Product, product and product. Nuria Val offers in cosmetics what more and more chefs promise in her kitchen. An experience in which above the technique, complex elaborations, supposedly long names and formulations from another galaxy, there is only one x: the product. The essence. The pure. At her brand, Rowse Beauty, they don’t experiment to get a mousse texture or a brilli brilli effect. On the contrary. It is what it is, there is what there is. That’s why it’s good for what really matters: your skin. The health of the skin of the face and body in particular.
Behind this brand, in which they bet more on truth and honesty than on miraculous or uniform results, we find Nuria Val. Photographer, creator and co-founder of Rowse Beauty. She is also an influencer, better known on Instagram as Frecklesnur in honor of the recognizable freckles that flood her face. In everything she does, Nuria radiates light and peace, like a calm landscape, and it is that connection with nature that motivates every step she takes, whatever the field, which is not a few. “Nature is my muse. I have realized that over the years. Everything I do personally and professionally has a connection with nature,” shares Nuria.
And this meeting, hosted by the journalist Elisenda Camps in the most sustainable house in Europe, located in Sant Andreu de la Barca, is no exception. Within its four walls, the creator seems to function as if she were in her own. One that, in fact, she has projected with the same philosophy on a farm in Tarragona: less consumption, more life.
As an example of the extent to which it is governed by environmental awareness, one only has to look at the hallmark of its products, made from as few ingredients as possible and as little transformed or treated as possible. “There is no water in the base of any ingredient and it is not used in manufacturing,” Val describes. Aware that the planet is already very ‘overheated’, he has thought that it is better to cold press the ingredients instead of applying heat or chemical solvents – usually used in the beauty industry – to eliminate as much energy as possible from production. .
“There is nothing behind it. There are no preservatives, there are no sulfates. It’s the ingredient. You’re going to know what you’re putting on,” she adds. An act of rebellion that arises in the midst of the dictatorship of cosmetic products with compositions that are impossible to understand and read in a single reading. All of his brand ingredients come directly from nature. They are organic, vegan and cruelty-free. As it could not be otherwise, for packaging, she and her partner prefer glass to plastic, even if it is recycled, and they use recycled boxes for shipping. It is not just an aesthetic issue, because they can be reused and recycled infinitely. It’s just better.
This is, in fact, the great requirement that he demands from those who visit his house: to recycle. For this tireless traveler, the fact that the economy is better when it is circular is as evident as that the earth is round. Nuria contributes her grain of sand. Her part in the fight against climate change is to leave no trace and offer cosmetic alternatives that seek that circularity in the most basic, essential. In something as basic and common as washing your face. A contribution on a scale as human as her business, but that adds forces with more transversal actions such as those carried out, on an industrial scale, by Naturgy, a pioneer in injecting renewable gas extracted from waste into the distribution network. Nothing is left over, especially when we try to reverse the effects of climate change that has ceased to be a threat and has become a reality.
Nuria Val does not hide her concern. “It makes me uncomfortable, like many other people, but I channel it by fighting to do things that generate the least possible impact,” she explains. She does not live in an ideal world, as many of the images that appear on her Instagram profile inspire, but she works, moves, surrounds herself, acts and communicates so that one day she will be a little more so. She also with her daughter. She is now your best “wake-up alarm” against the anesthesia that can cause you to feel small in the face of a big challenge such as taking care of our resources. “That my daughter is in full discovery and I explain everyday things to her helps me to be more sustainable, to keep myself informed and aware of what needs to be done, and to not get carried away by the stress of running around” , value. You can always do something, even in times when it seems like you can’t. “During the pandemic, we always proposed recipes for skin and hair with things you could have in the refrigerator,” she remembers.
It is no coincidence that the philosophy ‘less is more’ is the common denominator that their habits share, and that also includes the beauty and well-being routines that their brand promotes. Conscious consumption involves reducing and cosmetics is no exception. It is one more way to apply the principles of the circular economy to domestic life. Therefore, whenever possible, it opts for local producers and suppliers, thus reducing its carbon footprint. They also try to process ingredients as little as possible, using environmentally friendly techniques. It is about offering only the essentials to care for the skin so that it is healthy and luminous. Not one extra treatment, product or ingredient. That is, as he describes, his mission: “Rowse was born with the idea of thanking nature. He wanted my time on the planet to have something positive. Create a sustainable cosmetics brand where you use what the earth gives.” Because pure beauty is honest and devoid of artifice.