African Botanics

Welcome to a little excursion to the exceedingly rich plant world of South Africa! There lie the family roots of Craig and Julia Noik, who founded African Botanics in Los Angeles in 2012. The skincare brand pays homage to the country, its flora and the extreme climatic conditions that have enabled such resilient species to thrive there. With scientific precision, an extraordinary sensory profile and respect for nature this high-end skincare for the face and body sets the bar in the clean beauty sector very high, indeed!

The Cape region, the origin of the majority of the botanical ingredients used in African Botanics, is known for its enormous plant biodiversity. An impressive 70% of the species found there are endemic, in other words, are found nowhere else in the wild. This great diversity appears to be a product of millions of years of relatively stabile climatic conditions in the region – contrary to northern Europe, for example, where repeated Ice Ages have driven many plants to extinction. Thankfully, with its fascinating concept, African Botanics offers access to medicinal plants and extracts that for generations have played a key role in the traditional native African healing arts.

The characteristic African Botanics approach is to combine natural active ingredients from resilient plants with biotechnological components – among other things, this enables these botanical actives to be extracted more ecologically than when harvested in the wild. The formulas bring together antioxidant-rich plant oils, such as Marula oil, and precision-developed laboratory grown yeast ferments, micro algae, enzymes and peptides. All of the products serve to guard against skin ageing, promote cell regeneration and strengthen the skin barrier, protecting it from exterior stress factors.

I’m particularly pleased with the company’s highly ecological, fair and sustainable trade practices. At African Botanics transparent sourcing, responsible production in their own laboratory in South Africa and formulations free of superfluous additives are a given. The African Botanics brand answers to its very own exceedingly high standards and delivers high-performance, highly tolerable, natural products, making it true personal highlight for me when it comes to skincare and wellness!