About us

The author and creator of Lavina Natural Cosmetics is I – Radmila Dević. In order to bring you closer to everything that is hidden behind Lavina cosmetics in the best way possible, I wanted you to get to know me first. I wanted to tell you my story about my love for nature and to bring my idea and vision closer to you. That’s why it’s best to start from the very beginning.

Creating natural cosmetics and developing this business was never in my plans. The idea arose spontaneously in the summer of 2019, on a beautiful mountain called Tara. Nature is no stranger to me – on the contrary. From an early age, I’ve loved roaming forests, exploring and learning about the gifts of nature. I’ve loved long walks in solitude or simply sitting on a tree trunk and listening to the silence. Nature has always served me as a source of inexhaustible inspiration throughout the further chapters of my life.

I could say that I discovered my love for nature in my childhood when I stayed with my relatives on Fruška gora during the summer holidays. My hometown, Kula, is located in the plains, and apart from modest picnic spots and a rich tree line by the Great Bačka Canal, it didn’t have any places where you can get lost in nature’s beauties. And so at the time I didn’t even have a chance to explore that part of myself.

Many years later, in the summer of 2019, I had a short stay on Mount Tara. All it took was a single moment to bring back all the memories from my early youth, the short moments of being on the mountain, in the forest, in nature. It was as if the hand of God brought me there, on Tara, to fascinate me with its luxurious nature, peace and medicinal herbs. There, on mount Tara, was my beginning, the beginning of Lavina natural cosmetics.

For some time, I have been aware that my youngest child going away for studies has created excess time for myself. That void had to be filled with something beautiful, something that would fill and ennoble me. To replace the beautiful with beauty. That’s how the forests and meadows of Tara inspired me to return to the passion of my youth, the love for nature. I accepted that life challenge, not knowing where it would take me.

In the beginning, it was necessary to define what I actually wanted to do with nature. As much as I enjoyed just sitting in the woods and breathing in the clean air, listening to the birds and the silence, that was not an option. I wanted more. I’ve always been interested in mushrooms and collecting herbs, but everyone has to start somewhere. The first step was somehow logical, and it was learning about plants.

My older daughter gave me my first book on medicinal herbs, by Richard Wilford. I bought the sequels myself, one after the other, and that’s how my love for the healing properties of plants grew every day. I picked out three of our herbalists and began collecting all the material available from them. Throughout autumn, winter and spring, my companions were books, notes, and the computer, day and night.

I spent the summer of 2020 on Tara, researching and collecting medicinal herbs. It was my first ever test of acquired knowledge, but also of listening to myself. I was interested to see if that spark of inspiration would rekindle when I found myself again in the same meadow that had previously given me the idea. That spark, that inner feeling, superficially speaking, is irrelevant. However, it was decisive for me.

The year had been rewarding for the meadows. I kissed every picked flower. I was happy, elated. I didn’t mind the scorching sun, the unbearable heat, or the rubber boots, as a preventive measure against possible snake attacks. I spent my days on the meadow and in the forest, while in the evenings I would sort and dry herbs, and the next day I would go on new searches.

One evening, looking at all the gathered medicinal herbs, I thought: “What should I do with so many plants?” I still feel the call of the meadow and nature, tempting me to take everything she has prepared for me, but I have already collected too many plants for family and friends. The next day, my mind was occupied with new ideas. Besides tea, how can you use medicinal plants? I decided to make tinctures – oils from medicinal herbs. I soon found everything I needed right there on Tara, and that’s how I made my first macerates.

I returned home before autumn, with a rich load of experience. The St. John’s wort oil turned red like wine, the comfrey tincture immediately found its purpose and the sorghum tincture was left for unpleasant headaches.

The following period was very interesting and special for me, I spent autumn, winter and spring experimenting, using the prepared macerates and tinctures for various purposes, evaluating the effectiveness of medicinal herbs in various forms. As time went on, I became more and more obsessed with the idea of using medicinal herbs in cosmetics.

Using books on medicinal herbs, I noticed the importance of essential oils in cosmetics and the treatment of various health problems. I knew that I wanted to devote myself to learning about them and to find out as much as possible in order to put that knowledge into practice. I found myself at many educational lectures by aromatherapist Jasmina Milovanović, and that very winter I made my first soaps for different purposes.

The ideas just kept coming. Somewhere, just before spring, I decided to make my first cream. I thought about it for days, weeks. The pieces were slowly coming together. I got the recipe at one of the educational lectures. They say it’s the recipe for the so-called Cleopatra’s Cream. Finally, I ventured to make a face cream myself and I succeeded.

Unsure of myself, I gave the cream to my older daughter, the biggest critic I have in my enviroment. She misses nothing – notices everything and it is impossible to convince her of anything, until she is convinced of it herself. I knew that if the cream was good, she would tell me, and if she was not satisfied, I also knew that I would get her honest opinion.

After a few days of silence on the subject of my cream, my daughter appeared, all radiant and happy. She enthusiastically approached me and said, “Touch my face to see how soft it is!”, all the while pinching her face and telling me, “I don’t know what you put in that cream, but my face has never been like this. Soft and beautiful, the feeling under your fingers is wonderful. Well done mom.”

That was it! That was the wind at my back, and the comment I was waiting for in order to decide whether to dedicate myself for making natural, handmade cosmetics. The situations that then came by themselves only convinced me that I was on the right path.

Not long after my daughter, Sanja, tried the cream, an acquaintance of hers complained that she had a problem with rosacea. Sanja didn’t know if the cream would be able to help her, but she was sure the cream would make her face feel better. The acquaintance contacted my daughter the very next day and said that after a single use of the cream, her rosacea started withdrawing. In the following period, with the regular use of the cream, she kept the rosacea completely under control. Not much time passed before I got another positive review of the cream again. The cream helped a girl who had severe inflammatory processes on her face for years. The cream helped the inflammatory processes go away completely. After these reviews of my first cream, I decided to continue learning about medicinal herbs and to expand and complete my knowledge of natural cosmetics. The goal has already become clear – to create my own recipes for cosmetic products. So in the following period, I devoted myself to learning and researching natural cosmetics, courses and workshops.

The year 2021 was filled with preparations of recipes for cosmetics. Officially, Lavina cosmetics appeared publicly on the 15th of February, 2022, in all its glory, first on social networks, and now as a website and online shop. The name of Lavina cosmetics symbolizes strength, just like a snow avalanche that has the strength and power of nature.

Natural cosmetics have become an integral part of my life. They came to light as my need to express personal creativity, as a need to new research and above all as a need to return to nature, and soon it became my passion and created an even greater love for nature. She, the nature, taught me and the people close to me how important her role is in our lives, and my wish is to convey to you the power and role of nature in everyday life through the use of Lavina Natural Cosmetics.