“I think girls need something other than the media to tell them what beautiful is…to help them see how incredible they are, how stunning they are.”

A while back, I shared a piece of my heart in this post, Always More. I talked about sharing this thought, this passion, with my model team, and their response was incredible. They came up with the idea to do a fully natural shoot – undone hair and no makeup. Here in front of me sat 9 young women, all being faced with the same insecurities and social influences and pressure, yet wanting to take a stand. To be vulnerable and real for the sake of reaching other young women, and to be perfectly undone – to show other girls that your natural beauty is truly beautiful. It is not about how well you contour your make up, how you do your hair, how perfectly your eyebrows are shaped, or how skinny and fit you are. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting or having those things, but rather truly knowing that your worth and your beauty are not based on them. It is about the fact that you are enough, exactly as you are. There is nothing you need to do or be, nothing to earn your value. You are valuable just as you are. You are gorgeous exactly as you are. You are beautiful, worthy and absolutely amazing, exactly as you are right now.

We as humans have insecurities, flawed and imperfect in one way or another, physically and emotionally. Yet that does not define us. God made us all perfect, amazing and beautiful, just as we are.

I am beyond proud of these girls and blown away by their hearts and how they want to come along side one another and empower their peers, to encourage and support them. I am constantly amazed at how much they want to help other girls feel beautiful and accepted for simply being. That you are stunning, with or without hair and makeup. I am so beyond blessed to have them on my model team, and so thrilled that they have fully embraced Always More. Hearing their reasons for wanting to do this shoot, why it was important to them, or what they wish other girls would know…seriously, their hearts are so beautiful.

So, here are my gorgeous girls, in all their natural, incredible beauty, inside and out ❤

“The natural shoot for me was an opportunity to inspire many young girls and help them feel more confident being themselves. It was a way to show girls that they don’t need to have the expensive makeup pallet and the perfect hair that every girl dreams of having. We live in a society where every girl’s dream is to have the perfect body, the most likes on am instagram post, and negative attention they don’t need. The media tells girls they need this product and those clothes in order to be worth something. Instead what teenage and young girls need is someone to stand up for them, someone to tell them that they are important and that they matter. Hopefully this photoshoot and message inspires girls to be more optimistic and positive about themselves and how they appear to others. Always more beautiful, astounding, breathtaking and stunning is what you are. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise!”

“I think it’s important to own your natural beauty and who you are without any touch ups, or makeup. I know that I am not perfect in any way, shape or form, but I don’t let my flaws define who I am. I define myself. I see myself as a young girl who wants to embrace her natural beauty and be proud of who I am and help others to as well. Natural beauty isn’t just about what is on the outside, it’s what is on the inside as well. I truly believe that beauty shines from within and as long as you have a beautiful heart, you will always be a beautiful individual.”

“‘Self respect, self worth and self love, all start with self. Stop looking outside yourself for your value.’ I wish I would have known sooner that beauty isn’t the makeup on your face, but the greatness in your heart.”

“I wanted to do a no makeup shoot to show girls that they don’t need to wear makeup and do their hair to look beautiful. I wish that every girl had the ability to see their true worth and not worry about what other people thing.”

“I really wanted to do the natural shoot because it shows other girls that look at our pictures that you don’t need to be done up with perfect make up and perfect hair to be beautiful. To show what God gave you is beautiful as is. And that none of us are perfect.”

“I wanted to be a part of the all natural photoshoot because of the message it is trying to get across. Of course we all want to look good because it brings confidence so we put on make up and dress in our favorite clothes, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But make up and keeping up an image for yourself can cause us to no longer be comfortable being all natural and without those material things. But it’s never bad to look the way God blessed you to look. You’re beautiful just the way you are.”

“You are always more than media and the world tells you. You are always more than you give yourself credit for. There is always more fight in you, more strength, determination, ability and love in you than people tell you. You are always more than your history, than your mistakes, your brokenness. Life is messy, and you are always more than that mess. People hurt us, leave us broken, but you are always more than that brokenness, those hurtful words and horrible names.

You are not defined by these things.

You are infinitely and always more.

Just as you are.“