All about the rebrand

As the seasons change with NB I wanted to share some of the workings behind the changes around the rebrand.

There will always be people who prefer how things were before. Some of you have already made that clear ;) but things change and I have my reasons.

So here they are:

Regarding prices

NB has been going for around 9 years and the prices have stayed the same through all the craziness the world and the economy has gone through.

I know nobody likes a price rise, but the truth is I work all day every day for this brand and the last few years it’s been losing money. It needed an overhaul or I would have to close. I also do everything myself, with no staff, so I would like to take salary, please! The prices and formats needed to be revisited.

Our products are made from real ingredients that come from actual crops grown by actual people running farming businesses in the real world. The conditions these crops are grown in have changed drastically over the last decade. Smaller harvests from climate change, heightened running costs from the pandemic, wars, natural disasters, Brexit… I mean you name it we’ve had it right!

The cost of buying raw oils from these strained harvests has increased by up to 4x.

Prices have gone up mostly in line with BOE inflation, which was interesting to see when I worked out the costings.

I’ve changed the formats of some products to make things more in line with our contemporaries. 100ml was too much for a face lotion, Acid Washed and our body oil didn’t last as long as they could, for example.

I’ve made everything organic where possible. I used to just use cold-pressed but as I understand more about farming and the plant biodiversity I now know organic is truly the best options for not only the health of the land but also the nutrients of the plant that get pressed into ingredients for our skin.

To farm organic comes with a cost of course.

Facial Oils 

I’ve elevated most of the NB formulas, particularly all the facial oils, to reflect the wealth of incredible plant oils we have access to now as opposed to when the original formulas were made around 9 years ago. Plant oils have become way more mainstream and with that the purchasing power of our incredible suppliers has increased. Bioactive plant oils like cloudberry, sea buckthorn, green coffee, bladderwrack, prickly pear… all with such incredible properties. It seemed a real missed opportunity to not do an elevated formulation across the range.

The new facial oils are more targeted for their specific use.

Also I have to say, still amazing value when you look at our contemporaries, a lot of the time who are not using as high quality extracts as us, and most are £50+.

The scents of all the facial oils have fundamentally stayed the same also there have been some minor changes to minimise allergenic compounds from the essential oils.

If you loved our facial oils before, your skin will love these even more, trust me!

Mild Mannered

I’ve added the amazing Gotu Kola or centella extract which does wonders at reduces redness and calming sensitive skin.

I’ve also swapped out the phenoxyethanol preservative with a new more modern and natural preservative that is more easily tolerated by sensitive skins. The other super hydrating and skin nurturing ingredients are the same. It’s a long term favourite for a reason.

The size of our lotion has gone down to 60ml to match the normal size and prices of this category.

It was difficult for retailers to place this product in their assortment at this size and I found the bottle (whilst beautiful) was too heavy, lasts too long and not meant for a product like this. It was a nightmare to find caps for too. It turns out, lotions are made in specific sizes for a reason! 

Acid Washed

I’m actually really proud and happy with this elevation and has made me fall back in love with Acid Washed. We had so many issues with the plastic foamer bottles we had and they used so much plastic. The lactic acid kept causing them to jam and lots of customers had to have replacements, leading to more waste. The price was way too low from the outset and we didn’t make much of a margin at all after costs.

So, I’ve reformulated it into a beautiful gel! That means the product can be in a regular bottle. It’s also now 120ml and lasts so much longer as it’s very concentrated. Compared to other (way more boring) high AHA low pH cleaners, Acid Washed is still great value. The surfactant mix has changed to a nice blend of three gentle cleansers that give an amazingly plush and cleansing foam without residue. The lactic acid content has been majorly boosted to a serious 5%. I hope you love it like I do!

Face Off

The oils in this blend were not made for washing down the drain. It felt wasteful and also was incredibly expensive to the point where this, as our second bestseller, was also the lowest margin product. Something had to change.

I’ve swapped out the precious oils for organic cold-pressed sunflower oil, which does the perfect job here and doesn’t cost a bomb. The amount of cleansers has decreased whilst still being super effective. That’ll help reduce potential eye sting too. I’ve added calendula and comfrey oils, both homegrown in the UK and very calming for skin. The bottle is now 120ml which means with the change of ingredients I didn’t have to increase the price as much as some others. I love this version so much more, and I hope you do too. 

Body Oil

Now much larger and with an easy shake-it-out flip top cap. This is our most expensive product which at 200ml of organic cold pressed oils from plants is no surprise. 200mls is a lot of plants to grow, nurture, harvest, press etc etc. There’s a higher percentage of essential oils in this one too, with naturally made jasmine fragrance that is infinitely more sustainable (and thousands of pounds cheaper) than pressing tonnes of flowers to make 1kg of oil. I’ve taken out the dunalina extract which made this blend bright orange, which used to drip all over the bath mat annoying my boyfriend (haha).  I found it also had a tendency to smell a bit seaweed-like after a while (not what you want on a body oil!) and added more oat and wheatgerm oils to support ceramide formation and skin structure repair. 

New bottles

ALL products are now in glass, and gorgeous warm deep amber glass at that. Amber glass protects the precious nutrients from being degraded by light.

Our caps are a warm cream colour. White felt too harsh and medicinal, not living and organic like my formulas are.

Since I’m the one who does all the sourcing for ingredients AND packaging, it was a huge job getting all our different bits and pieces from so many different suppliers. I’ve dealt with stock issues, transport issues, suppliers closing, not selling what we need anymore… it’s too stressful and too much to manage. There’s a reason why brands use matching sets of bottles and caps!

I wanted originally to have everything different (because ‘PUNK’) but I ended up shooting myself in the foot.

It was also a sticking point with some retailers who felt the brand was too hectic. I agree now to be honest, and it feels great to have everything sourced from the same place and everything matching and sitting together as a solid unit.

Whilst I loved the illustrations, it was difficult, expensive and long-winded to have to find an illustrator each time when working on new products. It mentally has held up many product launches. It also then didn’t really feel like MY creative output, which my products definitely are.

So now, I have done the designs myself (massive journey) and although there will be people who prefer the old designs, the new designs truly do reflect the brand, the products and intentions behind this project. I know, because they are my intentions!

 

Overall, I’m looking forward to having this new foundation for growth which means I can make this tiny handcrafted skincare business sustainable again and bring out more products to keep your skin healthy and connected to nature for many years to come.

I have no intention of selling or closing down like so many have had to do, but this energetic and financial shift needed to happen for the brand to keep going with me at the helm.

Thank you for being a customer of NB over the years and I hope you stick around.

 

xo Micaela