All about: New Zealand natural skincare company Tease Botanix

Over the past year I’ve been contacted by a number of beauty pioneers creating rather amazing new ranges from the area in New Zealand known as the Bay of Plenty – which seems to be living up to his name!

The latest is Tease Botanix botanical skincare, which was created by a very clever woman called Teena Cooke. Teena reportedly developed a passion for herbal gardening, herbal medicine, nutrition and health when her own health suffered due to a chemical “overload” in her system several years ago. Almost overnight she turned her lifestyle around, eating organic, making exercise a daily part of her life and becoming more selective about what beauty care products she used. A decision to completely remove herself from her ‘chemical’ work environment was inevitable, so she sold her hair salon in 2000 and joined the NZ Police.

She moved to Auckland where she found a beautiful organic lifestyle block to live on and it was there that she started making products for herself, with her family and friends unwittingly being her guinea pigs. Her successes coupled with the encouragement she received, a small cottage business started.

In 2006 Tease Organix Ltd was formed, and she started selling her products, then called 'Tease Organix”, at the local Farmers Market. In 2011 Tease Organix became Tease Botanix, and the range is now available at select stockists up and down the country. During that period she also made the move to the Bay of Plenty, definitely one of our country’s most beautiful spots!

Teena has hand-made her products, bottled and labelled in small batches for her customers since 2005, but has now passed the task on to a small laboratory who adhere to all of her original principles of purity et al. The formulas still make use of natures’ ingredients, pure botanical extracts and top quality plant oils, and Teena likes to say that “Nature in a Bottle” symbolises the company’s commitment to efficacy with using what Nature has to offer, with what man has learnt to capture. They also use only 1 per cent preservative in all of their products, and use truly natural or, where they have no option, naturally derived ingredients. Very cool!

I’ve been having a play with a few of Teena’s products over the summer and one I’ve really been impressed by is the Immortelle Rejuvenating Crème (pictured). It’s a luxe mix of powerful botanical oils of Camellia, Olive & Coconut, alongside pure Rosehip Oil and Jojoba. Key ingredient Immortelle is one of the most ancient healing substances known to man - it's thought to help heal physical and emotional scarring, opens the heart connecting body and spirit – and gives this beautiful cream its delicious scent along with Ylang-ylang and Lavender.  It’s best suited to dry, mature skin, although I think it would make the perfect boost for any skin type in the cooler months when we all tend to get a little dehydrated as the temperature drops.

If you like buying local and great natural formulas then have a peak at the Tease Botanix website – I guarantee you will find something there to fall in love with, and your skin will too.