Two of the big skincare trends these days are natural or organic ranges and the so-called "doctor" brands. Launches of both have become regular occurrences in the beauty business.

While natural products and those developed by dermatologists and plastic surgeons may seem to have little in common - other than forming a pincer movement on the sales of regular retail product lines - they do share in their most effective incarnations a common interest in "active ingredients".

Hard to define, but this basically means contents that do something, which you'd kind of hope applied to pretty much everything in your skincare. Actually, a lot of it is filler surface ingredients which make your skin feel nice, rather than actually accomplish anything more.

Natural ranges and doctor brands both talk up treating the skin from within, be it by harnessing nature's ingredients or scientific knowledge of which "cosmeceutical" substances can best work on skin health by combining cosmetics and pharmaceutical knowledge.

Increasingly, both strands of skincare are talking about the same thing, drawing on botanical extracts and promoting Vitamin A, antioxidants, peptides and alpha-hydroxy acids among other key ingredients and steering clear of additives with question marks over their benefits.

Worldwide, it is reported sales of natural and organic products are increasing by over US$1 billion ($1.3 billion) a year, with the main markets being Europe and North America.

New Zealand should form a case study of its own, with a strong showing of well-established local brands (Trilogy, Living Nature, Antipodes, Evolu, Oasis, Pacifica, Huni, Snowberry, the Herb Farm and more) and new ones emerging.
Two savvy Kiwi brothers based in Australia launched their Grown range here just last week. Next week Auckland hairdresser Lucy Vincent-Marr brings her Sans skin and haircare line to market (see story page 15).

Then there's the many overseas ranges available, such as Dr Hauschka, Aesop, Weleda, Nude and newer lines here like Equavie, Bakel, JW Organics and the cheaper-priced Avalon, Sukin, SkinFood and Simple ranges.

Like many brands, Grown comes with a back story. Jeremy and Keston Muijs became interested in the natural skincare market when a friend suffering from cancer developed reactions to her regular products.

Her doctor explained that this was because they contained toxic substances that a healthy body could deal with, but in the case of her compromised immune system the chemical overload was too much.

The brothers began investigating options on the market and became committed to the cause. After careers brand-building both here (where they helped launched the Orca sports clothing line) and in the United States, they settled in Melbourne to get Grown off the ground a decade after the initial idea.