For many women, the journey to motherhood reshapes the way we view our bodies – and the world around us. For RECREATION founder Nedahl Stelio, it sparked a complete life overhaul. After facing unexplained infertility and diving deep into the hidden toxins in everyday beauty products, she began to rebuild her routines from the inside out – eventually creating a fragrance brand that felt just as luxurious and beautiful as the designer perfumes she left behind, just without the endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
In this interview, Nedahl shares the pivotal moment that sparked her clean beauty journey, how her career in media shaped the brand’s elegant identity, and what sets RECREATION apart in a rapidly evolving industry.
You’ve shared that your struggles with fertility were a catalyst for removing toxins from your life. Would you mind sharing more about this chapter in your life and how it ultimately inspired you to start RECREATION?
Years ago I struggled to get pregnant and gave up toxic chemicals in my beauty products and household products. It wasn’t what got me pregnant (I was doing a billion other things at the same time) but even after I got pregnant I didn’t go back to regular products. Once you learn what’s in them, you can’t unlearn. It set me off on a clean living lifestyle path which I have never regretted.
I had what they called “unexplained infertility”. We’d done all the tests, seen all the doctors and nothing was medically wrong so I needed to look further. There are a bunch of chemicals known as endocrine disruptors which can mess with your hormones and they’re in a lot of things that we can’t avoid – eg plastics, foam and carpet.
But they’re also in a load of beauty products, particularly fragrances, and this was a real shock to me. To think that products I was layering on my skin every day could be bad for me?! It was a real eye opener because I worked in the industry, I was a magazine editor and had cupboards full of beauty products that I just gave away. I remade my whole beauty routine with clean products but realised there were no clean fragrances that looked and smelled as beautiful as all my designer perfumes, so – cut to many years later – I made some.
Fragrance is something so many of us use daily without questioning what’s in it. What do you wish more women understood about the ingredients in traditional perfumes and the impact they can have on our health?
That almost every perfume has these toxins in them, unless you are buying clean, and they impact your everyday, from mood swings (which is a totally underrated symptom but TBH one of the worst ones!) to fertility issues, your reproductive system, to the way a fetus develops in your body, to helping trigger auto immune diseases and worse.
You’ve had an incredible career in media, editing some of Australia’s most iconic magazines. How did your experience in media shape the way you approached building RECREATION?
I was lucky enough to have been a beauty editor and an editor over many years, so I have tried loads of different products and brands and been to a billion launches of new products, so that when it came time for me to launch my own it felt really natural and the right thing to do. There’s a whole lot that goes into being a magazine editor from styling shoots to graphic design and being a font nerd! It was actually so helpful to come from that background and I am still using all of those skills today.
As more clean fragrance options are (finally!) launching in Australia, RECREATION stands out with such a strong sense of identity. What do you feel sets it apart – not just in terms of formulation, but in the way it connects with women?
We aim to do everything our own way and to not pay much attention to the competition. Hopefully that resonates with people!
Fragrance is such a personal experience, often tied to memory and emotion. Is there a particular scent memory from your own life that’s stayed with you or inspired a RECREATION blend?
Being on holiday on the Mediterranean holds such strong memories for me over the years, there are a few scents to have come out of there. Also my trips to Morocco and LA. Travel is a big inspiration.
With RECREATION continuing to lead the way in Australia’s clean fragrance space, are there any exciting new products or developments on the horizon?
We have so many exciting things coming up, starting with a new fragrance launching July. Everything else is hush hush at the moment but I can’t wait to share!
RECREATION fragrance and clean beauty products can be purchased here – Alexandra is currently loving Lost in Dusk.
The writer of this article received gifted samples of RECREATION products. All opinions expressed are based on the writer’s personal experience.
