Nature's ingredients. Skincare science.
At The Skin & Tonic Club, we believe great skincare starts with choosing the right ingredients for the right reasons.
From botanical extracts and nourishing plant oils to modern moisturising ingredients and targeted skincare actives, every ingredient has a purpose. Some help replenish moisture, some support the skin's natural barrier, while others help refine texture, improve radiance or leave skin feeling beautifully soft.
We combine nature-inspired ingredients with skincare science to create products that feel as good as they make your skin feel.
Powered by Nature. Backed by Science.
Lightweight nourishment · Moisture barrier support
Skin benefits: Helps soften and smooth the skin without a heavy, greasy feel. Supports comfortable, supple-looking skin and helps reduce moisture loss.
How it works: Squalane is a stable, skin-compatible emollient. It forms a light conditioning layer on the skin's surface, helping improve softness and reduce water loss. When derived from olives, it provides a plant-based alternative to historically animal-derived sources.
Smoother-looking skin · Radiance · Ageing care
Skin benefits: Helps improve the appearance of fine lines, uneven skin tone and rough texture, supporting a smoother, more radiant-looking complexion.
How it works: Bakuchiol is a plant-derived active studied for its antioxidant properties and its ability to influence biological pathways associated with skin ageing and renewal. Research suggests some functional similarities to retinol, although it is chemically different.
Naturally derived · Emollient · Formulation support
Skin benefits: Helps leave skin feeling soft and smooth, while contributing to a silky, easy-to-spread product texture.
How it works: Its INCI name is Polyglyceryl-4 Oleate. This naturally derived ingredient acts as an emulsifier, helping oil and water phases combine in suitable formulations, and as an emollient that improves skin feel. It is particularly useful in oil-rich creams, cleansing oils and massage products.
Refreshing · Hydrating · Skin conditioning
Skin benefits: Help refresh the skin, provide a light, water-based feel and contribute to a comfortable, hydrated complexion.
How they work: Hydrosols are aromatic waters produced through the distillation of botanical materials. They contain water-soluble plant constituents and small amounts of aromatic compounds. Their precise properties vary according to the plant used.
Examples: Cucumber hydrosol for a fresh, soothing skin-conditioning feel; other floral and botanical hydrosols can provide their own distinctive aromas and formulation properties.
Vegan alternative · Hydration · Skin conditioning
Skin benefits: Helps moisturise and condition the skin, leaving it feeling smoother, softer and more supple.
How it works: This fungal-derived, vegan collagen alternative is used to provide skin-conditioning and moisture-retaining benefits.
Purifying · Oil balancing
Skin benefits: Helps absorb excess oil, leaving skin feeling cleaner and smoother.
How it works: Fine mineral particles adsorb surface oils and impurities, helping reduce unwanted shine.
Hydrating · Soothing
Skin benefits: Helps hydrate skin and leave it feeling refreshed and comfortable.
How it works: Its water content and naturally occurring polysaccharides help moisturise and condition the skin.
Nourishing · Softening
Skin benefits: Helps relieve the feel of dryness and leaves skin soft, supple and comforted.
How it works: Its fatty acids and emollient components help soften the skin and support its protective moisture barrier.
Sensory · Aromatic
Skin benefits: Bring natural fragrance and a distinctive sensory experience to skincare, with additional benefits depending on the oil.
How they work: Aromatic compounds create fragrance; some oils also contain compounds with skin-conditioning properties. Suitability and irritation potential vary by oil.
Nourishing · Skin conditioning · Tailored care
Skin benefits: A versatile family of plant-derived oils that help soften the skin, replenish its lipid content and reduce moisture loss. Each oil offers a distinctive combination of fatty acids and other naturally occurring components, allowing us to select the most suitable oils for each formulation.
How they work: Carrier oils act primarily as emollients, smoothing the skin's surface and helping support its protective moisture barrier. Their individual fatty acid profiles influence their texture, absorption, stability and skin-conditioning properties.
Examples we use:
Refreshing · Astringent
Skin benefits: Can help skin feel refreshed and temporarily reduce the appearance of excess surface oil.
How it works: Its astringent compounds can create a temporary tightening sensation of the skin.
Nourishing · Antioxidant support
Skin benefits: This vitamin E-based oil, can help condition dry skin and provide antioxidant support.
How it works: Tocopherol, a form of vitamin E, helps neutralise free radicals.
Revitalising · Depuffing appearance
Skin benefits: Can help reduce the appearance of puffiness and tired-looking skin, particularly around the eyes.
How it works: Caffeine influences adenosine receptors and can affect superficial blood-vessel responses.
Deep hydration · Moisture retention
Skin benefits: Helps skin feel softer, smoother and more hydrated.
How it works: A humectant that attracts and holds water in the outer layers of the skin, supporting flexibility and a healthy moisture barrier.
Cleansing support · Silky texture
Skin benefits: an help cleansing oils spread smoothly and leave skin feeling soft rather than stripped.
How it works: It acts as an emulsifier, helping oils disperse when mixed with water, and can improve product slip.
Plumping hydration · Smoothing
Skin benefits: Helps skin look plumper, feel more supple and appear smoother, including the appearance of fine dehydration lines.
How it works: his water-binding molecule attracts and retains moisture in the skin’s outer layers.
Gentle exfoliation · Smoother texture
Skin benefits: Helps improve dullness and uneven skin texture.
How it works: An alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) that helps loosen the bonds between dead surface skin cells. It can also act as a humectant.
Brightening · Soothing
Skin benefits: Can help improve the appearance of uneven skin tone and support a calmer-looking complexion.
How it works: Influences pigmentation pathways and inflammatory responses.
Comforting · Moisture barrier support
Skin benefits: Helps soothe the feel of dry skin and improve softness and hydration.
How it works: A humectant and skin-conditioning ingredient that helps bind moisture and supports the skin barrier’s normal function.
Plant-powered · Naturally rich · Carefully selected
Skin benefits: Help moisturise, soften and condition the skin while providing varying combinations of naturally occurring fatty acids, antioxidants and other minor plant constituents
How it works: Cold pressing is a mechanical extraction method that avoids the deliberate application of high temperatures during pressing. This can help preserve heat-sensitive components, depending on the oil and subsequent processing. The resulting oils help condition the skin through their lipid content and may support the skin's natural moisture barrier.
Why we value them: We select plant oils for their individual characteristics, rather than treating them all as interchangeable. Their composition helps determine how they feel on the skin and how they contribute to the performance of each product.
Radiance · Antioxidant protection
Skin benefits: Helps brighten the appearance of dull skin and improve the look of uneven tone.
How it works: Vitamin C provides antioxidant activity to influence melanin production and support normal collagen synthesis.
Antioxidant · Skin conditioning
Skin benefits: Helps condition the skin and support its protection against oxidative stress.
How it works: A lipid-soluble antioxidant that helps neutralise free radicals in the skin’s surface lipids. It can also help protect oils in the product from oxidation.
Soft-focus finish · Oil absorption
Skin benefits: Helps reduce a greasy feel and leaves skin with a softer, more velvety finish.
How it works: Its fine starch particles absorb some surface moisture and oil, helping improve the texture and finish of creams and body products.
Pore care · Exfoliation
Skin benefits: Helps improve the appearance of congested pores, uneven texture and blemish-prone skin.
How it works: An oil-soluble beta hydroxy acid (BHA) that helps loosen dead skin cells within pores.
Rich texture · Skin softening
Skin benefits: Helps creams feel richer and leaves skin feeling soft and smooth.
How it works: A fatty acid that helps thicken and stabilise many cream formulations. It also contributes emollient properties and helps create a protective, comfortable finish.
Soothing · Skin comfort
Skin benefits: Helps calm the feel of skin and is especially useful in formulas designed for sensitive-feeling skin.
How it works: his skin-conditioning ingredient, often associated with chamomile, has demonstrated soothing and anti-inflammatory activity in research
