As a society, we are more and more conscious consumers, which is why when we go shopping, we think not only about what is tempting at first glance, such as packaging, smell or color, but also about what it is impossible to notice at first.

Of course, we are talking about the method and the entire process of creating cosmetics and its impact on the environment. It was, among others, the desire to create natural, environment-friendly, delicate and vegan cosmetics that made Karolina Sałas-Szlejter - our today's interlocutor - decide to establish the BIOUP brand.

Warsawholic: Natural cosmetics are gaining in popularity, and more and more brands creating ecological, environmentally friendly products appear in Poland. How did this passion start for you?

Karolina Sałas-Szlejter, founder of the BIOUP brand: For years we have been getting closer and closer to a natural and ecological lifestyle. The use of natural cosmetics and household chemicals, segregation of waste - this has been our everyday life for over 10 years.

A combination of various circumstances made me start with very simple formulas (soaps, bath balls, scrubs) to create cosmetics and learn how to make them at workshops held all over Poland.

Preparing subsequent editions of the workshops, I expanded my knowledge more and more. I was completely drawn to this world - I went through workshops related to the acquisition and use of herbs myself, I traveled to Podlasie and Podkarpacie to collect them - and then I processed and experimented. The library of natural cosmetics and herbal medicine at home was growing - learning never gave me so much pleasure.

Was it difficult to find cosmetics on the market that would perfectly meet your needs?

Both my sister and I have very sensitive, allergic skin and it will not be an exaggeration to say that most cosmetics irritated them. Getting to know other herbs and oils and testing them on my own skin (carefully at first) I was amazed that my skin reacts so well to most of them.

This gave me a lot to think about and it became obvious to me that you need to rely on natural resources. I started making more and more cosmetics for myself and my loved ones and I saw that they really work. This combination of the effectiveness of natural cosmetics and their gentleness to the skin became a stimulus for me to think about creating my own brand of cosmetics.

Did you manage to create the perfect formula right away?

We started with very simple formulas based on low-processed ingredients - mainly oils. At the moment, we are including cosmetics with a larger range of active ingredients in our offer - they are still of natural origin, but they already have a specific targeted effect confirmed in laboratory tests. Such formulas are especially appreciated by mature skin.

BIOUP cosmetics are also vegan. What does that really mean?

I have the impression that some companies believe that it is enough that they are not tested on animals (which is not allowed in the EU anyway) and that ingredients of animal origin are not used in their production. But in fact, for a cosmetic to boast that it is vegan, you need to go back even further in the production process.

None of the ingredients used in the cosmetic should be associated with the use of animals in the process of its creation and should not be tested on animals. In order to check this, you have to delve very seriously into the documentation of each raw material.

In practice, what a customer who cares about a vegan formula can verify is the lack of ingredients of animal origin in the recipe - e.g. animal fats (used in soaps and creams), lanolin, collagen, keratin, beeswax, honey, milk proteins, silk snail slime.

This is a very interesting issue because in practice everyone has to set a boundary for themselves - what they consider inappropriate or unethical, and what they allow. For example, I do not allow the presence of collagen in cosmetics - because it is associated with the death of the fish from which it is obtained, although in the future it will probably be produced only with biotechnological methods - which will save the lives of these animals.

Beeswax, on the other hand, is for me a product that can be obtained without harming the bees - so I would allow the possibility of using it in the recipe. At the moment, all our cosmetics are suitable even for restrictive vegans.

The changes seem to be moving in the right direction. For example, silk proteins are already available on the market, which are produced without the participation of silkworms - but their price is very high so far.

The ecological production process seems very important to you

Indeed, we pay a lot of attention to it and, where possible, we use ecological raw materials from controlled organic cultivation or with Ecocert, Cosmos or NaTrue certification. Why? The answer is very simple - they are simply better quality and gentler on the skin. They do not leave residual traces of chemicals that can unfortunately be found in traditional raw materials.

Such a vivid example - my skin reacts badly to lemon essential oil (obtained from the peel of the fruit), and it reacts very well to organic lemon essential oil, which we add to the Hydrophilic washing oil, no irritation. The conclusion is that there are probably some additional irritants in this uncertified one.

Of course, this will not happen to everyone, but knowing that we use the best is a great comfort for us. On our website www.bioup.pl, next to each ingredient in the INCI composition, it is marked which ingredient has a certificate of organic origin. We want to be fully transparent here.

What do you say? Are you a fan of natural cosmetics, or do you still not pay enough attention to how the products bought in stores and drugstores are made?

The interview can be found at WARSAWHOLIC.pl, by Kasia September 11, 2020