Scottish Skincare: A Modern Approach to Plants, Science and Sustainability

When people think about skincare made in Scotland, they naturally imagine wild landscapes and hardy native plants. Landscape and plants are a huge part of our story at Raven Botanicals. We grew up in rural Scotland in a family where being outdoors, growing and making things were a significant part of everyday life. The ancient wisdom associated with herbalism and working with plants underpins everything we do at Raven.

But our unique brand of Scottish skincare isn't only about looking backwards. For us, making skincare in Scotland means taking that relationship with plants and combining it with contemporary cosmetic science, evidence-based ingredients and increasingly exciting developments in green biotechnology. We believe the future of sustainable skincare lies somewhere between the field and the laboratory.

Scotland is not always an easy place to grow! The climate is cool, wet, windy and changeable, and some of the plants that thrive here are remarkably resilient. Nettle, yarrow and sea buckthorn might not have the glamour of more exotic botanical ingredients, but they are fascinating and resilient plants with a long heritage and useful applications in contemporary skincare.

Nettle is a great example. Familiar to almost everyone in Britain, it contains a complex mixture of naturally occurring plant compounds and is much more interesting than its reputation as an irritating weed. We use nettle extract in our Rescue Serum, alongside blackcurrant, hemp, papaya and marine algae.

Ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata) is another wonderfully unassuming plant that grows abundantly across Scotland and much of Britain. Traditionally valued as a useful herbal plant, it contains a range of bioactive compounds including iridoid glycosides, flavonoids and phenolic compounds, which have made it increasingly interesting for cosmetic formulations. It is exactly the kind of botanical we love at Raven: familiar, resilient and easy to overlook, yet surprisingly complex when you begin to look at the science behind it. Find it in our luxurious Botanical Lip Balms.

Yarrow also grows readily across Britain and has a long and intriguing history of traditional botanical use. It's its phytochemistry that particularly interests us, including its naturally occurring phenolic compounds and flavonoids. We use yarrow in Spellbind Serum, alongside bakuchiol, nature's gentler alternative to retinol, and a blend of carefully selected plant oils.

Sea buckthorn, meanwhile, produces extraordinarily vivid orange berries. Its oil contains carotenoids, tocopherols and an interesting fatty acid profile, and we use it as part of the balancing botanical blend in our Skin Saviour Facial Oil. We harvest this under license on the beautiful East Lothian coastline just 8 miles from our skincare studio.

Botanical skincare is often talked about in evocative terms, with ingredients described as “nourishing”, “soothing” or “powerful” without much explanation of what that actually means. In reality, plant-based ingredients are chemicals too. Their oils and extracts can contain complex mixtures of fatty acids, polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, sterols and other compounds, and their usefulness depends on the plant, how it has been processed or extracted, its concentration and the formulation it end up in.

Plant oils, for example, have different fatty acid profiles that influence how they behave on the skin. Oils containing linoleic, oleic and other fatty acids can provide emollience and complement the lipid-rich environment of the skin's surface. Plant extracts are different again, potentially containing a wide range of phytochemicals with antioxidant and other biological properties.

As well as working with plant oils and extracts, we formulate with evidenced ingredients including niacinamide and hyaluronic acid. Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3, which occurs naturally in foods including grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, although the high purity niacinamide used in modern cosmetic formulations is generally manufactured through controlled processes rather than extracted directly from plants. It has been extensively studied in skincare, including for its role in supporting skin barrier function and improving the overall appearance and condition of skin.

Hyaluronic acid occurs naturally throughout the body, including in our skin, where it plays an important role in retaining water. The hyaluronic acid used in contemporary skincare is commonly produced through microbial fermentation, where microorganisms are used to create the molecule under carefully controlled conditions. Its exceptional ability to bind water makes it very useful in hydrating formulations, and different molecular weights can be selected depending on the role it needs to perform within a product.

We find this crossover particularly interesting because it shows why the division between “natural” and “scientific” skincare is often much less clear cut than it appears. A molecule can occur naturally in our bodies or in the wider natural world while the version used in skincare is produced through fermentation or carefully controlled manufacturing. What matters to us is where an ingredient comes from, how it is produced, the evidence behind it and what it contributes to the finished product.

Our Ultra Hydrating Serum is a good example of this philosophy in action, combining hyaluronic acid and niacinamide with botanical ingredients including borage and plant derived squalane. Rather than asking botanicals and evidence based actives to compete for space in a formulation, we use them together to create a serum designed to hydrate, support the skin barrier and leave skin feeling comfortable and replenished.

Discover our Ultra Hydrating Serum →

There is another assumption we believe the beauty industry needs to question: natural does not automatically mean sustainable. Every agricultural ingredient requires resources. Crops need land and water, and may require energy, fertiliser and processing. Increased global demand for particular natural ingredients can encourage intensive monoculture and place enormous pressure on habitats and biodiversity.

Palm oil is perhaps the starkest example. It is an extraordinarily productive crop, but the expansion of palm oil plantations has been associated with devastating deforestation and habitat loss in some of the world's most biodiverse regions, particularly in Southeast Asia. Palm and its derivatives are also remarkably widespread in cosmetics, often appearing under ingredient names that make their origins far from obvious. Raven has been 100% palm oil free from the start, including avoiding palm derived ingredients, because we wanted to remove that dependency from our formulations altogether.

Plants will always be central to Raven. But as global demand for skincare grows, replacing every synthetic ingredient with another intensively farmed agricultural crop cannot be the answer. We need to look at the total environmental impact of ingredients, from land use and biodiversity to processing and carbon emissions, and become much more imaginative about how some of them are produced.

One of the scientific developments we find most exciting is the use of biotechnology to produce cosmetic ingredients differently. In 2026, Raven Botanicals became the first skincare brand in the world to bring CLEANOil™ to the consumer market in our bestselling 24 Carat Cleanser.

CLEANOil™ is a pioneering ingredient created through precision fermentation using upcycled food waste, offering an alternative way to produce high performance oils without the same dependence on conventional agricultural oil crops. Its production has been independently assessed as having up to 95% lower greenhouse gas emissions compared with conventional oil production, while dramatically reducing pressure on agricultural land and natural habitats.

For a tiny Scottish skincare company, being the first to put an ingredient like this into the hands of customers was a hugely significant moment. More importantly, though, it represents something we strongly believe: the future of sustainable skincare does not have to mean choosing between nature and science.

Some ingredients make enormous sense to grow. Some botanical materials can be sourced locally or obtained as useful byproducts of other industries. Others may increasingly be produced through fermentation and biotechnology using far fewer natural resources. The most sustainable formulation is unlikely to come from applying one rule to every ingredient. It will come from asking better questions and being willing to adapt the way we formulate to the environmental realities of the world we live in.

For us, it looks like nettles and niacinamide, yarrow and hyaluronic acid, plant oils alongside precision fermentation. It means making products here in Scotland while remaining curious about science and innovation happening far beyond our studio.

Being rooted somewhere doesn't mean standing still. We want to make the most of what we have here; from remarkable plants growing close to home, to the knowledge and skills we have, while staying open to alternative ingredients, better processes and new ways of doing things. As our understanding of both skin science and environmental impact develops, the way we formulate will develop alongside it.

We will continue looking at the plants growing around us, exploring the science behind the ingredients we use and investigating technologies that could help us make skincare with less pressure on the natural world.

To us, that is what modern Scottish skincare can be: rooted in place, led by evidence and curious about what comes next.