The Sacred Beauty Diary. Meet Dr. Cecilia Perotti, our Muse&Heroine Contributing Editor

Cecilia, how did you get into the beauty industry?

I was born and grew up breathing the heritage and charm of a very pioneering clean beauty industry.

What led you to launch Cecilia Holistic Beauty?

A lifelong deep passion for pure rarest raw materials and their skin healing properties. And the feeling of a rooted mission to create a new concept of skincare with a genuine holistic soul melted with scientific know-how and tradition.

Where do you source ingredients from?

Literally from all over the world. Some of our favorites gifts from Mother Earth come from the far New Zeland, others from our organic farm in Northern Italy. Of course, this is related to the necessary natural climate and environment of each ingredient.

Do you have a blacklist of ingredients you can talk us through?

One of the peculiar features in any respectable personal guideline is to be always open-minded, impartial, and constantly updated. Of course, I have a blacklist of ingredients, especially when talking about synthetic ones. But not all synthetic ingredients are toxic. Either to use or not to use synthetics is more a philosophy of life than a precautionary strategy. Both ingredients from natural sources and from chemical ones could be safe or harmful or safe at certain doses and harmful at others. For sure throughout the past 10 years, in the EU a large number of chemicals were banned for consumer safety. In the last few years, a great controversy has seen Parabens as a protagonist. Such a category of preservatives has been widely used in cosmetics for decades but recently seemed to weakly mimic estrogen in certain situations as an endocrine disruptor. This is the reason why in 2014 the EU banned some parabens, while in the US market they are still allowed. For now, the long-term effects of parabens on human health are yet uncertain, but on my side, I deeply believe in the maxim that prevention is better than cure. I adopt the same approach dealing with SLS and SLES whose toxicological profile is still undefined but aggressiveness for skin is without a doubt.

What skincare products are you loving at the moment?

Personally, I do really love cold-pressed pure raw oils such as Papaya, Prickly Pear, Borage, Primrose. I love handmade delicate scrubs with these oils and Apricot Kernel or Maple Sugar as exfoliating particles.

What are the challenges of making a clean beauty product?

When making a genuine clean beauty product the challenges are many. First, there are few scientific-technical documentation about production and formulation, therefore you need to rely on solid heritage and know-how. Then it is complicated to obtain the desired perfume, texture, and color without using any synthetic. And it is possible to encounter differences among each production batch due to variable weather, environmental conditions, and raw materials. 

Do you have a favorite product? What’s your beauty secret/obsession right now?

I fell in love with a very special version of Monoi butter infused with fresh Vanilla Beans from Madagascar to be used both as a nourishing balm and a cleanser. Right now, I’m obsessed with beauty tools such as lymphatic booster guasha, led masks, and devices with different intensity of light, color, vibration, and heat. Then I’m trying to dedicate some time to experiment with new ways of double cleansing always pairing a water-based product with an oily one.

In your research for Cecilia Holistic Beauty have you come across anything that surprised you?

I have come across so many things that surprised me. Above all the beauty and charm of the rarest raw materials from remote places and their traditional healing properties passed down from father to son, mother to daughter.

Do you have any advice for daily wellness?

To get up early and do the Five Tibetan Rituals, have a daily walk in the greenery, read some poetry, listen to kundalini music, meditate 10minutes, drink enough water, eat healthy unprocessed food, take your time to rest and take care of yourself and your loved ones.

What is your favorite way to pamper yourself?

A word with a dear friend before falling asleep. A detox treatment in a fine spa, a massage, some foot reflexology, getting my hair done, reading poetry in a silk pajama.

What is your daily beauty regimen? What is your weekly beauty regimen?

My daily beauty regimen includes different morning and night self-care routines. Every damn day I apply my moisturizing Blossom Elixir Lotion before washing my face, then I do a double cleansing and apply the lotion again followed by my Ageless Crème Riche and few drops of the Eternal Youth Sérum if I feel my skin particularly dry and sensitive. Every night after the double cleansing I do the same morning layering steps plus the Miracle Baume and the Golden Glow Baume Yeux. Three times a week I use the deep exfoliating and regenerating lotion Blue Oceanic Potion and twice a week I keep the Midsummer Night Noir Masque all night long (remember to put a towel on your pillow).

What supplements or vitamins do you swear by?

My relationship with supplements has very ancient roots. I grew up literally hand in hand with them. Every day I have my supplement regimen, all with ingredients from Mother Earth such as Camu Camu, saps, Zinc, Magnesium from Seawater, Horse Milk, Astragalus, Pilosella, Desmodium, Borage and Blackcurrant oils.

If you could design your ideal daily menu, what would you eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack?

Breakfast: a green cold-pressed juice and a wholegrain avocado toast with chopped pistachios or fig bread with ricotta cheese and sliced Medjoul dates. I would skip lunch. Dinner: bluefish or egg with steamed greens. Snack: mixed nuts, I have a weakness for cashews and pecans.

Do you see any healers? If so, who do you see and how often do you go?

Of course, I do. I do always try to heal other people in the best way I know but as often happens sometimes I can’t heal myself. I go to a healer in Milan every now and then when difficult times come. This truly helps me to clear my mind, and to clean and recharge my energy.

Are there any beauty secrets that your mother or grandmother passed down to you?

Never ever forget to clean your face and apply a lotion before sleep. And always to keep in the bag an antibacterial Lavender or Tea tree essential oil to heal red spots, wounds, and insect bites.

Tell us one of your personal best-kept beauty secrets?

Every morning applying a soothing and moisturizing lotion before washing your face.

What are your secrets to staying healthy?

Get up early, a glass of Birch sap on an empty stomach. Then eat your greens, but also some gelato when needed. Train 3-4 times a week, walk 10km every day. Smile as much as you can.

A life-changing book you`ve read?

A little obvious, but definitively Eat, pray, love. 

How would you spend a perfect day in Milan?

Having breakfast at Lubar, a walk-in Giardini Indro Montanelli, lunch at Centro Botanico Brera, vintage shops tour in Cinque Vie area, afternoon in one of the beautiful museums, lymphatic drainage at Roberto Caprile Holistica & Rehab, dinner at Ba Asian Mood.

Favorite health spot in Milan?

Centro Botanico Brera.

Who do you see for treatments in Milan or around the world?

In Milan, I use to go to a Holistic Centre in Cinque Giornate to have a very special and deep lymphatic drainage both for body and face. I’m truly in love with Thai massages too and with Mandarin Oriental body scrub.

What are your travel hotel tips?

I do really appreciate small niche boutique hotels. I always opt for those with a nice gym, spa, and healthy food options. And to be honest I take a look at breakfast pictures to have an idea of quality and refinement.

Last thing before bed?

Tapping on my wrists few drops of organic Tangerine essential oil and then writing a few words on my five years memory diary.

Any bedside beauty essentials?

Quartz roller, guasha, calming organic essential oils, Eternal Youth sérum with the soothing Blue Tansy.

Please share with us your most healing self-love rituals.

Start the day with a pipe of Blossom Elixir on your face, a glass of organic Birch sap, and a Dodonaea leaves warm infusion.

What is your advice to those looking to live a healthier lifestyle?

In Italy, we say that at the base of living a healthier lifestyle there is the so-called “volersi più bene”, which is literally “to love ourselves more”. Eating organic food, doing sport, being kind to others, and the planet, using clean beauty products are all actions of deep love and wellbeing.

 Find Cecilia on Instagram @ceciliaperotti_ and discover the amazing Cecilia Holistic Beauty on www.museandheroine.com