Made in Scotland: Castle Apothecary

Our newest Made in Scotland Blog is here! We chatted with the lovely Alison from Castle Apothecary about her lockdown inspired business inspired by Scotland’s rich natural heritage and garden plants. Alison handcrafts a range of beautiful soaps, hand washes, body scrubs, hand creams and lotions featuring Scottish and British plant oils with the aim of helping dry and sensitive skin. We love the scents and textures in Castle Apothecary’s products and loved hearing from Alison about her inspiration and favourite products.

Can you tell us how your business got started?

My business started during COVID as I developed eczema on my hands with all the extra handwashing and hand sanitising. Normally I’d be giving aromatherapy treatments with lovely rich moisturising oils and because I couldn’t do that, I used the oils with natural butters to make natural cold pressed bar soaps. This helped me break the dry skin cycle and my hands to get back to normal, even with the extra handwashing.

Where do you look for inspiration when you are designing new products? 

My inspiration comes from over 25 years of hands on experience in my aromatherapy clinics, combined with the evolving skincare needs of my customers. Skincare is a deeply sensory experience and the challenge and joy lies in creating distinctive aromas and textures my customers love, while delivering effective skincare solutions.

 

Can you tell us a bit more about how you make your products?

Everything is handcrafted in small batches and often made fresh to order or to restock existing stockists or new wholesale customers. I’m either having a skincare day or soapmaking day or juggling the many other tasks involved in running a small business. Planning is key to ensure materials and packaging are available to fulfil stock for website orders, wholesale orders and in-person events. Spreadsheets and paperwork are key for formulation batch sizes. All equipment is sanitised before any measuring takes place and scales and thermometers are my best friends. I weigh and measure each ingredient before combining them depending either warm or cold depending on the formula.

What are your most popular products and which are your own favourites?

The most popular products are the award-winning Garden Spa Hand & Body Lotion which has won a Vegan Beauty Award and was renamed by customers as they often say it smells like a spa or country garden. The Gardener’s Lavender & Rosemary hand cream is also a best seller and tourists to Scotland love our Wee Scottish Sheep which are always selling out. I love making our award-winning hand & foot scrubs and was completely thrilled when the Foot Scrub won the Women & Home Top 100 Best Beauty Buys in 2024.

If you had to pick one place in Scotland to recommend that people visit, where would it be?

This is so difficult as I love so many places and thanks to my work, I get to travel around Scotland. My number one autumn destination is Perthshire as I love the changing colours of the trees in September and love the Ayrshire coast during the summer.

Thanks so much to Alison for talking with us and do make sure that you follow Castle Apothecary on their Website, Facebook or Instagram!