So my kitchen turned into a mini lab, and I began formulating as I always had. This time however, I was taking the whole affair very seriously. I began an earnest process of trial and error, fished out hundreds of clues from Ayurveda, taught myself some formulation chemistry, and put it all together using scientific techniques and basic lab work. I was having a lot of fun doing this. When I deemed my first facial serum ready, I immediately began using it and in short order my skin responded by looking better than ever before! So my two 100% chemical and preservative free products were ready. A facial mask (Sulfur Facial Mask, which is, interestingly, Apsara’s best selling product) and a facial serum (Sandalwood Facial Serum), which had an earthy aroma of pure sandalwood.
So that really was the beginning. Or perhaps it had begun years ago, when I was still a pre-teen. I didn’t stop. The kitchen counter had to be replaced with a real lab, and before I knew it, 2 years had passed and I had 30 products. Small packages of essential oils, extracts, and natural raw materials were replaced by large shipments. I was scaling up. My first self-made website was replaced with a more serious e-commerce site, and Apsara was an incorporation. I had hundreds of people buying products on a regular basis, and writing wonderful testimonials to tell me how much they loved Apsara, and going natural. This is, admittedly, still my favorite part of the entire story.