5 Lessons Ten Years in Skincare Has Taught Me

I received an email recently that made me pause.

It was from a very puzzled customer, asking a simple question:

Have you ever looked at the back of a beauty product and wondered what half the ingredients actually are?

I smiled, because ten years ago, I was asking myself exactly the same thing.

Back then, I didn’t have answers — just curiosity, frustration, and skin that wasn’t happy. What I’ve learned since has shaped everything I do now.

Lesson One: The Problem Is Rarely Your Skin

One of the first things I learned is this:

If your skin feels dry, tight, reactive or uncomfortable — especially as you get older — it’s very easy to assume your skin is the problem.

I did too.  But more often than not, it isn’t.

Over the years, I’ve seen again and again that skin struggling in midlife isn’t failing — it’s responding. To hormones. To barrier changes. To products that ask too much and give too little back.

Lesson Two: Skincare Is a Business Before It’s a Solution

As I learned more, I started to understand the business of beauty.

Most skincare is made by large brands owned by even larger companies. They answer to shareholders and are driven by growth targets and margins — and that shapes what ends up in the jar.

That doesn’t make them villains. But it does mean compromise is built in.

Over time, I learned how those compromises show up:

• Expensive, skin-loving ingredients used in tiny amounts

• Cheaper filler ingredients added to bulk out formulas

• Ingredients chosen for shelf life and scalability, not skin comfort

• Texture, fragrance and “feel” prioritised because they sell

Once you know how to read an ingredient list, you can see it everywhere.

Lesson Three: Anti-Ageing Is the Wrong Conversation

Another thing ten years has taught me is how damaging the language of skincare can be.

Anti-ageing never sat comfortably with me.

Ageing is biology. Skin thins, dries, becomes more sensitive — not because it’s failing, but because our bodies change.

Yet so much skincare is built around the idea that something has gone wrong.

I’ve learned that skin doesn’t need fixing.  It needs support, nourishment and respect.

Lesson Four: This Became Personal Before It Became Professional

I didn’t start with a business plan. I started with tricky skin and frustration.

Products that were too harsh. Too fragranced. Too focused on “correcting” rather than comforting.

So I began experimenting. Slowly. Badly at first. Then better.

I re-trained.  I learned about plant oils, butters, barrier function, formulation — and why some ingredients soothe while others quietly irritate.

What began as a personal need became an obsession with understanding why.

Lesson Five: Knowledge Changes How You Choose

Ten years in, I now know how to look at a product and understand:

• what’s doing the work

• what’s there for stability

• and what’s there purely to sell the idea of luxury

And this is the biggest lesson of all:

The skincare industry is not designed for better skin.
It’s designed to sell skincare.

That doesn’t mean you can’t find good products.  But it does mean better skin often comes from looking beyond the marketing.

Choosing to Do Things Differently

Everything I’ve learned has shaped how I work at The Rose Tree.

I choose:

• high levels of nourishing plant oils and butters

• ingredients chosen for skin comfort, not trends

• small batches instead of mass production

• fewer products, made with intention

• no anti-ageing promises

This has made all the difference to my skin. It is also the foundation which I believe has made such a difference to thousands of women just like you.  Dryness eased. Sensitivity softened. Confidence returned.

The 60+ awards that followed are a lovely nod — but they were never the goal.
It was always about more comfortable skin.

What Ten Years Has Really Taught Me

Once you understand how skincare is made — and why — you stop being swayed by fear-based marketing and miracle claims.

You start asking better questions:

• Who is this product really designed for?

• What compromises were made?

• Does this support my skin — or just the story being sold?

That’s where better skin begins.

Because your skin isn’t broken.  It doesn’t need fixing.  It needs understanding.

And ten years in, that’s the lesson I value most.

— Olga 🌿