Our journey started in 2020 when Danuta was forced to quit her high school Science teaching career, after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The road to recovery was painful and difficult. While recovering from her treatment, Danuta contemplated what to do next. Science was always and is her passion and she also loves art, but being a busy high school teacher, she wasn’t afforded the time to explore that passion. After not much deliberating, Danuta decided that to combine both of her passions, Science and Art, she enrolled into yet another Diploma, Cosmetic Chemistry and started to formulate her own skincare products and researching and developing a range of decorative candles to nurture her desire to create something artistic that would provide customers with a big dose of happiness. She had a vision to create an online store that would provide customers with products that would nurture their health and soul, selling premium skincare, boutique teas and decorative candles. That was the plan.

However, we all know that things don’t always go according to plan!

While Danuta was happily studying Cosmetic Chemistry, making candles and setting up her new company called SK4A (Skincare For All), the war in Ukraine started. She knew she had to take part in helping innocent civilians, as Ukraine was not only the state that shares a border with her birth country, Slovakia, but Ukraine was also fighting the same aggressor that occupied her country for over 40 years.

The idea of starting to sell our products online had changed in early 2023 as we pondered opening a beautiful store in the magical Southern Highlands town of Bowral. Danuta and Mark took this opportunity in stride and started to sell their beautiful handmade products from their first SK4A store in April 2023. Those who visited the store would tell you that Danuta must have been incredibly busy making those stunning decorative candles as the demand was very high. She also set up a section in the store dedicated to selling Ukrainian art to provide ongoing support for Bella and the local crafts women in the village. She is still working on her innovative skincare formulas behind the scenes and hoping to launch more of her skincare products later this year.

“And here we are now, finally launching our website which is well overdue!