Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sabrina Allen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sabrina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I want to build a brand that keeps on growing and lives beyond me. That’s why it was important to have a part of my name in my business. So that my name lives on. I would love it if my daughter works with me when she grows up. She has already said that she wants to help me at markets when she gets older! Mental health and well-being is my passion. I want to share my story with others to inspire them and give them hope. I love reading non-fiction especially books about overcoming. Other peoples stories let me know that I am not alone. I want to pay it forward.

When I’m gone I think that people will say that I had a beautiful heart and soul. I am a genuine human being that is committed to being a good role model to my daughter and wider society.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My brand has a range of waterless skincare designed to help you raise your vibration and energy through high-frequency scents whilst having glowing and moisturised skin. Our accompanying soy wax candle range contains essential oils to set the mood. All products are vegan friendly and handmade with natural and organic ingredients. The products are designed to help you feel good inside and out and encourage you to take care of your mind, body and soul. My best-selling Hair and Body Butter has sweet orange essential oil in it which is known for lifting the mood. I also have 3 products that contain lavender which is a high-frequency scent: my Lavender and Vanilla Body Oil, my Homegrown Lavender Pillows and my Lavender Aromatherapy Candles. Lavender is great for relaxing and calming the mind. I am really proud of my growth, journey and healing and that I am building a brand that reflects that. What sets me apart from others is my USP. My USP is me. We are all unique.

Originally I started making my own beauty products for myself because the ones that I was using were irritating my scalp (I have had scalp psoriasis since 16) and drying out my skin. I started looking into the ingredients of my products and realised that a lot of the ingredients are actually known as irritants. Explains why they were irritating me! I was planning on just selling hair oil however I really fell in love with my body butter and body oil. I loved the smell and how great they felt on my skin. I also wanted to make candles because smells are so important to how we feel in our environment.

Since 2019 I have been making it a priority to take care of my physical and mental health. Before then I wasn’t really looking after myself and that had a negative impact on my overall wellbeing. Making my own products made me realise the importance of taking care of my hair and skin. It is an act of self-love. Selfcare = self love. Self-love is vital for our mental health and wellbeing. The body keeps the score so looking after ourselves on the outside supports how we feel on the inside. So that’s how I got into the beauty industry.

As I continue my personal growth, my business goals have changed too. I am becoming more purpose driven and my product range is changing. This year I have been working on raising my vibration and energy and my upcoming products will reflect that so I can help others do the same.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn seeking external validation. Interestingly I wasn’t even aware of a thing called validation until 2020. I remember at the end of 2019, everybody was predicting that 2020 would be the year of 2020 vision. I guess people were just saying that because we were saying goodbye to an epic decade. Little did we know what 2020 really had in store for us. Whilst I don’t want to glamourise 2020 as I know it was a difficult year for a lot of people, for me it really saved me. Staying at home and being able to fully hibernate meant that I had the chance to just sit with myself. No external noise. As a shy introvert, this was like heaven to me. I am a natural homebody so I always want to be at home anyway. So when the government said “Stay home” I was fully ready. Being at home and not experiencing any external noise meant that I could really get to know myself and I realised “I’m actually great!”. I was doubting myself because other people were. I realised the importance of surrounding myself with the right people. It’s sounds so obvious now! This is the year where I really started to accelerate my personal growth. I had a mini-glow up and I started reading books to learn more about myself and my past. Self-awareness is key. I started to build up my confidence and self-esteem. I vowed never to seek external validation again. It’s not easy, especially being on social media and just life in general. We are always seeing people’s highlights. I really have to remind myself of this. Whenever I catch myself seeking external validation, I just remind myself of my 2020 self and the promise that I made to myself. I need to validate myself and not compare myself to others.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had to pivot at the end of 2015. I was working as a HR Administrator, a job that I had dreamed of doing and I was also doing my CIPD qualification, self-funded. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me. I stayed in the job a whole year even though I realised that I didn’t like it after 4 weeks. So fast forward, it was December 2015 and I had already handed my notice in. I felt devastated because I had worked so hard and this was the best paid job I had ever had but I had to put my mental health first. When I was younger I always had this vision in my head of working in an office (not even sure why, I think I was idolising office attire!). What I learned later on was that I had gone down this path of going to college, going to university and working at corporate companies because I thought that was the key to happiness. Now I know that the key to happiness is feeding my heart and soul. Its honouring my wants and needs. I am a creative being at heart. We all are as human beings.

When I was at school I was convinced I wanted to do beauty therapy. Because I was academic my teachers felt I would be better suited to continuing down the more traditional academic path of college and university. After much thought, I decided to do A levels and then my sociology degree at university. I hated all of it. I had no idea why at the time. I now know its because I had gone down the wrong path. It happens and I try to just look at everything as life lessons rather than regrets. Also, going down the wrong path and eventually the right path has made me the person I am today and I am so grateful. At the end of 2015 I had no idea that I would launch my own beauty brand in 2022. Life is funny like that. Everything worked out and I have come full circle. There is a saying that goes something like this “Don’t think of it as failure; think of it as redirection”. All of those jobs that I had that never felt right were just the universe redirecting me onto the right path.

Moral of the story: Follow your heart and soul. Listen to your gut.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.botanicalbybrina.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/botanicalbybrina

Image Credits
Photo by Daniel Samray (personal photo) Photo by Sabrina Allen (all other photos)