Wishes For A Happy Holiday!

Dearest Bella,

This year was both incredible and quite challenging for us as a business. We have reached the point where any decision leads to all kinds of doors and unique opportunities as well as  baffles us with questions we’re constantly trying to improve upon. It’s one of those problems you dream of having and then you have them and the way you solve them have many concrete consequences. I have no regrets and have been proud of everything we accomplished this year and excited for what’s next for us in the sparkling new year. We’re going to continue to be true to ourselves and our vision and remain engaged in what is sure to be a creative connection between the customer and the brand. There is an intimacy that is hardly ever spoken about when a brand blossoms from customer enthusiasm instead of PR practices, but we’re lucky enough to experience. We’re honored to be right where we are and as we embrace new and wonderful things we’re looking forward to the future of discovery, amazing products and adventures that will catapult La Bella Figura as the brand you’ve come to love and trust. We’re already excitedly working on new products, packaging and partnerships and hope you love the freshness of these things. Because we’ve been such busy bees we’re taking a much needed break and closing our office, studio room and shipping service from 12/24 until 1/4. We won’t be on email very much either and apologize in advance if we don’t reply until January. Our website and online services will continue to receive your orders, but they will not ship out until after the new year. (Any order placed within our closing time frame will be surprised with a treat.) Our crew needs to refresh their wheels and enjoy the holiday season with family and friends and hope you understand our decision to close shop for a short time.

Please read our fun blog, we thought we’d share a little about what Karen and I as founders and creators are looking forward to in 2016 as we continue to travel to source new ingredients with a Q&A we asked one another. Thank you for making this year the best and for remaining loyal fans of natural beauty, we couldn’t do this without you. Wishing you a beautiful holiday season and wonderful new year!

With love,

Victoria

A FUN Q&A WITH VICTORIA AND KAREN

If you could travel anywhere in the future and someplace in the past where would you go?

Victoria: I’m bursting to go to Tasmania a little island about 150 miles south of Australia’s mainland. I feel very drawn to what I’ve read about its diverse fauna, wildlife and unique vegetation plus it’s mostly reserves and national parks with the cleanest air recorded on earth. I’m also itching to go back to South America. I love the differences of the countries and experiencing rich cultures and learning new words in Spanish. In Argentina I learned never to use the word, “cojer” which to me translates to “to take” but in Argentina and Mexico it’s something completely different and not good. If I could travel to the past I’d probably want to go to Paris in the 1920’s and be a wild woman at the jazz clubs wearing head to toe flapper styled clothes. People knew how to have fun in that era.

Karen: There are so many time periods and places I'd love to travel back in time to. Sumer Babylonia in early Mesopotamia, Ancient Rome in the Caesar years, Florence during the Renaissance, New York in the 1940s to hang out with the Abstract Expressionists, and Paris during the French Revolution or during the Belle Epoque.

What are some items you always find yourself picking up when you’re someplace else?

Victoria: I’m always fascinated with beauty products wherever I go. When I was in Peru so many products had sacha inchi oil in them and I loved trying out those fresh smelling soaps and shampoos. I  also love going to local food markets for coffee, wine and sweets. I always bring sweets back home with me too. My favorites are turron from Spain and I’ll never forget how delicious the Turkish delight was from Turkey.

Karen: Usually art books or old books. I always seek out a book that speaks to me and that is always in the native language whether I can read it or not. In Paris, we found three rare Victor Hugo books. In Italy, I've picked up art books on Bernini and Caravaggio as well as a weird little book about early criminology procedures. One of my favorites is a book we picked up in Spain — a book about the resistance posters during the Spanish Civil war. There are too many to list.

What do you miss from home when you’re away and what do you look forward to when traveling?

Victoria: I mostly miss the people I love from home. When I was in Italy last spring I really missed the convenience of a clothes dryer. I now understand the term, “laundry day” much better.

Karen: Mostly my cats, but depending on where I'm staying and if the mattress is too rock hard, my bed.

What language (s) do you wish you could master?

Victoria: All of them! If I could have a superpower it would be to read, write, understand and speak every language on earth. That would be so cool.

Karen: I wish I was fluent in five languages: French, Spanish, Gaelic, Italian, and Arabic.

What’s your new year’s travel resolution?

Victoria: I want to sleep under the stars in a tent. I haven’t done that since I was a kid and I would love to camp in Lake Patagonia and cook over an old-fashioned wood fire. I want to take more cooking classes because you learn so much from a culture through its food and I have an infinite passion in understanding ingredients through tactile methods. Basically I plan on being more hands on in my travels.

Karen: This year, my goal is to travel to places in the U.S. that I've never been to before. So far on the agenda is Memphis, San Francisco, and driving down the Pacific Coast Highway. I'd also love to get to Berlin this year.