A Beauty Witch with Alise Marie
-
Hello, beautiful beings, and welcome to Come to your Senses. It is my absolute pleasure and delight to introduce you today to one of my friends, my muses, my literary aspirations and beauty aspirations, Alise Marie, otherwise known as the Beauty Witch. Alise is a writer, a potion master, a savant of the senses, and I'm so excited to share this conversation with you, which is all about how to bring more magic into your beauty practice. Here at Come to your Senses. Beauty is God made visible. It's a tangible glimpse into the liminal and the limitless. I'm so excited to share this conversation with you that I know will inspire a more sacred, more sensuous, more sovereign relationship to your own beauty. Alise is also one of our guest teachers and artists at the Come to your Senses Coterie, and so know that this conversation is just one stem in the full bouquet of resplendence and radiance that you receive when you become a member of the Come to your Senses Coterie, which begins in January and ends for enrollment on December 12th.
02:23
You can head to alifewellsavored.com to learn more. And further ado, I bring you the Beauty Witch.
So I'm curious. You know, there's so many things that I want to drop into the cauldron of our conversation. And as I was preparing for our time together, I was reading your beautiful book, and what really strikes me about your relationship to beauty is the way that it is so grounded in spirituality. First In a relationship to magic. There's a quote from your book that says magic, by definition, means the art of utilizing natural forces to bring about change, and so have you always been in love with magic.
Alise
03:34
Yes, yes, from as long as I can remember, being a small, small, small child and very much a connection to nature, and I would lay in the moonlight in my room and I would. I'm an only child and we always had animals and so you know the dog and the grass outside and the flowers, and these were my, these were my playmates, because I was kind of a strange little loner kid and I didn't really have a great need to play with the other kids, so it was more like books and magical made up stories in my head and all kinds of artistic things, and it's my earliest memories really. But what I didn't have so much was a guiding female force. I had grandmothers that I absolutely adored. I mean just adored for very different reasons. I had a very homie grandma grandma and I had a very sophisticated Chanel grandma and, yeah, very very very different.
Very different, and one really would take me outside at night and we'd look at the moon and she'd show me the night blooming flowers. And the other one would take me to her, what I would later come to call a beauty altar, her dressing table and all her bottles and all her bespoke clothing and her wardrobe, and she was very, very particular and the two of them together were very inspiring. But they were also older, even when I was young, and so by the time I was really old enough to have these conversations they were gone, and so it was film stars, it was people I saw on the screen, and I remember being very, very, very young. I had this conversation with someone recently.
05:48
I don't know if you know her Lauren Stover. She's a beautiful author, she's amazing, she wrote the Bohemian Manifesto and she's incredible, and we were having this conversation, but she's writing a book about Marilyn Monroe, and I said that when I was little I actually thought she was an angel. I thought she was like a fairy, godmother, angel and I didn't know she was real. She was an actual, real person. These were the kind of things that really sparkled to me. It was the inner light too. It was just that inner. I always say, you know your inner cold and just being stoked. These women were all of these women I'm talking about, my grandmothers included were incandescent. So yeah, there's very much a spirituality involved. There's very much a. I always say it's like you're taking this act of just getting out the door or getting yourself ready and you're elevating it to the level of ritual.
Mary
Host
06:55
You know what I was really moved by when you were describing your grandmothers and the film stars is like this real constellation in the makeup of what we might call beauty witchery or magical beauty. You know where there was the self-respect and the connection to the earth and the moon and glamour, and I appreciate what you said about how some people will receive it and some people won't, and I know that you know for many of my clients, for example, whenever I coach with them, we always do a beauty discovery session which is basically like how to style yourself according to your soul's expression, and one of the things that we often come up against is like oh, I couldn't wear a hat, I couldn't wear a fur collared coat or an excessive lipstick, and so I wondered if you might share a little bit about just your relationship to glamour as a spiritual practice.
Alise
Host
08:09
Well, I really feel it. I want to say see it, but I feel it as an extension of how I'm feeling. It goes both ways and I think we've also talked about this before where it's part of you. So for me, I don't have to be dressed up to feel glamorous, but I like it and I like the magic. There is magic in clothing, in color, in jewelry, of course, in adornments, and I don't take any of that lightly. I think it's and, like you say, it's part of the individual. I do some of my readings or astro beauty readings, and so they're natal chart readings, but they're geared toward what's gonna kind of resonate with you as an individual and with my clients. It's funny because, although we say if something doesn't resonate with you, it's exactly where you need to look and that happens a lot they say, oh, I can't wear a hat. Okay, well, what's that about?
Mary
Host
09:19
Yes, very much. What's your gateway drug? I feel like, if you can, what's your gateway drug? I love it If you can rock a hat, and hats are such a versatile way to bring expressiveness to, even if you're just wearing yoga clothes underneath a fall coat, if you have a hat on. You are a remarkable woman instantly.
Alise
Host
09:44
Exactly. Oh, I mean, I think we were talking about this too. How many times have I run out in the middle of the day in a nightie because I'm home working on my computer, throw on the coat, throw on a hat, throw on some lunettes, and everyone's like, wow, you're stylish. Yes, I've got a nightie on, that's right, but it's a nice one, but you don't know it. But, and suddenly you're this mysterious creature with the trilby and the shades and the trench coat.
Mary
Host
10:17
Totally. That happens to me all the time. I bet it does All the time.
Alise
Host
10:22
I bet it does. It's all about accessories and boots and shoes. And then, of course, Chanel grandmother would say take one thing off before you go out the door. Right, take one thing off. Take one thing off. You're tiny, don't overwhelm yourself with adornments and clutter. And so there's that too, but I think a little bit of clutter is nice.
Mary
Host
10:49
I agree, I like some clutter. One of my absolute I would say like my aspirational style icons are the women of advanced style. Do you know that?
Alise
Host
10:59
one. Oh, yes, I do. They're lovely iris, and all those ladies, yes, Well.
Mary
Host
11:05
Diana Vreeland. One of my favorite stories about her is when she was interviewed in her great red living room with endless just patterns and just I mean, my mom has a very simple style and I imagine my mom going in there and spontaneously vomiting Combustion. She would get so overwhelmed. But the interviewer asked her you know, diana, what's your secret? And her answer was, as she smoked on a cigarette simplicity, dotting Simplicity.
Alise
Host
11:42
I love it. I love it.
Mary
Host
11:46
What is such like your Chanel grandmother saying take one thing off and the extravagant glamour of advanced style. Like there is a simplicity to both of them.
Alise
Host
11:58
Yes, there is, I agree. I absolutely agree with it. Do you have Diana Vreeland's book? I don't. Oh, you got to get it. It's I think it's out of print, but it's really cool. Well, there's a few, but the one it's the. Why don't you? It's that one.
Mary
Host
12:12
It's really cool.
Alise
Host
12:14
No, and I agree, I agree, there's sort of a Bohemian madness to certain styles that I think is also extremely simplistic. It's like no, it all goes. If it's beautiful, it goes, if it makes you happy, it goes. Done. You know, there's a certain amount of beautiful chaos that I kind of operate in and I should probably do a little bit less of that. I should probably streamline a little bit, but I don't really see that happening.
Mary
Host
12:46
So Well, you know, something that I find so grounding in style, in time management, in any area of my life where I want to get my shit together or have some sense of harmony amongst the chaos and this feels like a very feminine, magic-based way of being is really knowing your values. Yes, and so my style values are expressiveness and telling a story with my style. I love that. I love things that have been given to me. That's a huge part of my style and you know, in your work, your work has a real cauldron around which every single piece of it gathers and I wonder, are there some words or some statements that might describe kind of your system of values around beauty and beauty magic?
Alise
Host
13:55
There's always got to be some some radiance, some solar-powered, sparkly, radiant warmth. As much as I work with the moon cycles, I'm very solar-powered and that's really important to me. That balance is really important to me too, and even in my potions and things there's got to be that balance. And you know, sensual, it's got to be soft, it's got to feel good, it's got to smell good, it's got to make me want to. Just, you know, it has to feel good in that moment and if it doesn't feel good, it has to go away. It has to go away.
14:39
I just, I just got rid of the bags of stuff that I went through and just, you know, this reminds me of a point in life that I don't really want to be reminded of. This reminds me of a person. This person loved these shoes out, you know, and I think that's really important to. I think that that whole waning moon cull is really, if you can do that I mean, if you could do that monthly, I would, I would, I would applaud you in the middle of the street, but I can't do it monthly, but certainly a couple of times a year.
Mary
Host
15:16
I think it's really key to just clear out and and just say you know this belongs to an older version of me that doesn't really have a place in now, or certainly going forward and in your book you talk a lot about the moon cycles and something that I really appreciate is the way that you know you talk about, in the waning moon, certain rituals to conduct and potions to use and when the moon is full, like, read some little bits and pieces, luxuriate in your richest, richest potions and adorn yourself in finery.
16:02
And this is something that I think is just so unique about your way of being and way of working in the world is that there are a lot of books out there that teach you how to make your own products. But this is not about products. This is about potions, elixirs, solar powered tourmaline, charged butter, secret love spell woven into it. And I wonder for our listeners, I think, like what I'd really love to know. It's kind of an open question, but just that crossover from a beauty routine which I imagine many of our listeners have a lot of beauty routines to this act of ritual, like, what was that like for you and where might someone begin if they want to make that crossover?
Alise
Host
17:09
I think for me it started. I know for me it started by watching Chanel grandmother adorn herself One million moons ago, but it became for me it became. You know, I'm not really a meditator, I'm not. I don't have a lot of practices that a lot of other more spiritual people have, but what I have is that I sit down every morning and I do have a dressing table, and not everybody does. You can I talk about it in the book too?
17:44
It's like I don't care if it's your bathroom counter. You know, I've had apartments where I have a mirror on the floor and a cushion and I sit in front of there and I do my thing and it doesn't matter. But it's got to be something that it's a space that's it's like ritual space to you. So wherever it is, it's you have to have privacy. If you live with a million people, you have to be able to lock the bathroom door. You have to be able to be in your own space. That's like no, no, this is my face. You can take 10 minutes in the morning to set your day. You can take 10 minutes in the evening and being very stingy with the 10 minutes, but you can take 10 minutes at the end of the day to reset yourself for the evening. Whatever that evening is, whether you're staying in, your going out, whatever you're doing and you absolutely can take beauty breaks in the day. That's a big one, you know.
Mary
Host
18:43
Tell us about that. Tell us about your beauty breaks.
Alise
Host
18:47
Well, they were actually, they were born of them, just wrote an article about it. They were born of having a string of really shitty day jobs, to be honest, and started developing what I would call my mojo bag, which was just I. Now I have this beautiful wine colored velvet bag and, you know, keeping little, your, your little trial sizes of your serums and your sprays and whatever you have maybe a crystal, maybe it's your tarot cards, maybe it's definitely your perfume, your lipstick, whatever it is that you need and just grabbing it, going into the ladies room, restroom, locking the door no one really has to know where you are, it's none of their business or what you're doing and just you know, like looking in the mirror and just kind of going all right, this has been a day. What do I need to do to get back into my power? And so, outcomes, the stuff.
19:55
You know, you have a mist, maybe a crystal infused mist that you've made, and I always take a little dab, a little serum, you know, and just in the cracks in the dry parts and give it a fluff of the hair and a spray of perfume and lipstick, and I always, you know, roll my shoulders and you know, finally you go back out there and you're like you know what?
20:17
You can't touch me, you can't get me down, because I just took that time. So I think that that's crucial, especially if you are like a like very many people, where you're doing something day to day that you don't love and you need that escape. And while you're working on doing the thing that you love and creating out in the world, at least take that time for yourself. And then morning, evening, same thing. You know, this is how you're starting your day, this is how you're going to set your energy, and every time you go back to that, you're going back to the temple of the body, you're going back to worshipping at your own altar and you will feel better and you will change your own energy.
Mary
Host
21:10
One of the things in your book if you hear a little background noise, I'm just picking it up here but there's a chapter called the female gaze and I'm pretty obsessed with, you know, this idea of expanding the aperture of our conditioned gaze around beauty, which is such a narrow, conformist, really supremacist system of beauty, and opening, like, like something I love to just say and also remember is like beauty is or beauty isn't, you know, like there is such inherent beauty in all things. Yes, and for you, are there any ways that you find helpful to interrupt that static that comes into our minds around our unworthiness based on how we deviate from that narrow, moving target of patriarchal beauty standards?
Alise
Host
22:31
I think there's a few things. I feel that there's that returning to your body, your temple, like we're talking about appreciating you, appreciating what makes you different, appreciating what society may call a flaw, but also growing up too, like everyone, I had things I wanted to change about myself, things that what could you do about it really? And I remember getting very much into the European movie stars versus the Hollywood movie stars and singers and saying, wow, they really all have their own look. They really are just them, gap-toothed, whatever it is. For me it was always like oh, I've got the great garlic beak and this sort of gap tooth and I'm tiny.
23:41
I can't really do anything about that. I just say it's part of what makes you interesting. And I know that sounds really cliche and really annoying to some people, because I used to think it was really annoying. I was 14 years old and working a second working a part-time job after school because I was going to get a rhinoplasty. That was what I was doing and people were like are you nuts? Are you absolutely insane? No, because I want to have this cute little nose, like my mom has and my aunt has and Marilyn has. And then I just got.
24:24
I think by the time I was old enough to actually have made this decision. I was like, what are you crazy? It's part of your face, it makes you you. And again someone else telling me that I'd be like oh please, shut up. But the thing is there is that and I think part of that is not looking at what I would call the insta face or the, not focusing so much on those standards, but branching out certainly different cultures, different ideas, different looks, different and appreciate and then coming back to your own temple again and again the other day I was talking to Betsy Priehlou, who's the author of Seductress.
Mary
Host
25:14
And yeah great book is talking about how you know. I was asking her like what is it that the seductresses would tell us, the seductresses throughout history would tell us is that spark that it quality? That Schwadivie, and she said originality.
Alise
Host
25:39
I would agree and and and the brain, you know the mind, the that's such a, that's such a turn on.
Mary
Host
25:49
Such a turn on.
Alise
Host
25:49
It's such a turn on and and that's a fantastic book and all those women, you know, they had wit, they had intellect, they had all kinds of things up their sleeves that were just so much more potent than just a pretty face.
Mary
Host
26:07
Yes, well, and many of them didn't even have a pretty face. That's the thing. Yes, so many chapters are about this myth busting of you know, for chapter one is homely sirens, right, you know, Colette, for example Rizzy, gray hair and a big nose. I actually have a picture of her.
26:29
I love her so much on my, my shelf in my office, because you know, her literary career didn't start until she was well into her forties, or at least her recognition. Recognition, yeah, literary talents, and you know just the lovers that she would take. And you know, yes, it's like there is this animation, this life force that no amount of cosmetic beauty can harness. And yet what I love about your work is that beauty is a portal to connecting with that spark.
Alise
Host
27:12
Yeah, yeah, and I I'll take it even a step further, if I may, because I always feel that that incandescence, that inner cauldron, that light that comes from doing what makes you happy, that comes from passion being released. And think about Colette. What did she do? She wrote, yeah, she had an idiot husband that that's a whole other story. But she also was a dancer, she was also had, you know, did all these things that nurtured her and made her that much more thrilling and interesting and fascinating and gorgeous. And it's shown, it's shown through, you know. And so there's a lot of that.
28:01
When I, when I see people, clients or whoever just not not really feeling that great in their own skin, regardless of what they, what they look like or what you know, I just say like what do you? What are you not realizing in here? What's an? Interestingly enough, a lot of times there's eruptions on the face. I always call them solar flares, because it's not acne, it's like a, it's like a passion that's not being expressed and and you see it a lot, you know, and sometimes it's anger or sexual frustration or something, but very often it's just you're not, that light is so dim, it's like. It's like you're this beautiful chandelier but you're on dim and you don't. It's. It's up to you to turn that dim or wait up. No one's going to do it for you. But sometimes you don't know you can, you're just sort of coasting along on on the dim bulbs and when you, when you find that thing that makes that light brighter, absolutely nothing's gonna stop you. You and you and you and you and everybody, nothing is going to stop you. And that's, I think, the biggest thing.
29:20
And you know, in, in, where we are now in the world and the, and astrologically, it's such a time to find that passion and take it out into the world. And not everybody's going to be able to make a living on it immediately or you know anything like that. But it's the point of doing it, whether it's a hobby, it's a part time thing, it's a full time. I'm crazy and I'm going for it. You know, whatever it is that has to, that has to be out there, because that's going to save you every single time.
29:54
You know, and I and I do believe it sounds maybe a bit round about, but I do believe the way to back, to back to those ideas, those creations, are through beauty rituals. I feel like every time we take care of ourselves, we get closer to. What is it that makes me tick? What is it that I want to see on the physical plane? That's magic and that's why you know, using the lunar cycles, using the, the planetary and the solar cycles and the seasons so important if you kind of align with that will of the year and wow, you can get stuff done.
Mary
Host
30:40
I love that connection and you know I'm moved by the fact that whenever one goes into a space that's dedicated as sacred, there's usually the presence of flowers and candle lights, and it's a very sensuous atmosphere.
Alise
Host
30:56
Very very.
Mary
Host
30:58
That seduces the body into a state of relaxation and opens up that inner cauldron of truth, you know. Speaking of the sensual, I want to just read, if I may, a little, a little, something from your website on, because I just love the way you write so much and I feel inspired to cast a spell from how do I say? This product? The last, last source year.
Alise
Host
31:32
The social.
Mary
Host
31:33
The social. Okay, beautiful. So a divine collection of seductive sorcery for your heavenly body. The facial a gorgeous, petite ritual for calling in the feminine divine. Invigorate tired skin by banishing layers no longer useful, then feeding it with the gifts of the beauty goddesses to reveal irresistibly stunning skin that glows with celestial radiance. Sensual, empowering and highly effective. This treatment can be made bespoke for your skin type by simply adding the nectar of your desires, and then there are custom ingredients that you can add, and I just need to write, or I need to read, this one description of the ingredient of rose. So you say, plant powered beauty, beloved bringer of beauty and love, sacred to both Freya and Aphrodite, exquisite rose provides potent age delay skincare powers and an opening of psychic awareness. Her magic includes strength that belies her delicate appearance. Like what, oh my God? And then just apple, and I mean even chickpea. You even know how to seduce us through Humble chickpea flour.
Alise
Host
33:10
Oh my God, I don't even really like chickpeas that much, but the but the besan, the flour is just exquisite for the skin Exquisite yeah.
Mary
Host
33:20
Well, I've used your products and they are extraordinary. Thank you, this is not some slapdash kitchen, no, and ages of wisdom that you infuse into these products.
Alise
Host
33:37
And they're there really because, you know, I would always encourage people to concoct on their own, but realistically, all the time. I don't make everything myself. I don't have the time. I wear a lot of hats and they're not all conical, but yeah, there's a lot of care that goes into my potion making.
Mary
Host
34:00
I really feel that whenever I use your elixirs.
Alise
Host
34:03
I'm so glad.
Mary
Host
34:04
I'm so glad, 100%. I mean everything that you do, the words that you write, the way that you walk, the products that you use, the elixirs that you drink and craft and share. It's like it's all crafted with such intention. That's something I just so deeply appreciate about you is the way you take your passion and you pour it into this really lost art of ritualizing beauty, and for me it's like beauty is God made visible or goddess?
Alise
Host
34:43
made visible. Yeah, yeah, I like that.
Mary
Host
34:47
Yes, so I so appreciate you being a beauty keeper on this planet.
Alise
Host
34:54
Well, thank you, and I'm right back at you. You really are. The work you do is unbelievable. It's amazing and I'm so glad we know each other on this physical plane and on many other planes and have known one another. I'm really really grateful for that connection.
Mary
Host
35:21
Me too, me too, through the years, through the years.
Alise
Host
35:25
And you know it's not going to stop.
Mary
Host
35:27
No.
Alise
Host
35:29
We are going to be having this conversation as really adorable 90 year olds with hats.
Mary
Host
35:36
And something I'm also so grateful for is that Alise is a guest faculty member in the School of Sensual Living, and they come to your senses, co-teree, and I'm so grateful to get to bless our beloved savants with your magic spell.
Alise
Host
35:55
I am so looking forward to this. I just and I'm so honored, so honored, wonderful.
Mary
Host
36:03
And so, Alise, if my listeners, as I'm sure, they're all just itching their fingertips to discover obviously this will be in the show notes, but if you want to just announce it now how they can connect with you, buy your gorgeous products in your gorgeous book.
Alise
Host
36:22
Yes, my website is thebeautywitch.com and everything is on there. You can well, you can get my book, kind of wherever books live, but I sign copies in my atelier. I have an atelier and all my products are there. My potions, some of them, you know, go out of stock just briefly because I'm making them when it's the right time to make them and they're always in small batches. And I also offer readings and astro chart, astro beauty witch charts. You know, I say astrology, beauty witch style and and psychic readings. I like to work that in more in conjunction with your path and what, what you're doing, and I work one on one with clients as well and I've got some some workshops online coming up and going to be doing the second round of my master class in January, so that's not yet, but I'm looking forward to that.
Mary
Host
37:25
So yeah there's a lot of goodies, a lot of goodies coming up, a lot of goodies and I love, I love just the diversity of your offerings, that you know there is this aesthetic and cosmetic magical component but that ultimately, like you said, the passion and the spark of who you are is really the source of that beauty. So I appreciate just the holistic approach you take to all angles.
Alise
Host
37:52
Absolutely yeah. Yeah, I think it's really, it's really key.
Mary
Host
37:57
Thank you so much for being here. I am toasting you with my well. I actually don't have one in one in front of me. I wish I did. I am so beguiled with the intoxicating beverages and elixirs that you share about on your Instagram, so I look forward to the next time we enjoy one of those in person.
Alise
Host
38:17
Me too, me too, and thank you so much for having me.
Mary
Host
38:20
This has been great, do you ever wish that you could have a day at the spa with a facial, a manicure and a massage, but for your own spirit and soul. In a Radiance Renewal Coaching session, you'll be given the tools to identify the true blocks to your full radiance and discover how to melt tension in your body and mind to reveal your most luminous light. Sessions are available for in limited time, so head to schoolofsensualliving.com/radiance or hit the link below this episode.
Today's guest, my friend & muse Alise Marie, does more than just impart knowledge about beauty rituals. She lives it. Through a captivating blend of expressiveness and storytelling, Alise embodies the transformative potential of beauty to change us from the inside out. Ready to add a dash of magic to your beauty routine? Tune in and let's conjure some enchantment together.
Alise's Links:
The Beauty Witch's Secrets: Recipes & Rituals for The Modern Goddess
Links from the episode:Join Mary & Alise in The Coterie, last day to enroll is 12/12
JOIN THE COTERIE
Join The Coterie
Immerse yourself in artful embodied living and make 2024 your year to cultivate vibrant, luminous radiance. The Coterie is a six month, body-led coaching immersion. Journey through the six phases of a feminine renaissance, and be supported in a lifestyle of nurturing your body, awakening through beauty, and relaxing into a renaissance of radiance. Take advantage of the Early Babe Savings and join the Coterie today. https://www.alifewellsavored.com/
