Journal
The Journal is where we follow the questions that interest us, from aromatherapy, herbalism and botanical ingredients to skincare, formulation, movement and everyday wellbeing. Along the way, we explore history and tradition, look closely at the science, consider how ingredients are grown and sourced, and share what we are learning as Botanicals & Company develops.
Thoughtful, evidence-led writing about the things we use, the practices we follow and the ideas worth understanding more deeply.
Rose belongs as naturally in the kitchen as it does in the perfumer’s bottle. Paired with pistachio and a restrained amount of cardamom, it produces a fragrant, moist cake that draws upon a much older culinary relationship with the flower than modern rose-flavoured confectionery sometimes suggests.
Read the articleVitamin E is usually encountered in skincare as the name of an ingredient on a label, yet tocopherols are naturally present throughout the foods we eat. Rather than adding a supplement to a recipe, this granola begins where vitamin E does naturally: with nuts and seeds.
Read the articleSea buckthorn is an extraordinary fruit to look at and an uncompromising one to eat. Intensely tart and brilliantly orange, it becomes considerably more approachable when gently cooked with orange and just enough sweetness to soften its edges.
Read the articleMorning yoga does not have to begin with repeated Sun Salutations or develop into an energetic flow. A slower practice built around stretching, mobility and simply noticing how the body feels after sleep can offer a very different way to begin the day.
Read the articleButtery brown-sugar biscuits scented gently with culinary lavender and studded with crystallised ginger, made as a simple cut-and-bake dough that can be kept in the freezer for those afternoons when only a freshly baked biscuit and a good cup of tea will do.
Read the articleSea buckthorn has become one of natural skincare’s most enthusiastically promoted oils, associated with barrier repair, hydration, acne, eczema and ageing. Its chemistry provides genuine reasons for interest, but how much of the reputation survives when laboratory evidence is separated from human clinical research?
Read the articleWe talk constantly about moisturising, nourishing, soothing and protecting our skin, yet all of those ideas depend upon an extraordinarily thin structure at its surface. Understanding the skin barrier changes the way we think about skincare.
Read the articleRestorative yoga looks deceptively simple: a bolster, a few blankets and perhaps half a dozen postures. Yet behind that stillness lies an interesting idea, that yoga does not always have to ask the body to work harder.
Read the articleRose oil is one of perfumery’s most celebrated natural materials, yet the beauty of the finished ingredient can obscure the extraordinary agricultural and industrial system required to produce it. From hand-picked flowers and exceptionally low essential-oil yields to distillation energy and changing harvest seasons, understanding rose properly means looking beyond the bottle.
Read the articleVitamin E appears on countless skincare labels, but the ingredient hiding behind those two familiar words is not always the same. Tocopherol and tocopheryl acetate both belong to the vitamin E story, yet differences in their chemistry affect their stability, antioxidant behaviour and role within a cosmetic formulation.
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