The Future of Skin Health is Fungi: Herbar Beauty

Adaptogenic Beauty & The Power of the Shroom

Adaptogens are non-toxic, non-harmful, life enhancing plants.

Please introduce yourself and your brand, how did you come to create your line of beauty products?


Hi, we are Herbar. We make fungi & adaptogenic formulations with your health in mind.

We wholeheartedly believe in the time-proven superpowers of these extracts to work their magic inwards and outwards. A philosophy deeply rooted in the fact that beauty can be healing.

When we couldn't find products that put these plant powerhouses forefront and center, we decided to create them.

Almost three years ago we set up to create Herbar with the aim of developing a 360 degrees approach to beauty. We want to show that beauty is not just skin deep.

You describe your skincare as ‘adaptogenic powered beauty’. What exactly are adaptogens? Where do they come from?


Adaptogens are non-toxic, non-harmful, life enhancing plants that are often used due to its abilities to help the body resist physical, biological or chemical stressors - of all kinds.

Adaptogens work as an armour against stress. Now, stress response by itself is actually an important defensive mechanism, however constant, bombarding stress (aka our daily life) is not beneficial in any way and can have many repercussions on the way we feel and look. Lack of sleep, cortisol spikes, anxiety, anger, environmental effects and food can all enhance the bodies levels of stress which then require internal and external strategies to to regulate those very same levels- adaptogens to the rescue.

Our plants, shrooms and root friends have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda for centuries and have always been part of their healing traditions. At Herbar, we are not introducing anything new, we are simply fostering and broadcasting their healing abilities.

They come from various places around the globe but one thing most of these plants have in common is that they grow in incredibly rough conditions which forces them to produce compounds that make them extremely adaptable and consequently powerful.
Our plants, shrooms and root friends have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda for centuries.

Can you tell us a bit more about the fungi used in your skincare?


Since Herbar's inception 3 years ago, harnessing the powers of fungi in beauty was a major focus of ours.

Reishi is often called the mushroom of immortality and Tremella the beauty mushroom - they have for long been grown, eaten and used for its medicinal purposes in Chinese culture.

This is why when it came to sourcing we went directly to the places where these raw materials have grown for hundreds of years. Right before the pandemic hit, we were in China, visiting many suppliers, families and businesses to find the right fit for Herbar.

We source our Tremella from Tong Jiang, Sichuan and our Reishi from Long Quan, Zhejiang. At Herbar we focus heavily on creating a sustainable and ethical supply chain while holding ourselves accountable and really making sure we are involved in every step of the way- from seed to bottle.

Why exactly is fungi such a great ingredient in skincare? What kind of benefits can it have on our skin? Are there any skin types in particular that would benefit from using fungi based skincare?


In our mushroomy Face Oil you can find Tremella mushroom which is a “functional analogue” to our good friend Hyaluronic acid. It is an humectant which means that it draws moisture from the environment or from the deeper layers of the skin to the surface in order to keep it glowy and hydrated.

Reishi mushroom aka the mushroom of immortality or longevity and it does exactly that.
Anti-aging or anti fine lines is not a terminology we use or something we want to advertise because we do believe ageing is a good thing and part of life, however health pan, lifespan and longevity is what we do care about, and if Reishi can help our skin look better, stronger and healthier for longer.
In our mushroomy Face Oil you can find Tremella mushroom which is a “functional analogue” to our good friend Hyaluronic acid.

We love using a Gua Sha as part of our skincare rituals, but we’ve never seen a mushroom shaped one before…What are the benefits of this shape? Do you have any tips?


We have been developing the Gua-Shroom for almost 3 years now and its a shape that had many iterations. When speaking to our beta group of testers, we realised that many people own a Gua Sha but barely use it, cause once they put it in a drawer they forgot about it.

We wanted to create a shape that you would happily keep on display in your bathroom or even around the house. Something that you would be excited to use and that was incredibly efficient and stunning at the same time.

We sourced the stones from Brazil with the help of our good Brazilian friend Gabby who is also part of the Herbar team and then it was a matter of getting the shape, ergonomics, and density right.

We went back and forth with Terry, our manufacturer, tried many shapes and landed on this one.

We made sure that its density allows it to stay cool for longer without heating up quickly which happens often with other Gua-Shas.

Image credits: Herbar

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