Dear Beautiful | September 2026 Letter
Dear Beautiful,
Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to gather with women in several different ways. A girls trip with friends. A baby shower for my daughter-in-law, surrounded by women who came to celebrate her and the little girl she's bringing into the world. Time at my friend’s house around a table playing Mahjong with women from church.
Different women, in different ages and stages of life with different reasons for coming together.
But I walked away from each gathering with the same thought: Women need women.
There is something uniquely beautiful about women showing up for one another. We celebrate each other's babies, birthdays and big wins. We sit beside each other through heartbreak and disappointment. We trade advice, recipes, recommendations and stories. We laugh about things only another woman would understand. We remind each other that we can do hard things, and sometimes we simply need someone to tell us we're doing a good job.
It is beautiful to ponder the friendships from so many different seasons of my life, and I treasure each of them. Each brings something different to my life, and I'm realizing more and more just how much I need them all.
As women, we spend so much of our lives taking care of other people. We manage schedules, build careers, raise families, nurture relationships, solve problems and carry things that often go unseen. And while we love so much of what fills our days, we also need people with whom we can put some of it down.
We need the friends who make us laugh until our stomachs hurt and the ones who notice when we've gone a little quiet. We need women ahead of us who can say, I've been there, and women coming up behind us who remind us of who we used to be.
And we need to make room for new friendships, too. I love the thought that some of the women who will become important parts of our lives are women we haven't even met yet.
Life is richer with women who remind us we're seen, we're loved and we don't have to carry it all ourselves.
Here’s my hope: that you reach out to the friend you've been meaning to call. That you say yes to the next lunch date, or make the invitation yourself. Fall is the best season for gathering with girlfriends, don’t you agree? Cook up a pot of soup, have women over and watch the latest DWTS episode.
Whatever you choose to do, I hope you regularly connect with women who make your life better, and take the opportunity to be that woman for someone else. There's always room for one more chair at the table.
xoxo,
Darcey, CEO
Shine Cosmetics
