I spend a lot of time on Instagram keeping an eye on new beauty brands, finding organic recipes and generally keeping up with what’s going on in the world. I have met so many interesting and inspirational people through this pursuit that I never would have ever come into contact with in person. One amazing duo that I got to know through the green beauty network on Instagram are the fantastic ladies behind a new brand, Clean Beauty Co. Elsie & Dominika and I have been messaging back and forth for a while now realizing that we had a shared passion for everything Beauty as well as a very strong bent towards natural and organic products. However I had not met either woman in person until this last week when they invited me to join them for the soft launch of their new venture. I was understandably very excited when I found out what they had planned for a few of us lucky beauty addicts was to join them for one of their first workshops making our own beauty products. As you all will know by now this is one of my favorite past times so I responded to their initial invitation straight away confirming that I would definitely be there!
Saturday finally arrived and I made my way into central London on a standardly windswept and rainy day to the sanctuary of a small organic restaurant just near Goodge street. Maple&FITZ was a great little find in an area I don’t get to visit often but that I will probably pop back to on a shopping trip sometime in the future. They had a nice array of organic food and salads as well as juices and smoothies so just the sort of place I like. Elsie & Dominika were there to greet me and I was ushered downstairs to meet a very interesting selection of women who had all been invited for this preliminary session. During the time I was there I learned that included in the group were some amazingly high flying women so it was brilliant to be in such esteemed company! What we all had in common was a desire to learn more about making our own products and taking charge of what we put onto our skin.
The event was brilliantly run and both Elsie and Dominika were incredibly professional and brilliant speakers. Everything was planned to precision, explained clearly and both women were very lucid and erudite as they took us through how to make four different products; a coffee scrub, a body moisturiser, a toner and a hair serum. We were all given hair nets, aprons and gloves as well as all the necessary ingredients and tools to begin. We were divided into groups of four so that we could work together in small teams which was a great way to get to know the other girls and to keep the conversation flowing.
We started with the moisturiser while Elsie and Dominika circulated around the room giving us helpful tips and hints so were always on hand in case we were unsure of any of the instructions. The girls explained all about the ingredients and their properties and what was so good about each item and why it should be used and where. They had a huge wealth of knowledge and it was great to hear them talk so passionately about what they were doing. They guided us through making each product and helped us to measure and weigh just the right amounts of each ingredient. Then we either we mixed everything together in a bowl big enough to fill all four of our jars, melted things down in a bain-marie or just blended and shook essential oils and carrier oils together. It was like an amazing covent focussed solely on natural products and ingredients. Once we all had completed, packaged and labelled each of our products we then all went upstairs with our bounty to indulge in some well earned sustenance. It was great getting to meet and chat with these fantastic ladies and I hope to see them all again soon.
Clean Beauty Co sell all of the products we made through their website so if you don’t like making products then definitely go and buy them straight from their site. However if you want to try and make the products like I did my first piece of advice would be to go along and do the workshop and learn. If you aren’t in or near London then they also kindly have the recipes on their website so make sure to go there and try making some for yourself!
