We sat down and spoke at lengths with one of the most passionate and interesting beauty entrepreneurs we’ve ever met who works from an ashram in India. Founder Arti Gaur lives and breathes her unique brand of skin-loving products that are all deeply rooted in Ayurvedic practices and tradition. Here’s an excerpt from our chat with the founder of Quinta Essentia Organic who divulged a few secrets, let us into the workings of her brand and taught us some valuable life lessons.
What is Quinta Essentia Organic?
Think of the brand as a quest for purity. The road to our goals intersects traditional ways such as Yoga and Ayurveda but leads through modern sciences and skin care practices that allow me to create skin, hair and body care lines that have not been done before.
“I have 17 years of experience in growing and cultivating healing herbs as well as developing products to treat skin problems. I use the knowledge I gained about therapeutic herbs and oils to create a unique family of products under Quinta Essentia Organic.”
Healing herbs, tradition and science – sounds like you are on a mission to disrupt the beauty industry!
Our brand mission is to spread awareness and introduce the world to the oldest science of life : Ayurveda. After losing an entire family in a car crash, you really start thinking about the value of life. Later when my best friend’s mother was diagnosed with cancer, it got me thinking : What is an autoimmune disorder? I realized that it is when your own body starts to fight against itself. Our bodies are not designed to fall sick. The immune system works round the clock to heal and nurture the body. No medicine, herb or potion can fully heal the body, the body heals itself. We only provide the tools and the means for it to thrive or struggle, live or give up. The amount of toxins we put in our body is staggering and this puts an enormous stress on our immune system. When this stress becomes unmanageable, our immune system is no longer be able to differentiate allies and enemies. Most of us are unaware of this fact.
“My mission is to spread this awareness to live better, eat better and use only the products on your skin that serve a purpose.”
Tell us a bit more about these wonderful concoctions that you make. Are they vegan?
Yes they are. But to understand why these products are the way they are, one must understand the person behind them. I have been vegan since birth. I have also lived in a Yoga Ashram (I still do) and have experienced a way of life that is profoundly rooted in nature. We have many animal shelters across India, where we provide food and a home to these lovely creatures that are often subject to extreme torture and cruelty. I believe animals feel love and are sentient beings. Our foundation saves thousands of animals every year from cruelty & slaughter and helps place them with people who care, love and respect them.
So you see, it comes naturally to me to make solely vegan & cruelty-free products, otherwise I would deny my very self!
Who do you think can benefit most from your products?
Our main customers are women. Women are the backbone of every society. They are our first teachers, our mothers and our providers. We as women have the power to shape lives.
“Our mission is not to simply ‘put a product out’ but also to educate and induce change. They say when you educate women, you educate a nation.”
According to one of EWG’s reports, an average woman slathers herself with 167 toxic chemicals everyday through cosmetics and personal care products. And the cosmetics industry makes them believe all this is worthwhile through notoriously misleading adverts and messages. I’d say most of time women are pressured into buying things they don’t actually need and with that they unknowingly hurt their bodies, damage their skins and slowly but surely reduce their lifespan.
It’s time we realize our worth, feel comfortable in our own skins, value a healthy lifestyle and define our own rules. All of us are unique beings and we are all beautiful in our own way.
“If you have dry skin that itches, use a product with the purpose of soothing your symptoms, but don’t hydrate just because an advert tells you to do so.”
Remember to always select products that have been made with integrity. Choose wisely! Moderation is the key to balance and balance is life.
What ingredients do you incorporate to create such beautifully unique formulations?
I grow some of the plants I use to create the basic formulations. My neem trees are a great source for cleansing and purifying the skin and blood. Aloe is a staple in my kitchen for healing burns, cuts and wounds. Ashwagandha thrives in any weather condition - drought, rain, summer and winter. These are the properties that I seek when I harvest plants for my creams, oils and lotions.
“My interaction with fellow yoga practitioners at the ashram gives me the opportunity to share my recipes and remedies and to see them work on their skins and bodies. That gives me the confidence of working with Ayurvedic herbs and remedies for a professional skin and hair care line.”
We also make the famous Indian anti-aging tonic, Chyawanprash in the traditional Ayurvedic manner, made with hand and cooked on a wood fire. Some of these products can be mass-produced and sent to our warehouse in the States but there are a few remedies you can experience only if you visit us!
It’s not easy to scale up a home-based business into an international venture. Are you still facing challenges in this aspect?
You are right, it is not easy. And this also brings me back to your previous question about our ingredients. Our main struggle was how we could get large quantities of our organic and vegan components. It took us a long time and with it plenty of research (and the occasional heartache!) finding the right suppliers in India. You see, organic farming was only introduced a few years ago so it was a huge challenge trying to find reliable, consistent sources. We even thought of getting our own licenses to manufacture on our own organic farm but this takes time. This is the bottleneck of our business and it is still affecting us but I know in time, we will manage to overcome this issue.
Quinta Essentia Organic was nominated for The Best of Beauty in Handcrafted category in India in 2018 by Harper’s Bazaar and was awarded Best Brand 3 times in a row at Women of India Organic Festival by the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development.
You can find their products in the states exclusively sold by their sister company BPure Organic (www.bpureorganic.com), plus you can find their recent feature Rupini Face Cream in our E-shop.