WELCOME!

I’m so glad you’re here.

VANESSA ROSE KESEF

SKIN THERAPIST

LE | LMT | CLC | CST | AWC

My name is Vanessa, I have been working as a healing arts practitioner over the last 20 years. I am a licensed esthetician, licensed massage therapist, herbalist, certified ayurvedic practitioner, certified craniosacral therapist, certified coach, skincare formulator, and educator.

This path has led me in many directions, including a deepening into my own relationship with physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. What I’ve learned along the way is that it’s such a rare experience, to be held in a therapeutic container, to be witnessed in both our grief and our healing, and to be genuinely cared for in the simplest, yet most impactful ways.

So, what does a facial with me look like? I tend to offer a more holistic approach, meaning I favor more natural, minimal formulations and procedures that take your whole being into consideration. I believe the body is its own best healer and I prioritize reestablishing health and function to your tissues over following the latest trend. I have a real passion for the chemistry and science behind skincare. I believe attaining clinical results is much easier, and longer lasting when it’s built on the foundation of holistic care.

ABOUT THE SPACE

After closing both my healing arts centers during the pandemic, I moved to my home office in North Seattle, where I practice currently.

I have always believed that the right space will do half the work!

I invite you to relax in a warmly curated healing space intentionally designed to anticipate your needs while providing a full sensory experience and genuine care.

MY APPROACH

natural vs. synthetic

My philosophy lands somewhere between holistic and clinical. I believe nature holds infinite wisdom and inspiration. While I will most often look to an herb or essence to solve imbalances, sometimes we need a little more to achieve our skin care goals.

Nearly all of the synthetic raw materials I use are sourced from nature. But they are still created in a lab, synthetically. Which, in some cases, is in fact, the more sustainable option and creates standardized measurements of active constituents.

I believe the skin care industry is victim to false claims, over-hyped ingredients, questionable ethics, and greenwashing. This can all be very overwhelming to navigate…for consumer and practitioner alike! What it really comes down to is personal choice.

To this end, I have formulated 2 lines. One uses naturally sourced (but may still be processed) and synthetic ingredients, of which I attempt to use Ecocert or COSMOS approved wherever possible. The alternate line uses only botanical based ingredients that have not undergone any chemical processing.

how I define beauty

What we find beautiful is highly personal. Our attachments to beauty standards and ideals are shaped by our formative experiences, the beliefs modeled to us by caregivers, and heavily influenced by social and cultural norms, and of course, by the media we consume.

That’s a lot of information to sort through!

My relationship with beauty is always growing and changing. What I always come back to though, is the notion that the threads of beauty and health and interwoven into the tapestry of the collective consciousness that, to me, feels like a universal truth, beyond the personal experience of beauty.

minimalist

In the age of social media and viral, trending products, procedures, and elaborate 12 step routines, it can be really overwhelming to know where to start. I’m all for a decadent 12 step routine if that’s what’s working for you and you are enjoying that lavish self-care time (I’m right there with you!) But I also favor a more minimal approach. You don’t need an elaborate routine to achieve balanced, glowing skin.

We are also living in the age of instant gratification. Most things being marketed as a quick fix with instant results often compromise true health for temporary benefits which can often have a pro-inflammatory response that is not always evident in the short term.

Obviously, nothing is going to replicate a facelift (no shade here!). I think lasers and other advanced skin care treatments can be great, with the right conditions. For me personally, I like to offer a slower approach. Sessions with me should feel like a pause on the rest of the world, a space to reconnect with yourself, to relax and unwind, and of course, to achieve and maintain healthy, glowing skin from the inside out.

“Beauty is the physical manifestation of health. When all systems of the body including physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental are in alignment and functioning in unison, there is a natural order to both our tangible and intangible bodies that can be seen and felt as inner light and vitality. This is beauty.”