Last updated on April 5th, 2022 at 04:48 pm

At the Harper Girls, we are all about “living your best life at any age”.  We have a lot of our own ideas but we know we don’t have all the answers.  So today we are turning to Jennifer Walsh, who has an amazing background in so many different areas related to beauty and wellness.

From the founder of the Beauty Bar brand to her latest work in infusing nature into wellness, we are sharing Jennifer’s thoughts on where beauty and nature are going in 2022.

You can read on to learn more about Jennifer, but you can also click this link to watch our IG Live that took place on March 31, 2022.

Click HERE to watch the IG Live!

The Jennifer Walsh Interview

Let’s start with a little bit about your background. It’s very impressive and eclectic!

I feel like I have lived many lives in business. I actually started out in finance at Merrill Lynch and began doing makeup on the side. I called every production company I could find to offer my services for free just so I could learn what it was like to work on a TV production, movie set, magazine photoshoot.

I quickly began to build my portfolio of work and became a celebrity makeup artist in the late 90’s. I have done the makeup for Pink, Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, Beyonce, Tyra Banks, and many others.

In 1997 my friend who was a TV producer for a local ABC affiliate called me and asked that I bring my makeup kit to the studio to talk about makeup that I was using on the celebrities. This was a time when no one was on TV talking about makeup. His actual guest fell through and begged me to do it and I said no. Ultimately I went on air that fateful day in 1997 and will be celebrating my 25 years on air this February.

This segment then turned into a weekly segment and lead me to create Beauty Bar. I was showcasing products on air that people had never heard of such as Bobbi Brown, Stila, Fresh, L’Occitane, Urban Decay, Philosophy, and others. I thought if I had this TV segment as an educational tool, why don’t I open a store to create a sales channel for it. This was pre Sephora and Ulta. My friends thought the idea was the dumbest thing they had ever heard and told me not to do and to not quit my day job.

Beauty Bar became the very first beauty business in the country that was omni channel, meaning it was brick and mortar locations, a website and a weekly TV show. I sold the business in 2010 and Amazon now owns. Amazon wanted to get into the business of selling higher end beauty and I became that conduit to their goal.

Since selling off the business I have worked with beauty brands around the globe and started a few other businesses. In 2016 I began a video series called Walk with Walsh where I could interview my friends that were CEO’s while walking in nature. This series changed the very trajectory of my life.

Each person I interviewed said they loved it, that they never get outside, that this felt so good. I wondered why no one was going outside. I wondered why if they knew it felt good, why they would deny themselves something that is truly so positive.

I began studying and researching what happens to us when we are with nature and without and it has lead to where I am today. I also know that nature has been that thread through my life and even in my stores. Today I am teaching others about the impact on our health and wellbeing of time spent in nature and most importantly how it impacts brain health. 

We really want to share with our readers about the connection between beauty and wellness, which we know is a passion of yours. How did this become a passion of yours and how can people incorporate this philosophy into their own lives?

Beauty is wellness and always has been. How we live in our skin is directly connected to how we feel. Beauty isn’t just about the products we use, it is about how we treat ourselves and others. I felt this sentiment 20 years ago with my customers at Beauty Bar.

You are a huge proponent of getting outside and specifically walking.  Your “Walk with Walsh” is a great series. Tell us more.

The series Walk with Walsh changed me. While I was already walking every day, what my guests shared with me made me want to learn more about nature and why people weren’t getting outside. I have been a marathon runner and triathlete my entire life and have always been an outdoors type person so to hear that people were only going outside on the weekends shocked me. My research also shocked me and I couldn’t stop researching and learning about nature, not just walking in it but what we have been missing for years was this connection to the natural world.

Let’s turn a little bit to beauty.  One of the biggest questions we have is where beauty and nature intersect.  We know getting outside is good for the brain and when you feel good, you look good.  But what about products?  What types of products do you use to protect your skin, especially when you are spending so much time outside?

Beauty is one of the biggest industries that relies so heavily on the natural world. Ingredients, story telling, imagery, marketing, merchandising, packaging is so deeply connected to nature. The types of products have definitely changed over the years, as they should for everyone.

I’m certainly using totally different products than even just 5 years ago. It truly depends on the time of year and where I am. If I’m outdoors visiting family in Florida in February, I will use something different than what I would use if I was home in NYC in February.

I use face cleansing balms (Elemis is my all time favorite) every morning and night. I also love trying face oils for cleansing. Because I continue to do TV segments and I write for different news outlets around wellness, I am continuously trying new products. I am really loving the skincare collection from Jones Road.

What are some of your other beauty recommendations for looking and feeling good?

What we eat has so much to do with how we feel in our bodies so I always say that what we put in our bodies shows through our bodies. A daily walk is truly a part of my beauty routine, it gets the blood flowing and reconnects me with the natural world.

It’s important for our bodies to get dirty before they get clean, if you will. We have been stripping away our healthy bacteria and we need to put that “dirt” back into our beauty routines, without it our bodies and skin will never be in harmony.

Any closing remarks or ideas you’d like to pass along to our readers?

When we help others, we feel better. When we feel better we look better in our own eyes. I alway say to always be curious and explore and discover the world around you.

Here’s where you can follow Jennifer Walsh:

And follow Jennifer Walsh on Instagram:

We hope you enjoyed our conversation with Jennifer Walsh. If you enjoy reading our interviews, you should check out our interview with Shawn Reeves, the Head Costume Designer for General Hospital. Shawn shares how he dresses the women on the show and gives some overall fashion tips. You can read that interview HERE.