Meet Siobhan

All of my Pringle & Fairweather products are made in a converted workshop, next door to our traditional Cumbrian farm cottage which is in the middle of the beautiful Eden Valley, just north of the more well-known English Lake District. When out of my workshop I love to be in our garden and our kitchen – Almost regardless of the weather you’ll find me in either our flower garden or our small vegetable patch where there is always more doing than sitting going on – I feel I have truly earned my end-of-the-day gin and tonic when the glass is handed to me with soil still on my hands. I love nature and I love food and I’m constantly impressed with the way a vegetable plant or a flower can harness the simple elements around it to it to produce something amazing – I find this a constant source of inspiration. To be able to take what energy and goodness a plant has created and turn this into an effective skincare product or a luxurious gift without compromising its integrity is a constant joy for me.

I love to formulate – Thankfully every new recipe has to be tested and certified by an independent qualified chemist to make sure that it’s safe for you to use – otherwise I’d be introducing something new every week. There’s a cost attached to testing and I’d soon be bankrupt if I sold every product that I formulated but if I discover a new ingredient that is good for your skin then I have to find a way of using it and I love to test the outcomes on my friends. In fact some of my regular customers are happy to step in as my loyal testers – they give me good valuable feedback on my concoctions. Subscribe to my Instagram account to hear when I’m needing testers.

I started making my own natural skincare products because I had very sensitive skin and suffered with Eczema – I never expected my home made products to cure my Eczema (I’ve heard that claim too many times), but using Natural Soaps and Moisturising Balms and Oils containing only ingredients from nature certainly calmed the situation. Feeding my skin over time with the nutrient rich Oils contained in my made-at-home formulas, I now have skin that is in much better condition than many of my friends who haven’t suffered the decades of irritations that I had.

Moisturising is so beneficial and doing it naturally can make a huge difference to the health of your skin. I’m a huge believer in that old adage that says if you’re not happy to eat it then don’t put it on your skin and reading the ingredients on many so-called natural skincare products horrified me years ago, and still does. The whole labelling system is confusing for the end user and there are still many producers out there that basically take a rubbish base product and add a tiny bit of essential oil on the top and call it a natural product! Unfortunately the term ‘natural’ is not universally defined or regulated so beware a ‘natural’ product may have much less natural ingredients in it that you may think. It goes without saying that we don’t use any artificial fillers, thickeners or emulsifiers; no synthetic colours or fragrances; no horrible parabens preservatives and anything else that I wouldn’t want to put happy to put on my own skin.

After 12 years I still enjoy what I do and I thank all my existing customers for supporting me, many of you from the very beginning. If you’re interested what our plans are for the future – have a quick look at my ethos page. I hope that you will try new recipes that will emerge from the journey ahead and continue to enjoy using Pringle and Fairweather products as much as I enjoy making them.