Resilient Rebecca cleans up with organic skincare range
WHEN her first farmers’ market was a flop 14 months ago, Coomera Waters businesswoman Rebecca CastanoMander went back to the drawing board for a new ecofriendly approach to selling her skincare products.
Ms Castano-Mander first experimented with making her own skincare products more than two years ago after falling pregnant with her first child.
She produced one litre of Madagascar face custard, which features shea nut butter, olive leaf extract and lemon myrtle as key ingredients.
“I wanted to create something that was different from other skincare products,” she said.
Ms Castano-Mander gave the product to family and friends, who loved the face custard, but were less keen on the plastic packaging.
She got a similar response just over a year ago at her first farmers’ market at Mt Tamborine – which doubled as the official launch of her company, Celebratzio Organic Skincare.
“It was a flop. I went home and I was devastated. People did not like the plastic bottles,” she said.
“My husband said it is your
first market, have faith in yourself, and I did.”
Ms Castano-Mander decided to repackage her products, which also included face cream, washers (liquid soap) and body mousse, using refillable glass bottles.
“I wanted it to be a luxurious, eco-friendly product that people can refill.”
She engaged a designer to produce a slick new website and three months ago had another crack at the farmers’ markets, which followed an appearance on the Studio 10 talk show.
“We sold three-quarters of our stock at the Ormeau markets, it was incredible.”
Ms Castano-Mander now has two wholesalers for her product range and one retail stockist at Mt Tamborine.
She sells 85 units per month and has a nine-strong product range, which also includes two products for children. She decided to create the Little Humans range, comprised of body wash and body lotion, after her son suffered a rash when she used a “big brand” lotion.
The wash contains organic castille soap, camomile and botanical extracts, while the lotion has ingredients including shea butter, botanical extracts and mineral mica – all of which she says are gentle and safe for use on babies’ skin.