As I think it’s important to support our locals and deeply care about our environment I interviewed Shachida and Nigara ,two sisters who love beauty products, surprises and a sustainable lifestyle. They came up with Natural you box , the concept came when they were looking for a beauty box with only natural and cruelty-free products, but couldn’t find anything that really suited them. 

Why this emphases on eco- and cruelty free? How did you become so passionate about those subjects?

Shachida: Over the last couple of years I became more and more conscious about the environment and our impact on it. I started doing more research about the products I used and switched to eco-friendly and cruelty-free cosmetics, because these are safer, not just for us but for the planet in general. I also became a pescotarian , mainly because of the negative impact the meat industry has on the environment. I try to make smarter choices when it comes to my food, clothing, and other everyday items. I strongly believe that we as people need to adopt a sustainable lifestyle, if we want our planet to survive.

Nigara: I’ve been passionate about make-up and skincare products all my life. Our mom always paid great attention to her appearance, so we basically grew up with love for beauty products. Then Shachida started making all these changes in her life and talking about our impact on the environment, which had an effect on me. I started choosing my products more consciously. And if you start thinking about it, eco-friendly products are simply a better choice.

 

What makes your webshop outstanding? What characterizes your site?

The main concept of our webshop is our beauty box. We know that there are many beauty boxes out there, we’ve had several subscriptions ourselves. What makes our boxes different is that they are categorized, so far we’ve had a box for your face and one for your body. The products you receive are still a surprise, but at the same time you get what you actually need. There were several times when we received products that we didn’t really need, so we would end up with a collection of moisturizers or face washes, when all we really wanted was a hair mask or something.

Another thing that characterizes our box is that there’s no subscription obligation. You can get it whenever you want, for yourself or as a gift. And if you don’t really need the products we offer at that time, you can just skip a month.

But what makes our beauty box mostly special is that it’s completely eco-friendly and cruelty-free. We loved the beauty boxes that we were subscribed to, but the products were absolutely not environmentally friendly and especially for Shachida that was a big problem. We started looking for a more sustainable alternative, but couldn’t really find exactly what we wanted for an affordable price. So we just decided to create our own beauty box.

When people find “sustainable” a trend rather then a need how do you respond?

We don’t believe it’s a trend, it’s a complete and permanent lifestyle. A trend is something temporary, in at the moment. Sustainability is not a fashion hype, it’s an evolutionary step. It’s something that we need to completely adopt, if we want to survive as a society and maintain a decent lifestyle. And people start realizing that more and more, especially younger generations. Look at what’s happening in the media. People are becoming smarter about what they eat and what they put on their skin, and what kind of impact these products have on the environment.

Eco-friendly is here to stay, and we are offering products that we believe are the future of the beauty industry.

How much does using sustainable products support the environment?

A lot. Sustainable products are better for animals and the environment. They don’t contain unnecessary toxic substances that pollute and harm our oceans, fauna and flora. For example, parabens, micro beads, mineral oils, synthetic fragrances or colorants, all these things are not natural or biodegradable.

But it’s not just what’s inside that counts. Most sustainable brands also pay attention to the product packaging. They use recycled or biodegradable materials, like glass, wood, paper, etc. and they try to minimize their use of plastic. We find that very important as well. Our boxes, sizzle paper and cards are all made from recycled and sustainable materials.

All these things require a little more effort, but it’s important that we do that. There’s enough garbage out there that’s going to need thousands of years to break down.

What brought you to the idea of starting a webshop. What kinda backgrounds do you come, studies?

We’ve played with the idea of starting our own business for a while now. We wanted to do something we were passionate about and become more independent. And the love for cosmetics and sustainable products eventually led to the creation of Natural You Box. Why a webshop? Because it’s where the future lies. Webshops allow you to choose what you want, whenever you want, and they offer more information about the products.

Shachida studied applied linguistics and speaks five languages. This comes in handy, because we work with international brands. Nigara studied communications and works in IT now, and her husband is a web developer. This helps us a lot, because we set up the website and we run it completely by ourselves.

As for business and marketing experience, we’ve had to learn a lot on our own and are still learning something new every day. 🙂

How was it like in the beginning? Did u have a business plan?

Chaotic!  As mentioned above, we didn’t have much business experience, so we had to figure out most things and do a lot of research. But we were passionate about our idea and were willing to work for it. And it was a lot of work. We had to come up with a name, image, find a bookkeeper, make the whole thing official and legal. We also had to look for suitable suppliers, prove to them that we were the real deal. Then there was the choice of products, how many, how would we present them. And so on.

We created a business and a financial plan that worked for us. It’s a work in progress that grows as we grow. There are still a lot of things for us to learn, but it’s okay, because this is something that we want to do and we want to do it well.

What are your future goals?

Expand our product supply, offer more beauty box categories, and maybe even personalized boxes. We would also like to work with more international brands and deliver worldwide.

We’re hoping that the company will grow significantly, so we can turn it into a full-time job. At the moment we can only afford to do it part-time.

If this interview made you curious, then check out their site