I am Claudia Sa (most people call me Ilanta) – the founder of one of the first online beauty and wellness shops in Switzerland back in 2007, and Radiant Beauty Shop in 2019. I am originally from the coast of Portugal and fell in love with the beauty Switzerland and its people in my first long stay in 2007. After living in many different European countries, I returned to Switzerland in 2019 and made it my home. I carry within me the expansiveness of the ocean, the stillness of the mountains, the tenderness of the flowers, the tenacity of the trees and the vastness of the skies, all expressions of the beauty of this Earth, which I learnt to love and deeply honour in my many travels.
💞✨
The human journey of transformation is what I am most passionate about: guiding myself through it, and guiding others. I came to deeply appreciate conscious living, slow beauty and conscious consumerism while going through a health crisis in the year 2000. It was then that I started to delve deep into the studies of holistic nutrition, detox protocols, superfoods, supplementation, aromatherapy, breathing techniques and meditation – all of which have been crucial for my own healing process. I since additionally trained as an Ashtanga Yoga Teacher (2001), Raw Food Coach (2010), Raw Food Chef (2013), Advanced Aromatherapist with David Crow, LAc (2015) and Breath Coach (2021).
💞✨
There was one thing specifically that proved to be central in my healing journey: beauty. Beauty is harmony. In the healing world, there is a tendency to fixing. Understandably, we want to find a solution to our pain – yet by wanting to be elsewhere already, we forget about beauty. We forget that even amidst suffering beauty exists. This is what I came to understand: resting in beauty is what heals me.
I realised that my connection to beauty and the natural world had been severed, and that I needed to become conscious again of the beauty that is everywhere. The beauty of nature and our own beauty: I believe that in this interplay between us true beauty is found. It is where I found it.
💞✨
I came to appreciate products that are as close to their natural origin as possible. As a trained aestethician, I am familiar with products, potions, self care – but the products by Living Libations were different than anything I experienced before. Made in the Canadian wilderness, they bring a little bit of that pure nature to the ritual of self care. It smells good, it looks beautiful – yet there is also something about it that goes beyond the physical. When I put it on my skin, I get in touch with the beauty inside of me. Living libations catalysed a love for my self: I wanted to care for this person, also on the outside.
It solidified in me the sense I've had all my life - that the journey of transformation can be facilitated with botanicals! This sparked the desire to guide others, to open a channel of commutation between client and me, to be of service in their journey. To wake people up to their own beauty, and to have nature as a true ally.
💞✨
The beginning of my healing journey had also been the start of my interest in conscious living and conscious consuming. In 2006 I founded my first company within the conscious sustainable business movement, 2018 I founded Radiant Beauty.
Conscious consumerism is at the heart of what I do. I experience the earth as me, there’s no separation, so naturally I treat it well. Conscious living means treating things with respect, to recognize they are precious. It means to understand that everything is alive, and that each action I take has a consequence. It creates either harmony or disharmony.
💞✨
My aim with Radiant Beauty is to marry luxury and sustainability.
These questions guide my daily choices:
- How can we bridge the gap between a beautiful planet and our need to feel nurtured comforted and surrounded by beautiful items?
- Isn’t it better to have less and more efficient items we truly love?
- How can we ally beauty and efficiency, luxury and sustainability, consciousness and the mundane? Can we have it all? Luxury, fair prices, beauty, results – and the beautiful planet taken very good care of? And happy workers?
Yes!! That’s how it should be, always.
💞✨
It’s a journey, I’m growing as all of us are. It can be a joyful beautiful journey. I believe we must be on it with as much enthusiasm and commitment as we can. We don’t need to feel guilty if we can’t be 100 percent in everything, but we must become more conscious of our choices and actions – in particular our shopping choices. The movement is just starting. Let’s make it the new norm. Slowly but surely, we’re going to start loving our earth again, understanding we’re not part of it, but rather we’re made from it!
💞✨
Other passions in my life are herbalism, a wholesome plant-based diet, growing my own food, yoga, breathwork, meditation, and conscious spirituality. I’ve continuously volunteered for spiritual organizations since 2000. Meditation gives me a deep appreciation for things that are simple. It is at the core of everything I do.
I'm deeply grateful to have you here, sharing this journey with me.
Ilanta Claudia
💞✨