La Bella Figura Turns One And Interviews Themselves!

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The Amalfi Coast

 Who are you?

La Bella Figura, a little natural and organic skincare brand that wants to bring "The Beautiful Life" to beauty lovers everywhere!

Where do you live?

We are based in Chicago, although our hearts are always someplace else. Mostly in Paris, Barcelona, or somewhere on the Amalfi coast.

What is your occupation?

We formulate, create and hand blend natural skincare products from certified organic or wild crafted ingredients. We bring beauty to the world and safe cosmetics to folks that trust us.

What is your astrological sign?


We are a power combo. A Leo and An Aquarian!

What do you do for fun and recreation?

We travel, write, cook, dance, meet our friends and laugh well into the night.

If you could travel anywhere, where would it be and why?

There is so much that we still need to see. There is not a place on this earth that we wouldn't see! We travel because it reminds us of Huckleberry Finn, being a seven year old, diving into our imaginations, and it connects us with our humanity.

What do you enjoy most about your life?

We enjoy loving the people closest to us every day. We hold them tight and just love! Right now we are also enjoying some of the success from our hard work and being recognized by retailers, customers, editors, and beauty writers as responsible and truthful. When we receive a phone call or an email from a customer that tells us our products has changed their skin, well it makes us cheer with joy. We love to hear it. We also love being innovative with ingredients and educating people about chemical free beauty. How some women covet the latest Stella McCartney dress or Rag and Bone jeans we covet the latest fruit or vegetable oil making news in the science journals. Don't get us started about organic essential oils because we have been amazed by the variety in the plant world and wish to try them all!

What made you try organic products?

We were tired of the greenwashing, the chemicals, toxins and lies that are constant in the beauty world. Growing up, all we ever heard was that oil for your skin is the worst culprit and leading cause of acne and irritating skin issues. Meanwhile, the beautiful women of Morocco, Italy, France, and Spain have always used a variety of oils in their skincare routine with astonishing results! The old myth that oils are hazardous and are to be avoided is absurd since no cream or moisturizer can be made without oil. It's an emulsion of water and oil! We just didn't want mineral oil to be our moisturizer so we looked towards nature and like the beauty queen she is, we found our answers. There is no going back once you go clean and organic.

If we "shadowed" you for an entire day, what beauty horror would we find out about you?

Yikes! We are both guilty of being so busy running La Bella Figura that we sometimes forget to take care of ourselves. We're getting better though because we both made a recent committment to make exercise a part of our work routine daily. It's so easy to wake up and have emails, phone calls, and meetings to attend and skip a workout, but in the end we've realized we are happier when we can squeeze in some yoga or a cardio outdoors.

What are your favorite beauty products, something you could not be on a desert island without?

We are huge fans of two of our own products. Karen would go nuts if she didn't have her Decouverte Under Eye Repair Serum! Right now if I lost my bottle of Barbary Fig Renewal Serum I wouldn't be a happy camper either. It's getting my skin gorgeous for Spring.


Other than that I love my John Masters Organics Bare shampoo and I'm loving Raw Elements USA natural sunscreen made with some great ingredients that make my skin feel soft and not tacky.

What will you be doing this weekend?

It's St. Patrick's Day in Chicago this weekend and it'll be in the 70's! We'll be out and about for sure. We have a tradition here in Chicago where we turn the river green and have a parade and celebrate in a big way. Pretty sure green beer will be on the menu too. Don't ask what the city uses to turn the river green!

Sum up a motto that best describes you:

We do what we do not because it's always easy, but because we think it's right.

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Karen

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Victoria

Meatless Mondays with La Bella Figura

When the weather gets cold, most people get a craving for their favorite comfort food : macaroni and cheese, stews, pot pies, fried chicken, and all other sorts of other dishes mom used to make. Unlike most people, when I want something comforting it's all about Indian food. To me there's nothing more satisfying or comforting than chickpeas and potatoes simmered in rich tomato broths or vegetables bathed in a light cream sauce with deep rich flavors.

With the winter approaching, I thought I'd share one of my go-to Indian recipes for those chilly nights ahead when you need something soothing. This dish is also really easy to put together. Chickpeas are a great source of manganese, an antioxidant that is fundamental in the energy-producing mitochondria found inside most cells. Lots of recipes call for you to core and seed your tomatoes, but I suggest leaving the seeds in; tomato seeds are really high in lycopene (it's found in the rest of your tomato as well but heat breaks down the tomato flesh and destroys much of the lycopene). Lycopene not only promotes brain and immune functions, but it also improves the texture of your skin and supplies free-radical scavengers that help stop the signs of aging. For this reason, we use tomato seed oil in our under eye serum Decouverte. Serve this vegan dish over basmati rice and naan on the side, and you've got yourself one satisfying meals!

Gobi Chole/ Spiced Cauliflower with Chickpeas

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and julienned

2 small vine ripened or plum tomatoes, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1tbsp tomato paste

3/4 tsp chili powder

1tsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed to a powder in your mortar and pestle * (see note)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and crushed to a powder in your mortar and pestle*  (see note)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp chopped cilantro leaves

1 green onion finely sliced

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 tsp (or more) salt to taste

1 cup water

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the ginger and the onions and saute, stirring, until onions soften. Add the dry spice powders and saute for a minute; add the tomatoes.Cook until tomatoes soften and start to break apart, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and water. Gently fold in the cauliflower and chickpeas. Add the salt, cover and reduce heat to medium low, cook for 10 minutes. Add the peas and cook for another 5-6 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked through. If you'd like to sauce to be a bit thicker, remove lid and cook until sauce is preferred consistency.

* if your pressed for time or don't have a mortar and pestle, you can just use coriander and cumin powder.

Adapted from a recipe I found at the wonderful food blog Malabar Spices.

Hope you enjoy!

                           En Bonne Sante,
                                 Karen

Natural beauty expert Siobhan O'Connor reveiws Découverte on No More Dirty Looks.

Product Review: La Bella Figura Decouverte Eye Repair Serum [UPDATED WITH A LINK]

Posted by Siobhan on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 · 7 Comments

Every so often, we get an email about a natural beauty line that sends our special authenticity detector off the charts.

You know when you can just tell that someone a) is the real deal, and b) would be really fun to have dinner with? Well, when Karen King from Chicago emailed us about her new organic skincare line La Bella Figura, that’s what happened. We wrote her back and asked what she thought her stand-out product was, which is when she told us about her Decouverte Eye Repair Serum.
Plagued with hereditary dark undereye circles—not to mention the occasional not-enough-sleep and too-many-cocktails nights—Karen says she was on a mission to find natural ingredients that would be great for her eyes. “In our research we discovered barbary fig seed oil. I was very interested in the composition of this oil with its very high linoleic acid content and because it contains Vitamin K, which helps stop leaky capillaries, one of the main reason for dark circles. However, I was very skeptical because it is very hard to get, time consuming to produce, and therefore very costly.”

Well, after experimenting on her own mug, she found barbary fig seed oil to be so great that she made an eye serum for the rest of us.

Now, to be honest, I’ve never had much of an undereye-circle issue but I totally have smile lines around my eyes (doesn’t bother me) and in the last few months I have thought the skin under my eyes might feel thinner and as a result, a little darker (bothers me a bit). Also, there are the puffy-eye days. We all have them thanks to things like salty food, booze and tears, and they suck.
I’m happy to report that La Bella Figura eye serum noticeably reduces inflammation on puffy-eye days, hydrates the lines around my eyes, and, yes, the skin under my eyes feels somehow thicker and looks less dark. It’s true! Even if I feel bad recommending a product that costs $115.
Now, am I sleeping better than I did last month? I don’t know, I think so? But the point is, it’s hard to know what’s what—but that’s always the case with beauty products.

There are no silver bullets, lifestyle accounts for a lot, so do our genes, and so does diet, but products certainly can and do work, in their way. I’m going to say this is one of those products.

Here are the ingredients:
100% Pure Organic Argan (Argania Spinosa) Kernel Oil, Organic Opuntia Ficus Indica (Barbary Fig) Seed Oil, Organic Rosa Rubiginosa (Rosehip) Seed Oil, Wild-crafted Lycopersicion Esculentum (Tomato) Seed Oil, Wild-crafted Coffea Arabica (Coffee Bean) Oil, Wild-crafted Rosa Damascena (Rose Otto) Flower Oil, Organic Tanacetum Annuum (Blue Tansy) Flower Oil, Organic Helichrysum Italicum Oil, Organic Cymbopogon Martinii Motia (Palmarosa) Oil, Organic Lavandulia Augustifolia (Lavender) Oil.
Also, check out her charming, candid blog here.

SKINtervention 101

Chia seeds

I am 43 years old.  Just turned 43 earlier this month and I didn't blink an eye, cry into my pillow or run to the plastic surgeon's office to have myself oddly altered in any way.  Instead, I looked in the mirror and thought, "you could stand to lose a few pounds, but you're holding up well lady!"  The confidence I have gained along the way and into this new part of my life is endless.  I have lost the self consciousness that kept me from enjoying life in my youth.  There was a time when I wouldn't swim in a pool for fear or ruining my hair or causing my mascara to streak.  These days I can (soberly) fall into a certain famous celebrity's pool, have everyone laugh at my goofiness and laugh also as streaks of mascara run down my face.  Who knew I wouldn't end up taking myself so seriously at 43?  I had a lot to prove in my youth or so I thought and now...it's about enjoying the moment as it comes and laughing as often as I can.

This newfound breezy attitude doesn't mean that I'm going to sit back and let the wrinkles take over my face or body.  Oh, I'm going to fight alright, just not with scalpels and botox injections!  I prefer fruits and vegetables and the occasional sea algae.  I have learned that olive oil and avocados, roses and marshmallow root pack an antioxidant punch that can really transform my skin.  Wish I would have learned this some years ago because I believe my skin would be in even better shape, but I'm grateful now nonetheless.  I have also recently been aware how much my actions affect my skin.  I recently spent a weekend with my girlfriends in New York City and man did it show up on my face!  My skin appeared sallow, circles formed under my eyes and dry patches formed all from living it up, eating street food, staying out late and having a few too many cocktails with the ladies.  I needed a skintervention and needed it fast! 

Raw coconut cream

The first thing I did when I came back home was to exfoliate.  The dry patches were caused by dehydration from the alcohol.  Alcohol is very bad for your skin in large quantities.  (A little wine has proven to have skin protecting benefits and resveratrol found in red wine is actually beneficial in anti aging.)  I used a superseed mix of organic brown rice, chia and flax and blended it with raw coconut cream (the flesh of the coconut and oil) with a few drops of fennel oil and used this to gently exfoliate the dry patches into submission.  I prefer a gently seed exfoliator rather than walnut or apricot shells because they can "break" delicate skin and cause capillary damage.  My skin was instantly soft, dry patches gone.

Next, I needed to open my pores with a gentle facial tea steam.  I have formulated my own facial tea, but at home you can heat water in a kettle, add a few drops of essential oil for an aromatherapy effect and pour right into your bathroom sink.  Carefully, put your face over the sink with a damp washcloth over your head and allow the steam to open your pores.  You only need to do this a few minutes.  Once your pores are open, apply the damp washcloth over your face and let your skin rest.  This only takes a minute or two as well. 

While my skin has soothed and tissue has been softened by the exfoliation and facial tea steam I apply pure, Vitamin E rich argan oil to gently heal any abuse I have caused my skin.  Argan oil also contains rich polyphenols that protect skin cells and quickly fight free radical damage.  For my delicate eye area I apply Decouverte under eye repair serum, which contains barbary fig seed oil.  Barbary fig seed oil has a higher contentration of Vitamin E than argan oil and a unique composition of high linoleic  acids.  Decouverte also contains lycopene, natural retinol (from plant derived Vitamin A) found in rosehips, caffeine from cold pressed green coffee oil and azulene, a powerful anti inflammatory.  This serum is a super healer and just one night time use was all it took for the puffiness and dark circles to disappear. 

These tips, along with healthy eating of fruit, vegetables and lean protein and replenshing lost electrolytes with coconut water, plain water and antioxidant rich juices help to aid my partying ways.  This is a skintervention in the healthiest form and highly recommended after your girlfriends attempt to convince you that you are 25 all over again.  Thanks, but no thanks ladies!  I'll take confident and self depricating at age 43 over insecure and not as fun 25.   Although, that weekend was surely fun and I have the pictures to prove it.

Your Summer Travel Cosmetic Bag

Most of us make summer travel plans and then get excited as we imagine the outfits we are going to wear as we walk the streets of Naples or on the island of Vieques or even a simple camping trip in Michigan.  Britney Spears cutoffs, anyone?

What we often don't think about is how to pack a proper cosmetic bag.  I once went on a weekend trip to Vegas with my sister and laughed as she pulled out three cosmetic bags, one for makeup,  she explained, one for skin and haircare products and lastly her contacts and vitamins/medicine bag!  I'll kindly leave out the fact that she brought a full sized suitcase we had to check in and wait an hour for at the airport.  (Oops...couldn't leave that alone!)

I have become an excellent travel packer.  The reason being: it saves time and I have never been known to wait patiently in lines.  Last year I went to Buenos Aires for 10 days in December with a carryon and a large bag that I called a purse.  (United made no qualms about it, so there!)  Most women I know (ahem, a certain best friend that lives in LA and travels to Brazil with two huge suitcases like she's about to be lost on a desert island) can't imagine how I've been able to pull this off, but I have.   I have also expertly been able to compact or shrink size my cosmetic bag and those of you that know me also know how I love my beauty products.  I would like to pass on my wisdom on this issue and hope you consider these tips as you pack your bags.

THINGS YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED:

Makeup-Bring an eyeshadow pallete that contains several colors for choice options.  This will keep you from bringing 6 or ten eyeshadows jamming up your bag. The same for blush.  Pour foundation in a small container, maybe one you've recycled from a product sample.  You only need one mascara ladies!

Emergency Kit-Mini tweezers, mini nail kit, mini sewing kit.   Necessary medicines in a contact lense container is brilliant, one side for advil and the other for vitamins.  Or, if you're my sister bring two contact lense containers,  you'll still be better off than bringing bottles of advil and vitamins.

Hair and Skin Care Products-Save your samples for this!  Samples of your favorite organic beauty products are your friend on vacation.  They are luxurious and take your vacation to an adventurous level.  If you don't it is a MUST to pour your favorite styling aids in those small 1 oz. containers you stole from the hotel from your last vacation and are hoarding in your bathroom drawer.  This saves so much space in your bag.  I also bring a multi-purpose moisturizer (Tesoro-Mediterranean Blend) that I can use on my face, hair and nails in a pinch.

Tesoro Mediterranean Blend

Save Room-Purchase a new olive oil hand cream in Italy, exfoliator in France or Decouverte under eye repair serum in Chicago.  Discovering new beauty products from around the world is my favorite thing ever.  First stop in Spain, the local Farmacia! 

These tips should help you get through security and that TSA agent.  You know the one just waiting to open up your cosmetic bag and rummage through, pulling out "suspicious" bottles of body wash in  horrific 4 oz. containers.

Happy Travels and happy shopping at the Spanish Farmacia.

Victoria in Barcelona

                                                           
                                                        
www.labellafigurabeauty.com  

Refinery 29 features La Bella Figura

Local Skincare Line La Bella Figura Reinvents Your Routine

By Shani Silver

La Bella Figura, an organic skincare line from Chicago, asks you to take a moment to think about your skincare routine. If the ingredients in the twenty-something products you shmear on yourself daily read something like Ikea instructions, it might be time to rethink the way you take care of your body's biggest organ—your skin. Listen closely, because we're about to tell you to start using oil on your skin. But before you assume we've been tossin' a few back at the office, give change a chance, and you'll see what we mean.

La Bella Figura's mission takes skincare back to basics, before it was infiltrated with commercials starring celebrities and packaging full of glitter. The company only produces chemical-free products, and their primary ingredient is argan oil, an essential oil that works actual magic on your skin. It is known for reducing wrinkles and inflammation, and it also softens your skin. Yes, you'll be applying oil to your face with your hands, but we promise it isn't as scary as it sounds. We also know there isn't a product alive that can turn back time (yes, please sing that in a Cher voice), but we are noticing a serious spike in our skin's glow factor.

If you're intrigued by the idea of trying something new and potentially face-changing, start spreading the word. Tweet this story, and make sure you tag @refinery29. One tweet will win every product in the La Bella Figura arsenal! You'll receive Tesoro and Moroccan Gold, the little gems that have replaced moisturizers as we know it, as well as Decouverte, an under eye serum containing barbary fig seed oil. Rounding out the team, you'll find La Curacio lip balm, a Windy City warrior's best friend. There's no need to use chemicals and weird stuff on our skin, so let's stop. Simple is sexy.

Chicago » Beauty » Local Skincare Line La Bella Figura Reinvents Your Routine

An interview with La Bella Figura co-founder, Victoria Fantauzzi

Victoria Fantauzzi, CEO and co-Founder of La Bella Figura, LLC

LBF: What is your first beauty ritual of the day

Victoria:  The first thing I do is wash my face.  I use an organic coconut and olive oil liquid soap for sensitive skin that I've enhanced with grapefruit essential oil as a natural antibacterial.  Then I moisturize immediately.  You want to moisturize while skin is...dewy.  Weird word, but true. 

LBF:  What do you use as a moisturizer?

Victoria:  You know what I use!  Tesoro is my favorite. It smells so good and it keeps my skin clear.

LBF:  Okay,  what is something you would like people to know about natural beauty products?

Victoria:  Good question!  I want people to know that using natural ingredients doesn't mean it will be ineffective in what it can do for your skin.  I think there is a myth out there that natural means it can't stand up to tough issues, but in actuality going natural is exactly what you should be doing if you have sensitive skin or eczema or acne.  Some of the chemically laden products out there can make those skin types worse! 

LBF:  I agree with you on that.  I've had allergies all my life and had tried just about everything and nothing really worked until I gave up the junk.  What do you think about all the folks that are scared to death about using a face oil?

Victoria:  I think they need to read their ingredient list because most likely they are already using oil on their face, just the really bad kind.  I know it sounds crazy to some people, but using a great quality antioxidant rich oil with no other ingredients is about as pure as you can get.  Mineral based or animal fat oils are pretty gross stuff.  Pure plant oils are best.

LBF:  Well I know we have tons of work to do so this is my last question.  What La Bella Figura product are you eager to share?

Victoria:  Aha, I think it'll have to be Decouverte our new under eye repair serum because it contains an exciting new ingredient, barbary fig seed oil!  Barbary fig seed oil has such a unique chemistry in France they call it "nature's botox."  I'm really proud of our eye serum because it contains such high performing ingredients like green coffee bean oil, tomato seed oil, which is full of lycopene and beta carotene, rosehip seed oil and of course our favorite..argan oil.  We also use rose otto, palmarosa, helichrysum, lavender and the wild blue tansy!  Blue tansy is so fantastic because it's naturally blue and features azulene, but like chamomille it's a calming essential oil for sensitive skin.  Decouverte is our little rockstar for sure and I can't wait to introduce it to everyone. 

LBF:  It's so exciting to introduce barbary fig seed oil to Americans!  Thanks, Victoria.  Let's get back to work!