Smooth operators: hotels with hero skincare products

With the boom in boutique stays since the start of the Noughties, brilliant bath-and-body products were sure to follow. Alongside bath tubs in bedrooms and miracle-working treatments promised in spas, weary travellers — or those joining the ever-growing tribe of wellness tourists — are now able to enjoy top-tier skincare in hotels, worthy of being stockpiled in the most hallowed of beauty halls.

There has been a steady flow of new homegrown brands over the years, all made with locally sourced botanicals and as natural as possible. Heckfield Place has Wildsmith Skin, named after its resident botanist William Walker Wildsmith, a pioneering horticulturalist who cultivated an arboretum on the estate in the 19th century.

Cornish brand Land & Water was founded on a salty shoreline by Pix Ashworth, whose family owns the beloved Watergate Bay Hotel. Her MO was to bottle the glow guests got from swimming, surfing or walking on their local beach — you can test it out at hotels including Stanwell House in Lymington, Batty Langley’s in London and Another Place, The Machrie in Islay.

The Somerset-made Commune line can be found at Estelle Manor’s superlative spa, Eynsham Baths — which is modelled on a traditional Roman bath house (togas optional). It’s also Goop-approved and on sale at the Santa Monica store.

I recently found myself checking the base of a candle in a public restroom in an attempt to identify the scent, it was that good. It turned out to be Cowshed Relax. Cowshed is most famous as being the ablutions brand partner of Soho House, crafting the spas for its many members’ clubs. Alongside Cowshed products today, the group has launched Soho Skin, its own line of beauty products.

Then there are the brands that take skincare science even more seriously, including Smith brand partners Oskia and Bamford, and Sicily-grown Irene Forte Skincare. Here are some more of our favourite skincare lines and where to find them…

SEED TO SKIN

Over on the Borgo Santo Pietro estate in Italy, Seed to Skin Tuscany has harnessed the ingredients grown on its land, now bottled and exported to several hotel spas so everyone else can benefit. Jeanette Thottrup (the Danish owner of the 300-acre Italian duchy) is the co-founder, creative director and resident naturalist, who joined forces with the pharmacist and cosmetologist Anna Buonocore to create Seed to Skin Tuscany in 2018. The borgo is now home to a hi-tech laboratory and herb-processing house, where the all-natural products are crafted, using curative traditions that date back to 1129, when Borgo Santo Pietro was a healing pit-stop for pilgrims on their way to the San Galgano Abbey.

After struggling to conceive before her son, Vincent, was born, Thottrup turned to natural medicine and began studying with Neal’s Yard in London, attending its farm at weekends to practise the remedies and methods she was learning about. She was so inspired by the ethos of the brand — which has been creating cruelty-free, natural and organic skincare products since 1981 — that she set up Seed to Skin Tuscany. She likes to think of her company as a ‘community of herbalists, doctors, farmers and scientists who work together to understand the skin […] and how to supercharge the purest of ingredients’. Thanks to the Tuscan farmland where it’s all made, it is ‘one of the only beauty brands with supply-chain control. We know where our ingredients come from and who made, harnessed or grew them.’

My personal favourite is Seed to Skin Tuscany’s aptly named the Divine Cleanse, which easily melts away my signature heavy black mascara and red lipstick. For Thottrup, selecting her preferred product would be like picking between children, and she believes they all work in harmony together — that said, her ultimate item is the Night Force, which is ‘a real glow-getter and creates an amazing tightening effect’. She’s also a fan of the Fermen’tonic, ‘a multitasker that helps create fast cell turnover and accelerates the benefits of the active ingredients in the cream you use afterwards.’ She’s with me on the cleanser, too. As for particular ingredients, she champions fermented red ginseng for its superpowers, and she never travels without the Dew Mist for deep moisturising mid-flight.

You can find Seed to Skin Tuscany products at likeminded hotels all over the world, including Six Senses Rome, Grand Hotel Son Net in Mallorca and Passalacqua in Lake Como, selected because they share the brand’s passion for herbalists and doctors working side by side. The 90-minute Reverse Facial is the treatment to book for a glowing, lifting effect.

BAMFORD

Lady Carole Bamford’s organic empire in the Cotswolds includes her namesake brand. The Geranium line is probably my favourite unguent scent — it’s the smell of a spa, bottled. She says of her passion for skincare: ‘I have long been of the belief that what we put onto our bodies through skincare is just as important as what we put in through our food. I decided to create a range of skincare and body products, so that I could account for the ingredients going into the products, but also the ethical journey behind their creation. Many of the natural ingredients we use are led by what I grow in my garden — the herbs, plants and flowers I love to have around me.’

As well as Bamford lotions and potions, Lime Wood’s heavenly Herb House spa also makes use of other brilliant skincare lines, by the acclaimed facialist Sarah Chapman (just ask Meghan Markle and Victoria Beckham); Ground Wellbeing, which is especially good for perimenopausal and menopausal women; and the organic brand Voya, which originated in a seaweed bathing house in Sligo on the West Coast of Ireland.

IRENE FORTE SKINCARE

Irene Forte, scion of the Rocco Forte hotel dynasty, has created her own skincare line to be tried and tested at the group’s outposts all over Europe, from Sicily to Berlin. When she was working at the family firm, part of her duties involved the spa and wellness offerings, and her goal was always to ‘enhance natural and experiential formulations… with the rigor of scientific insight’. Fortunately for her budding brand, the family owns an organic farm at their Verdura Resort in Sicily, which was on hand to supply many of the ingredients. But it was the pioneering scientist Dr Francesca Ferri, whose background was in clean cosmetics and food supplements, who helped Forte bring the products to life. They are the essence of the Med distilled, all crafted in Italy, vegan-friendly and low in allergens; and the company is a fellow B Corp. For the perfect nighttime routine (or NTR), Forte recommends using the Phytomelatonin Rejuvenating Serum, made from Alpine-plant melatonin and vitamin E; alongside the Hibiscus Night cream, which works while you sleep. My skin feels more taut just thinking about it.

At Rocco Forte spas, you’ll be able to try out this product during a Phytomelatonin Rejuvenating Facial, which combines the serum and a peptide-infused hyaluronic acid sheet mask with massage techniques where the therapist works your cheeks from the inside — it sounds weird, but your newly rediscovered contours will thank you. As for Forte’s travel skincare tips, she always has sachets and miniatures of her products on hand, including the Almond Cleansing Milk, the Helichrysum Toner (ideal for a refreshing mid-flight spritz), the Pistachio Face Mask (to ensure you land with perfectly plumped skin) and some Olive Eye Cream to hydrate and reduce jet-lag-induced dark circles.

OSKIA

One of the most science-driven skincare brands (with more than 230 awards to show for its efficacy) is the Smith brand partner Oskia, seen at stellar hotel spas all over the world, from Cliveden in Berkshire and The Nici in Bournemouth to Cowley Manor Experimental. The founder, Georgie Cleeve, had discovered a miraculous, naturally occurring horse supplement called MSM as a teenager, after her knee cartilage had been damaged by skiing. It became the cornerstone of her research into nutritional skincare and her brand, which prioritises biology over beauty. Oskia has its own factory and lab in Wales, plus headquarters in London, which Cleeve flits between in an idyllic fashion.

Her hero ingredients are the Growth Factors — an alternative to retinol found in many Oskia products, including the new Midnight Elixir — that ‘do everything for your skin that you could possibly wish for, and more,’ says Cleeve. As for spa treatments, she rates the Circadian Deep Sleep ritual, which boosts melatonin and reduces cortisol, and is especially good for anyone who has trouble sleeping.

To offset the effects of flying, Cleeve makes sure she has an anti-inflammatory oil to hand — Oskia’s Restoration Oil (a personal favourite of mine) is packed with omega 3 and calming plant oils, alongside active ingredients that boost collagen. For warding off pollution, the City Life Booster is a good handbag addition.

With no disrespect to those Nineties shower stalwarts, we’ve come a long way from Original Source and Badedas.

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Lead image shot at Estelle Manor by Mark Anthony Fox.