Maybe you’re considering trading your usual moisturiser for an all-natural formula or looking to give your hands some TLC after all that hand sanitiser? Here at Sweet Cecily’s, we make a whole range of cream from completely natural ingredients. Each formula was carefully developed by Cecily after suffering from eczema for many years, she wanted each ingredient to complement the other whilst remaining gentle to the skin.
Our qualified pharmacist, Shankar, ensures all our products meet the necessary requirements and are of the highest quality possible. We are proud to ethically source our ingredients and believe it’s important that we do not contribute to unethical work practices therefore purchase our raw product from trustworthy suppliers.
A Snapshot into How We Make Our Creams
When making cream it’s important to get all of the equipment and ingredients ready before jumping straight into the mixing process. It’s kind of like baking a cake, you don’t want to crack a few eggs only to realise a moment later that you have no flour – nightmare!
Once we have everything prepared, the next step is to start weighing out all the necessary ingredients into a pan. Once everything has been melted down, we use a small hand blender to mix everything together. After around 10 minutes we swap the hand blender for a normal whisk to ensure the oil and water homogenise (fancy word for the oil and water molecules bonding and not separating!).
It’s so important the cream is constantly being mixed as this will influence whether or not the batch of cream can be sold to customers. The process of mixing can be pretty tiring and after around 30 minutes the cream should be thick, smooth and ready to pot.
Once cooled, we meticulously fill around 40 pots of cream by hand with a teaspoon, all whilst making sure there are no air bubbles or excess cream around the edges. Then, it’s on to labelling, which can be tricky in itself! We take our time during this process as one wrong move and the cream will have to be re-potted as it’s impossible to take a label off to adjust if it’s wonky!
Our Products Tried and Tested
Holly, a local beauty therapist from Whitby agreed to try a range of our creams and give us her honest opinion. We sat down earlier last week to have a chat about our products, Holly was happy for this to be recorded and her response has been typed up for the purpose of this blog.
The three products Holly was kind enough to give us feedback on were:
As someone in beauty industry, Holly was a fantastic person to give us feedback. It’s been a great experience to hear from someone who uses natural skincare on clients. She has spent time researching the skincare market and has been producing her own products for quite some time. She explained there now appears to be an increased awareness from consumers about the damages certain chemicals in skincare can cause to the skin. With more people researching the benefits of natural skincare the demand for completely natural skincare products has grown.
How did Holly Rate our Elderflower and Almond Hand Cream & Sea Buckthorn Berry Hand Cream?
How long were you using the hand cream?
I was using the hand cream regularly for 2 weeks, often twice a day.
Which hand cream was your favourite?
My personal favourite was the Elderflower and Almond hand cream, this was such a nice blend which had a beautiful scent.
It was clear Holly gravitated to the Elderflower and Almond hand cream as almond is an ingredient she loves in her skincare. She went on to say the Sea-buckthorn Berry hand cream was just as nourishing and did soften her hands in the same way as the Elderflower and Almond cream.
Did the cream easily absorb into the skin?
Yes, they both absorbed very well and didn’t leave my skin feeling oily and sticky after use. I liked that I could apply the hand cream and get back to whatever I was doing prior without having to wait for it to sink in or without worrying that it would transfer any grease.
How much would you pay for this product?
Without knowing the cost of the hand creams, we asked Holly how much she would pay for the products to see whether our price reflect its quality (both cost £7.95 on our website).
I would pay between £7-8 for a tub of this hand cream. I love that you don’t need a lot because it’s so rich, I know you can pay less for larger quantities from elsewhere, but most don’t do anything and can sometimes linger on the skin rather than absorbing, making it hard to get on with day-to-day activities.
What Did Holly Think Of Our Avocado and Almond Face Cream?
How long did you use the face cream for?
I used the face cream for 2 weeks. I wanted to give it a good go, so I used it every morning and night. My skin is very sensitive and can get very dry which means I have to watch what I am using and do not use anything that isn’t all natural.
Did you like the cream?
This cream was great, it didn’t irritate my skin and it didn’t cause me to break out which is what I was worried about. There was only one day where I had been working a long shift at the salon and I found that it maybe wasn’t nourishing enough but the rest of the time it kept my skin hydrated.
I really love that the product includes avocado, it has so many good properties for skin! As soon as I received the cream I was looking forward to using it, it’s so different than anything I have used before. The cream wasn’t too floral smelling which I liked.
Does the fact these creams are handmade make you more or less inclined to buy them?
Definitely more inclined, people tend to understand how much time and effort has gone into making the products. When I buy handmade products, I like that I know where they have come from and what has gone into them. I think it’s great to support small businesses and I can appreciate the hard work that has gone into making the products it, it’s because of this that I’m happy to pay a little more.
Do you prefer all natural skincare products?
Yes, I don’t use anything other than completely natural skincare. I don’t like when companies state their products are 100% natural when they aren’t, only the majority of the ingredients are. Natural products are good short term and long term so I will continue to use them in my skincare routine.
What did you think about the packaging?
Along with more specific questions about each of the products we wanted some general feedback on our branding, including the graphics and colours we use.
I really like the packaging, the colour and illustrations on the labels are well themed with the products. Looking at the product together they all complement one another and even though they are simple they aren’t boring. I haven’t seen many creams that have floral labels.
Shoutout to Holly
All the team at Sweet Cecily’s are grateful to Holly for taking time out of her busy schedule to come and have a chat with us. We really appreciate her honesty and are pleased she enjoyed our products.
Holly owns her own company called The Healing Essence which sells her full range of skincare (top tip, go to her about us section to see some amazing skin transformations). She prides herself on only using the best natural ingredients for each of her products. She is proud to offer homemade, all-natural skincare and holistic massage services to heal the mind, body and soul.
Here at Sweet Cecily’s, we believe that cooperation and mutual support within the natural skincare industry is incredibly important. Instead of competing with others, we feel that there is a lot to learn from each other. Whether you’ve been making your creams at home, or you’re selling 50 on Etsy a day, we would much rather work together than be part of a culture that promotes competition!
Holly is currently working at Senses in Whitby where she offers various beauty treatments. I will include the address of the spa and salon below if anyone is interested in getting a treatment while visiting Whitby.
Senses address:
Flowergate
Whitby
North Yorkshire
YO213BA
Phone: 07874 280 470 (Whatsapp available)
Email: senseswhitby@gmail.com