AS.Apothecary Flagship Shop

Last Sunday I paid a visit down to Lewes, East Sussex to see one of the most beautiful natural skincare shops I’ve ever seen; AS.Apothecary. I was invited by Tamara (Rainbow Feet & The Peridot Magazine) to come and see the new shop and meet owner Amanda Saurin.

I’ve known AS.AP skincare for a couple of years now and meeting Amanda was so lovely as she’s so passionate about her products & the ingredients that go into them. Not to mention, the shop is absolutely beautiful too, so I have to share some photos on here & let you know a bit about what we got up to!

When designing the shop, Amanda wanted everything inside to be created or made by people who share the same ethos as herself & the brand or those from the local community. As you can see from the photos, the shop is a beautiful mix of raw, natural materials like the wooden shelves to the hint of copper (which pays tribute to the copper distiller that Amanda uses to create the essential oils and floral waters that are used in her products). Even down to the price card holders and edges of the boxes which are made from copper which has been treated with different acids to give it a gorgeous effect.

Amanda also has artwork & other products like cushions and baskets created by locals for sale in her shop. This shows just how lovely the local community is & how supportive they are of one another.

Amanda gave us a run-through of all of her beautiful skincare products and of course, our arms were covered in everything you can think of after a while! The scents and textures of the products are simply divine, which is because Amanda only uses the highest quality ingredients that she either grows or buys from top-quality producers. We did a few tests to show just how different certain ingredients can be from oils, essential oils and herbs. Below you can see on the left some calendula herbs which look perfectly fine on their own, which would’ve been picked probably about a year ago. Then in the silver tin on the right you can see the calendula that Amanda is currently using in her products – look at the colour difference!

Just because a product is natural, doesn’t mean it is all the same quality. Amanda showed us three different varieties of olive oil – from a supermarket blend to a fairly well-known olive oil brand and then finally the olive oil she uses. The difference was incredible – the first was clear in colour and tasteless which would have no benefits for the person using it in their skincare, however some brands would simply go for this option as it’s easy & cheap to buy. I now realise even more, how important it is to research the brands I’m using and find out exactly where they source their ingredients from.

We then had the opportunity to make some soap which was very exciting! I didn’t have any photos of this on my camera as I was busy sharing videos on my Instagram stories…sorry! We made the Honey, Tea Tree & Lemon soap though and Amanda is going to let it cure for five weeks before sending us both some in the post which I’m really looking forward to!

Amanda also offers treatments in the beautiful Treatment Room which I’ll definitely have to pay a return visit for. The products are simply gorgeous and I did get to take home an Orange Blossom Aromatic Water which I’m so, so excited to incorporate into my skincare routine.

“We spend four memorable days every April picking orange blossom in Cyprus and 3 days distilling it. It’s a labour of love, surrounded by thousands of placid bees and less placid snakes. The scent is quite simply sublime, floral, heady, warm and earthy like Inhaling the scent of the Mediterranean.”

Thank you so much Amanda for having me visit your beautiful shop! If you’re near the area, AS.Apothecary is located at 31 Western Road, Lewes, BN7 1RL or you can shop Amanda’s beautiful products online.

Amber