Entrepreneur Anastasia Igorovich started her natural beauty business with her husband in Colombia after seeing a gap in the market.
Her natural cosmetics company Coco Salvaje, which translates to ‘wild coconut’, came into being in 2015 after she originally started a business producing cold pressed coconut oil.
Initially there was little competition but within a couple of years a boom in coconut oil came to Colombia. This meant she faced stiff competition as companies started to import the raw ingredient into the country at much lower prices, severely affecting her sales.
A ‘beautiful’ change in direction!
Anastasia and her husband had already been enjoying experimenting with cosmetic products using coconut oil, so the fall in her sales of the natural ingredient seemed like the perfect opportunity to grow the cosmetics side of the business into a natural beauty empire. Anastasia said,
“It seemed like a great and a very logical way to expand our business, so we launched our first product. A very simple, but effective lip balm in a biodegradable package. The more we were studying and making trials, the more we got into it.”
Choosing the School of Natural Skincare
Anastasia has a real passion for formulating natural beauty products, which is why she chose to study our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation.
When Anastasia started the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, she created a line of natural, creamy deodorants that now accounts for 35% of her business’s sales. It was the skills and confidence she learnt on the course that enabled her to do this.
In-depth knowledge inspired beauty confidence
The Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation gave Anastasia the self-belief and expertise to create her own products, including learning how to design a product with the needs of the customer in mind and understanding how to write a natural skincare formula.
She also gained essential skincare product knowledge such as how to choose ingredients, how to use safe levels of essential oils and how to use a benchmark product. The deodorant range she formulated after learning these skills was a real success;
“The result was stunning, people love it soooo much! I know this is because it really works, feels amazing on the skin, smells divine and the packaging is beautiful!”
Investing in training
Anastasia recommends learning about the science of natural skincare formulation as the logical first step for aspiring natural skincare formulators around the world. She says it makes such a big difference when you are starting to formulate natural skincare products.
If you are confident about what you do and why you do it, Anastasia believes you can promote and sell your products better. She emphasises that having the expertise behind you means you can create effective natural skincare formulations that are safe, stable and really do their job. She says;
“It may not always be easy to find the money for courses, but after they skyrocket your business, it’s totally worth it!”
A natural skincare course that was just right
After following the School of Natural Skincare for some time, Anastasia chose to study with us because she liked the scope of our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation. The course seemed so logical and complete to her – it truly met all of her expectations.
The parts of the course she particularly enjoyed included the support of the tutors and she found connecting with other students really helpful, too. She also liked the fact that there were many workbooks and ingredients charts.
A key factor that Anastasia took into consideration when deciding on the course was also that students have access to the program for a long time.
“The Diploma enabled me to gradually grow my skills and switch from developing simple anhydrous recipes to complicated emulsion-based creams.”
The confidence only the right natural skincare course can give you
Anastasia knows that after completing the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, she feels much more confident in formulating natural skincare products.
She now understands how to choose the correct ingredients and what role each ingredient plays. She feels confident about what percentage of essential oils is safe to add to a product. And she says she can also now decode the label of a product she likes and create a similar product, known as reverse formulating, also covered in the Diploma. She explains,
“After studying the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, I know how to create water-based products and how to preserve them correctly. Now I can even make emulsion-based creams and lotions, which is something that seemed so complicated before.”
What’s most important about Coco Salvaje products?
The most important thing to Anastasia is that her products must be natural and plastic-free.
She says that when she creates the formulations for Coco Salvaje, she also wants to make sure they are effective and perform in the way they claim, using ingredients from local manufacturers in order to support the local economy and reduce her company’s carbon footprint.
“If we use a vegetable oil, we make sure it is unrefined. If we use an essential oil, we make sure it is therapeutic grade and from a reputable source.”
An absolute NO for her products are mineral oil and other petrochemicals, as well as palm oil, synthetic fragrances and parabens.
These strict rules about her natural skincare formulations show how passionate Anastasia really is about natural beauty.
What’s next for Coco Salvaje?
Anastasia is excited about her new product launch – her ‘Rejuvenating and Antioxidant Q10 Serum’ for all skin types. She and her husband are very enthusiastic about the product and the direction of her company. She says,
“It feels so great to create clean, natural products that really work! After studying at the School of Natural Skincare, the sky is truly the limit for your business!”
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