As organic cosmetics brands gain more popularity worldwide, Ukraine is following the trend.
Inna Zaliznyuk and her daughter Viktoria are founders of the brand Vesna from Kyiv Oblast. They make organic creams, soaps, shampoos and other beauty products. Inna started producing cosmetics because one of her children suffered from atopic dermatitis. She says that hand-made soap helped to calm her child’s skin so she started making creams and other cosmetics. What started as a hobby grew into family business that now sells over 60 types of products in their shops in Bucha and Lviv.
To make extracts for products, they grow and gather plants for the cosmetics, and soak them in oil for almost half of the year. All of the cosmetics except the soap are even edible.
In 2015, when Inna launched her brand, Ukraine didn’t have many organic cosmetics producers. “People were interested in organic cosmetics even 5 years ago, but they saw them as something only rich people could afford. But that’s a myth”. The brand has many clients from abroad, so they plan to get a permit to sell their cosmetics globally.
Author: Anna Yakutenko
The material was prepared with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the project Stories from Ukraine. The material reflects the position of the authors and does not necessarily coincide with the position of the International Renaissance Foundation.
