Butter, drench, whip, and dew : why we all need a skin pantry

this is what i bought at the launch : French pink clay face mask, Vanilla Bean face drench and Se spray body and face whip ( its unisex)

The Skin Pantry has been launched, hand whipped and personally mixed by Mumbai based designer Colette Austin who runs the successful ad and design agency Twisted Sister (along with sibling Yvonne)

The concept – handmade, pure and organic are claims that Colette backs up in full facing my barrage of questions re stability, miscibility and shelf life with aplomb.

I usually find that the ‘organic’ question as well as the ‘purity’ question brings a lot of caveats and conditions when I speak to most brands.

The Skin Pantry is based on a simple principle: what you put on your face should be good enough to eat and the promise is spelled out clearly on the back of pack which you can see. This is a space that is crying to be filled but it is expensive to actually back this claim. Stability and shelf life make it difficult to manufacture in bulk. Horst Rechelbacher founder of Aveda founded Intelligent Nutrients based on this principle.

A lot of newbie Indian brands head straight to the Ayurveda or herbal space or hit a median somewhere between Bach flower remedies and ayurveda as they work the right mix.

Colette has chosen a more global palate: volcanic clay from France, pure Vanilla pods from Madagascar, organic beeswax and coco and shea butters all sourced form countries of origin, thyme, lavender and citrus and other equally tempting ingredients.

I personally think amla and ashwagandha would fit seamlessly into this palate at a later stage. Or the unexplored skin care rituals and herbs of the North East where women have very good skin.

I love the texture and feel of the products because they are light and easy to apply.

The packaging has all the right elements –recycled brown bag, glass jars, cork stoppers and little wooden spatulas for application (I just use my fingers) I haven’t tried the face mask as yet but have liberally drenched myself in the vanilla and sea spray whips. I smell like a vanilla pod right now and quite enjoy it .

While I know Colette from our advertising world, it is inspiring to meet her in her new avatar as creator of a beauty /skin care brand.

When I meet women who are doing stuff in the beauty space their story always comes from a personally felt need. I’ve heard it from Rajshree Pathy of Kama, from Mira Kulkarni of Forest Essentials. Anita Roddick of the Body Shop felt the same way.

It begins with a niggling feeling that there is gap in the beauty solutions offered by the market, a feeling that one needs purer, more natural ingredients, some primordial need of returning to the source.

It has built successful brands.

Check out the Skin Pantry menu below.  You can place an order but allow seven days for delivery.

Prices from Rs 750- 1200.

email : theskinpantry@gmail.com

. e mail : theskinpantry@gmail.com