From Ayurveda to Brazilian Botanicals: How Surya Brasil Is Redefining Clean Beauty

(MENAFN- Life and Style News) .

As the beauty industry moves towards greater transparency, sustainability, and conscious consumption, Surya Brasil has built its journey around the belief that beauty and nature should exist in harmony. Inspired by Brazil’s rich biodiversity and the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, the brand brings together botanical traditions, innovation, ethical practices, and modern technology to create clean, vegan, and cruelty-free beauty solutions. With a presence across more than 40 countries and a growing footprint in key natural beauty markets, Surya Brasil continues to champion a more responsible approach to beauty—one that places equal importance on efficacy, environmental consciousness, animal welfare, and respect for people. In this interview, Clelia Cecilia Angelon, Founder and CEO, Surya Brasil shares the inspiration behind the brand, the role of Ayurveda and botanical knowledge in its philosophy, evolving consumer expectations, and Surya Brasil’s vision for the future of conscious beauty in India and globally.

1. What inspired you to build Surya Brasil around natural and conscious beauty?
Beauty was never meant to be separate from nature. My journey with Surya Brasil began through a curiosity about natural traditions and Brazilian biodiversity. My deep connection to India also led me to discover the millennial wisdom of Ayurveda.

My first business experience was running a small shop on Oxford Street. There, I learned how important innovation is and how important it is to have truly clean products in order to enter, maintain, and grow in competitive markets such as the UK and US. We entered the US market in 1997, and to this day, we are constantly growing, especially among the big players in the natural market, such as Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers, iHerb, etc.


2. How has your personal journey shaped the philosophy behind Surya Brasil?
The journey has demonstrated that innovation and a successful business do not mean leaving tradition and ethics behind. Sometimes, the most meaningful innovation comes from rediscovering knowledge that has existed for centuries and understanding how it can serve the needs of the modern world.

Mother Nature feeds and heals the entire Universe. By combining the traditional knowledge of Brazilian biodiversity with the wisdom of Ayurveda, we were able to create truly clean products. Surya Brasil has banned more than 9,000 toxic ingredients commonly used in the cosmetics industry, including ethanolamine, a by-product of ammonia, PPD, sodium lauryl sulphate, synthetic fragrance, EDTA, etc.

This philosophy has also shaped the entrepreneurial journey. Building a meaningful company requires patience, conviction and the courage to remain faithful to core values, even as markets and consumer expectations evolve.


3. What does clean beauty mean to you personally?
It begins with transparency, knowing what goes into a formula, where ingredients come from, and how they affect consumers, the environment and all living beings on the planet, as well as the communities involved in producing them.

At Surya Brasil, what is applied to the skin and hair deserves the same level of attention as what is chosen for consumption. The approach is therefore based on natural, organic and plant-derived ingredients, responsible sourcing and formulations developed with respect for nature. Clean beauty should also not require consumers to compromise on efficacy. Nature, Ayurveda and technology can be a perfect combination.

Ultimately, clean beauty represents a more conscious relationship between people and the products they use. It encourages consumers to look beyond the immediate promise of beauty and consider the larger impacts of their choices.


4. What inspired Surya Brasil’s focus on vegan and cruelty-free beauty?
The commitment to vegan and cruelty-free beauty comes from a simple belief: beauty should never depend on suffering.

We can be entrepreneurs and live in this Universe without destroying nature and living beings. We can work in harmony and collaboration with nature, rather than through destruction and exploitation. Through our NGO, Clelia Angelon, we have been working in animal protection, community support, and environmental protection since 2006. We have rescued lions, pigs, horses, and birds from unsafe environments, neglect, and abuse, and worked on projects with natives of the Amazon, urban communities, etc.

Respect for life is fundamental to the philosophy of Surya Brasil. The focus on vegan and cruelty-free products reflects a deeper principle rather than a passing consumer trend. Innovation should allow effective products to be developed without relying on animal-derived ingredients or animal testing.


5. How do Ayurveda and botanical traditions influence Surya Brasil’s approach?
Ayur means “life” and Veda means “knowledge” in Sanskrit. We believe that by combining nature, Ayurveda and technology, we can live in harmony with nature and create truly clean products with the best performance.

We combine Indian plants such as henna, ashwagandha, bhringraj, brahmi and amla with Brazilian plants such as baru, copaiba, guarana and buriti. By respecting nature and drawing on the wisdom of Ayurveda and technology, we can create the best products with awareness, sustainability and ethics.


6. What changes are you seeing in consumers’ attitudes towards clean and sustainable beauty?
Consumers today are asking much better questions. They are no longer looking only at what a product promises to do. They increasingly want to know what is inside it, where its ingredients come from, how it was produced, and what impact it has on the planet. This represents a very positive transformation. Clean and sustainable beauty is moving from being a niche interest to becoming part of a broader conversation about quality of life and responsible consumption.

At the same time, consumers are becoming more discerning. Sustainability cannot exist only on packaging or in communication. It has to be reflected throughout the value chain, from ingredient selection and sourcing to manufacturing, packaging and animal welfare.

For Surya Brasil, this evolution reinforces a belief held since the beginning: conscious beauty is not a trend to follow; it is a responsibility to uphold. The future consumer will expect brands to demonstrate their values, not simply talk about them.


7. What is your vision for Surya Brasil’s future in India and globally?
The vision for Surya Brasil is to continue building a global bridge between nature, ancestral wisdom, and modern beauty. Conscious beauty should not belong to one geography or one market; it is a universal idea.

India holds a particularly meaningful place in the brand’s journey because Ayurveda was one of the inspirations that helped shape Surya Brasil. There is enormous potential for deeper engagement with the Indian market, not simply from a commercial perspective, but through cultural exchange and a shared appreciation for natural and holistic approaches to wellbeing.

Globally, the ambition is to make conscious beauty more accessible without diluting the principles behind it. Surya Brasil is already present in more than 40 countries, particularly in the US, where it has been present for more than 29 years and continues to grow.

Ultimately, Surya Brasil stands for a simple but powerful idea: beauty can be effective, innovative and desirable while remaining respectful of nature, animals and people. Contributing to making this the new standard for the beauty industry would be the most meaningful measure of success.

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