IN THE SPOTLIGHT: THE INDIE MOOD

Firstly, Indie Mood is a mood in itself and we absolutely adore it! We have found so many amazing brands doing some incredible things thanks to you and being privately owned, it's really cool to connect with others supporting one another.  How did The Indie Mood LLC begin and tell more about what you represent or hope to achieve?

Indie Mood began as a Reddit thread on the subreddit r/indiemakeupandmore. The community was asking for an Instagram account that covered indie beauty releases and news because there wasn't any at the time. I have experience in social media marketing and content creation, so I went ahead and created the account. Giulia reached out and asked to be a part of it, so we began to work on it together. It grew quickly, and from there we decided to build the website and blog so we could really dive in and cover indie beauty in depth.

What quote do you live by?

My favorite quote is from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 2 Scene 2: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once." 

I'm a big Shakespeare nerd, and I learned recently that Nelson Mandela shared a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare with his prison mates during the 27-year duration he spent on Robben Island. This is the single quote that he highlighted and signed his name next to. For me, this quote reminds me that to live a full life, I have to turn over all my fears to something bigger than myself and take chances. The best things in my life happened because of a risk I took that felt uncomfortable, as growth will always lie right outside of our comfort zones. It was a risk to create Indie Mood, and an even bigger risk to decide to share the project with a then-stranger I met on Reddit. Turns out Giulia and I complement each other perfectly, and Indie Mood wouldn't be what it is today if we didn't work together. It's hard to push past fear to create the life you want, but it's so worth it. As a business owner and entrepreneur, I'm sure you know that well! 

What is your favourite self care ritual that makes you feel good?

I'm quite an introvert, so an evening of self-care and recharging involves a warm bath, then a face mask, and a good book in bed. Self-care for me also involves the ability to put my phone down and just be present, which can be difficult but I always feel much better after. 

We can see your passion and purpose behind everything you do. How do you envision your blog a few years from now? 

Our biggest dream for Indie Mood is to have it be an important resource for those switching to shopping small and discovering indie beauty. We're building multiple resources on our website so people can search for indie brands that fit their interests. For example, people may search "zero-waste body care brand," and Ritology would be one of the results. This way, we can make Indie Beauty accessible for more people. It would also help people discover important ways to support Black Owned, BIPOC Owned, Woman Owned, LGBTQ+ Owned brands and more.  It's also a big goal of ours to become fully crowd-funded through Patreon so we can have full freedom, time, and energy to create content that inspires us and our followers.

Who has impacted you most in blogging and how?

I'm a big fan of Samantha Ravndahl. I appreciate her honesty and vulnerability as she changes throughout her life. Her podcast is really refreshing, she and Alyssa talk about such a wide array of topics in an open-minded, critical, honest, and funny way. I also love her dedication to not doctoring any of her images on social media, reducing PR to reduce waste, and body positivity.  

I also love @lilmoonchildd on instagram. She talks about such a wide range of gender, sexuality, identity, feminism, and more - all through the lens of beauty and fashion. She's a medical radiation technologist, and shares about her career and journey, which I love. 

Finally, I love @afuranefertiti on instagram. She has an amazing podcast - Alchemy of Affluence - where she talks about female entrepreneurship through the lens of witchcraft, alchemy, and manifestation. She's really cool and inspiring! 

Who or what brand would you describe as being a major influence in your life?

I really love Hello Cup - like you, they’re an amazing woman-owned brand focused on sustainability. Not only do I love their products, but they also gear their products to be inclusive to a wide range of people, understanding that not all people with periods identify as women. They create different colors of their cups for discreteness, and even have marketing campaigns surrounding inclusivity. They are also dedicated to sustainability, even in their packaging and mailers, which are fully compostable. I love them!  My Hello Cup was one of the changes I made to shift to a more sustainable life, and I’m so happy I did! 

What are 3 beauty items you can't leave behind?

I have dry skin, so I always need a good moisturizer. My favorite right now is the Banana Soufflé Moisture Cream from Glow Recipe. I can’t live without my Axiology Balmies - they’re zero waste makeup crayons and I’ve been using them daily since I got them. Finally, my Loquita Bath and Body Hair Spritz in the scent Bruja - just a slight spritz after a shower and my hair is so soft and smells amazing. Giulia’s must-haves include the Twinkle Apothecary Eye Tint in any shade, the Fat and the Moon highlight in Beam, Eclectic Beauty Cosmetics’ lipstick in Serpent ou Chapeau?, and if she may add a fourth, any shadow or highlight from DoubleDown Cosmetics.

What does sustainable living mean to you?

I find it really important to encourage everyone to focus on making small changes in their own lives and focusing on the differences they can make instead of looking down upon others for not doing everything in a perfectly sustainable manner. For example, if more people switch to reusable bags, more people choose shampoo bars instead of plastic bottles, more people create a backyard compost, etc, all those small changes will add up to a big change on a wide scale. I think many people get overwhelmed and turned off from making sustainable choices because it can seem like they have to change everything in their life - it seems all or nothing. But every small change helps. Over the past 5 years or so, both Giulia and I have been making changes towards more sustainable lifestyles, and they’ve certainly added up. 

We live by the motto one action and one person CAN make a difference! What is one small action you take to live a more sustainable life?

One small change that Giulia and I have made that made a big difference for me was no longer shopping from fast fashion brands, and only purchasing clothing second hand or from sustainable small businesses. I'm really into fashion and have found through second-hand shopping, I can purchase the expensive brands at prices I can afford and the clothes last longer and have higher resale value when you take care of them; so, you can create a closet that pays for itself over time. My journey began when I visited the Fashion for Good museum in Amsterdam, which revealed a lot of the harm that fast fashion does to the environment and to underprivileged communities of people. After that, Giulia and I took the Slow Fashion Challenge in 2019, which was a 3-month no-buy of new clothing. Ever since then, my perspective on fast fashion consumption has changed. I now seek to have a small wardrobe of high-quality clothing I wear a lot and that will last a long time instead of a constantly changing, giant wardrobe of disposable clothing. A great resource on second-hand shopping and zero-waste wardrobes is the podcast It Never Gets Old. It's a goldmine of information!  

Be sure to check out The Indie Mood LLC for the latest news, reviews and Inspo from Indie Makeup, Beauty, and Fragrance brands!  Find Liv and Giulia at: