Ethical brand Aromatika to open retail-focused salons across the South West

Ethical beauty brand Aromatika is opening new retail-focused salons in Cornwall and Somerset following strong trading at its flagship Exeter site.

Owned by aromatherapist Lisa Hosking, the salon sells hand-made, ethical, vegetarian and vegan products, as well as offering treatments including body scrubs, massages and purifying facials, using the brand’s products.

The new sites, set to open over the next three months, will be in Truro and Frome, with two other locations in the pipeline.

Hosking said: “The success of the Exeter store has given us the opportunity to continue expanding. Exeter will remain our biggest and undoubtedly most successful, but these other locations are perfectly suited to Aromatika and we have really high hopes. In Exeter, we have established ourselves as a warm, friendly and approachable city day spa."

Hosking lived in Sydney, where she learned how to hand make ethical and vegan beauty products. She moved back to the UK and opened her first store in Totnes in 2006, before opening the Exeter site in 2014, which consists of a shop on the ground floor and treatment rooms upstairs.

“I decided to come back to the UK to see if I could make it work here. I started small, on my kitchen table, but soon became busy enough to open a shop in Totnes. As well as selling the products we decided to start offering treatments and therapies, specially designed using our own products,” added Hosking.

The Aromatika range includes moisturisers, cleansers, toners and soap, and uses local produce wherever possible.