BARR: The secret to healthy skin, from the forest

Text: Malin Norman | Photos © Barr

When the autumn and winter months are approaching, give your skin some love with organic skincare brand BARR. Its award-winning products are made from natural ingredients, for healthy and beautiful skin.

Based in Strömsund in the region of Jämtland, upcoming Swedish beauty brand BARR makes exclusive organic skincare products from natural ingredients. Inspired by nature and developed to carefully help improve skin health, the products are made by own recipes and only high-quality organic ingredients are used.

“Here in Strömsund, we live in the middle of the countryside,” says co-founder Rikard Andersson. With coniferous forest just around the corner, Andersson and his wife started their own organic beauty brand in 2015 and decided to name it BARR, which is Swedish and means coniferous.

Soul of Scandinavia

“It all started with love and focus when we had our son,” continues Andersson. “As parents, we became more aware of the products we used and only wanted the best for our baby. A lot of products have strange ingredients, some of them are even harmful, and we wanted to find an alternative. We decided to try and make toxin-free products ourselves.”

All BARR’s products are 100 per cent natural and include a high degree of organic ingredients. “We want to provide products that everyone feels are safe to use and can trust quality-wise. And we want to give a sense of Sweden and Scandinavia, through our design and our products.”

In less than three years, BARR has won several prominent awards that show the brand’s high quality and excellent products. BARR’s very first product was baby oil, launched less than three years ago. As proof of its success, the baby oil was recently awarded bronze in the category Baby & Child at the Green Parents Natural Beauty Awards 2018 in the UK.

Award-winning snow oil

The brand’s bestseller so far is Snow Oil, a body oil made especially for skin that needs extra nutrition and moisture. It also has a softening and calming effect, and is claimed to improve texture and tone. Andersson confirms, “the oil is rich and works really well on dry skin, without being sticky.”

In only a couple of years, Snow Oil has won a number of prominent awards. For instance, it was named Best New Natural Product in the Pure Beauty Awards 2017 in the UK. “This was almost a bit unreal,” admits Andersson. “We were really surprised to win this award as an upcoming brand, and of course we are incredibly proud of the achievement.” Snow Oil also won in the category Best Body Oil in the Swedish Organic Beauty Awards 2017, and was named Best Body Oil at Beauty Shortlist Mama&Baby 2018 in the UK.

The praise also carries through to magazines, where Snow Oil was named Best Swedish Skincare Product 2017 by Aftonbladet’s beauty editors with the motivation, “Swedish organic skincare at its best. Clean, fragrant and moisturising.”

Scents from the forest

Also popular is the Secret Forest Face Oil, a luxurious oil with a high level of vitamins and anti-oxidants claimed to prevent wrinkles and free radicals, and with a fragrance from the depths of the forest. This oil is ideal for all ages, for dry skin, and for unbalanced and stressed skin.

Andersson confirms that BARR is broadening its range at a steady pace, most recently with multivitamin facial cream, which is already a favourite for many customers. This cream is a combined day and night cream, which improves elasticity for healthier skin. Another new product is the multivitamin face mask, a nourishing facial mask that is deep cleansing and smoothes and balances the skin. As expressed by one customer on Instagram, “It’s cleansing and refreshing with everything your skin needs.”