LEAFOLOGY comes from a vested interest in beauty that is pure, plant sourced and full of natural abundance.
Click here for a rough timeline (including mishaps and adventures) or read on for more:
About Ella & the LEAFOLOGY range…
For around a decade, I made my living in a rather unconventional way – it isn’t the easiest thing to talk about at parties, though I am fiercely proud of it; I worked as a ‘professional muse’, travelling all over the world for assignments in fine-art photography in which I was renowned and hired for my natural style and ‘pure’ appearance. Images I’ve posed for have won countless awards and been exhibited in galleries all around the world. It’s a life I never expected to have, and a huge honour.
Over the years, I have been complimented repeatedly by make up artists and other industry professionals on the condition of my skin and hair and, on both a psychological and physical level, I know I feel at my best when using the purest products I can find; the clever, natural, there-all-along ingredients available to us through digging around a bit in mother nature.
As part of a wider interest in health, nutrition, nature and the earth (my job has often involved getting up close and personal with oceans, rocks and trees!), I have had a lot of fun privately creating my own signature recipes and scents, studying and researching the benefits and health-promoting aspects of herbs and plants.
This has been a very personal and even self-interested endeavour;
all the products I sell on this website are ones which I have made lovingly for my own benefit and whim
(with special requests here and there from those around me). Alongside myself, my friends and family remain my most important guinea pigs, and the products have been fine-tuned along the way until I could not imagine going back to mainstream products laden with mysterious chemicals.
Natural botanicals are potent and powerful (they are the source of both ancient and modern medicine, after all).
After giving away my blends and infusions as gifts, I decided to study further and get some of my products tested and approved for sale. I’ve been so excited about this happy obsession, and so proud of the beautiful things I’ve created, that I want others to enjoy these natural products too. In 2017, I essentially ‘opened up my boudoir’ and invited you to take a look around and join in the natural beauty movement with me.
A bit about beauty…
My job has taught me a lot about body confidence, but I truly believe everyone is beautiful; my work has brought me ever closer to this truth. It is our job to recognise beauty all around us, and let it bloom without covering it up with unpronouncable ingredients and questionable chemicals (concocted purely for profit and over-packaged without thought or awareness). I started selling my own products after realising that others, too, value this positive, alternative approach and love treating their skin to simple but beautiful creations that can heal, soothe and nurture their skin and body as though it were food (we absorb into our bloodstream much of what we put on our skin; so the food analogy is a good one!). Showing our bodies that we care about them, and seeing beauty in others as well as ourselves; this is what beauty is. Plus a bit of natural-goodness and creative know-how…
How to care for your Leafology products…
Each product is freshly made in small batches, ensuring that the period of use before expiry is kept as long as possible. By law they are marked with expiry dates of 12 months from the date of making, but in practice they often last significantly longer. To make sure your product is kept in as pure as possible a state (thereby prolonging its shelf life), it’s best to:
– Store it somewhere cool and dark (or at least not in direct sunlight). Natural plant oils and essential oils are delicate and volatile as well as powerful, and will be happier in cool, dry places (this is why so many of Leafology’s bottles are made of amber glass and opaque metal; they’re light-blocking as well as beautifully eco-friendly!).
– Avoid getting any water inside the container. The presence of water in preservative-free formulations means that bacteria and other undesirables can rapidly start to grow. Use clean, dry fingers when dipping directly into jars/pots (e.g. lip balms and body butters), and either use spoons or tap the product into the palm of your hand when using dry/powder products (e.g. clay masks).
– Whisper sweet nothings to it daily. It is made of plants, after all! 🙂