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Beatitude a MyShowcase luxury bath oils beauty brand

ABOUT ME

Born: 1972, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

I live near Edinburgh, having I moved here with my husband eight years ago from London. I love the dramatic Scottish countryside and I being close to the sea and beautiful beaches. We have two boys a Gordon Setter called Roxy.

I studied beauty therapy at the London College of Fashion, then studied aromatherapy with Aromatherapy Associates. It was here that my interest in health, beauty and aromatherapy developed. This led me to study a degree in Health Science at Leeds Metropolitan University. In my spare time I enjoy gardening, swimming and horse-riding.

Inspirations: Nature is my biggest inspirations - I love the change of the seasons and being outdoors. I am a keen gardener with a large herb garden. It is probably no coincidence that lavender and rosemary are the main plants in this area. The aromas from these two plants is both uplifting and energizing. My mother inspired and introduced me to gardening and herbs - and I am always learning from her.

Professionally, I've always been inspired by Anita Roddick. I grew up with the Body Shop and she revitalised the natural beauty industry and championed sustainability, fair trade and community-led programmes.

Aims: To make beautiful aromatherapy products of the highest quality that improve well being. I also hope my products will make the benefits of aromatherapy more accessible; treatments are often expensive and time-consuming and I want my products to offer the best alternative. As the company grows I also aim to support environmental programmes.

ABOUT MY BRAND

I launched Beatitude in 2011. I'd been a beauty therapist and aromatherapist for 20 years. I was keen to apply my knowledge and experience into a natural but luxurious product line.

"Aromatherapy can provide solutions to modern and stressful lifestyles: it can be helpful in promoting relaxation and wellbeing and people who feel well, look well and this is often reflected in our skin."

Also, since having children I've become a lot more aware of unnecessary chemicals used in products, so I wanted to develop a natural range without the addition of sulphates, petrochemicals, artificial colour or fragrance.

Ultimately, I wanted to create a product range that would make the benefits of aromatherapy more accessible.

My brand reflects these views, the word Beatitude means supreme blessedness/ happiness, and the formulas are named after three virtues Peace (for relaxation), Patience (for invigorating) and Joy (for energising and cheering).

"I believe beauty is associated with wellbeing and happiness. A relaxed and happy face is always more beautiful. Most brides look radiant on their wedding day because they are surrounded by people they love and are beloved."

Good presentation was important to me too. After looking at hundreds of bottles I found my glass decanters from a French company who would supply in hundreds rather than the usual minimum order of thousands.

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

I have started with bath oils as I was keen to develop a product that was high in essential oils and had a therapeutic effect.

I was delighted by the positive response I got from the products.

The only aromatherapy bath oils that I could find were quite greasy - many brands use less expensive oils such as grapeseed, almond and coconut which are heavier on the skin and leave that thick residue in the bathtub that you need to clean after you used them.

I developed my range of bath oils in conjunction with a cosmetic chemist using a natural plant based emulsifier.

My bath oils use plant oils: oat oil, camellia Oil and peach kernel. These plant oils disperse in the water to nourish and soothe the skin, and don't have that greasy and slippery feeling (nor do they soil the bathtub).

"I was also very proud when the Patience Bath Oil featured as the ÃÂ¢Ã¢âÂ¬ÃÅbest buyÃÂ¢Ã¢âÂ¬Ã¢âÂ¢ in the Telegraph magazine on Dec 10th, 2011.

I received the first order of bath oils in the Autumn of 2011 and launched the products at the Country Living Christmas Fair in Glasgow 2011.