Bowling Green locals know Johanna for her natural skin care brand. For years, the brand went by the nickname she had been given growing up. Some have seen her at the community farmers market where her incredible products basically sell themselves. Others know her from networking groups where her fun and sometimes silly nature bubbles over. I met Johanna in 2023. I was immediately impressed with her values as a person AND her carefully crafted skin care products. We wanted to work together at that point, but the timing wasn’t right for her or her brand.
Fast forward a little over two years and Johanna was rebranding. She had narrowed down her line to only the most popular and carefully researched and formulated products. This skin care brand was getting a major facelift (I would say “no pun intended,” but I definitely intended it). Not only were the products getting new labels…the brand colors, the logo and even the very name of the company was changing! (I will link the website at the end of this article so you can see how incredible it looks!) She said she was ready to work with us and that she trusted me to create the images of her dreams for her new website and social media pages.
We started in the commercial kitchen in Bowling Green, KY, where she mixes and fills all of her products by hand. The high quality ingredients were very impressive. And Johanna didn’t leave anything to chance. Every single ingredient measured to the tiniest fraction. It was the precision you would expect from a factory, not from something made by hand each time.
One thing I loved about this process was seeing how much joy she had in creating this skin care brand for not only her local community but for everyone. This isn’t something she HAS to do. This is something she GETS to do. Her infectious laugh came out several times during the session and I loved it. This was so HER!
Then we headed to East Main BG, an aesthetically beautiful local event venue and AirBnB, for the rest of her session. We started with images that show who inspires her the most…her family. This skin care brand was created for busy moms. And Johanna knows how much a mom, especially an entrepreneur mom, has to juggle. That’s why her brand is so effective. It speaks to what moms are actually dealing with.
After we took care of some of the behind-the-scenes images, next was time to showcase the actual products. Several locals from Bowling Green and surrounding areas came in to show these incredible skincare products at work.
These are three of my absolute favorite products Johanna has made. The toner makes your skin feel incredible. And have you ever seen a woman and said “she’s simply glowing”? That’s how you feel when you put on the antioxidant balm and the gel serum. Her target audience is younger moms. But we used models of all ages to show how versatile these skin care products are. We didn’t hire out professional models for this session. We used those who have used and fallen in love with the products. That way the results are clearly evident. One customer calls it “like putting an app filter on your face.”
These photos are missing just one thing…you can’t smell how fragrant these products are. This citrus cove has been my favorite scent of just about any product I have ever tried in my life. Johanna called it a different name in the past. But as they say “a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” This skin care brand session was definitely the best-smelling session we have ever had! (Well…the best smelling one where nothing present was edible anyway…)
What do mothers care about the most? Their babies! This baby balm is one of the many ways moms can protect their littles. It helps with everything from caring for your pregnant belly to soothing diaper rash. This may be the most important product this skin care brand offers! I loved getting to watch mom and baby interact on this branding session. It showed the heart behind the brand and really made its mission come to life.
Because moms are so busy, spa days aren’t often in a weekly routine. Do they deserve weekly spa days? Of course! Moms are literally superheroes. They deserve the best. But do they have the time? Absolutely not. So Johanna found a way to bring the spa right to your home with her sugar scrub. Pamper yourself without leaving your home! And just like the other products, this comes with that incredible fragrance as well. We may have made a little bit of a mess during this part of the session, but it was worth it!
Speaking of things moms don’t always have time for… Johanna also has her own line of dry shampoo. For those mornings when everything is chaotic but you still need to look your best when you leave the house, this stuff is nothing short of miraculous.
Another of my favorite moments (there were quite a few during this session) of this day was watching these little boys cling to their mother as she went through her skin care morning routine. Moms know they have no privacy. So this showed how easy the routine is, even when your kids are crawling all over you. And these boys definitely understood the assignment. I couldn’t help but smile the whole time I was taking these.
We finished up the session with labeling and packaging her products for shipments. These products have shipped all over the country! I am so proud of Johanna! She has worked very hard over the past few years and it’s all paying off. I can’t wait to watch Mira Motte (check out the website here) reach even more people and take its rightful place among all the large skin care giants. For now, I leave you with just a few of my many favorites from the rest of this session:
I hope you enjoyed looking at these photos as much as we enjoyed taking them. This session took quite a bit of planning, but the results speak for themselves. Also, the aesthetic for this brand is warmer than the way we typically edit, but it was a welcomed break from the norm. I’m grateful for working with the incredibly talented Johanna and her Mira Motte brand! I wish her all the success in the world!
Kevin + Renee
