Founder Series: Caroline van Eeuwijk of C. Cosmetics, Amsterdam

Having become a skincare enthusiast living in Los Angeles, one of my first areas of focus was finding a natural facialist when I moved to Amsterdam last April. Insert C. Cosmetics. A beautiful, light-filled spa in the center of the Jordaan, you can enjoy one of the best facials I have had in my life from a wonderful staff with naturally derived products, sans the worry from a product post treatment. Having enjoyed my experience so much, I was curious of the owner’s experience opening a spa, and how she got started. A few months later, I reached out to Caroline to learn more.

Sitting down with Caroline, I had an instant feeling of ease and familiarity. As if I was going to meet an old dear friend for coffee. A glowing dutch beauty, she was kind enough to share her story with me. Like many adolescents, she had an allergic reaction to her diet at a young age that made her more conscious of her physical diet, intake and beauty products. Equally, having a GP that didn’t always advise on how your diet can change your body so drastically, Caroline turned to and started researching natural medicines and diet changes. Having a strong connection with her body and equally seeing the impact your mind has on your body’s response coming back from a silent retreat, Caroline was able to see the power of mental focus and natural medicine first hand.

Having gone to law school as many shared ‘she had the chops’ from a young age in her local community, Caroline was offered an international internship in Amsterdam that she could not pass up. But when it came time to select a specialty, “I was done” she shared. “I told myself, I need to stop this.” As I am sure she had made a large impact, she felt as though the largest impact she had made at the time was getting the law firm to switch to recycling and recycled paper, she said with a slight chuckle. Coming to terms with a fork in the road is not easy, but Caroline recalls “wanting to do something bigger than myself, that not only gave back to the community, but the planet.”

“You need the freedom to make the space and see what comes.”

So she took a part-time job at a local grocery store in order to still have some income to begin her journey. “You need to the freedom to make the space and see what comes,” she shared. Caroline remembers partners from her law firm seeing her at the market over their lunch break with an almost horrified response, as if she had fallen from one social class to another. But told herself “I know who I am” with a beautiful confidence, and carried on her way. Spending time with a job coach, she was able to work on a technique she called ‘the stove top.’ She said, “imagine you have a stove top full of different things (your passions) brewing, and you will stir each one slowly, to see which one boils.” Give it attention, which is a very buddhist approach. So she began her new journey, researching and discovering the amount of paraffins in skincare, which grew her interest in natural products.

Caroline also firmly believes in the philosophy that we should not regard beauty from the outside, but that health and beauty need to come and be felt from the inside, which is a large part of her approach at C. Cosmetics. Loving yourself includes loving your character and your imperfections. Caroline lightheartedly compared the obsession with perfect teeth giving everyone the same smile to that of our society’s most recent obsession with botox. (Coming from Los Angeles, I found this perspective refreshing to hear.)

Now that C. Cosmetics is 8 years old, and with 2 small children at home, Caroline is set off on her next adventure, to create a skincare line of her own. Seeing small but effective brands come and go, “why not create them myself?” she recalls thinking. Having a business partner that harmoniously fits into the equation (with global CPG product launch and marketing experience) they are set out to launch later this year, with a unique voice that embraces aging within the skincare category.

After thanking Caroline again for such a wonderful conversation over matcha lattes, she was kind enough to share a handful of contacts of her like-minded entrepreneurial friends here in Amsterdam, along with an open invitation to join her for tea and meditation at her home on Tuesdays. I will most certainly be taking her up on both offers in the coming weeks.

C. Cosmetics is a salon and spa only using clean products located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is not a sponsored post.