About Vanessa

I’m Vanessa Kemp and I was born and raised in New Zealand. One of my early childhood memories is of visiting my grandfather’s chemist’s shop in York on a family trip to England. I couldn’t see over the counter but I loved watching my grandmother make lipsticks and cosmetics while my grandfather blended his own magic creams and lotions for customers.

Back in England as an adult I trained at the leading Shirley Price International College of Aromatherapy and for the past 12 years have run a successful private practice in Gloucestershire.

I soon started blending my own products – the first was a pain relief lotion for a client with arthritis which remains a best seller. As I lay in the bath one day thinking about Belgian chocolates, my bath essences ought to look a little more luxurious and the idea of the bath melt was born. I started selling them in Stroud Farmers’ Market but they soon gathered an enthusiastic following and by 2002 I needed to move production into a small factory unit.

Now my melts and skin and bath care products are sold all over the world, but I remain true to the concept that everything should be handmade, pure and ethically sourced (where possible). I continue to create new blends and products and still massage one day a week at an NHS doctor’s surgery. And I still man my stall at the farmers’ market some Saturday mornings. It gives me a chance to meet my customers face to face and understand what they need. Talking to them gives me many of my new ideas.

I live with my husband Mark, young son Freddie and a variety of cats, chickens, sheep and pigs on a farm just a mile or so from the factory unit.