Wunder-ful creations Wunderbath products are great for the skin as they are non-toxic, effective and fun.”
> A quest for individuality resulted in visually appetising soaps
IF you were to look at the handmade soaps offered by Wunderbath Co, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that they’re selling food items instead. This is because they look like food and smell like one too!
Known as wundersoap, the adorable soaps are so realistic in terms of their appearance, texture and smell that Evelyn Marieta deserves brownie points for her creativity. The founder said that she decided to start her own range of artisan soaps and beauty products after she found the local natural cosmetic scene wanting.
“When I came back to Malaysia after studying abroad, I was a bit disappointed because there are a lot of all these unique vegan and natural cosmetics in Canada, but despite an extensive search here I could find nothing similar. Instead, I discovered that the only difference between the local products is the packaging because everything else is the same,” she lamented.
Her light-bulb moment, nevertheless, did not happen until she was on a search for tinted lip stain and discovered that even if she were to import it from the United States, the choices are limited.
“It got me thinking that ‘Oh, since I’m actually from food science background and I know how to make it myself, why don’t I start making and selling it as I’m sure there are other girls out there who face the same problem,” explained the nutrition and food science graduate.
Marieta was determined to come up with products that will revolutionise the home-grown natural bath industry; hence equipped with her knowledge, and experience of having worked at a food ingredient company, she made all her products from scratch.
Besides the ultra realistic wundersoap, she also created the wunderlippie and the wunderbutter. Wunderlippie is the name for her range of lip balm stain while the latter is a fragrance-free body moisturiser. All products are natural, vegan, and free from cruelty, paraben and sodium laureth sulfate.
The apothecarist was, reasonably, reluctant to disclose
her soap making process, but she did divulge that it takes her about five to 10 minutes to make one.
“It doesn’t take rocket science to make the soap, but the recipes for the lipstain and body butter are special. I spent a lot of time formulating them, especially to get the colour and texture right for the lip stain. It’s easier to make soap because if you have some knowledge of it, you can make them but to me soap is more of an outlet for me to express myself,” divulged the entrepreneur.
Marieta who quit her full-time job to concentrate on Wunderbath is currently running the business alone, although if there are large orders she will get her family and friends to help her out. Even though Wunderbath has yet to reach the half-year mark, she said that response has been encouraging as people are captivated by her quirky designs.
“I am happy that people like it, but one concern I have about wundersoap is that its function as soap is underutilised. I know some of my customers who keep it as collectibles on their shelves so I’m a little sad about it. This is because I spend quite some time to put together ingredients that are very good for the skin so I hope everyone gets to experience it.”
Wunderbath’s popularity can also be attributed to the fact that all
her soaps are modelled after food that Malaysians enjoy – bread and butter, fried wings, french fries, macaron, kuih dahlia talam and more.
“I guess my love for food influenced my designs because it wasn’t intentional. Some people asked me if I have any non-food designs and I only have a handful to offer them now, but in a month or two I will come up with more designs that are not food.”