We have NEWS #greenbeauties! We are excited to announce that we are the first store in the UK to stock a selection of the most popular products from the luxurious range of wild and organic skincare that is La Bella Figura. In light of the launch, we caught up with Victoria Fantauzzi and Karen King, the inspiring founders (not to mention the duo behind A Night For Green Beauty , America’s organic beauty night out) to find out more about their skin-loving formulations, their favourite ingredients to work with and their green beauty values. Read on for the scoop…
Tell us about the green beauty philosophy that lies at the core of the La Bella Figura brand…
Here at La Bella Figura we’re all about helping women embrace their natural beauty through the use of organic and wild-crafted ingredients. We embrace being able to provide extraordinary, fresh and viable skincare from the moment our ingredients are planted in the ground until they are harvested and used in our products to enable a true ‘seed to skin’ experience.
We love the notion of ‘seed to skin’ skincare. For our readers new to the concept, what does the ‘seed to skin’ experience entail?
Seed to skin is our method of formulating fresh products from the world’s most sustainable, unrefined and potent ingredients and bringing high performance directly into your daily skincare regimen. Our standards for authentic, well designed products are most important to us for the results driven integrity our customers have grown to expect and love.
Fill us in on your formulation process, what does it consist of?
Our formulas are our pride and joy. Each formula is tested for weeks, months and even a year to ensure it upholds our discerning standards of quality production. Developed by combining advanced science and old world alchemy for a hybrid approach in effective skincare, we are advocates of natural and effective beauty and believe in the power of plants to heal and transform. We take pride in the way we do things and that every batch of product we produce is crafted as finely as an artisan winemaker creates an elegant bottle of wine. All of our products are unrefined, unprocessed and Non-GMO.
Why is it important for you to utilise 100% pure and natural ingredients within your formulations?
It is our belief that the best product formulations begin with raw materials that haven’t been bleached, deodorized, coloured or treated from their natural state or grown from genetically modified seeds. It’s this highly tuned with the planet’s well being principal that drives us to seek ingredients being extracted in the gentlest methods possible to yield nutrient dense and viably active performance in a formula. We prefer cold pressed, ice pressed, unheated and super-critical fluid extractions whenever possible.
When it comes to sourcing ingredients, what are the principles that you adhere to?
Fresh, raw, bioactive, unadulterated, unrefined, natural and organic; these are the vital elements we seek for every La Bella Figura ingredient in our products. We make it our mission to source only the best and most potent ingredients from our next door neighbors in Michigan to the deep mystical forests of the Amazon. We are ingredient-centric for our vision of excellent and effective performing products.
What are your favourite natural ingredients to work with?
You may see some of the ingredients we use being repeated in new formulations over and over again. That’s because we truly love the ingredient, believe in its exceptional ability to transform as well as an abundance of healing value in the cycle of skin repair. Some of our favorites include, Barbary Fig Seed Oil, Marfura Butter, Aronia Berry, Raw Manuka Honey, Green Coffee Bean Oil, Kakadu Plum Extract, Amazonian White Clay to name just a few. All of these ingredients are of premium quality and sourced from sustainable, organic and wild farms or rivers.
Word on the grapevine is that you grow your own herbs! Tell us more about that…
Our enthusiasm about quality led us to begin growing some of our own herbs and flowers in our community gardens in Chicago. Our growing season is short lived but we cherish all of the lavender, chamomile, calendula, basil, thyme, red clover and arnica we grow ourselves for fresh, concentrated and potent extracts. Soon we will partner with a flower farm and have organic flowers and herbs grown exclusively for us for upcoming special formulas.
For those just transitioning to a green beauty lifestyle, what is the one product you recommend trying out first?
A very great start would be with a simple, effective moisturizer. We suggest our Barbary Fig Seed Oil which is a single ingredient and gentle enough for most skin types. You may also use day or night, on acneic, rosacea, eczema, mature and hormonal skin types. It is a wonderful balancing oil that promotes hydration, nourishment and a visible glow to your skin.
