Pure Lakes – Great for the Skin and Even Better for the Environment

The last time we heard of a customer buying a company was in the late 1970s when Victor Kiam bought Remington after falling in love with their products. Well, the same thing happened with Pure Lakes! Sabi Phagura explores the skincare brand’s amazing story and looks at the products that inspired two customers to buy the company.

Natural skincare continues to be a holy grail as we ease out of lockdown. The continued, consistent growth of the natural and organic skincare market over the past decade is well documented, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down as shops reopen as we come out of lockdown three.

But in today’s modern world, it’s not enough to have good products – sustainability and eco-friendly practices are at the core of a good skincare brand. This is where Pure Lakes skincare seems to be excelling.

Pure Lakes began life in 2006 by Sandra and Iain Blackburn and has since been scooping awards along the way for its natural skincare. It all began as they invested all their efforts searching for a product that worked for sensitive skin. Sandra, a trained chemist, combined her knowledge of science with pure, plant-based ingredients to formulate her own skincare products.

A decade later, devout customers, Gareth and McKeever, bought the business in 2016 and continue to work closely with Iain and Sandra to this day, ensuring the founding principles of the company are fundamental in every decision.

Produced in Kendal, Cumbria, the Pure Lakes products are handmade in small batches in the brand’s workshop by a small team. They are so proud of their work, and the workshop is open to customers who can browse at their leisure, going through the brands head-to-toe range and see first-hand how it is made.

It’s akin to going into a sweet shop for a child, and you can go around sampling products to pick the right product for you. We can only imagine what the real in-person experience is actually like because just one glance at their website, and we were in skincare heaven.

There’s everything from skincare, bath and body, home spa, home, therapeutic products and a separate section for men’s grooming too.

Ingredients
Pure Lakes’ principles are to make products using natural, bio-degradable raw ingredients. When they say natural, it means that the ingredients come from sustainable plants with the minimum amount of processing required. The only exception to this is Beeswax which is natural but not derived from plants.

The brand also ensures their suppliers can trace the origin of the materials they stock, and wherever possible, preference goes to Fair Trade and small Co-operatives. Pure Lakes pay a premium to ensure that all their essential oils are of very high quality and have full traceability.

Sustainability
Pure Lakes does all it can to help minimise any impact on the environment. They told us they always try to use produce that is either organically grown or grown with the minimum use of fertilisers or pesticides. Now, we all know packaging gets a huge wrap as it contributes to a lot of waste.

To address this, the brand uses either recycled material or uses recyclable/reusable packaging and glass jars when possible. When this isn’t possible, plastic made from a fully recyclable biopolymer is used.

Again, a premium is paid for plastic bottles, with biopolymer PET being much more expensive than standard PET bottles. This means they use an eco-friendly and sustainable plastic made from a biopolymer that is a by-product of making sugar – used in place of ethylene or oil.

In addition, emphasis is placed on recycling or re-using all cardboard, paper, glass and plastic. Pure Lakes also offers a refill scheme to all customers to encourage them to re-use bottles, thereby cutting down on waste.

We all love to look good and feel good, and there’s never been a better time to consider adopting a professionally managed skincare range. You’ll be doing good by your skin and even better for the environment. Wellness is a collective journey in all aspects of the word.

Pure Lakes – Where and How?

For more information on Pure Lakes products and their manufacturing practices, visit www.purelakes.co.uk.