Gentle Sun Cream SPF 30 was complicated from the jump.

A very smart woman once told me that life is 50/50 – 50% great and everything goes as planned, and 50% shit where nothing goes as planned. 

So in 2020, when I envisioned the year ahead, I made the bold choice to develop my dream sunscreen…I already had a laundry list of what I wanted to include in my formula. Little did I know I would spend six years hitting my head against the lab wall. Years of feeling like the challenges were insurmountable.

Packaging, manufacturing, oils that separated, preserving systems that didn't hold, SPF factors that were less than 30 in FDA trials, tariffs, wars, so many moments I thought this would never happen.

Botnia’s SPF wasn’t invented by a white-label lab. Our SPF was invented by me. With hydrosols from plants I grew. Oils from farms we vetted. My goal for the Gentle Sun Cream is skincare you deserve and lust for. Blendable with ingredients that work with your skin to protect its barrier from UV stress. 

I say this often and it's true: I’m an esthetician in my lab and a scientist in my treatment room.

I think about skin physiology and how the body interacts with a product's nutrition. After 53 variations I ended up with an SPF I look forward to applying. Safe for my acne-prone, sensitive, dry skin. Not greasy, won't sting the eyes, and faintly smells of geraniums. 

Today it's finally here. 

Today feels like triumph. 

Today feels like the height of my career. 

It feels like standing on top of a mountain. I would be lying if I didn't admit I’m tired. But mostly I’m feeling satisfied, peaceful, and complete in my conviction to create skincare I want to put on my body. I designed this as much for you as for me. 

The shit thing about hard things is that it only ever feels good on the other side. Over the last six years people have asked me if I would ever make a sunscreen. That question felt like failure until today.

Every time I saw a client in my spa and they told me they didn't wear SPF daily because they hated how it made their skin feel – it felt like failure until today. 

The story of Gentle Sun Cream SPF 30 is one of doing hard things. It's feeling failure and pushing through that feeling until you succeed. 

You can now buy Gentle Sun Cream here and through Botnia spa partners. We did it! Hurrrahhh!

Use in good health and in the sunshine
<3 Justine