I am so excited to share our May Maker of the Month - Claudia!
About Claudia
Hi, I am Claudia and I am Italian. I created The Beautiful Spoon to empower myself and loved ones to naturally nourish skin & hair the same way you would do for body with food. Indeed, my beauty recipes are inspired by the seasonal ingredients I find in my kitchen.
How did I start?
After a short experience in the beauty corporate world in 2015 I became passionate about DIY cosmetics due to my very sensitive skin which tends to develop allergies. Beauty routine is an evolving journey of discovery and adaptation. Skin and hair adapt and react to both the external environment and our internal physiological balance.
Over the past years I have lived in 3 different countries (Italy, France and Ireland), I have changed 6 flats, 4 jobs and, along the journey, my dietary habits have evolved driven by my never-ending curiosity for tasting and living locally. Many times, my skin and hair has shown changes maybe due to the atmosphere in the new city, maybe for the changed hardness of the water or the degree of humidity in the air. Each of those times I found myself asking what was wrong and why that one cream or shampoo I had been using since months did not feel as good as before. It seemed that I became allergic to ingredients that I could not identify.
Therefore, I decided that I wanted to make my own beauty recipes so that they could be transparent and tailored to my skin’s needs. One day a friend offered me a box with base kits for face creams but I still found the creation process too complicated and rigid. There was not enough space to express creativity. The ingredients looked so elaborated and many of them I had never heard of before. I started imagining the possibility of creating beauty recipes that anyone would be able to make with the accessible ingredients you find at home or in the local grocery markets of your town. I embarked on a mission to steal the cuisine's ingredients and turn them into homemade beauty.
This is how the idea of “the beautiful spoon” was born in December 2019. I choose the spoon as a visualisation of “measuring out..roughly”, just like some ingredient in your food recipes. This is exactly the way I imagined my beauty recipes to be: just enough balanced to be called “recipe” but also flexible enough to allow you to twist it and add your own touch.
Later on, in March 2020, I started studying Cold process soap and I ended up finding this new chapter of testing and adjusting formulas very exciting.
After 2 years of formulation I am now ready to start my entrepreneurial journey. In April 2022, not even one month ago, I created The Beautiful Spoon Limited. A Natural Soap Company
Based in Ireland, where I live. I am just at the beginning of this adventure and I will soon open my e-commerce on www.thebeautifulspoon.com.
What making challenge have you overcome recently when following a recipe?
I love making soap with Oatmilk. However, buying Oatmilk from the local grocery store, even when checking for "0 added sugars", I felt that there was always an amount of sweeteners that would influence my formula. Indeed, whenever I put lye into the milk, the solution would scorch (it became yellow due to the high temperature impacting on sugars). I tried freezing the milk before adding lye but sometimes the solution would still slightly turn yellow. Lately I decided that If I wanted to make sure that there was no sugar into the milk I would have to make my own oat milk. What a revelation! I make oat milk by infusing oat flakes for a full night into fresh water. Today I make 100% of the oatmilk I use in my soaps and, fun fact, I make some more because my partner and I love eating Oatmeal in the morning. Yes, when I said that my mission is to "steal cuisine's ingredients and turn them into homemade beauty" I wasn't joking about the fact that I use for my soap the same natural and healthy ingredients that I use for cooking.
I called my soap formula "Overnight Oatmeal" because it remembers me of this moment of care and love when, before going to bed, I prepare breakfast for the next day.
Share your absolute favourite natural bath & beauty recipe, developed by yourself.
"Carrot Cake Soap bar" 🥕 I was inspired to make this Soap on a Sunday afternoon in Dublin. I was in one family owned coffee place in Portobello. A window full of homemade cakes were displayed next to the counter and, while sipping my coffee, I couldn't decide which one to go with. "The brownie or the granny cake? The cinnamon bun or the warm scone with butter?" Then I saw it: a carrot cake with pecan nuts! I chose her.
I came back home and I was inspired to create a soap formula that would made me think about this caring moment of a relaxing afternoon where I took time for ME. Was it possible to make soap with carrot? I looked up and It seemed indeed a good idea. This is how the story of this recipe started. For this formula I use 60% of Olive Oil and 40% of Coconut. I make the lye solution using calendula infused carrot water and a pinch of salt (5gr every 450gr of Oils). Then I add 30% of carrot fibers inside th formula. At the end, I sprinkle dried calendula leaves on top. This soap bar has a pastel yellow color that I simply love and it is so gentle to the skin with it's mild foam.
I joined one of Marta's online free courses to learn how to make a sindet shampoo bar! I follow Marta's page since more than one year now and I find your journey into natural cosmetics formulation inspiring.
Don't forget to check out her website The Beautiful Spoon and follow her Instagram.
Who else is inspired by Claudia and her story? Register for one of our FREE online workshops!
