From The Mind Of A Sound Engineer Comes A Natural Beauty Brand That Really Rocks The Shelves

Micaela Nisbet has perhaps one of the coolest job descriptions ever: She’s a sound engineer working with A-list musical acts like Lily Allen, Little Simz and Reijjie Snow, and a beauty entrepreneur to boot.

Before she nabbed the gigs of many teenage dreams, she was a young girl growing up in Australia and slathering on natural oils to salvage her skin following dips in the ocean. When her skin started freaking out during a period of constant touring in her mid-20s, Nisbet returned to her skincare roots, starting with almond oil.

“My skin loved it and, then, I wanted something a bit more interesting,” she says. Searching for that something, she encountered potions that were too expensive and cheaper products with unnecessary extracts. Nisbet recalls, “I was thinking, ‘Why can’t I just find a normal, nothing crazy, nice oil?’” Inspired by cool independent beauty brands popping up in the United Kingdom, where she’s based, she decided to produce the skincare she’d been hunting for.

Launched in 2016, Nisbet was the first and most important customer for her brand Neighbourhood Botanicals. Still today, she approaches her beauty business as a customer. She couldn’t find a cleansing oil with naturally-derived emulsifiers. So, Neighbourhood Botanicals put such a cleansing oil on the market. She didn’t want to depend on coconut oil to moisturize her body. So, Neighbourhood Botanicals whipped up a body oil. She can’t find a roll-on natural deodorant she loves. Neighbourhood Botanicals is in the processing of perfecting roll-on natural deodorant.

“I’m trying to just make the best product that I need in my daily life, and it seems like other people are enjoying them, too, so that’s good,” says Nisbet. “The market isn’t just me.”

“I’m trying to just make the best product that I need in my daily life, and it seems like other people are enjoying them, too, so that’s good.”

There are a few products Neighbourhood Botanicals has released in tandem with other people. The brand collaborated with the musician Peaches on the massage oil Rub, and the face oil Young Luv and lip balm Mon Amour with Snow. She’s toured with both of them and points out creativity is a welcome result of being stuck on buses together. Nisbet elaborates, “They wanted some interesting merchandise to sell on their tours or events that they had coming up, so I thought, ‘Why not make something together? Something that’s your own personal product that you can then sell.’”

The collaborations aren’t forced in the manner seen with untold numbers of influencer affiliations. “It just makes you look like just another beauty brand if you’re collaborating with influencers, and it’s not really a collaboration. It’s really like these brands will do all of the testing, employ the chemists to make a formula, and they just need somebody to sell it,” says Nisbet. “It’s inauthentic, really.” She expects to keep striking partnerships, whether they be with musical or visual artists. Nisbet says. “I just follow my nose, but it’ll never be somebody who didn’t share the same values as I did.”

While the collaborations certainly help Neighbourhood Botanicals stand out, Nisbet singles out the brand’s packaging as its chief distinguishing feature. Developed with graphic designer Joe Prytherch, the packaging is anything but minimal. It’s a billboard for bold retro images. The cleanser Face Off has an arresting illustration of a woman removing eye makeup.

“The design has a lot to do with why people pick up the product in the first place,” says Nisbet. “People remember it. It’s a really good advertisement for the brand, I think, without actually being advertising.” Not everybody desires skincare that looks basic. Nisbet surmises, “People want color. They want fun. It’s attracted not just customers, but retailers as well. If it looks interesting on a shelf, customers are more likely to pick it up and, then, once people use the products, of course, they love them and tell their friends. Packaging design is nothing without a good product inside.”

“People want color. They want fun. It’s attracted not just customers, but retailers as well.”

Due to their insides and outsides, Neighbourhood Botanicals’ products have sparked surging consumer demand. Turnover is on track to be up 600% from last year, according to Nisbet, noting she’s finally taking a modest salary from the brand, which is available at Feelunique, Zalando Beauty, Beauty Bay, Wolf and Badger, and Green Jungle Beauty. She reveals she’s fielded interest from investors and has been considering investment lately. “It would need to be someone that would more so add value as a person rather than just money,” she says. “I don’t need millions…I really think having too much money is a bit of a nail in the coffin for a lot of brands.”

Right now, Nisbet’s focus is ensuring she has inventory on hand. “Because [Neighbourhood Botanicals] is changing all the time, it’s growing all the time, it’s really hard to keep our stock flow moving,” she says. Additionally, she’s exploring strategies for innovating within the natural and sustainable beauty segment. Refillable products could arrive soon. Nisbet says, “When people think, ‘I want to go natural. I want to switch up my skincare routine,’ I want to be in the top handful of brands that people think about or wish to buy from. That’s the goal really, and to be sharing the space with a few other natural indie brands that are my contemporaries, and we grow to take up that market together.”

Recently, Nisbet curated a physical space for Neighbourhood Botanicals and its contemporaries to occupy in London. “It’s a step up from a studio, but not quite a brick-and-mortar,” she says. In addition to skincare, products in it include incense, perfumes, candles, silk pillowcases and safety razors. Nisbet says, “It’s somewhere where people can come and understand the whole feeling and personality behind Neighbourhood Botanicals.” Having a physical space encourages personal interactions. “It’s been good to meet my customers,” says Nisbet. “It’s good to know the questions that they’re wondering, talk them through different skin concerns, and get their feedback on the brand. It’s made me more motivated to keep going.”