I didn’t set out to make skincare. In fact, I went to university to study Marine Biology.
My degree taught me to understand ecosystems: how organisms interact with their environment and how small changes in one place ripple through everything else. Fundamentally, nothing in a living system exists in isolation. Adding something to an ecosystem without understanding its role or potential impact is rarely a good idea.
After graduating, I volunteered abroad at a small Non-Government Organisation in Rodrigues, studying coral reefs, before coming home to work at the National Marine Aquarium. I carry all of those experiences and that way of thinking into everything I make at Sugarbush.
Ingredients earn their place or they don’t go in
Marine biology teaches you to ask why before you ask how. Why is this organism here? What function does it serve? What happens if it’s removed?
I ask the same questions when I’m formulating, except now the focus is on ingredients and what their individual properties do in a product on your skin. My priority is to use only what’s necessary, without complicating a formulation needlessly.
A lot of skincare is formulated the other way around. An ingredient becomes fashionable and suddenly it gets added to everything, with a wave of marketing behind it. Sometimes the hype is valid and can be traced back to solid research but not always.
When I choose an ingredient, I want to understand its chemistry. What compounds make it worth considering, do those compounds help with a particular skin concern, does it interact well with everything else in the formula? The most important factor is what the optimal concentration is to give the appropriate benefit. If a Sugarbush product has a longer ingredient list, it’s for purpose not for show. If you want to understand what to look for on a label, this guide to reading skincare ingredients is a useful starting point.
Complex systems need careful handling
One of the things marine biology teaches you is respect for complexity. Ecosystems are not simple and neither is skin.
Your skin is a living system with its own microbiome, protective barrier and means of maintaining balance. When that carefully balanced system is disrupted, it takes time to recover. I’ve seen plenty of “natural” products strip or disturb the skin’s barrier under the assumption that natural automatically means gentle or safe. It doesn’t.
Essential oils are a good example. They smell wonderful and many contain beneficial compounds. But they’re also potent and they need to be used at carefully considered concentrations for safety reasons. Being natural doesn’t remove those concerns.
That’s why skincare is complex…you’re creating products to support a barrier that is your body’s first line of defence and it’s pretty sophisticated without our intervention. The pH of a product, how ingredients interact on the surface of your skin and whether a formulation is compatible with the way skin works are all important considerations. If you’ve ever noticed your skin feeling tight after washing, that’s usually a sign the barrier is being disrupted – worth reading this article if it sounds familiar.
A rinse-off product (like shampoo or conditioner) behaves differently to a leave-on one. An oil-based product (lip balm or a lotion bar) has different considerations to an emulsion and different safety concerns. All of these things matter.
Small batch is a scientific choice as much as a values one
I make Sugarbush products in small batches from home in Plymouth. People sometimes ask whether that’s a practical limitation or a deliberate choice.
In truth, it’s both. But the scientific argument for it is real. Small batches mean I can test properly, adjust when something isn’t right and maintain consistency in a way that larger scales of production don’t always allow. Every batch gets made with the same attention, using the same methods. I have complete control over the entire process, something that would be hard to maintain if I outsourced production.
Marine biologists spend a lot of time doing careful, patient, detailed work that doesn’t have a dramatic output. Most of what I do at my workbench looks the same. The drama is in the detail – the formulation design, testing and refinement that happens long before the final recipe is sent off for safety assessment.
Why this matters for you
My background shapes what you get, even if you’re not aware of it.
When you use a Sugarbush product, every ingredient in it is there because I understand what it does, not because it’s exotic, trendy or looks good on a label. The formulations are simple because simplicity is a scientific principle as much as an aesthetic one. Fewer ingredients means fewer interactions, fewer potential irritants and easier compatibility with your skin barrier.
I trained for years to think this way. Sugarbush is where that training comes to life.
Lauren x
Browse the full Sugarbush range at here – small-batch, handmade in Plymouth, Devon.
Interested in the ingredients behind the products? Start with surfactants or read more on the blog.
