Aurora in Latin is Dawn and represents the Roman Goddess of Dawn, who inspires beauty, youthfulness and trust. Trust that as the sun sets across the sky, a new dawn is coming, bringing forth renewed hope and new beginnings.

Aurora Natural Skincare is dedicated to you – the brave! To the fearless warriors who go forth daily, no matter what bruises you wear on your heart. To inspire you to love and appreciate more about yourself. To remind you, your level of self-worth is not related to your skin condition, imperfections or aging skin. You are always worthy and deserving of self-love.

Aurora Natural Skincare is dear to my heart. I spent my teens searching for safe skincare for my sensitive skin and allergies. After countless visits to Dermatologists and being a vegetarian for a decade, I switched to natural skincare. Only to discover they contained ingredients I reacted to. Even essential oils contained fragrance allergens which irritated my skin.

My search led me to a solution from 16th Century Europe – Castile Soap, created from pure Extra Virgin Olive Oil. After months of perfecting my formulation with noticeable results, Health shops began stocking them.

After being offered the opportunity of a lifetime to learn to formulate safe skincare and align with SA and EU Cosmetic Regulations, I left behind IT Consulting. In 2019 I joined ten postgrad students. Qualifying cum laude as a Cosmetic Formulation Scientist from the University of Cape Town’s Hair and Skin Research (HSR) Lab.

It was important I understand every ingredient from source to skin and understand how to formulate for people with dry, sensitive and reactive skin. As one customer put it ‘Jes will not use ingredients, she is not willing to use on herself‘. After all, my Aurora products are what I use on myself.

For me, it is about what happens to my customer’s skin post purchase and being part of their journey. Bearing in mind they are not Cosmetic Formulation Scientists, I provide 1:1 Consultations and run workshops to empower customers about skin-safe ingredients and identifying allergens in their existing skincare. I also Consult to small brands and create Giftpacks for Baby showers, birthdays and looking to sell more to Guest farms.

I recently joined Formula Botanica’s community of graduates with my Certificate in Organic Anti-Ageing Skincare. When not working with Aurora Focus Groups I can be seen mentoring youth in my neighbourhood. Stay tuned to see what Aurora gets up to this Madiba Day. If you would like to join our Aurora Tribe please contact us on Social media and become part of the family.

Your skin deserves to feel nourished with gentle, skin-loving ingredients. My hope in selecting high-end skin-safe ingredients is for you to experience more calm. Trust your skin knows how to return to its state of balance and harmony. You to enjoy skincare rituals that allow you to fall more in love with your skin that your skin conditions and imperfections no longer matter.

Aurora is a brand with purpose, committed to being skin-friendly and earth-friendly. Aurora Renewal Serum and Organic Baobab Body Balm, were entered into the 10th annual Beauty Shortlist Mama & Baby Awards in June 2022. The most prestigious awards in the industry “shine the light on the highest-scoring clean, green ethical products for mums, mums-to-be and babies, toddlers and children “.

 “The awards provide an expert-compiled guide to the best, tested, all-natural safe and gentle products for mums and their little ones, all by ethical brands – the products with trustworthy, transparent INCI/ingredients that work well and are beautiful to use.”

“Retailers, consumers and editors trust these awards which honour the outstanding mum and baby heroes of the year from ethical brands, through a proudly independent judging process.”

Aurora Natural Skincare is proud to have been shortlisted as an Editor’s Choice winner just prior to its first birthday last July.

More than a natural skincare brand, Aurora aspires to make positive social impacts.

During my internship I became aware of the large volumes of plastic used to fill skincare products daily. Followed by more plastic to encase the products and protect them during transit.

I decided to find out how much plastic this industry was responsible for. Research showed that since 2017 the Beauty Industry has produced around 76.8 billion in plastic packaging. With great power, comes great responsibility. Consumers deserve the right not only to safe-skincare ingredients but to provide them with planet-friendly choices. I was determined to ensure Aurora Natural Skincare would be a 100% Plastic Free skincare brand.

Aurora Natural Skincare incentivizes the return of empty bottles and tins with the Return and Refill initiative underway in Cape Town.

In addition I started an initiative that involves collecting waste printer paper donated by local businesses. Which is then transformed by Growing Paper company into beautiful 100% recycled, plantable & biodegradable handcrafted Aurora Seed Paper cards. The current Seed paper cards contain either (Basil &  Rocket) or (Carrot & Lettuce) seeds.  The Seed Paper card accompanies each order and make an ideal handcrafted, personalized Gift tag or can be planted.