Copy of LUXfoliate: The exfoliator your skin will love
Gentle, smoothing and sensationally nourishing, meet LUXfoliate – the much-anticipated newest product in the Zing Organics range. Here, creator Kirsty Morrison tells writer Emily Rose Mawson how she created the exfoliator of her skincare dreams.
Zing Organics founder Kirsty tells me she has often dreamt of visiting a luxury Indian ashram retreat. I know what she means: just mentioning it conjures up calmness, beautiful green gardens and breezy aromas of floral, chai and musky incense. It’s the same for Kirsty. “Although I haven’t travelled out of Scotland in 15 years, I could clearly experience the sights and smells of a heavenly ayurvedic facial treatment,” she says.
Pair this with the fact that, “for a long time I felt that the only key product missing in our organic skincare collection was an effective yet gentle exfoliant”, and this is the start of LUXfoliate, brand new to Zing Organics for 2025.
Kirsty’s creation, which has been in development for 12 months, is a gift to the world of skincare – especially for those of us, including me, who have suffered with nasty redness and irritation after using exfoliators. This is not uncommon. Exfoliation is important – especially as we get older – because it removes dead skin cells from the outer layer of the epidermis, the skin’s surface, increasing skin cell turnover and reducing the appearance of fine lines.
The problem is that many conventional exfoliators are too harsh for the fragile stratum corneum, the outer layer of the epidermis, which is just two-hundredths of a millimetre thick – and they can cause more harm than good. One study found that treatment with glycolic acid – a very popular chemical exfoliator used to achieve luminous ‘glass skin’ – resulted in increased sensitivity of human skin to SSR, measured as an increase in erythema, DNA damage and sunburn cell formation (1).
‘So often in clients visiting my workshop, I’ve seen skin far too translucent and thinned - especially amongst young clients after enhancement treatments.’ Says Kirsty
Kirsty’s approach is different. She believes that gentle ingredients that have been tried and tested over the centuries are the vastly safer route to skin polishing. So LUXfoliate features sugar crystals and turmeric to softly buff away dead skin cells, a delicate macerate of saffron to illuminate and tackle hyperpigmentation, and coconut and jojoba oil for hydration. There’s a hint of beeswax too, to protect the fragile skin barrier.
“As a facialist myself I'd been using a variety of homemade scrubs as exfoliants during facials which was the perfect testing ground for efficacy and customer satisfaction on the development of the product,” says Kirsty, who reveals that multiple versions of the formula later, it was time to contact the specialist cosmetic safety chemistry labs with her first thoughts.
“The lab wanted, as ever, to be clear that all the ingredient documentations were shipshape, and there was a good bit of to-ing and fro-ing around how I would uniquely be extracting the saffron to optimise the beautifying effects,” she adds.
The saffron, explains Kirsty, is the secret ingredient. It is a slow extract home made saffron macerate, which “provides a powerhouse of skin brightening benefits while also tackling long-standing skin imperfections and age spots”.
Finally, after the best part of a year she received the nod from the lab. Full certification was granted and the final product was ready to package and label.
‘I’m so lucky to have on hand a wonderful lady Ruth, who’s been with me from the get go to handle the art work, a fabulous young local photographer Chiara and superb printers HD down south to bring the presentation to life.’ says Kirsty.
LUXfoliate is 100 per cent botanically derived, and incorporates 100 per cent certified organic ingredients, and it smells sensational – just like those ashrams Kirsty mentioned. Frankincense melts into wafts of kaffir lime that invigorate in the same way as a cool breeze on a warm day. A sort of sensory benefit alongside the smoothing, brightening properties for your skin.
As for the product name, it was “Mr Zing, aka Kenny, my partner in love and zinging, who ultimately came up with the nifty little play on the word exfoliate and it stuck”, says Kirsty, who is “super happy” with the outcome. “I truly hope LUXfoliate meets the expectations of my customers who have been longing for this important addition to the Zing Organic Skincare range,” she says.
Timed perfectly for the season when we want our skin to look its best? It’s safe to say that everyone will be very happy indeed.
LUXfoliate Illuminating Facial Scrub in Saffron with Frankincense and Kaffir Lime is now available to order at -
To browse the full Zing Organics organic skincare collection, please click here: https://www.zingorganics.co.uk/collections/skincare
Sources
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Kornhauser, A. et al. 2010. The Effects of Topically Applied Glycolic Acid and Salicylic Acid on Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced Erythema, DNA Damage and Sunburn Cell Formation in Human Skin. J Dermatol Sci [online]. Read here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2791365/
About our writer
Emily Rose Mawson is a freelance writer and copywriter based on the Isle of Arran. She specialises in creating content and storytelling for small brands and travel businesses.