Faversham Life
Faversham Life
Words Amicia de Moubray Photographs Karen Louise George Photography
Thanks to Faversham resident, Louisa Tidy, it is now possible to shop locally for cosmetics. She started Floragy Skincare, a vegan-friendly 100% natural range of skincare nearly two years ago. We have all heard so much about food miles. What about cosmetic miles?
Louisa Tidy, founder of Floragy
Exhausted by working for ten years as a regional manager for several fashion brands travelling extensively, ‘I was managing my stressful life with homeopathy and reflexology but found that as I was getting older my skin was becoming drier. I couldn’t find a moisturiser that worked and was increasingly frustrated by not being able to decipher what the ingredients were in expensive natural skincare products.’
Face Revival Set £22
Louisa began to experiment with oils herself, making a face cream at her kitchen table in June 2019. ‘I had been researching recipes for some years in my spare time.’ She ended up giving pots of the cream to her friends. Such was their appreciation that she decided to set up Floragy Skincare. ‘It was very much trial and error at first.’
She began with six products selling locally to friends, before setting up an on-line market platform. Conscious that the majority of natural skincare often has a home-made look, Louisa enlisted her husband, Paul, a graphic designer, to develop developed a clean elegant brand image. ‘We dreamt up the name Floragy by combining ‘flora’ and ‘foraging.’
Admirably loyal to Faversham, their website features a stylish quarterly on-line life-style magazine, ‘Floragist. ‘We wanted to shout about local business.’
Such is the appeal and quality of her products that Floragy Skincare won the Editor’s Choice Award for three products in the 2020 Beauty Shortlist Awards: Revive Face Oil, No. 3 Smoothing Hair Oil and Banana + Coconut Clay Face Mask. An more accolades are already flooding in this year: 2021 Beauty Short List Awards – No 3 Smoothing Hair Oil has won ‘Best Hair Product; and Editor’s Choice (again) for the Revive Face Oil and also for the Renew Banana Clay Mask.
Award Winning Smoothing Hair Oil £13
Louisa uses delicious organic ingredients whenever possible, including rosemary and lavender oil from the Castle Hop Farm in Kent. Some other ingredients are sourced from a farm in Surrey.
Bottles of essential oils with herbs holy basil flower, basil flower,rosemary,oregano, sage,parsley ,thyme and mint set up on old wooden background .
The range of skin and hair products is impressive for a business less than two years old. All are made by hand in small batches. Floragy Skincareoffers an enticing choice of masks, multi-balm, hair smoothing oil, face oils, bath salts and several gift sets including Mother’s Day Gift sets from £39. Gift cards from £10 are also available.
A Mother’s Day gift box
The prices are exceptionally reasonable. For instance, the strawberry face mask is £11, the enticingly named Shake + Shine + Shimmer Body oil scented with mandarin and bergamot with natural gold mica is £21 and Nourish multi-balm is £24 and is available in a choice of three variations: eucalyptus and rosemary, bergamot and sweet orange and an unscented version for sensitive skin, suitable for use if you are pregnant or breast feeding.
Unwind Himalyan Bath Salts
Ethically, Floragy Skincare is everything one could hope for: the products are packaged in glass and recycled cardboard with aluminium lids. The mailer boxes are brown Kraft card. There is also a philanthropic side to Floragy Skincare. ‘I want to give something back,’ Louisa says. They have partnered with One Tree Planted who make regular donations to plant trees around the world, currently in the Amazon rainforests.
Text: Amicia de Moubray. Photographs: Karen Louise George Photography and Paul Tidy.
