I was raised in Australia where my family’s sandalwood farm started my interest in natural ingredients. I’ve always been fascinated by the connections between land and culture. Before I moved to the UK in 2016, I spent nine years working with Australian Indigenous communities to support cultural protection and natural resource management. After moving to England, I discovered the use of plant oils for self care and then worked with local farmers and skincare specialists to create a purely UK grown range of natural skincare which we launched in 2019. With a farming background it was important for me to know where our ingredients are from and who has grown them; sourcing locally gives that quality, transparency and a connection with the natural world around us.”
MY MORNING ROUTINE
One of the blessings of lockdown is that my husband no longer needs to head into London, so our morning routine has become more relaxed. I try to get up around six to do a bit of exercise and enjoy the peace before everyone else wakes up. I need my morning coffee but I’ve never really been one for breakfast. I use a natural skin brush before showering and our body oil afterwards as a morning ritual. I tend to use facial oils and serums in the evening to let them work overnight, so my morning skincare is just a simple clay-cleanse and moisturise. By then rest of the family are awake so it all becomes a noisy mix of breakfasts, housework and helping everyone find their reading books or socks before walking the kids to school and heading into the studio.
MY FUTURE PLANS
Like so many other small businesses, we’ve been through a challenging time so the year ahead is about recovery and finding new paths. We’re expanding into a professional range for spas as well as refill options for our home customers and developing new scents for our oils, playing with locally sourced ingredients like hops, thyme, nettle and even Cornish clay.
3 THINGS ABOUT LONDE BOTANICS
- Londe rhymes with blonde. It’s an old English word for ‘land’ and was used from around the 14th-17th centuries.
- The dark glass bottles we use are biophotonic, specially engineered best preserve the freshness and potency of the botanical oils inside.
- I tested the strength of our packaging by having my two-year old throw them down flights of stairs!
FIND THE RANGE www.londebotanics.co.uk
