Ten years ago, Waleska Agosto, a non-profit sector employee with no beauty industry experience, decided to make personal care products. Her initial idea was to create products for herself, something that wouldn’t aggravate her rosacea. She started with just two items – an all natural soap and a natural lip balm. She was careful to source sustainable and organic ingredients, although at the time, most people weren’t thinking much about such issues.
Waleska quickly learned that friends and family with rosacea and other skin problems had the same concerns she did. They were looking for products that performed well without irritating their sensitive skin. As they tried Waleska’s homemade concoctions, they began asking her to make some for sale. And then word spread.
Gourmet Body Treats, Waleska’s popular beauty and personal care line, was built from those humble beginnings. And although she’s more than a one-woman operation now (she has a team that includes a biomolecular scientists who helps with formulation), she still insists on using sustainable and organic ingredients. In the past ten years, Waleska has seen her brand grown from a niche for consumers with troubled skin to a line sought out by those who understand the importance of healthy ingredients.
The shift happened thanks to an online article.
“It started in 2007,” Waleska says, “An article came out on Yahoo that informed women that there’s lead in lipstick. People then became aware of the junk in products. Our sales quadrupled overnight.”
Waleska laughs at how much she had to learn in the beginning. Although she was determined to make products that were free of pesticides and harmful preservatives, she had a hard time with the reality of formulating beauty products. She said most of her “schooling” was research coupled with trial and error.
“My first soaps were so ugly,” she says. “I didn’t have molds. I was using milk cartons and lining them for the soaps. It’s not like having a nicely shaped loaf mold.”
But despite her “ugly soaps,” customers continued to order the products. Waleska believes the quality of the soaps helped them sell. All of her ingredients were sourced from local farmers so they’d be the freshest she could get. She still sources local ingredients when possible. Her more exotic oils and extracts come from all over the world.
“Our cocoa butter comes from South Africa,” Waleska says. “But we ask the same questions we ask when we purchase locally – is this farmer able to support his family? If I don’t know the farmer, I insist on buying certified fair trade.”
Waleska knows that ingredients don’t always come from reputable sources. She says she can’t even imagine using ingredients that come from child labor or other inhumane situations. This is why the brand has gone through several reformulations.
“We used to use palm oil,” she says, “But I read an article in Smithsonian Magazine on how the production of palm oil is destroying the environment for the orangutans. I immediately stop using it and reformulated everything with shea butter and coconut oil.”
This reformulating has been an issue with getting the USDA Certified Organic seal. Although Gourmet Body Treats is made of organic ingredients, they don’t yet carry the certification. “We’re in the process of getting certified,” Waleska says. “It’s a long, costly process. And when you reformulate, you have to reapply. But we think it’ll help consumers identify us as healthy.” 
And creating a healthy line is first priority for Waleska. She gets on her soap box when it comes to the importance of beauty versus the health of women, the safety of animals or care for the earth. As she likes to say, “You can still make amazing products and not screw anything up.”
Gourmet Body Treats is packaged in locally supplied glass containers and the labels are written in soy ink. Customers are encouraged to send in their empty glass containers for recycling.
We were sent beauty products from Gourmet Body Treats, but this was not a sponsored post nor did it influence our article.
Waleska quickly learned that friends and family with rosacea and other skin problems had the same concerns she did. They were looking for products that performed well without irritating their sensitive skin. As they tried Waleska’s homemade concoctions, they began asking her to make some for sale. And then word spread.
Gourmet Body Treats, Waleska’s popular beauty and personal care line, was built from those humble beginnings. And although she’s more than a one-woman operation now (she has a team that includes a biomolecular scientists who helps with formulation), she still insists on using sustainable and organic ingredients. In the past ten years, Waleska has seen her brand grown from a niche for consumers with troubled skin to a line sought out by those who understand the importance of healthy ingredients.
The shift happened thanks to an online article.
“It started in 2007,” Waleska says, “An article came out on Yahoo that informed women that there’s lead in lipstick. People then became aware of the junk in products. Our sales quadrupled overnight.”
Waleska laughs at how much she had to learn in the beginning. Although she was determined to make products that were free of pesticides and harmful preservatives, she had a hard time with the reality of formulating beauty products. She said most of her “schooling” was research coupled with trial and error.
“My first soaps were so ugly,” she says. “I didn’t have molds. I was using milk cartons and lining them for the soaps. It’s not like having a nicely shaped loaf mold.”
But despite her “ugly soaps,” customers continued to order the products. Waleska believes the quality of the soaps helped them sell. All of her ingredients were sourced from local farmers so they’d be the freshest she could get. She still sources local ingredients when possible. Her more exotic oils and extracts come from all over the world.
“Our cocoa butter comes from South Africa,” Waleska says. “But we ask the same questions we ask when we purchase locally – is this farmer able to support his family? If I don’t know the farmer, I insist on buying certified fair trade.”
Waleska knows that ingredients don’t always come from reputable sources. She says she can’t even imagine using ingredients that come from child labor or other inhumane situations. This is why the brand has gone through several reformulations.
“We used to use palm oil,” she says, “But I read an article in Smithsonian Magazine on how the production of palm oil is destroying the environment for the orangutans. I immediately stop using it and reformulated everything with shea butter and coconut oil.”
This reformulating has been an issue with getting the USDA Certified Organic seal. Although Gourmet Body Treats is made of organic ingredients, they don’t yet carry the certification. “We’re in the process of getting certified,” Waleska says. “It’s a long, costly process. And when you reformulate, you have to reapply. But we think it’ll help consumers identify us as healthy.”
And creating a healthy line is first priority for Waleska. She gets on her soap box when it comes to the importance of beauty versus the health of women, the safety of animals or care for the earth. As she likes to say, “You can still make amazing products and not screw anything up.”
Gourmet Body Treats is packaged in locally supplied glass containers and the labels are written in soy ink. Customers are encouraged to send in their empty glass containers for recycling.
We were sent beauty products from Gourmet Body Treats, but this was not a sponsored post nor did it influence our article.
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Post is filed under Beauty Space -This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 at 7:02 pm and tagged with beauty, cosmetics, healthy, makeup, natural, organic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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