Five Dot Botanics
Five Dot Botanics is a natural skincare brand that aims to question the beauty industry's status quo. The company was born to question why skincare needs to be complicated – both in routine and in the number of ingredients used. Instead of artificial ingredients and unnecessary fillers, Five Dots' products are formulated with just five ingredients deriving from plants, fruit and vegetables. Paring down skincare to five components ensures high-quality, nutrient-rich formulas. All Five Dots products are vegan, plant-based, cruelty-free, and free from palm oil. They are also formulated and made in the UK.
This certified carbon neutral brand has won the Best Minimal Ingredient Vegan Skincare Brand 2022 at the 6th annual UK Enterprise Awards hosted by SME News and Best Emerging Vegan Skincare Brand 2022 - UK in the LuxLife 2022 Health Beauty and Wellness Awards.
Founder
Zaffrin O'Sullivan was inspired to launch Five Dot Botanics after noting how complicated and synthetic personal cosmetics had become. Zaffrin had already started to think about what was going into the food she was eating, so the next step was to think about what ingredients were going into skincare. This led Zaffrin and her team to create a minimalist skincare brand based around using concentrated plant ingredients focused on skin health.
“By returning to a minimalist outlook, our products aim to simply provide what your skin actually needs for it to be the healthiest and strongest version it can be.
Materials
Being a small-batch skincare brand allows Five Dots to keep their environmental footprint small. Rather than needing to source thousands of ingredients from across the globe, the company formulates their minimalist products with green chemistry principles in mind, and their product range is designed to do no harm to humans or the environment. Raw materials are selected based on biocompatibility, prioritising science-backed active botanicals. The brand is committed to avoiding chemicals that pose an adverse impact on the environment. Five Dots' products require minimal water to use, and the label also offers anhydrous formulations that contain no water in the product formulation.
Production
All production takes place in the UK.
Packaging
Staying mindful of packaging, Five Dots is constantly looking at ways to reduce or improve it to minimise waste. Most Five Dots products are made from recyclable Mirren glass. The company has partnered with Look Fantastic’s recycle:me programme to recycle any remaining plastic packaging. With the aim to phase out all use of plastic in packaging, Five Dots ships their products in FSC-certified boxes.
Animals
Five Dots is a vegan brand. Many traditional beauty brands will use animal-derived ingredients to perform similar benefits to the botanical extracts used by Five Dots – but there was no need for those in the brand's natural formulations.

