Introducing UND GRETEL
How healthy is your lipstick?
UND GRETEL – the purely natural makeup line
»After six exciting years of development and preparation, we finally celebrated the launch of the brand in 2015.«
Hello Stephanie and Christina, please tell us a little bit about you.
Christina: We are the brand UND GRETEL – a Natural & Organic Makeup line.
Stephanie: A one hundred percent certified natural cosmetic with zeitgeist and a sustainable soul, based right in the middle of Berlin.
Where did the idea for a decorative natural cosmetic line come from? Was there a trigger moment?
Christina: Searching for products that perform well on the one hand and are still healthy on the other, I very often ended up with “wannabes”, products that suddenly called themselves natural cosmetics due to so-called greenwashing. And so I decided to become active myself and develop a purely natural decorative cosmetic. I soon got support from my friend, the marketing expert Stephanie Dittmann. So we decided to bring UND Gretel – completely without Hänsel – onto the market.
Stephanie: After six exciting years of development and preparation, we finally celebrated the launch of the brand in 2015.
What’s your brand name all about?
Christina: UND GRETEL is based on the Grimm fairy tale “Hänsel and Gretel”. The fairy tale depicts intellect and intuition, whereby the intellect is attributed to the man and the intuition to the woman.
Gretel’s intuition to do the right thing at the right moment saved the two children in the end. We also did the right thing at the right time, and metaphorically we show the red card to “bad cosmetics”.
Which product of your range confronted you with the greatest challenge in conception and manufacture?
Christina: In general, I can say that every single product required a lot of attention and time until it was finally perfect. Fortunately, my many years of expertise as a professional makeup artist helped me with the development. No matter if it was about the right textures, the variety of colours or the effect on the skin.
You have consistently avoided all artificial ingredients found in conventional lipsticks. What have they been replaced by?
Christina: For all our products and therefore also for the TAGAROT lipsticks, we have exclusively chosen natural ingredients that are allowed to grow ethically correct and sustainably. The lipsticks contain, for example, moisturising babassu butter and high-quality avocado oil.
Opacity and colour brilliance, on the other hand, are achieved by natural mineral pigments. What is so special about them? They reflect the light very intensely.
Are all colour scheme possible and can shine and glitter be produced naturally?
Christina: Yes, all of that is possible. A nice example is our eye shadow IMBE, which with its mother-of-pearl shimmer provides a particularly great shine. The pigments here are also of mineral origin, and UND GRETEL does not have any synthetic luster particles.
Where do you get your raw materials and ingredients from?
Christina: Exclusively from nature. We use oils, waxes, minerals and plant extracts. Here we rely on our selected suppliers who produce under very strict conditions and regular quality control.
What criteria must they meet and what certifications do your products have?
Christina: Our products are 100 % BDIH or COSMOS certified. These seals for controlled natural cosmetics are very reliable test marks with a very strict catalogue of criteria. UND GRETEL’s BDIH/COSMOS certified natural cosmetics contain neither petroleum-based ingredients nor synthetic fragrances, dyes or preservatives. Genetic engineering, animal waste and animal testing are of course also prohibited.
Which lipstick is your favourite and why?
Stephanie: I actually love all TAGAROT lipsticks, but the colour Copper is my absolute favourite. This warm copper tone suits me best, ideally I combine it with an eye makeup of LUK, IMBE Bronze and WINT.
Christina: My current favourite is the youngest member of the UND GRETEL family: the TAGAROT Love Berry. This berry red is a classic that simply belongs in every beauty case.
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