Pamper yourself with the best of British (Image: Getty)
Using locally-sourced and sustainable ingredients, these British beauty brands can help create an at-home spa experience for a fraction of the cost.
NEAL’S YARD REMEDIES Romy Fraser was a pioneer of natural and organic skincare when she co-founded Neal’s Yard Remedies in a tiny corner of Covent Garden in 1981. It is now a worldwide brand sold in 21 countries.
Wellbeing has always been at the core of the company’s ethos along with the belief that products should be made ethically and sustainably.
Co-owner Anabel Kindersley says this is as true today as ever. “We really practise what we preach, with 92 percent of all our products made in our sustainable eco-factory in a field in Dorset using ethically sourced ingredients, some of which we grow ourselves,” she says.
nealsyardremedies.com
Neal’s Yard (Image: -)
HAWKINS & BRIMBLE Hawkins & Brimble products are designed to make users feel like they are in the barber’s chair.
Beard oil, moustache wax, eye creams and oil-control moisturisers are just a few of the products crafted for the modern-day man.
Natural ingredients, from almond oil and cacao to ginger and walnut shells, are favoured over harsh chemicals.
Stephen Shortt, the company founder and CEO, says: “We are proud to be part of the resurgence in British manufacturing. Not only are our products made in UK factories but so is the packaging.
“We are also pleased that Boots has decided to support our cause by launching us in selected stores.”
Sales have rocketed since the company was formed in 2017 and in the last few months, demand from China has exploded by 600 percent.
Increasing numbers of Americans are buying their natural shaving products too.
Stephen added: “Although this is a London-based company we have three factories around England working flat out. A lot of our customers are women buying for men but some also use the products themselves because we don’t use anything harsh, just natural products.
“The fact that our products are made in Britain has been a huge boost to global sales. We are now in 20 countries.”
www.hawkinsandbrimble.co.uk
Sales have rocketed since the company was formed in 2017 (Image: )
LIZ EARLE This popular brand is 25-years-old and it’s no surprise it’s lasted and thrived. Liz Earle fans rave about the qualities of its bestselling beauty range, including the award-winning Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser, which removes deep-down impurities.
With the exception of the Skin Tint and Cica Restore Skin Paste, all Liz Earle products are made in the UK.
The brand prides itself on using quality, safe ingredients and is working towards a gold level of traceability for all its naturally active ingredients so customers will know their exact provenance, right down to the specific farm or sustainable resource.
www uk.lizearle.com
This popular brand is 25-years-old (Image: -)
ELEMIS Plant extracts are blended with science to create Elemis products, which are used at their luxury spas.
Fans include A-listers Cara Delevingne, Yasmin Le Bon and Catherine Zeta Jones.
With its innovation hub in London, flagship spa The House of Elemis in Mayfair,
London, and global distribution centre in Bristol, the company formulates and manufactures all its products in Somerset with a “field to face” philosophy.
Oriele Frank, Elemis co-founder, and chief product and sustainability officer, says: “In Britain, we work hand in hand with small, local farms, experimenting with new innovative extracts from plants.
“Chosen for their uniqueness, potency, dynamic properties and efficacy, our scientists then expertly hand-blend these ingredients in development to produce revolutionary, cutting-edge formulas.”
www.elemis.com
Use code EXPRESS20 to receive 20 percent off your order. Not valid on Ultra Smart range, collections, Christmas gifts, supersizes, travel sizes, gift cards & vouchers and cleansing cloths. Only one promotional code can be used per order. Offers are not valid in conjunction with any other offer or codes and cannot be redeemed retrospectively. No cash alternative available. Offer expires December 13 at 11.59pm.
Plant extracts are blended with science to create Elemis products (Image: -)
ARK SKINCARE Free of parabens, alcohol and other chemicals, Ark Skincare’s multi-award-winning products are loved by beauty editors and celebrities alike.
Between 65 percent and 100 per
cent of all ingredients are natural, while everything is suitable for vegans.
There is an over-50s range for mature skins.
Ark Skincare Chief Executive Tamsin Styles says: “We are proud to manufacture in Britain and display the Made in Britain mark as a badge of honour.
“Manufacturing domestically ensures excellent product development. It also ensures our products are not spending weeks in containerships being shipped here from other continents, something our customers are very keen to hear.”
www.arkskincare.com
PENHALIGON’S British perfumer Penhaligon’s has been creating exotic fragrances for dapper gentlemen since Victorian times, and now has a range for ladies too.
CEO Lance Patterson says: “You don’t reach your 150th anniversary without picking up a story or two, and each of Penhaligon’s fragrances certainly has a tale to tell and an adventure to take you – on such as Hammam Bouquet, which transports you back to the 19th-century Jermyn Street in an instant.”
The story of Penhaligon’s started in 1860 with Cornish barber William H. Penhaligon, who set up business in London.
The Turkish baths near his shop in Mayfair inspired his first fragrance and he was soon attracting the rich and the powerful of the day. The brand, noted for its iconic packaging, has been awarded three Royal Warrants and now sells worldwide.
www.penhaligons.com
Penhaligon’s has been creating exotic fragrances for dapper gentlemen since Victorian times (Image: -)
JO LOVES
Luxury fragrance brand Jo Loves was founded by Jo Malone in 2011 following her departure from the first brand she created, Jo Malone London.
The scent guru creates unexpected yet evocative fragrances gathered from her personal memories and experiences.
Her collections include candles, bath and shower gels, and body lotions.
“At Jo Loves, we have spent the whole of lockdown concentrating and looking towards the future – investing in creativity through product, the website and how we entertain the consumer,” she says.
The company founder and creative director is positive about the future of British businesses.
“Our high street will change, there is absolutely no doubt,” she adds.
“However, a shopkeeper’s spirit will always find a way of reinvention and at Jo Loves, this is what we are determined to do.
“As the collection unfolds, you will see just how much hard work and love went into the last few months.”
www.joloves.com
Luxury fragrance brand Jo Loves was founded by Jo Malone in 2011 (Image: )
KING OF SHAVES Founder Will King started King of Shaves in 1993 after regular shaving products left his skin red and irritated.
After multiple kitchen experiments, he conjured up his first product, King of Shaves Original Shaving Oil, hand-filling the first 10,000 bottles himself.
After attracting the likes of Boots and Harrods, King of Shaves products are now stocked in multiple high street supermarkets and health chains.
Will says: “At King of Shaves we are taking a critical, sustainable lead with lifetime use, refillable & recyclable packaging solutions, and are pushing out plastic.
“It makes no sense for products consumed in just a few months to have 100 percent plastic packaging that causes centuries’ long environmental harm.”
www.kingofshaves.com
Will King started King of Shaves in 1993 (Image: -)
BEE GOOD Bee Good’s natural skincare range harnesses the healing properties of honey to make your skin feel nourished and smooth.
“Honey is a centuries-old healer,” explains managing director Hilary Andrews.
“Propolis, the compound produced by bees, is antiseptic and beeswax gives you a totally natural moisturiser. We use oils including rapeseed, poppy seed and camelina – all of which are beautiful for your skin because they’re highly antioxidant.”
Founded by beekeeper Simon Cavill and his wife Caroline in 2014, Bee Good began as a hobby after she started making balms and hand creams using the couple’s own honey and beeswax.
“She adapted recipes from old books about beekeeping and apothecary health and sold them through farm shops and farmers’ markets,” Hilary says. “People kept coming back to buy more.”
Today the brand’s supply chain is rooted in the British economy.
“We use manufacturers in Yorkshire and Somerset, a Lancashire printer, raw ingredients from British sustainable sources, and wildflower seeds and honey from Hampshire,” Hilary says.
Briliantly British (Image: Express)
“We’re supporting British bees and British companies that grow these plants specifically. For example, we use lunaria seed oil taken from the honesty plant, which bees love, so it’s a circular process.”
Simon works with Rob Field from Field Honey Farms, which has almost 1,000 hives across Dorset and Wiltshire, and the Manton family at Elm Tree Farm bees, with up to 1,500 hives across Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire.
“Both are outstanding, ethical bee farmers running family businesses,” says Hilary.
And it turns out bees are expert movers too.
“It’s true they do perform a ‘waggle dance’ after travelling for miles back to the hive,” Hilary says.
“God knows how they do it but it informs the other bees which tree to find the nectar in. They’re fantastic creatures.”
Every Bee Good gift set comes with wildflower seeds, which people can sprinkle in their gardens or over window boxes to help create natural habitats.
www.beegood.co.uk
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