Review: From Nature – Ready Made Bases + Additives

I recently had cause to find myself conducting something of a laboratory experiment in my kitchen, whisking together my own bespoke skincare concoction.  I wasn’t entirely making it up from scratch.  Rather, I was assembling some potent botanical skin cleansing and moisturising bases with two additives of my choice.

This concept of ready-made bases and customised additives is the brainchild of Dr Wendy Maddocks, founder of From Nature.  From Nature currently manufactures 100% natural, plant-based skincare products for professional and salon use, but also has available this make-your-own range for the home consumer.

The process is relatively simple: select your base, whether it be a cleanser, toner or moisturiser, and then your additive(s).  There are five additives for different purposes: anti-ageing, normalising, oily and acne prone, hydrating, and one for body care.  Then mix.

There are a few different cleanser bases, including two milk bases described alternatively as “organic, botanical” and “100% natural”.  Other bases include the terms “economy” and “premium” so I asked Wendy what the distinction between these descriptions was.  She explained that:

• botanical and premium – “the botanical bases are 100% plant based (high end premium) so no water is used in the formulation and more premium oils are used (usually organic).”
• organic – where Wendy uses the term “organic”, it means the product is made form organically grown ingredients (though her products are not organic certified)
• natural and economy – Wendy’s “natural” and/or “economy” label(s) is/are used to identify products that contain water and a lower proportion of organic ingredients.  She explains that they are still natural as they do not contain any synthetic ingredient, but they may not have any or as many of the more expensive organic ingredients.

All of this is, of course, designed to offer natural products at different price points – a great idea, though I think it would make the selection process a bit simpler to have these distinctions made a little clearer.  Similarly, when choosing skincare, I often find it useful to select according to my skin’s needs.  What kind of base should one choose if you have dry or acne-prone skin?  Does it matter?

In any case, I selected the cleansing milk base (organic, botanical), the 100% natural moisturiser base, and the normalising and anti-ageing additives.

Mixing them together involved a degree of guesswork.  You’re meant to add 2-5% of the additive (which comes in a 50ml bottle) to your base (which comes in a 125ml pump).  To be honest, I’m not sure how much additive I added, nor whether I effectively mixed it through my base!  So whether I am really enjoying the intended concentration of these formulae is anyone’s guess.  A made-to-measure kitset would make these products a little more consumer-friendly, together with instructions for how to formulate your products in a sterile environment.

Overall, however, the ingredients are lovely and I have experienced no adverse reactions.  And just one final point of difference: Wendy makes her products fresh to order.  Almost directly “From Nature”.  Nice!