Meet Micaela Nisbet Founder of Neighbourhood Botanicals
To celebrate the arrival of clean beauty brand Neighbourhood Botanicals @neighbourhoodbotanicals at UO, (YAY!) we caught up with founder Micaela Nisbet to find out the inspiration behind her incredible natural formulas, her top skincare tips and the secret to having healthy glowing skin this winter.
What inspired you to start Neighbourhood Botanicals?
I was touring in my previous life as a sound engineer in the United States, 6 to 7 years ago, and the clean beauty craze was pretty big over there with lots of gorgeous brands and nice blends. I was already using basic oils at home in London to combat the effect the rock’n’roll lifestyle was having on my skin, but had to restock over there and was inspired by the early brands of the movement. I started to research and make my own blends more fancy. I took a formulation course over a few years in between tours, moving to Berlin to get more space and downtime to slowly get the brand together. I moved back to London a few years ago, quit touring, and went full time on Neighbourhood. I don’t miss living out of a suitcase at all!
The world of clean beauty is hard to navigate as the industry remains so unregulated. What’s your expert advice for separating the good from the bad?
There’s so much ‘green-washing’ in the beauty world. This is where brands will advertise something based on a product that might be in the end formula at less than 1%. The first thing I do is look at the ingredients list. Ingredients are required to be listed in order, so the first few will be the bulk of the product. Not all chemically-sounding names are synthetic!
Google to be sure of what something is. Don’t get your facts from scaremongering skincare bloggers. There’s a lot of scare-mongering of ingredients without any scientific basis or on outdated incomplete studies, so if you’re unsure of a product, go to Google Scholar to search for proper scientific studies. Anything that’s sold in the EU has to have proper safety testing and be notified to the Cosmetics Regulation Portal, so you can trust that they should be fine. The USA doesn’t have any testing requirements for Cosmetics… so beware in the States! You have to really trust that the brand is doing their due diligence. But of course, if they’re sold in the UK they have to have that safety testing done, so all good.
Lastly, anything with water in it HAS to have a preservative system. Don’t tell me “Oh just keep it in the fridge and use fresh within X weeks”, that’s BS. You cannot see the harmful spores and growths in unpreserved products with the naked eye until they’re crazy out of control. At best you’ll get irritation, at worse you could go blind. Brands that do this you can be SURE have not done the proper testing and safety to be sold in the EU as these products would never pass the test. Watch out for your local market traders for this kind of stuff, as a lot flies under the radar. Don’t be afraid to call brands out that aren’t disclosing their preservation strategy!
What’s one skincare fact you wish everyone knew?
Strip it back! In a lot of cases, problematic skin is actually just trying to regulate itself from harsh or over-drying products. Use an oil cleanser (Face Off is great as it milks up, so is easy to rinse clean), exfoliate physically with our super gentle Konjac Sponge, and then just a nice facial oil (start with The Daily Glow which is our light day oil) and you might not need anything else!
How do you find the right routine for you without spending a fortune?
Following on from the note above, think about paring back your full routine to find out if your skin actually needs all that other stuff you’re heaping on it. For example, you might not need retinol to target fine lines when you could re-plump your skin from the inside using the right nourishing ingredients. Products promising to ‘even out tone’ rarely work (in my opinion) as well as the even glow you’ll get from a nice facial oil.
Try replacing those expensive active products and acid peels with minimal, and gentle ‘clean beauty’ products. I recommend clean, natural beauty not because synthetics are ’bad’ or ’toxic’, but because natural formulas are packed with so much plant nourishment that you won't get from their synthetic counterparts. I liken it to the difference between a home cooked meal and fast food. Both delicious, but one is infinitely more healthy for you!
I was touring in my previous life as a sound engineer in the United States, 6 to 7 years ago, and the clean beauty craze was pretty big over there with lots of gorgeous brands and nice blends. I was already using basic oils at home in London to combat the effect the rock’n’roll lifestyle was having on my skin, but had to restock over there and was inspired by the early brands of the movement. I started to research and make my own blends more fancy. I took a formulation course over a few years in between tours, moving to Berlin to get more space and downtime to slowly get the brand together. I moved back to London a few years ago, quit touring, and went full time on Neighbourhood. I don’t miss living out of a suitcase at all!
The world of clean beauty is hard to navigate as the industry remains so unregulated. What’s your expert advice for separating the good from the bad?
There’s so much ‘green-washing’ in the beauty world. This is where brands will advertise something based on a product that might be in the end formula at less than 1%. The first thing I do is look at the ingredients list. Ingredients are required to be listed in order, so the first few will be the bulk of the product. Not all chemically-sounding names are synthetic!
Google to be sure of what something is. Don’t get your facts from scaremongering skincare bloggers. There’s a lot of scare-mongering of ingredients without any scientific basis or on outdated incomplete studies, so if you’re unsure of a product, go to Google Scholar to search for proper scientific studies. Anything that’s sold in the EU has to have proper safety testing and be notified to the Cosmetics Regulation Portal, so you can trust that they should be fine. The USA doesn’t have any testing requirements for Cosmetics… so beware in the States! You have to really trust that the brand is doing their due diligence. But of course, if they’re sold in the UK they have to have that safety testing done, so all good.
Lastly, anything with water in it HAS to have a preservative system. Don’t tell me “Oh just keep it in the fridge and use fresh within X weeks”, that’s BS. You cannot see the harmful spores and growths in unpreserved products with the naked eye until they’re crazy out of control. At best you’ll get irritation, at worse you could go blind. Brands that do this you can be SURE have not done the proper testing and safety to be sold in the EU as these products would never pass the test. Watch out for your local market traders for this kind of stuff, as a lot flies under the radar. Don’t be afraid to call brands out that aren’t disclosing their preservation strategy!
What’s one skincare fact you wish everyone knew?
Strip it back! In a lot of cases, problematic skin is actually just trying to regulate itself from harsh or over-drying products. Use an oil cleanser (Face Off is great as it milks up, so is easy to rinse clean), exfoliate physically with our super gentle Konjac Sponge, and then just a nice facial oil (start with The Daily Glow which is our light day oil) and you might not need anything else!
How do you find the right routine for you without spending a fortune?
Following on from the note above, think about paring back your full routine to find out if your skin actually needs all that other stuff you’re heaping on it. For example, you might not need retinol to target fine lines when you could re-plump your skin from the inside using the right nourishing ingredients. Products promising to ‘even out tone’ rarely work (in my opinion) as well as the even glow you’ll get from a nice facial oil.
Try replacing those expensive active products and acid peels with minimal, and gentle ‘clean beauty’ products. I recommend clean, natural beauty not because synthetics are ’bad’ or ’toxic’, but because natural formulas are packed with so much plant nourishment that you won't get from their synthetic counterparts. I liken it to the difference between a home cooked meal and fast food. Both delicious, but one is infinitely more healthy for you!
What’s the one product you couldn’t live without and why?
You can do a lot with just one oil in a pinch! Oils can be used as a cleanser, a facial moisturiser, a body moisturiser, in place of conditioner…the list goes on. A good all-round oil blend is my desert island product. Any of our facial or body oils work for many purposes.
What product do your customers always want to talk to you about?
Dream Dream Dream night oil is our all-time customer fave. I’m not surprised. It’s interesting to see how this product changes in colour and smell slightly depending on which suppliers we’ve been using over the years. We’ve recently moved our purchasing to a fabulous family-run UK based supplier whose oil quality is just ABOVE, and means our blends are mostly all cold-pressed now! Dream Dream Dream especially has really benefited from this move…the rosehip seed oil and blackcurrant oils are cold-pressed, richly coloured and scented. It’s hypnotic.
Give us a beauty tip not many people know…
Shave with oil to combat in-growns and also you don’t need to moisturise afterwards! Bonus. You need a metal safety razor to shave with oil, otherwise the blades get all clogged up. We sell safety razors in our store. Also, remove your makeup with oil-based cleansers to get the best clean! ‘Like dissolves like’… makeup and grime is all oil-based too.
Do we need to update our skincare routines in the winter?
Yes - go heavier and use more moisture to give the skin barrier protection against water loss through your skin. Dry, cold air and whipping wind outside plus hot dry air inside saps moisture from our skin. The lack of moisture leaves us sallow and flaky and just not hot. So, use gentle, non-drying cleaners and layers of hydration in your routine. Moisturiser and water based serums first, then facial oils and balms last.
What do you predict will be the next big beauty trend?
Well, it’s going to be (already is?) CBD… but you won’t see NB jumping on the bandwagon. I don’t believe CBD can give any extra benefits through skincare that a good hemp oil won’t give at a fraction of the cost and bother. It’s all marketing fluff. I HOPE the next big trend is ethical consumerism. Brands giving back, looking at their impact, treating sustainability as not just a marketing tagline but as an important part of building ethical business and community practices for the future.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
This is trite, but the one rule I always live by is ‘listen to your gut’. When you’re tuned into yourself, your instinct is rarely wrong. Also, not to lose sleep over things you can’t change.
You can do a lot with just one oil in a pinch! Oils can be used as a cleanser, a facial moisturiser, a body moisturiser, in place of conditioner…the list goes on. A good all-round oil blend is my desert island product. Any of our facial or body oils work for many purposes.
What product do your customers always want to talk to you about?
Dream Dream Dream night oil is our all-time customer fave. I’m not surprised. It’s interesting to see how this product changes in colour and smell slightly depending on which suppliers we’ve been using over the years. We’ve recently moved our purchasing to a fabulous family-run UK based supplier whose oil quality is just ABOVE, and means our blends are mostly all cold-pressed now! Dream Dream Dream especially has really benefited from this move…the rosehip seed oil and blackcurrant oils are cold-pressed, richly coloured and scented. It’s hypnotic.
Give us a beauty tip not many people know…
Shave with oil to combat in-growns and also you don’t need to moisturise afterwards! Bonus. You need a metal safety razor to shave with oil, otherwise the blades get all clogged up. We sell safety razors in our store. Also, remove your makeup with oil-based cleansers to get the best clean! ‘Like dissolves like’… makeup and grime is all oil-based too.
Do we need to update our skincare routines in the winter?
Yes - go heavier and use more moisture to give the skin barrier protection against water loss through your skin. Dry, cold air and whipping wind outside plus hot dry air inside saps moisture from our skin. The lack of moisture leaves us sallow and flaky and just not hot. So, use gentle, non-drying cleaners and layers of hydration in your routine. Moisturiser and water based serums first, then facial oils and balms last.
What do you predict will be the next big beauty trend?
Well, it’s going to be (already is?) CBD… but you won’t see NB jumping on the bandwagon. I don’t believe CBD can give any extra benefits through skincare that a good hemp oil won’t give at a fraction of the cost and bother. It’s all marketing fluff. I HOPE the next big trend is ethical consumerism. Brands giving back, looking at their impact, treating sustainability as not just a marketing tagline but as an important part of building ethical business and community practices for the future.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
This is trite, but the one rule I always live by is ‘listen to your gut’. When you’re tuned into yourself, your instinct is rarely wrong. Also, not to lose sleep over things you can’t change.