Over the next twenty years, Holly’s career bridged both medicinal, botanical and holistic practices, offering her a rare insight into what truly sustains long-term skin health.

From prescription-strength treatments to luxury organics, she discovered that skin flourishes when cared for as a living, biological system; not merely a surface to correct.

Raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Holly grew up in a family and community where connection to plants and the land was part of everyday life. Her father, a civil engineer, taught her to grow food and tend a garden. Her mother, a medical professor with a passion for herbalism, gave her both scientific grounding and a respect for natural remedies. Her grandmother, raised in a convent during WWII, instilled the values of care, resilience, and craft. In her neighborhood, nearly every family had a garden, many kept chickens, and composting was routine. Holly and her friends spent their days barefoot by the river and under the redwoods, moving between neighbors’ homes where mothers shared skills and remedies. By twelve she was making tinctures and poultices, and what began as daily life later became a formal study of herbalism, when she recognized it as the true path to lasting health.

In 2018 she began creating formulas for herself and her family, returning to the holistic roots she trusted most. Forrestine was born from that work, a line of skincare crafted from whole-plant compounds and organic ingredients sourced with care. Each product reflects her background in esthetics, nursing, biology, and herbal medicine, designed to be healing, restorative and supportive of the skin’s microbiome.

Holly now lives with her husband and two daughters, whom she homeschools, on an organic micro-farm. The same values she brings to her family’s life, including education, care for the land, slow cultivation, and integrity in everything grown or made, are the values at the heart of Forrestine.

Forrestine reflects Holly’s belief that skincare should follow nature’s blueprint. Each product is crafted with whole-plant actives and organic botanicals to give the skin what it needs to thrive. Beyond creating the formulas, Holly has made Forrestine a place of learning. She teaches clients and customers about ingredients, how they work, and the principles of skin biology, giving them the knowledge to make thoughtful choices for their skin.