Skincare line unlocks the secrets of the remedies of the rainforest

Nicola Connolly’s beauty collection Nunaïa was developed using botanical superfoods from South America - and a percentage of its profits return there

Nicola Connolly, founder of the Nunaïa organic skincare brand, talks to a grower in the Andes Mountains in Peru

Nicola Connolly spent 12 years in South America helping traditional communities improve their quality of life, but it was a two-way learning experience that led her to launch a range of nature-inspired skincare products.

The sustainable-development consultant from Dublin worked mainly with small women’s groups on the Galapagos Islands, then in the Amazon rainforest and the Andes in Peru, showing them “alternative models to how they were living”. She described the experience as ...