The Botanical Library

For the skin

Avocado oil is an emollient, helping soften dry skin and reduce moisture loss. Its richer feel makes it particularly useful in balms intended for areas that need a little more nourishment.

Wild wisdom

While avocado has ancient roots as a food and traditional plant across Central America, we use the oil for a rather less glamorous but very useful reason: dry skin loves it.

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For the skin

We infuse calendula flowers slowly into sunflower oil, creating a gentle botanical oil that is beautiful in formulations for dry, delicate and sensitive skin.

Wild wisdom

Calendula has traditionally been associated with skin comfort and protection. Historically it was kept close to the home and used in salves, oils and washes.

There is folklore wrapped around it too. Calendula follows the sun, opening its flowers to the light, which may explain why it became associated with warmth, protection and happiness.

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Across much of the Bodhi & Fae range, including our Bodhi Butters, Hero Lip Balms and bath rituals.

For the skin

Roman chamomile is used in gentle formulations for skin that feels dry, delicate or easily unsettled.

For the ritual

Chamomile has traditionally been associated with rest and calm, making its soft scent particularly lovely in evening rituals.

Wild wisdom

Its name is thought to come from the Greek chamaimēlon, meaning “ground apple”, after the sweet apple scent released when the plant is crushed underfoot.

It is exactly the sort of herb our grandmothers would have recognised.

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For the skin

Naturally rich in fatty acids, cocoa butter creates a protective, softening layer over the skin and helps reduce moisture loss.

It also gives our lip balms their lovely firm texture and slow melt.

Wild wisdom

Theobroma literally means “food of the gods”. Which seems fairly reasonable for the plant responsible for both chocolate and lip balm.

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For the skin

Coconut oil is an effective emollient, helping soften and condition dry skin. It also gives balms a beautiful glide and melt when they meet the warmth of the body.

Wild wisdom

Traditional uses vary enormously between cultures, but coconut has long been valued as an extraordinarily useful whole plant, providing food, fibre, oil, shelter materials and medicine.

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Our Hero Lip Balms.

For the skin

Hemp seed oil has a beautifully balanced fatty-acid profile and is particularly useful in formulations created to soften dry, weather-exposed or uncomfortable skin without leaving it feeling excessively heavy.

Wild wisdom

Hemp is one of humanity's oldest cultivated plants. Long before it found its way into skincare bottles, it was grown for fibre, rope, textiles, food and oil.

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For the skin

Kukui nut oil is naturally rich in linoleic and alpha-linolenic fatty acids. It spreads beautifully, sinks into the skin quickly and is particularly useful when skin feels dry or depleted.

Wild wisdom

Kukui has deep cultural significance in Hawaiʻi. The tree is traditionally associated with light and enlightenment, and kukui oil has a long history of practical use on the skin.

It is one of the reasons it sits at the heart of Bodhi Butter.

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For the skin

Lavender is traditionally associated with caring for sensitive and uncomfortable skin and is used in small, carefully considered amounts within some of our formulations.

For the ritual

The scent of lavender has an extraordinary familiarity to it. It has been linked with rest and evening rituals for generations, which is why we often use it where the moment surrounding the skincare matters as much as the application itself.

Wild wisdom

Lavender has been used in bathing, perfumery, household remedies and herbal traditions for centuries. Its name is often connected with the Latin lavare, “to wash”.

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For the skin

Lemon balm has a long traditional association with skin that becomes unsettled during times of stress, which is one of the reasons I first began researching it.

For the ritual

In traditional European herbalism, lemon balm has been used for centuries around nervousness, restlessness and emotional overwhelm. We treat those traditions as exactly that, traditional knowledge rather than a promise that a cosmetic will treat anxiety or another health condition.

Its place within Bodhi & Fae comes from something very real though: recognising that skin and emotions do not always live separate lives.

Wild wisdom

The botanical name Melissa comes from the Greek word for honeybee. Bees adore the flowers, and lemon balm has been planted near hives for centuries.

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And our botanical education rituals.

For the skin

Mango butter is rich and protective without feeling quite as heavy as some other plant butters. It helps soften dry skin and gives balms a smooth, creamy texture.

Wild wisdom

The mango tree has been cultivated in South Asia for thousands of years and carries deep cultural significance throughout the region. Even the stone at the centre of the fruit gives us something useful.

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For the skin

Manuka essential oil is used in our urgent lip ritual where we want a strong aromatic botanical alongside oils and butters that protect and condition vulnerable lips.

For the ritual

Its deep, earthy aroma gives Lip Saviour a very different sensory character from our softer daily balms. It feels purposeful, grounding and immediate.

Wild wisdom

Mānuka has an important history within Māori traditional plant knowledge. That heritage deserves to be spoken about with respect rather than reduced to another fashionable “super ingredient”.

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Wild wisdom

Oat straw has a long place in Western herbal tradition and was traditionally associated with nourishment during periods of tiredness and nervous exhaustion.

Where we talk about that history, we mean herbal tradition, not a medical claim.

It is another lovely example of how our ancestors learned to use far more of a plant than the part that eventually reached the supermarket shelf.

For the skin

Colloidal oatmeal is widely used in skincare for dry, itchy and sensitive skin. Whole oats also create a naturally milky bath when steeped in warm water.

For the ritual

Warm water, soft oat milk and a muslin bag full of herbs create something very different from a heavily fragranced bubble bath. Simple sensory rituals can be incredibly comforting when the world has been a bit much.

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For the ritual

Peppermint essential oil produces a cooling sensory feeling when used appropriately, which is why it has a place in Lip Saviour.

That cooling sensation is part of the ritual itself. When something feels uncomfortable, sometimes having a physical sensation to focus on can create a very immediate moment of pause.

Wild wisdom

Mint has been used across European and Middle Eastern herbal traditions for centuries, particularly for its refreshing scent and cooling character.

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For the skin

Rose is traditionally valued for delicate and sensitive skin and brings a beautifully gentle botanical element to sensory skincare and bathing rituals.

For the ritual

Scent has an extraordinary ability to become attached to memory. Rose has been associated with comfort, love and emotional expression for centuries, which makes it particularly interesting when skincare becomes part of a personal ritual.

Wild wisdom

Roses have gathered mythology around themselves almost everywhere they have grown, appearing in stories of love, protection, beauty, secrecy and devotion.

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And selected seasonal rituals.

For the skin

Shea butter is naturally rich in fatty acids and is one of our favourite ingredients for protecting dry skin and helping reduce moisture loss.

It gives a balm substance. That lovely, slow melt under warm fingers is part of what makes applying a balm feel like a ritual rather than simply putting something on.

Wild wisdom

Shea butter has been produced and used by communities across West and East Africa for generations, traditionally playing an important role in skin care, food and local economies.

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For the skin

It is naturally rich in linoleic acid and makes an excellent lightweight emollient. We use it both directly and as the carrier for our calendula infusions.

It is gentle, useful and does its job extremely well. Botanical skincare does not need every ingredient to have a dramatic backstory.

Wild wisdom

The sunflower's habit of following the sun when young has made it a symbol of warmth, loyalty and vitality.

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Our calendula-infused oils throughout the range.

For the skin

It is a rich, characterful oil traditionally used to care for dry, weather-exposed and troubled-looking skin.

Its colour and scent tell you immediately that very little has been done to disguise where it came from.

Wild wisdom

Tamanu has a long history of traditional use across parts of Polynesia and Southeast Asia. As with all traditional plant knowledge, we think that history should be acknowledged rather than turning the plant into another internet miracle ingredient.

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