Every product on the market made my skin angry. So I started making my own.
That's how Pai started. Not with focus groups or market research, but with one woman's rosacea and eczema refusing to cooperate with anything the beauty industry had to offer. Sarah Brown (that's me) wasn't a cosmetic chemist. She was a marketer with problem skin who decided to solve her own problem.
From kitchen formulator to industry recognition
Getting from mixing oils in my flat to receiving a CEW Achiever Award alongside the founders of Aromatherapy Associates and executives from Dior wasn't straightforward. CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women) doesn't hand out recognition lightly. They look for brands that are changing the industry, not just participating in it.
What made Pai different? We were proving that natural skincare could be rigorous. That organic certification and clinical testing weren't opposites. That you could build a brand around sensitive skin without making it feel like a limitation.
The values that got us there (and keep us going)
Industry awards are lovely, but they're not why we exist. We exist because millions of people have skin that reacts to everything, and they deserve better than being told to "just use gentle products" without anyone defining what gentle actually means.
Here's what drove us then and drives us now:
Patch testing everything. Not just the odd product. Everything. On real people with real sensitivities. Our Light Work cleansing oil went through seven reformulations before we got a version that removed makeup without triggering reactions.
Choosing ingredients for performance, not marketing. CO2-extracted rosehip oil costs significantly more than cold-pressed. But it delivers 700% more antioxidants. So that's what goes in our Rosehip Bioregenerate. The same logic applies across the range.
Building our own lab. Most brands outsource formulation. We built our own facility in London because controlling every variable matters when you're formulating for reactive skin. Our Innovation Lab isn't just where products are made. It's where problems get solved.
Staying certified. COSMOS organic certification. Leaping Bunny. Vegan Society. B Corp. These aren't badges we collect. They're proof points that matter to customers who've been burned by meaningless "clean beauty" claims.
Building a lab instead of following industry wisdom
The CEW recognised "entrepreneurial spirit and rising stars," but entrepreneurship in beauty isn't about disruption for its own sake. It's about seeing a genuine problem and being stubborn enough to solve it properly.
For us, that meant:
Rejecting the industry wisdom that natural meant ineffective. Investing in extraction technology that preserved active compounds. Creating clinical trial protocols specifically for sensitive skin. Building a brand that could fly the flag for both innovation and integrity.
Today, Pai is in Sephora, John Lewis, and hundreds of other retailers worldwide. We've sold over a million bottles of that rosehip oil. But we still formulate like we're solving our own skin problems. Because we are.
The work continues
Awards mark moments, not endpoints. Since that CEW recognition, we've launched products like our The Impossible Glow bronzing drops (because sensitive skin deserves glow too) and C-2 Believe (stabilised vitamin C that actually stays stable).
We've also learned that success brings responsibility. When you've built trust with customers whose skin reacts to everything, you can't compromise. Every new launch has to meet the same standards. Every reformulation has to improve on what came before.
The beauty industry loves to talk about transformation stories and brand evolution. But sometimes the most radical thing you can do is simply make products that work for people who usually can't use anything. That's what got us recognised then. That's what keeps us going now.
Because there's still work to do. And plenty more problems to solve.
