About us – “My name is Azra Secerbegovic, and I’m the founder of ASPA, a place to find healthy, natural products and treatments that your skin and soul crave! My personal mission is to help you realise that you can look beautiful without using quick fixes and harsh chemicals on your skin. With a passion for nutrition, wellbeing and skincare I embarked on my ASPA journey in 2008. Priory to that I studied and worked as the botanist (The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) then moved into the more commercial roles in the organic fresh produce industry. “

I’m regularly asked about my reasons for avoiding mainstream face, body and haircare formulations, but rarely am I asked about my motivations for choosing clean beauty.

I choose clean beauty for two reasons:

1. Plants have great benefits to offer to our skin and hair.
The mainstream cosmetics industry has for the longest time given us the impression that their formulations are complex combinations made from their laboratories’ finest free-flowing synthetic chemicals. Their marketing ‘techno-babble’ plays perfectly into this image.

However, the recent growth in clean beauty has shown us that when consumers demand organic formulations that are ‘free from’ certain chemicals, the mainstream industry suddenly tones down the high tech rhetoric and starts waxing lyrical about their botanical origins instead.

Using plants to nourish and protect our skin is not new. Before we embraced our synthetic serums and conditioners, people used vegetables, fruit,dairy products and herbs, to name but a few of the ingredients upon which today’s beauty products are based.

Scientific research into the topical benefits of plants is ongoing around the world. Researchers are finding that certain botanical extracts can match or surpass their lab-based counterparts.

2. Clean beauty ties together the concepts of wellbeing and beauty.
The truth is that I hardly wear any make-up except Jane Iredale Mineral Make Up, I use my skincare regulary and I believe a healthy and happy woman and/or man are the most beautiful self.