Founder Epara Skincare didn’t start in a lab in London. It started in her grandmother’s backyard in Nigeria — where the “medicine cabinet” was a patch of soil.
Herbalist grandmothers don’t use retinol. They use fermented shea butter and tamarind pulp. That’s the real luxury. Harrods stocks it now, but the formula still smells like a kitchen, not a department store.
£85 for 30ml. The claim that got me: “absorbs in 10 seconds.” I timed it. It’s not a lie.
Featherlight texture
Feels like water sliding off silk. Zero grease.
Dropper that actually works
Not those glass pipettes that slurp too much. One drop = one cheek.
Scent that fades fast
Earthy, almost medicinal — then gone in 30 seconds. Thank god.
Photo: Chang Duong / Unsplash
No filler oils. No fragrance masking cheap bases. The hero is baobab — a tree that stores water in its trunk for months. That’s what your skin is getting.
- Baobab oil: Sinks in instantly, doesn’t clog pores
- Tamanu: Calms redness like a chilled spoon on a burn
- Moringa: Pollution shield — living in a city, you need this
- Vitamin E: The stabiliser that keeps it fresh without chemicals
Photo: Alexandra Tran / Unsplash
First drop: dark amber, thin, almost watery. Smells like crushed leaves. It disappeared into my cheek before I could rub it in. Weird — is that working?
Week two: I stopped reaching for my day cream. My skin stopped drinking moisturiser like it was thirsty. That’s the real win — you forget you’re wearing anything.
Photo: Gabriel Goncalves / Unsplash
My fine lines didn’t vanish. But my skin stopped looking dull by 2pm. The glow isn’t shiny — it’s lit-from-within, like you actually slept.
It’s expensive for an oil. But it’s not really an oil — it’s a ritual that actually works. Your grandmother would approve.