Categories
Bathrooms Homewares

Kim Peirce on leaving corporate life to start Babescrub

Having always been entrepreneurial, Kim Peirce gave herself a somewhat out-of-the-box 40th birthday present, the opportunity to leave her corporate role and launch her own business: Babescrub.

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“I had five months off to get my mind right and hang out with my children,” explains Kim. “After my self-induced sabbatical, my energy levels were back and ready to fire and I launched four businesses in six months to see what would stick. Two sucked and two stuck! I sold one, ditched two, and focused on Babescrub where I had the most fun blending my creative side with my business mind.”

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A skincare brand with a difference, Babescrub’s products are developed using the finest natural and organic ingredients, and are all about feeling good in the skin you’re in and taking time out to treat yourself! “We’ve kept the range simple with three key lines. There’s our natural bodyscrubs — a selection of three dry body scrubs that exfoliate skin and leave you feeling silky smooth; our natural body soufflés, which are a rich, hydrating body creams; and our organic hand and basin line, which include our charcoal hand wash, our be rad body wash and our wild hand cream.”

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With their products not only smelling and feeling great, but looking good too, the products get a big tick from us; because as interiors lovers and bathroom perfectionists, we know how important packaging is! “Our product packaging is where we can really have some fun,” explains Kim. “We don’t conform to the common beauty industry norms by having cookie cutter branding. Each range of product packaging is designed as a reflection of what we feel is inside the bottle. For us, packaging is as important as the beautiful formulas we develop.”

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Our favourite has to be the hand and basin line, which features the typography of some very talented collaborators. “We’ve been lucky enough to work with many artists in our short history, it is one of the things I like the most about the creative process is working with others to realise your creative visions. We’ve worked with the delightful Kerrie Hess for a limited edition Mother’s Day body scrub while our typography used on our current range is by blogger and letterer Jasmine Dowling.”

Shop online.

Categories
Bathrooms Competitions

Embrace winter by winning an Anise bath pack for a long soak!

I’d put money on NONE of you being as big of a bath fan as me, but I’m sure there are some other lovers of a long soak out there, especially in this weather. To celebrate their new bath range, our friends at Anise Skincare are giving two lucky readers the chance to win a pack worth $159 containing bath milk, bath salts and bath foam.

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I’ve tried Anise products myself and they’re gorgeous, as well as looking great in the bathroom with their minimalist amber glass packaging. My favourite is the Cardamom and Vanilla Bath Mill. Add a couple of spoons of the powder to your bath to make it smell just like a chai latte! Yum!

Produced in Australia from the finest, pure ingredients and botanical essences, Anise Botanical Skincare contains no artificial fragrances, parabens, sulphates, petrochemicals, pesticide or herbicide residues, synthetic preservatives, fillers or whiteners. Designed for a modern Australian lifestyle, they aim for their products to be as beautiful in your home as they are on your skin.

To enter, complete the form below by 5pm Sydney time on Friday 24 July 2015.

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Categories
Bathrooms

Anise Skincare: beautiful looking and smelling natural goodies

I’m among kindred spirits here so I feel safe to admit I pick products on the basis of what the packaging looks like. I know you’re not all quite this anal, but I know some of you are; admit it!

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Here’s how it works in my bathroom: the shower is glass on two sides. Only good-looking, neutral-coloured products get to live on the glass shelves inside in direct sight of my eyes as I walk into the room. The rest (the more colourful things I buy on account of their actual effectiveness and quality despite them not being matchy-matchy), are on a corner of the shower floor out of view. I know, I’m TERRIBLE! I have issues.) I just hate garish packaging!

Of course, the ideal are toiletries which combine effectiveness, quality and good looks, but I can’t afford everything Aesop, can I?! So I’m loving this new, independent Aussie brand, Anise Botanical Skincare. I also love their no-nonsense, whopping great 1-litre pump-action glass bottles of multi-purpose (shower gel, bath bubbles or hand soap — you choose) wash and cream. And the smell! Even my husband remarked how nice it was, and he just doesn’t notice these things, especially not without prompting! They smell like star anise but without being too strong.

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Now, onto the natural credentials, which are important too. My Pommy skin has always been sensitive  and I have eczema, so I’m fussy what I put on it. these products are all 100% cruelty free and contain active botanicals. Most are packaged in pharmaceutical-grade amber glass, as many formulations contain a high concentration of active botanical extracts and pure essential oils, and this improves their stability. Glass is also easier and more efficient to recycle. They do not contain parabens, sulphates, nitrates, petro-chemicals, palm oil, bleaches or whiteners, fillers or thinners, synthetic perfumes, synthetics additives, artificial colours or flavours.

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The brand was founded by passion over 15 years ago, drawing on Madonna Goot’s Scandinavian roots with its simple, clean lines and minimalist values. “At Anise Botanical Skincare we include only what is needed – and nothing that isn’t,” she says. “Produced in Australia from the finest, pure ingredients and botanical essences, it’s a simple philosophy that is mirrored in our functional glass bottles and matte white labels. Designed for a modern Australian lifestyle, I want my products to be as beautiful in your home as they are on your skin.”

I think she has succeeded. These products aren’t cheap; neither are they expensive, in my opinion, for what they contain (or more importantly, don’t!).

Shop online with free shipping on all Australian orders.

Disclosure: Anise gifted me their wash to try for myself with no guarantee of coverage.

PS. I know you’re all thinking wait until you have a baby bath and all manner of brightly coloured toys in there in a few months, Jen!