It happens to us all at some point. That sudden and unshakable yearning to move to Brooklyn, get a job in a Vegan café, grow your highlights out and just… live. Having once been an area of New York that you wouldn’t want to find yourself in alone at 11.30 at night, the borough is now a bustling thrum of creativity and artisanal start-ups. Skincare, amongst others, has become big business for Brooklyn, thereby providing the astute world of performance-driven, stratospherically expensive skincare a run for its money. The Brooklyn skincare start-ups aren’t preoccupied with ageing, overly harsh ingredients, or, refreshingly, profit. Conceptualised, designed and produced from a place of genuine love, the rest of the world is beginning to take note. 

Leading the pack from Brooklyn is S.W. Basics, formerly known as Sprout, a skincare range aimed at sensitive skin started by a 28-year old Broolynite; Adina Grigor who couldn’t find any skincare products that wouldn’t aggravate her skin so decided to start formulating her own. The result is a formidable range of every skincare solution one could ever need. Even Gwyneth’s fallen hard for it, and if there was ever a sign of making it big – it’s that. ‘It’s the way it should be, made once a week in small batches, using glass jars and supporting local, sustainable farms,’ she said of S.W. Basics on Goop.

From cleanser, to a coconut-scented body scrub, to exfoliant to an oil-based make-up remover which is made up of only three ingredients (almond oil, jojoba oil and olive oil – all organic), most products in the line contain less than 5 ingredients. To use anything purer on your skin, you’d simply be pouring olive from the bottle. 

After having admired it from afar for a while, I’m pleased to announce that Selfridge’s now stocks S.W. Basics in store (though, not currently online). Or, find it online at A Beautiful World. 

 

 

 

 

S.W. Basics Body Scrub, £19 at A Beautiful World 

Continuing on in the vein of all things earnestly organic is Apotheke, a Brooklyn based soap and candle company. Formulated with 100% soy wax fragrance and essential oils (60% coconut oil, 30% olive oil and 10% palm oil), the scents linger on the skin a lot longer than a regular soap would. Again, batches are made in small quantities – 250 at a time – to maintain quality; it’s not about amassing a huge profit margin and quickly, it’s about respecting the product and the consumer. 

Each individual soap is wrapped up in neatly folded greaseproof paper, stamped with a simple logo. Its bathroom shelf porn at its finest. Owners Chrissy Fichtl and Sebastian Picasso live and work in Brooklyn with their mini daschunds Pippa and Ginger. Which is about as Brooklyn as you can get. 

 

 

 

Apotheke Basil and Spearmint Soap, £5.40 at Etsy

Yes, the ingredients are about as natural as the Brazalian Rainforest, but what really appeals about the Brooklyn skincare scene is its unparalleled originality when it comes to packaging and design. It looks like nothing else, but also manages to look like it’s been a trusted brand for decades. Like the bottles hidden in a dusty apothecary from 1912. It’s a clever tack. Like Kiehl’s. Such is the case for the ‘healthy, holistic skincare’ line, the endearingly named Between You and the Moon. 

All products in the range are free of everything and everything that could potentially irritate either the skin or the earth – no animal testing, no parabens, no perfumes and no GMO herbs and oils. And yet, despite the worthy purity inherent within the line, in keeping with the Brooklyn-ite ethos, it’s got a sense of humour. How else could ‘Cow Fart Juice’, a healing (and presumably foul-smelling) blend of herbs which can be applied to rashes and skin disorders, have come to fruition? Aside from that, you’ll find such delights as Magick Potion Lotion (which may look like unassuming but contains a pretty respectable hit of Vitamins A, B C and E as well as hyaluronic and alpha lipoic acid to plump and gently exfoliate and No Evil, a light yet seriously effective make-up remover. All of which frankly, is no doubt making the beauty counters of nearby Manhattan shake in their boots. One of the S.W. Basics’ taglines is ‘Brooklyn rules, Manhattan drools.’ Well, quite. 

 

 

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Between You & The Moon Clear Complexion Hydrosol, from the Clear Complexion Collection, £83