West Australian body care brands are earning a solid reputation in the beauty industry partly because many insist on using our homegrown ingredients in their products.
Among WA brands sourcing local materials are Sodashi, Elemental Organics, Mokosh Organic and Fair Trade Skincare, Tinderbox, Ecotanicals All Natural Skin Care, Savi Australia Organic Skincare, Ayana Organics and Xquisit Organics. Popular locally sourced ingredients include avocado oil, beeswax, olive oil, lavender oil, tea-tree oil and sandalwood oil.
Xquisit Organics' Camilla Sundbladh says that her aim as an organic skincare producer is to deal with local farmers. "You get the freshest ingredient, if you go farm direct," she says. Elemental Organic Botanical Skincare's Jasper Trendall says that if possible, the company uses plants grown in its own production gardens, or by other WA producers; for example, steam-distilled hydrosols include locally grown lavender and lemon tea-tree.
"Hydrosols contain a blend of water and oil-soluble aromatic compounds," he says. "We custom-distil small batches of plant material to preserve the variety and complexity of compounds in the hydrosol and then use the hydrosols as ingredients in many products."