Image: Charelle Kelly, The Physic Garden Founder
We caught up with The Physic Garden founder to learn more her own personal journey into natural skincare and the benefits of using nature's medicine cabinet!
The Physic Garden is a handmade, small batch line of skin loving products that celebrate the founder’s love for medicinal plants and their ability to heal, rejuvenate and encourage one's own natural beauty.
The Melbourne based company offers a selection of natural rubs, bath soaks, lip balms and deodorants made from organic, local and ethically sourced natural ingredients. As a naturopath, founder Charelle Kelly also captures and utilises the power, essence and vitality of nature’s own medicine cabinet to ensure her products benefit both our skin and spirit. We caught up with Charelle this week to learn more about her ethos and journey into natural skincare and which healing herbs are most beneficial for you and your family.
The Physic Garden is such a unique brand name - can you please share the inspiration behind the name and what it means to you?
Before we could head down to the pharmacy, we used to turn to the garden for medicine. Physic Gardens, (pronounced fizik), were places where all the medicinal herbs were grown. Nature really has provided us with a medicine cabinet right in the garden. Our skincare range is just the start of what we would like to offer, with our dreams of one day creating a real life Physic Garden where people can visit, rest and connect with medicinal plants.
Was there a particular moment or catalyst in your life that initially sparked your interest in incorporating healing herbs + oils into products?
I grew up using natural medicine thanks to my parents, but it wasn't until I became very unwell in my early twenties, and was diagnosed with Hashimotos, that I decided to study Naturopathy. I began using herbal medicine for myself, experimenting with which herbs I felt most connected to, and helped me the most on my journey back to good health. From that study, I discovered my love for medicinal plants and wanted to share that passion with others. Skincare is something we all use everyday, so I wanted to incorporate my love for herbs into natural, healing skincare, that could bring a bit of that plant magic into our lives daily. The healing they offer goes beyond just their constituents, the experience of calm you can find in the garden is what we wanted to bottle-up for people. That's why we create our herbal infusions ourselves, to ensure they are processed gently enough to leave that healing energy intact.
Image: The Physic Garden Collection
Many of your beautiful balms cater specifically for expecting mothers - which ingredients do you find are most beneficial for new mums and little bubs?
When considering which ingredients to use in Mum & baby products, I always reach for the gentle, skin loving herb calendula. Such an incredible all rounder. She is brilliant for all types of skin conditions, very soothing, and naturally antibacterial without being an irritant even to precious baby skin. Chamomile is another herb I love for specifically for babies, both for its sweet smell and nature. It is known traditionally to help soothe and calm a grizzly baby and is lovely for their skin.
Is there a balm or soak that you've been finding yourself reaching for at the moment? And what are your favourite ways to use it?
My personal favourite is our Eucalyptus Rub. Since I was small, it is a scent I can never get enough of, and reminds me of feeling safe and cosy, without a care in the world. I like to rub it on my chest, neck and wrists before bed to enjoy the scent as I drift off to sleep.
Can you please share how you source your ingredients? Do you have any favourites that you love working with for both skin and spirit?
We are absolutely committed to making sure our products make the world a kinder, healthier place, so it is very important that we source ingredients that are both high quality, but also ethically and sustainably produced. All our herbs are organic and sourced from a lovely supplier in Victoria, with most grown in Australia. You can see the difference in the vibrancy of the dried herbs compared to other brands. Our shea butter is produced organically in Ghana, using fair trade practices, and is definitely one of my favourite ingredients for skin. It is rich in vitamin A & E, and goes on like silky butter, leaving skin super soft and moisturised. For the spirit, there is something magical about lemon myrtle, it immediately uplifts with it's bright, lemony scent, and I love that it is an Australian native.
We love the way that each product in the range has a different therapeutic action - can you share any new exciting products or categories that might be joining the range soon?
ctually, we do have a new product we've been developing over the past few months which we will be launching on October 25th! We are very excited about this one, inspired by the moon and the divine feminine, it's a very unique balm with magical violet. Keep an eye out for it soon on Flora & Fauna :) (Update - the Luna Balm has now arrived and it's amazing!!)
You can find the entire Physic Garden range at Flora & Fauna.
