Why this budget beauty brand deserves more buzz
Gone are the days of buying expensive skincare products promising innovative and radical ways of solving your skin concerns. Now, make way for the fresh, new indie brands stealing the limelight with effective active formulas available for just under the £20 mark.
As a beauty brand founder and all-around skincare nut, I have to admit that the one thing I am obsessed with is finding affordable skincare brands. I am a great fan of Deciem’s The Ordinary which has been widely considered to be the trailblazer for affordably functional skincare, closely followed by brands like The Inkey List, Revolution Skincare and CeraVe. Today, however, I want to talk about a brand that I am quite sure you haven’t heard about called Garden of Wisdom.
Garden of Wisdom (GoW) is an Arizonian-based brand which sells exclusively to Victoria Health. Shabir Daya, pharmacist and co-founder of Victoria Health, worked with the founders of the brand to repackage and refine the formulations ready for sale in the UK market. And oh, did it pay off!
Unlike practically every beauty brand out there currently, GoW did not launch with a savvy marketing plan, sleek social media or even an intelligent website. No, instead they relied heavily upon the power of word of mouth (through Reddit and forums, believe it or not). The brand is known widely for their highly sophisticated and straightforward serums, many of which I use within my current skincare routine and absolutely adore.
I first heard of GoW from beauty journalist, Nadine Baggott, who champions budget skincare from every corner of the beauty industry. She talks widely about GoW, praising the brand for being straight-talking, results-driven and most importantly, inexpensive.
Personally, I find GoW a very underrated brand. Their products contain the least number of inactive ingredients meaning that every product made packs a punch for the better, truly changing the appearance of your skin and helping with specific skin concerns. Aside from that, I also respect how transparent the brand is. It goes against conventional modern marketing with simple and monotone packaging, but with all the information you would ever need on the bottle and formulations that really work. My hero product just has to be The Vitamin C Serum 23% + Ferulic Acid, it is, by far, the best vitamin C serum I have EVER used. It is not grainy texture-wise which is so often the case with high percentage vitamin Cs, it gives minimal tingle, and it really does brighten the skin and improve sun-damaged pigmentation. But the best part? It costs just £10!
Opening images: photographed by Carlone Tompkins.
