The Anise in Anise skincare (pronounced as Ah-nees) comes from the flower shaped Star Anise spice that is popularly used in cooking, but is also revered for its healing and digestive properties. For a natural skincare brand like ours, which aimed to bridge the gap between the old and new ingredients and practices in skincare, the spice and its name was a natural fit.

The hippo on our bottle is the Anise skincare mascot – Happy the Hippo’! The ancient Egyptians associated the hippo with Tawaret, their goddess of fertility. Hippos lived on the river Nile, a life source for the Egyptians, and these animals were therefore associated with new life too. Further, the female hippos were observed to be fiercely protective of their young. As our brand is targeted to mothers who are also fiercely protective of their young and want only the best for them, Happy the hippo was a clear choice as the Anise mascot.

The idea of Anise skincare was conceived by two moms, who when they couldn’t find suitable chemical and cortisone free skincare products for their own children’s sensitive and atopic skin types, decided to start their own range that would look more specifically into what a child’s skin needed and provide that in a natural fashion.

For this purpose, they chose the highest quality naturally healing ingredients, and then spent 2 years teamed up with expert formulators, certified ingredient suppliers, independent dermatological and safety testing agencies and ISO certified manufacturers, to make the final Anise products.

It took us 2 years to launch this line. And thats because, at Anise, we formulate by:

Firstly, thinking of the need of the product whether it’s hydration or regeneration etc.

We look for the highest quality natural ingredients (which have their origins from a natural renewable source in nature) that will fix that problem and thus the mother’s concern for that product.

Further, we buy these ingredients from certified suppliers who cut, pick, dry and distill the oils of their oils in a quality controlled manner.

We test the products on ourselves and our families and friends children for a while and after many trials and batches, we are able to narrow down the best formulation.

We then send our formulations and samples to a dermatological testing company that brings in minor volunteers on whos’ backs they put on the samples of each product and monitor any changes in skin for a period of 3 months.

When the formulation receives positive feedback from that testing, we send it to the Safe cosmetics Australia and Made Safe organisation which delves deeper into the ingredients, percentages, preservatives, potential for allergens and toxins etcWhen we get an all clear on all counts from them, we then take it to the FDA for clearance as we want our products to be of almost edible grade and of the highest quality worldwide.

In the end, the products are manufactured in ISO and GMP certified manufacturing units, so that our primary goal of providing your family with the gentlest and safest and most natural product is achieved, from start to finish.

Each product you buy from Anise therefore comes with the guarantee that they are Made Safe, Australian safe cosmetics and Allergy certified, and dermatologically tested, non toxic and non irritant.

Yes, you can follow us on our Instagram handle @anisenaturalskincare and our Facebook handle @aniseskincare

Our products are natural. But we understand that the definition of natural is not the same for all. To us, a ‘natural ingredient’ is one that has its origins from a natural renewable source in nature like coconuts, hibiscus, aloe etc. A ‘nature derived ingredient’ on the other hand, means its origins are from a natural source but it needed to be processed to be usable in the formulation like Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate, which sounds synthetic but is a plant based surfactant derived from coconuts. A ‘synthetic ingredient’ is one that does not have its origins from and is not derived from a natural source and is extensively processed before becoming the ingredient. Being ‘organic’ versus ‘natural’ is more a question of licensing.

At Anise, we try formulating with mostly natural or nature derived ingredients and try avoiding synthetic ingredients unless we are required by law to use them (like preservatives – again, we have used natural ones in our formulations), or if a natural ingredient is not available or effective enough and harms the quality of the product offering. Even when we use synthetic ingredients, supreme care is taken that it is used only to a small and harmless and toxic free percentage of the formulation.

We never forget why we started this brand in the first place – to keep out the nasties from our children’s skincare. We do not entertain harmful chemicals, sulfates, parabens, mineral oils or any other toxins in our products and try to only use the highest quality natural ingredients in them all. To make sure, we have partnered with Safe Cosmetics Australia who check each ingredient against their toxic free ingredient list and check for their allergy aspect, before allowing us to continue with a formulation.

It is an independent organisation that certifies brands and their products after scrutinising their ingredient listing and enquiring about their procurement methods for the same.

Australian Certified Toxic-Free® Made Safe® & Allergy Certified® are registered Australian trademarks, are only licensed to brands that pledge to uphold greater manufacturing principles that work to:

Safeguard Consumer Health – by raising chemical awareness and promoting brands that exclude chemicals of concern.

Promote Personal Wellbeing – by recognising brands that provide Natural & Organic products, free-from chemicals of concern.

Raise Industry Standards – shape the future of products used by consumers, institutions, industry, manufacturing & agriculture.

Campaign For Legislation – assess chemical safety prior to approving chemicals for use in Australia, sustainable practices.

Encourage Self-Regulation –by beauty brands to exclude & restrict chemicals of concern

No they are manufactured in India in an ISO (International organisation for standardization) and GMP (Good manufacturing practises) certified manufacturing facility. Plants that have these certifications make sure that each product that comes out of their facility are made with the same high quality and standard right from the procurement and maintenance of raw materials to the formulation and packaging of the final product.

The products have been testing by an external independent testing agency with their in-house dermatologist. The agency would bring in the same set of volunteering minors for a period of 3 months and they do a patch test for all the products to check any change/sensitivity etc in skin, and only if the result is positive, is any brand allowed to put ‘dermatologically tested as non-toxic and safe’ on their labels.

Yes, these products are perfectly safe to use on newborns till they are 12 years of age. They have a certain fragrance of essential oils or scents which is designed to mask the herby puree inside each of these products and also relax the muscle, or soothe the skin according to the requirement of the product. This fragrance does not last more than 10 minutes after applying though and so is completely safe.

Yes, these products can definitely be used by the parents too, as they are made for the most sensitive of skin and non comodegenic (doesnt block the pores). The onlyproduct we think cannot be used for adults is the shampoo as it will need a conditioner too in addition to the shampoo, for adult thick and long or coloured hair.

The products are PH balanced and lie in the range of 5.5-6.5, keeping the child’s skin’s natural level of alkalinity/acidity balanced throughout.

The massage oil is a natural blend of healing herbs and 5 oils – coconut, castor, Argan, sweet almond and sesame oil. So, yes the oil can definitely be lightly heated, if you wish, to massage the child. The massage oil can be used on the hair as well but will not help it grow as the oil has been formulated to strengthen the body and soften the skin primarily.

If your child has dry skin, we would recommend using the massage oil like a pre-moisturization for the body. Wash off the private parts with our non-drying body wash and hair with our shampoo, and dry the water up with a thin cotton cloth after the bath. Then moisturise thoroughly with our hydrating lotion. Repeat daily.

The Anise shampoo has many herbs and flowers in it like aloe, calendula, hibiscus etc that help soothe the scalp and promote hair growth at the same time. With time, it will help soothe the cradle cap condition as well, in most.

The usual shampoos one is used to come with many conditioners and silicones. If the hair is previously used to it, you will see a purging of sorts where the hair looks increasingly dry before it gets better. If its something you are used to and cannot do without, then a natural conditioner would be advisable to use along with the shampoo especially for longer thicker older hair that is growing more away from the roots.

The goat’s milk colour is actually creamy and not white and so the colour of the body wash will reflect that as it has a fair amount of it in it. The more the lather, the more the surfactant in it. The more the surfactant, the more drying the product. Hence our body wash is cleansing and moisturising but does not lather much. Think of it more like a cleansing milk that you could even use on the most sensitive face.

Whatever the complexion of your child, the lotion or any of our products will not lighten it any way. Every complexion is beautiful in our eyes and we try and maintain it and make it the healthiest and therefore the most beautiful skin they can have. Some herbs and spices like nettle and turmeric are known for removing excess hair, but these will not work by using our lotion, as it has been formulated for another purpose, that of softening and moisturising the skin.

No, it definitely is not to be viewed as a cure for eczema or its associated itching. Together, with using the massage oil, the soothing cream does help soothe rashes and dry patches for mild eczema, for some by a week or two, for more extreme cases much longer, and in some cases, no difference or a reaction may occur, depending on the child’s skin and associated trigger.

Once you use the oil as a pre-moisturization, and lotion up the body and apply the soothing cream on the particular spots and patches of dry skin daily, how it works is that it dries up that part first to form a scab like appearance. After a while, the scab will peel away to reveal softer smoother skin there which maybe white in color. After a while more, the white patch will blend in and become the skin colour.

The soothing cream helps primarily in kickstarting the process of skin regeneration and helps to heal the dry sensitive patches quickly. So it can be used for a variety of purposes, from soothing mild patches of eczema, to calming hot red cheeks of rosacea, or a rash, or soothing sunburnt skin (may burn a little at first if skin is too burnt and raw) or to get softer skin on your heels and cuticles.

Our elegant gift box contains a ‘thank you’ card from us explaining our brand and how to enjoy our products and products to inculcate a daily healthy skin routine with a massage oil, shampoo, body wash and lotion.

All Anise products got through a variety of testing before going on the shelves. One of the tests is a stability test where the product is tested under conditions from 0-60 degrees. This ensures that our products can be safely used for upto 18 months after manufacture, though once the bottle is open, it is best to use the content within 6 months.

No, our products are not hypo-allergenic. That is a different kind of testing. All our ingredients are allergy tested and certified as toxin free by Safe Cosmetics Australia and all our products are dermatologically tested to be non irritant and safe. (read question 9 for more details on this). But keep in mind, that not everyone has similar skin or the same triggers for irritation and allergies. So always do a patch test on the inside of your arm to see if the product causes the child any irritation, before continuing the use of it.

We would love for you to try out our products and review them. Please contact us at anisenatural@gmail.comand we can see how to take it forward.

We would love to talk to you and see how we can retail at your store. Please contact us at anisenatural@gmail.comto take it forward as directly reselling our products in stores is not possible or encouraged.

Yes absolutely. Our website is built on the Shopify platform which ensures industry standard security including PCI compliance and end to end SSL-protection that encrypts all your data. (A SSL certificate creates a secure digital tunnel that blocks any unwanted people like hackers and thieves from seeing your sensitive data like personal and credit card details).

We use courier services such as ‘Professional couriers’ to ship across India.

Depending on where you are based in India, you should receive it within a week.

Our flat fee is Rs.260 for the gift box and Rs.100 for each individual bottle. When you enter the address details while placing an order, you will be able to see the final shipping cost.

At present, we only ship in India, but we are trying constantly to increase the number of countries we retail and courier our products to. So please stay in touch with us through our website, insta and Facebook handles.

Any credit card and debit card will be accepted by our payment gateway on our website. Additionally, netbanking and NEFT transfers will work too.

We have formulated and packed all these products with a lot of careful consideration and love and take all steps to see that they reach you in perfect condition. However, if there is a genuine problem with the pump, or the product, please contact us on anisenatural@gmail.com and we will facilitate a courier of a new pump or product.