There is so much greenwashing and loopholing in the world of selling ‘natural’ alternatives. One of the best things to have are retailers that you can trust who align with your values, given everyone’s low tox life is different for many different reasons.
Enter Irene Falcone, creator of Nourished Life, Sans Drinks, and now starting all over again in natural beauty and health: Clean Nectarine – if you’re a Low Tox Club member, you get 20% off at Clean Nectarine, all year round as one of your club perks. True story!
Irene is from Sydney and when she burst onto the low tox scene, Irene became – and I mean this in the nicest way possible if you’re reading this, Irene: the bull in the china shop of the high-tox world. She blasts through lies. She tells it like it is, based on extensive and obsessive research. She makes sure that every single one of her products in the Nourished Life shop is 100% safe for us. I just love her tenacity and integrity and I wanted to share that and her story, with you. This is a woman with kiddies, a big important day job and then dedicates herself until the wee hours of the morning at night, to building her little online shopping safe haven, blog and community that became a giant too much to manage as a privately owned business. She thought selling to one of Australia’s biggest distributors and management companies in the natural personal care space would make everything better, but it was an awful transition, and she was forced ot watch them ruin everything she was known for – the restricted low tox beauty finds; the best and most helpful customer service, the passion and fast delivery… all gone.
She went on to build Sans Drinks, eventually selling to Just Wines, and was finally out of her non-compete window and able to think about building back better – her way, not too big to handle, employing school mum’s to pack orders… Doable, awesome, and amazing to see her back to what she’s so good at and loves.
This interview was done over a coffee 12 year ago now, as I type this update in 2024, but is always such a pleasure to read and remember how it all started. I genuinely believe the low tox space has experienced the growth it has because of communities like ours and the passion we have for everyone having a place in low tox living that feels like it ‘fits’ – no pressure ot all confirm to a certain, strict ‘way’, able to love beauty products and cosmetics, and also do our best to support quality brands and people with our daily choices.
1. What inspired you to go Toxic Free? Was there an Aha moment?
I think the Aha moment for me was really the morning I was walking up the stairs to get to my work and by the 3rd of 4th step I just had to sit down, my legs were just so heavy I couldn’t move them. In my heart they just felt overloaded with a build-up of toxins. When I got home that evening, I started looking into what I was putting in and on my body, and it all just hit me like a tonne of bricks! Bang!!! Almost every product in my home was loaded with toxins. All of my prestige beauty products were a cocktail of petrochemicals & parabens! Even my favorite biscuit had a bunch of artificial colours in them that are actually banned in Europe. I don’t know why, but before that day I never thought about reading the label. That day I threw everything out and decided to start over.
2. Something people are scared of, when embarking on the low tox journey is ‘where do I start’. What’s your no 1 tip for adopting a lower tox lifestyle?
Well that is really why I started my blog and then shop, because it was so overwhelming, it was actually like a full time job just figuring out what skin care and beauty products to replace the old ones. So many companies were marketed as being natural, organic and eco-friendly, some even promoted breast cancer awareness but they all still contained petrochemicals and parabens (the very things linked to breast cancer!!). Once I found and started using natural and organic alternatives I really started to feel better, almost instantly. I started my blog so I could record my journey and share these amazing natural discoveries with others wanting to start living less toxic lives.
3. You have little kiddies who I’m sure pester you for treats? Have a tip for other parents on how you navigate the aisles?
I find the easiest way to start is to avoid things with ingredients you can ‘t understand, or can’t easily research through an app like chemical maze. Stick to simple produce, and crowd pleasers like plain corn chips and smashed avocado, or some dried berries and nuts. It really isn’t more expensive than conventional packaged food if you plan ahead and keep it simple because they fill up needing less if it’s the good stuff.
5. What’s something you cringe at having used, eaten or worn once upon a time, now that you’re a low tox queen?
The thousands of dollars I spent at the David Jones beauty counters on prestige lipsticks and skin care full of chemicals and parabens. (Oh my god, me too!- An Alexx add in here)
6. Your favourite beauty tip for those wanting to ditch the chemical cosmetic fest?
Ignore what the front of the box says and read the back, check the ingredients against the EGW Skin Deep database and avoid products ranking in the orange and red zones.
Low Tox Life. Happy Bodies. Happy Planet
