Why We Embrace the Power of Plant-based Skin & Self care

Exploring the Power of Plant-based Skin & Self Care

Why do we do what we do?

I started Bumble & Birdie because I felt an attraction to the beauty of flora of all kinds and a healthy love for self care. I love how both concepts can carve a path to healing, whether that be physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. After that well, a strong curiosity of the plant extraction process, experimenting with formulations and learning about horticulture became my obsession. 

Im inspired by nature, people, seasonal flora, self cultivation, harvesting and foraging of plant matter. What drives this business is sustainability practices through utilising natural materials, plant sources and healing the body and mind through self care.

What do we do ? 

All our therapeutic skincare is made with base ingredients we have harvested, extracted, formulated and hand poured into the bottle.

All our candles are blended from scratch,  assembled and also poured by hand into the jar.

All of our essential oil blends are formulated onsite and handpoured into the bottle. We distill some not all of our essential oils on site, of those flora we do distill ourselves, flora is sourced seasonally at availablity and locally cultivated and harvested. Other essential oils we utilise are ethically sourced usually organic in nature.

All our pieces in the home collection are made from naturally occurring materials (clay, stone, crystals) or recycled or foraged materials (sea glass, copper, driftwood, flowers/fruits) and designed and made by local artists.

Why candles? 

We decided to produce candles because they can add to the whole process of self care allowing you to set an ambient atmosphare to  tune out of the busy day and tune in to your self.

Why skincare?

Skincare formulations were my first love, creating body oil, face masks, scrubs and soaps. I wanted to produce things that are simple and effective that anyone could basically make from their garden and kitchen cupboards. Using predominantly botanical based ingredients and utilising plant matter that has been backed by scientific research in skin formations is a win-win. Not only knowing what’s going into our skin is important being the largest organ that makes up your body but also using a skin brand that isn’t creating rubbish in our bodys or on our planet. The concept of  using nature for skincare in sustainable and respectful way during the harvesting process is also important to our business ethos. 

Why home decor? 

Home pieces were brought in to the online store because I loved the idea of sustainable home decor and when you’re using nature which all our items do, they bring a gorgeous organic energy into the house with them, they all break down in the earth easily. Whether it be a stone mat where the artist has hand-picked those stones while on her journey around Aotearoa or an artist in her 80s who does pottery in her back yard, or a forager who makes dried flower arrangements from forage materials. They all have on been a journey, come with a story to tell and I love these kinds of humans and this who Bumble & Birdie NZ choose to align ourselves with in business. 

How do we extract from seasonal flora? 

We use two methods: steam distillation and cold and heat oil infusion both are simple extraction processes.

Using a copper stil, hot steam is passed through a basket containing plant matter (flowers, stems or leaves) where it ruptures the plant structures carrying away with it the essential oils this is the concentrated volatile compounds of the plant matter. The vapour is  cooled and condensed to a liquid- known as hydrosols.  We then separate the hydrosol and essential oil and bottle it. This method has the advantage of being free from a variety of environmental toxins and pollutants due to their nonvolatile nature.

Cold infusion and heat infusion process, we macerate dried or fresh plant matter in sunflower oil or jojoba oil at room temperature for several weeks.

For our balm we heat the infusion for a few hours at a low temperature and add bees wax and essential oil blends.

We take sustainable harvesting seriously, cultivating our own plant sources, or procuring from local growers with verified pesticide-free practices.

What plants do we extract from?

Kawakawa leave’s and flowers by distillation to produce hydrosol and we use the leave’s to cold infuse carrier oil and heat infuse balms.

Manuka plant utilising the leaves by distillation to produce hydrosol and essential oil. We use the leave’s and stems to cold infuse carrier oil and heat infuse balms.

Kanuka utilising the leaves by distillation to produce hydrosol and essential oil. We use the leave’s and stems to cold infuse carrier oil and heat infuse balms.

Lavender plant using the flower by distillation to produce hydrosol, essential oil and decorative cold infusion our body oil. 

Rosemary using the flower, leaves and twigs by distillation to produce hydrosol and essential oil.

Rose using the flower buds by distillation to produce hydrosol and infusion of carrier oil.

Orange using the skin and grind by distillation to produce hydrosol and essential oil

Lemon using the skin and grind by distillation to produce hydrosol and essential oil

Lime using the skin and grind by distillation to produce hydrosol and essential oil

Yuzu using the skin and grind by distillation to produce hydrosol and essential oil

Cucumber using the skin and flesh by distillation to produce hydrosol.

After the distillation or infusion process the essential oil and hydrosol derived from the plant source is bottled and later utilised in our skincare in small batches. The left over plant matter from the distillation process becomes waste product and is used as fertiliser for our plants.

We harvest/forage other seasonal flora at the end of there growth stage for the leaves, flowers or fruits which are hang to dry or heat dried and utilised as compostable yet stylish natural packaging in our gift set boxes or used to infuse our body oils.

The concept of healing through nature feels natural and as we go forward on this Bumble & Birdie journey we aim to continue to learn and add to our kete through the season’s, experience and research.  Our aim is to continue to share our concept of mind-body wellness and self care by indulging in nature.

If you would like to hear more from us, indulging in nature, product how-to's and our adventures resourcing our raw ingredients.

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Until next time, keep it clean,

Bumble & Birdie NZ