Q&A with Lord Newborough, Founder of Wild Beauty
WE CAUGHT UP WITH LORD NEWBOROUGH, FOUNDER OF THE WILD BEAUTY BRAND AND CUSTODIAN OF THE RHUG ESTATE IN NORTH WALES TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS ETHOS AND HIS INSPIRATION TO CREATE THE WILD BEAUTY SKINCARE AND BODY RANGES.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO CREATE WILD BEAUTY?
I was inspired by the beauty of the countryside in this part of Wales, in particular Rhug Estate. Launching into beauty now seems a hard choice but when it comes from the heart and you believe what you are doing is right for the environment, honest and highly beneficial for the recipient, ones courage of conviction is greater. I feel that everyone these days wants to know more about where their products come from, that goes into them and what the environmental impact might be. The Wild Beauty collection has a wonderful and unique story behind it because of all the highly beneficial, natural and organic ingredients we have found to use this organic Estate. These are hand-picked or harvested on the Estate and chosen carefully for their beneficial attributes.
Everything you do has sustainability at its core. For established beauty brands having to adapt in order to minimise their impact on the environment, what would you prioritise? For example, packaging, provenance of ingredients, supply chain etc.
When we launched Wild Beauty, our sustainability and organic ethics from the Rhug Estate farm business were always going to be at the heart of the project, it’s who we are and it’s what I believe in. Right from the start, we have tried to embrace everything that is sustainable and natural from using glass bottles where possible and recycled cardboard and our organic fleeces from our sheep for the packaging. Wild Beauty is a truly UK brand bred and inspired in Wales. Established brands would find it difficult to reinvent themselves into a brand with such provenance, it goes back to the original brand DNA, the story, the honesty the security and the ethics of this brand are what we stand for is what we believe our customers really want.
CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE PRODUCTS AND WHAT GOES INTO THEM?
I have championed the highest standards of organic and sustainable farming at Rhug for many years. With an abundance of wild plants and herbs growing naturally on this organic estate, it seemed like a natural next step in the diversification of the farm. We use sustainably sourced ingredients from the estate and other environmentally friendly and soil association approved producers, with an absolute assurance of quality, provenance and traceability, which is increasingly what consumers want. At present there are 10 different ingredients which are foraged by hand from the estate. We also grow our own organic oats, produce our own honey and beeswax, and use the water from the spring on the estate in the Wild Beauty Collection.
WHY ARE NATURAL, ORGANIC AND SUSTAINABLE SKINCARE AND BODY CARE PRODUCTS SUPERIOR AND PREFERABLE TO ALTERNATIVES?
Using natural, organic products does not mean needing to compromise on the quality of your beauty regime – in fact, you are more likely to notice your skin improving, with a reduction in redness, irritation or breakouts, as well as fewer lines and wrinkles. Natural ingredients can help protect against the sun and soothe irritated skin, so they are better for the skin overall as long as you choose the right products for your skin needs.
Organic skincare products are better for the environment as we know, because organic farming eliminates the use of synthetic chemicals and fertilisers. On Rhug Estate we don’t use any artificial fertiliser or sprays so the chance of cross contamination is eliminated. These all have a negative impact on our water, soil and eventually our health. … Therefore, by looking out for your health, you’re also helping to protect the environment.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE PRODUCT/S FROM THE COLLECTION?
The cleansing tonic, the eye cream, Serum and day cream are my favourites. The best sellers are Serum, day cream with blue tansy oil and also the body cream.
DOES WILD BEAUTY HAVE ANY FAMOUS FANS?
We have been lucky enough to have garnered some very loyal clients since our launch. We have also managed to put Wild Beauty into the hands of some very well known Welsh faces! Alex Jones is a fan, she used Wild Beauty to prep her skin ahead of presenting the Welsh film and television BAFTAs which we were thrilled about!
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM WILD BEAUTY GOING FORWARD?
We intend to build on our reputation as one of the most sustainable, honest, high performance luxury skincare collections on the market with the development of new exciting additions to its range of skin and body products next year.
At Rhug, we continue to do things we believe in and measuring our own carbon footprint is a good place to start, once it is measured then we can look at ways of improving what we do. We have therefore invested in employing an extra person in the team who will be solely dedicated to this task.
Did you know that 333 acres of organic grassland is equivalent to taking 117 cars off the road every year. If we are genuinely concerned about ensuring a better healthier world for future generations these are the things we must think about. Our Wild Beauty skincare collection embraces all these things, to me this is my passion and my belief creating something that holds all these values, this I believe is what our young deserve. This is the choice to provide a future for others.
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