10 minutes with: Inika creator Miranda Bond

Most of you would have heard me rave about all organic, mineral make up range Inika in the past, both for its high performance colour (rare in the field) and its kindness to your skin and the planet. A favourite with the likes of Stella McCartney and her fellow advocates of eco luxe, it’s one of the best on offer in the natural market today. I spent ten minutes talking to its co-creator, Miranda Bond, about where Inika grew from, her continuing passion for the planet and her natural beauty faves.

Have you always had a passion for beauty with a conscience?
I have always had a passion for green living and looking after the planet, however this was elevated by my personal experience with endometriosis and a move to toxic free living. My interest in this area then expanded to pure, organic and natural products. I used to give free community workshops spreading the news about toxic free living, good nutrition and care of the environment. One of my main goals in life is to change the world – I know it sounds huge but I really am passionate about educating people and inspiring people to choose a natural and organic lifestyle – and that can be eating organic foods, using natural hair care, using natural and organic cosmetics, reducing their carbon footprint – really any small step that helps people to lead a healthier life, environmentally aware life.

When did you first think about the possibility of releasing a make up range?
Myself and co-founder Jenni Williams were looking for a more natural alternative to traditional makeup, and natural and mineral makeup was the most compatible makeup that met our strict criteria. It was pure coincidence that mineral makeup was beginning to boom in Australia at the time Inika launched (2006). It worked very much in our favour! Our main motivation for starting our own line of natural makeup was because of both mine and Jenni’s history of battling with health issues. We established Thriving Healthy Women to educate, inspire and empower women to deal with their own health issues and with those of their families. Thriving Healthy Women became a one-stop resource for women around the world not just in terms of information, but also in terms of products where every woman could be confident they were buying safe and completely natural goods. We also wanted to use resources in Australia, hence our tagline – ‘Made of Australia’. We went searching and could not find an all-natural Australian make-up company that met our strict ingredients criteria so we decided to create our own. That’s how Inika was born.

How did you start on your journey - by working with a chemist, a make up artist?
What Jenni and I know more than any other female on this planet is what NOT to put in make up. There has been a huge amount of R & D invested in the Inika products and we’ve worked with top formulators and chemists to achieve what we believe is the best natural make up on the planet.

How did you ensure that the pigment in the colours etc were so strong? A lot of organic and mineral make up brands often struggle with performance.
Performance is something Inika prides itself on – we are absolutely up there in terms of performance when comparing ourselves to mainstream brands. Inika are very strict in terms of ingredients and will not add cheap fillers to bulk out products because we want to show the world that natural cosmetics can be as good as if not better than, mainstream cosmetics. Inika has a Product Development department that scrutinises all products as well as testing them and we also have professional makeup artists use the products to see how well they perform. Plus, Inika also have a whole company of women who are more than happy to ‘product trial’ and give honest feedback!

What is behind the name, Inika?
Inika in Hindi means ‘small earth’, which has two meanings for us. We are an environmentally conscious company and the ‘small earth’ to us means we only have limited resources on this planet, so we have to think carefully about how we use them. The second meaning for us is that Inika was born out of a network of women sharing information with other women and when women reach out and support each other in that way, it really isn’t such a big world after all.

You have some big name fans like Stella McCartney, how did they come in contact with your brand?
We have great PR companies who represent the brand around the world and we are always sending our products out to celebrities, models and make up artists. We are very fortunate that they end up falling in love with the brand!

What is your must have, "desert island" product from the range?
My favourite product is the certified organic Liquid Mineral Foundation, which has won a number of accolades such as the ACP magazine award for Best Foundation and was also nominated as the Marie Claire Best Product for 21010. It is full of sumptuous organic ingredients like tamunu oil, shea butter and rosehip oil, basically it is food for your skin and provides all day coverage! My skin has a tendency to be a bit dry so it would be a must for me on the desert island.

Who are some other brands you respect, perhaps a skincare name that you love?
One of my favourite skincare brands is actually a New Zealand brand – The Herb Farm. I’m so strict when it comes to ingredients and The Herb Farm formulations are so clean, no hidden nasties and really powerful formulations. LOVE THEM.

Finally, is it easier these days than when you started for women to find great beauty brands with a moral compass that are also great for the skin?
In some ways it is easier, but there are now lots of brands jumping on the ‘green wagon’. It sometimes creates more confusion because some brands say they are ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ but may only contain a very small percentage of these ingredients. When in doubt, I always recommend that people read the ingredients list and look out for the obvious nasties like parabens, talc, bismuth oxychloride, mineral oil or artificial fragrances and dyes. Inika is one of the few brands in the world to be certified vegan or certified organic or both and in addition we are certified Halal and Cruelty free.