I (Petra, founder of the cosmetic brand Anakena in Chile and Germany) am often asked if I made the formulas of our cosmetics myself. I can answer this question with a clear NO. I am not a specialist, as they say. BUT: I have taught myself to make natural cosmetics with the help of numerous books over many years: Soaps, creams, shower gels, lip glosses, massage oils, etc. For the ingredients I have - where possible - from my tropical eco-garden on Easter Island serves: flowers fruits, herbs, roots, ... and seaweed from sea.
Then, a good two years ago, I was back in Tahiti, more precisely on the island of Moorea, to learn some of his recipes from a Maori (local) with the ingredients from his garden. You can see in the photo some ingredients for a hair "miracle" extract recipe from Sams' grandmother: Gardenia Taitensis, turmeric, ginger, wild basil (ocimum gratissimum).
When it came to manufacturing Anakena Germany - which is of course a slightly different "caliber" and scale - I did specify which Polynesian ingredients I wanted in our Anakena body lotion, face cream and shower gel (yes, we bring them from Tahiti!), but of course I left the final composition of the formulas to the years of expertise and professionalism of my contract manufacturer (that's what you call the company where you have your cosmetic products made if you're a brand that doesn't have its own manufacturing) in Germany. A longer path of "fine-tuning" followed, and now I am very happy with the result of our first products.
