It's so refreshing to finally find a skin care line that holds true to the notion that a little goes a long way.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Suki Kramer, the creator of the Suki skin care line.

Kramer began her business mixing all-natural ingredients in her home - a cabin in the woods of Northfield, Mass.

With no background in cosmetics or chemistry, she began a long process of trial and error paired with self-study, poring over textbooks and consulting with chemists in local labs.

The result was her first product, a lemongrass cleanser, which she bottled by hand and affixed hand-written, hand-glued labels.

Now, a decade later, the Suki line no longer features modest, hand-written labels, but instead sports a bright, trademark yellow on its boxes and jars, which is easily recognized by fans of the products, including a handful of celebrities.

Indeed, Kramer's gamble with entrepreneurship began to pay off in 2004, when the company made inroads with such retailers as Marshall Fields, Whole Foods, and Harvey Nichols.

The company got another boost in 2006, when a $400 box of samples from the Suki line was included in the famed Oscar goody bags. Kramer chooses not to publicize her well-known fans, but People Magazine recently outed Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson as disciples of the line, which was also featured at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

Kramer is quick to note that 'all-natural' doesn't always mean simple. Over the years, she's been able to develop some relatively complex products, using naturally occurring ingredients such as vitamin liposomes, yerba protein, and enzyme-vitamin C, in addition to fruit oils, herb extracts, and other components found in nature.

Not one artificial ingredient can be found in any Suki products, including within the bases that hold active ingredients, which typically are synthetic.

The Suki skin care line still includes the lemongrass cleanser, for instance, which looks and feels like an authentic Italian ice, and shares another common trait with the dessert - like all Suki products, the cleanser is made of entirely natural, food-grade ingredients.

Other popular offerings include the complexion brightening cream, with the key ingredients of pure rose wax and flaxseed, a facial toner made with shitake mushrooms, lip repair butter, which stays on for hours without any waxy feeling, and a velvet skin cream, made with shea butter, which takes just one or two small pumps from the bottle to moisten hands, without a hint of greasiness.

All of the products feel good going on and don't seem to fail throughout the day. It's not a feeling of having used a great product... it's more a feeling of having achieved the level of health your skin was supposed to have all along.

In the coming months, Kramer will introduce an entirely new Suki line of cosmetics, made with the same natural processes she uses for her skin, body, and hair care products.

Learn more about this author, Jaclyn C. Stevenson.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

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