Welcome back, skincare lover! I’m so excited about today’s share! It’s the wonderful Tea & Tonic Gentle Solitude Face Oil! I was delighted to discover the UK wellness brand Tea & Tonic. This interesting company matches skincare and teas for your brightest skin and self.
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I’ll be honest with you. With upwards of 30 facial oils in my collection, and a house move looming, I’m trying to be sensible and rein in my face oils collection until after the move. But Gentle Solitude got me so curious, I had to try it!
What fascinates me about Tea & Tonic is their expert blending of local herbs like borage and lavender, with supportive adaptogenic herbs like ashwaghanda, holy basil, and ginseng.
Have you heard about adaptogenic herbs?
Adaptogen super herbs naturally enhance our resistance to daily stressors, re-balance and support a healthy immune system. These are powerful supportive agents that help protect, strengthen and regenerate skin, body and soul.
Jane Wallwork, Tea & Tonic Medicinal Herbalist
The founder of the brand, Sarah Strang, discovered adaptogen herbs as a tonic to a stressful lifestyle running a business and juggling her young family. She truly understands how stress can affect both how we look and how we feel.
Thus, Tea & Tonic aims to bring balance and resilience to those of us in need.
I really love how the brand personally infuses all of its local herbs and supports British suppliers of ingredients such as Birch Sap, Cotswold Lavender, and Halen Môn Anglesey Sea Salt. It really is quite impressive!
Now we know more about the brand, let’s look at the goodies I tried.
Tea & Tonic Gentle Solitude Face Oil
It’s a gentle fragrance-free face oil touted as a tonic for soothed, smooth, and supple skin. I think it’s quite a rich oil that would work best for dry, sensitive, mature, or stressed skins. Those with eczema, psoriasis or dermatitis would also find it incredibly useful thanks to its soothing and anti-inflammatory qualities.
Tea & Tonic describe Gentle Solitude as high in nutrients and antioxidant vitamins C and E, omega fatty acids, and GLA (Gamma Linolenic Acid) – the “elixir for elasticity”.
I chose this oil to share with my eldest daughter, Cara, who is 3. I thought it would be nice for her to use a few drops after her bath or shower. She loves playing with oils with pipette droppers!
Ingredients
Borago Officinalis (Starflower) Seed Oil, Crambe Abyssinica Seed Oil, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Ribes Nigrum (Blackcurrant) Seed Oil, Camelina Sativa Seed Oil, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Bacopa Monniera (Brahmi) Leaf Extract, Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Leaf Extract, Panax Ginseng (White & Red Ginseng) Root Extract, Eleutherococcus Senticosus (Siberian Ginseng) Root Extract, Phyllanthus Emblica (Amla) Fruit Extract, Ocimum Tenuiflorum (Holy Basil) Leaf Extract, Schizandra Chinensis (Schisandra Berry) Fruit Extract.
Let’s look at a few of these ingredients.
- Borage ~ the perfect carrier oil and base for Gentle Solitude. Anti-inflammatory borage seed oil improves the health of the skin barrier and works well for dry skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and rosacea.
- Crambe seed ~ often compared with jojoba and revered for its silicone-like feel and high Omega 9 content.
- Brahmi ~ soothes and calms inflammatory skin conditions, treats acne and hyperpigmentation.
- Centella Asiatica ~ antioxidant, soothing; improves hydration.
- Panax Ginseng ~ a natural balancer for all skin types.
- Siberian Ginseng ~ wrinkle smoothing, elasticity improving.
- Amla ~ rich in vitamin C.
- Holy Basil ~ cooling, soothing, elasticity booster.
I’m totally in love with this unique combination of ingredients.
Using the Tea & Tonic Gentle Solitude Face Oil
Gentle Solitude comes in a glass bottle with dropper, housed in a gorgeous luxury cardboard carton. I use the oil in both my AM and PM routines.
The light in colour oil is rich without being greasy. It has such a luxurious skin feel – I really love it. The scent of borage oil is slightly detectable, but pleasingly mild and natural.
Taking 3 or 4 drops in my palms, I smooth them over my face and press the oil into my skin. My skin is instantly comforted. It feels smooth and plump. The oil works well under my makeup, which I really appreciate.
I’ve thrown a lot of treatments at my skin over the last few weeks as I’m trying to use old products up. With retinol, AHAs, and BHAs, I’m putting my skin through a lot. But Gentle Solitude is a calming force in my skincare routine. I know I’m going to reach for it many times. And I can’t wait to see how my skin fares with a couple of months use.
I absolutely love the adaptogenic herbs in the formula, I think they show huge promise for improving the skin – adapting their benefits to work where they’re needed most.
Gentle Solitude really is the tonic I’ve been looking for!
Tea & Tonic Gentle Solitude Face Oil
The teas
Tea & Tonic sent me a single tea bag of each of their delicious and healthful teas to try. The teas also contain adaptogens such as ashwagandha and gotu kola. Here I give my brief thoughts.
Note: teas may not be suitable while pregnant or breastfeeding.
White Mint Wellness Tea
I was drawn to try this tea first. Jasmine and mint form the flavour profile of this bright yet mellow tea. Perfect for a lazy afternoon.
Golden Milk Wellness Tea
Delicate herbal flavour with a hint of tumeric. I liked mine with oat milk before bed.
Ginger Tumeric Wellness Tea
Refreshing lemon myrtle and zingy ginger shine together in this delicious caffeine free tea.
English Breakfast Wellness Tea
A gentle black tea. A hint of rosemary lifts this tea to a special place.
Earl Grey Saving Grace Wellness Tea
Refreshing and revitalising with the delicate flavour of bergamot.
Final thoughts on Tea & Tonic Gentle Solitude Face Oil
I’m totally in awe of Tea & Tonic! They’re doing truly amazing things with wonderful ingredients while encouraging us to reduce our stress. The concept of marrying tea with skincare with ingredients that truly improve our health really speaks to my soul.
View the full range at teaandtonic.co.uk and see @teaandtonicapothecary for inspiration.
Will you try Tea & Tonic? Do you use adaptogenic herbs? Let me know in comments! And remember to subscribe and follow.
Until next time!
5 Comments
I love all the natural ingredients and oils in here! And the added teas sound so refreshing.
This is like a great product line, tea has always been so good for the skin.
My skin is so dry so I do love oils that I can use to soften my skin. This looks like a good one!
Oh this sounds like great stuff! I love that its all nartual ingrendensts
Great ingredients! Adding teas is great and something new! This is something good to try!