Almara Soap

Almara Soap is a Czech maker of handmade soaps and natural cosmetics, based on the outskirts of Prague in the district of Horní Počernice. The company produces designer cold-process soaps alongside a complementary range of skincare, body and hair products, and positions itself around the idea that natural ingredients and attractive design need not be a trade-off. It was founded by Veronika Machková, who remains its owner [1], and it is still active, with a Spring 2026 collection on its website and country sub-sites across several European markets.

The brand's own About page dates its beginnings to 2014, the year Machková says she "fell in love with the production of designer soaps made from natural ingredients" [1]. Other accounts place the start in 2016: a founder interview describes Almara Soap as "officially launched in 2016", which the company's Czech history page identifies as the year it built its first production facility [9][3]. The legal entity, Almara Soap, s.r.o., was formally registered later, on 28 November 2019 [12].

Veronika Machková came to soap-making after a career in public relations and a period working in her family's home-accessories business, where she encountered soaps the company bought in from foreign and local suppliers. According to her account, curiosity led her to study how soap is made, buy raw materials and experiment at home until she produced a soap of her own — by her telling, the moment her "soap passion was born" [3]. A Czech magazine feature records that her first creation was a lavender soap with rose clay, initially made as gifts before the venture grew from market stalls into a registered business [8]. Machková is based in Šestajovice, near Prague.

What began as a small operation expanded over time. The company describes its team as more than a dozen employees, part-timers and external collaborators [3]; a later founder interview puts the figure at over thirty people [9]. Machková has said that building a brand customers recognise and return to is, for her, the venture's central achievement.

Almara Soap started with solid soaps and broadened its scope in stages. In 2019 it expanded into natural cosmetics — facial oils and masks, body and lip scrubs, balms for stressed skin, and hair elixirs — and in 2020 it added a line of fragrant gift packages. The company has stated an ambition to grow toward EU-wide distribution while keeping its production standards rather than scaling to meet demand. A 2021 Czech magazine feature reported that the 2020 pandemic disrupted the brand's planned expansion into the Italian market, though the company weathered the period better than the hospitality businesses it supplies [8].

Almara Soap presents itself as a counterpoint to companies it views as selling natural cosmetics "just because it's 'in'". Its stated aim is to make products that satisfy three senses at once — sight, touch and smell — without letting any one come at the expense of another, and without resorting to what Machková calls "miraculous anti-aging and slimming" claims. The company frames its approach as combining traditional cold-process soap-making with modern design, arguing that nature and technology can "walk hand in hand towards a sustainable future". It says it is influenced by nature, art and pop culture, and that its products are tested "exclusively on humans". Its site carries the tagline "Premium care for yourself and the planet".

The core of the range is handmade soap, produced by the cold-process method — in which plant oils, water and lye are combined and left to cure — across natural, fancy, seasonal, limited-edition and children's lines. The cosmetics range is built around the same emphasis on plant-derived ingredients and reusable packaging. The company says it favours organic-quality raw materials from smaller Czech suppliers while also using more exotic ingredients such as Ayurvedic powders. Commonly cited components include olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, bamboo butter and almond oil, with scent drawn from essential oils, herbs, spices and pieces of fruit. Soap varieties noted by retailers include Bitter Lemon, Pink Grapefruit and Wild Rose, and the brand also sells scented candles made from soy and coconut wax.

Almara Soap describes its products as 100% natural, 100% vegan and cruelty-free, stating that none of its ingredients are tested on animals. It emphasises zero-waste production. According to one Czech cosmetics source, the palm oil it uses meets RSPO certification standards [10]; beyond that single claim, no independent third-party certifications — such as Leaping Bunny, the Vegan Society or COSMOS — appear in the available sources.

The company sells through its own e-shop, other online beauty retailers, and physical shops across the Czech Republic, Slovakia and abroad, listing stockists that range from organic stores and perfumeries to gift shops and hospitality venues [4]. It also invites wholesale partners. Localised country sites cover the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Spain.

Almara Soap is active. Its website carries a 2026 copyright notice and a Spring 2026 collection, its main Instagram account had roughly 26,000 followers, and the most recent blog post on its site dates to September 2024 [2]. The brand describes itself as expanding internationally, though its footprint remains within Europe rather than global.