Laura is our first-ever featured blogger. This beauty maven brings a scientific perspective to her site BlushandBeakers.com, writing about skin, hair and cosmetics. We were thrilled to host her in San Francisco and give her the DHC royal treatment, including a makeover and photo shoot!

My dream blog post?
Maybe one that goes, ″Hey, guys, I just landed my dream job doing X, Y, Z in the beauty industry!″

Brains and beauty
I spend my weekdays 9-to-5 in the lab of one of the best cancer research institutes in the country. Nights, I get to go to beauty industry networking events!

Beauty icons
Iman is so well preserved. She hasn’t aged at all. Like, how is that possible? What is her secret? And Gwen Stefani always has a classic red lip and is simply fierce. She seems comfortable in her own skin. I really admire that.

It all began with some concealer
One random college night, my good friend and I were getting ready to go to some party. She did my makeup and evened out my dark circles and I felt like a brand-new person! That’s how my love of beauty was born.

Best beauty tip
Eyebrows really do frame the face. Minimize the amount of waxing, threading or plucking you do so that in years to come, you will still have them!

More about Laura

What led you to become a cancer researcher?
I was always interested in science. When I entered college, it felt right to major in a STEM field. After college I wanted to gain some work experience before pursuing a full time higher degree so I applied for research assistant positions at various places.

Tell us why you launched Blush and Beakers
It is something that's still evolving, but essentially it was my way of being in the beauty industry—both from a science perspective and a business/marketing perspective—while I still work my full-time job.

Other interests?
Music, mentoring, working with young girls and building self esteem is definitely something that I get joy out of.