Welcome to the next instalment of the #beautyinsider Q&As, where you can find out who is behind some of your favourite beauty brands, what they are working on and how they got there. This month’s guest is Ria Pattni, Co-Founder of Fushi, an ethical Ayurveda inspired health and beauty brand with a special focus on fresh pressed oils. Hand blended in their London workshop, I discovered Fushi’s certified organic rosehip oil a little while ago thanks to my local Planet Organic – where I’ve been known to browse the beauty aisle way longer than any of the food aisles. I’ve been a fan of rosehip oil and its many skincare benefits (from anti-ageing to fading scars) for a while now but this product made me want to know more about Fushi and since discovering their beautiful Rose & Jasmine Gift Set I’ve been hooked. So to satisfy my curiosity I asked Ria to share some of her star ingredients and proudest moments.

1. Hi Ria, thank you for being my Insider Q&A guest this month. Let’s start from the beginning: every beauty brand has a story, what is Fushi’s?

It began with my husband and I’s combined cultural heritage and Ayurvedic family recipes handed down by our grandparents who blended oils and infused herbs to create natural remedies. We wanted to make this wonderful wisdom available to everyone in an easier way. Fushi was born from this idea and evolved to what it is today.

2. I always find the inspiration behind brand names intriguing – how did the name Fushi come about?

Fushi means ‘eternal living’ so in a way this resonated with our idea of creating a brand which both nurtured the inside and outside.

3. Insider news please! What natural beauty trends would you say we should we look out for?

I think the trend is moving towards the minimalist approach in natural beauty. Looking after your skin is all about using fewer, but harder-working products that contain intense concentrations of active ingredients. Which is why we endorse pure oils for the ‘skin’s diet’, as they are abundant with pure active nutrients that are more effective.

4. Can you share with us some of the star ingredients in your products and their benefits?

We love herbs and oils, and we are always using wonderful indigenous ingredients sourced from all over the world, in our formulations. Our organic fresh-ground Manjistha health supplements for example contain a natural skin brightening herb packed with essentials nutrients that enrich the skin in more ways than one, including protecting, reducing the appearance of fine lines and boosting skin health.

5. As founder of a natural beauty brand, what so far has been your proudest moment?

I would say it’s more like is a collection of many happy moments, whether big or small. It could be great feedback from customers, seeing our wonderful team work so hard to achieve our goals and just being on actual shop shelves. It’s also great when we can share our knowledge to help our customers, this is perhaps most rewarding.

6. What skincare recommendations do you share most often with your customers?

Always to incorporate oils into your skin care. Oils are so powerful, packed with nutrients and age defying properties I generally advise a few drops blended daily with your moisturiser or also applied at as a night oil treatment every evening.

7. What exciting projects do you have coming up in the next few months?

We are planning a very exciting launch for March which will see Fushi entering a brand new category. Stay tuned for more information!

8. And finally – what do you get up to when you’re not surrounded by beauty products?

Music, films and yoga are my go to place for some down time!

If you have any burning questions you’d like to ask Ria why not leave a comment below? Or you can get in touch with her directly on Instagram.