I didn’t start with a trend. I started with a chemistry degree and a brief no one had written.
- Complete ingredient list
- Tested on sensitive skin: non-irritant
- Made in India, to a New Zealand brief
The gap
Walk the skincare aisle in New Zealand and you find two camps. Clinical-looking formulas that are gentle but feel like nothing on your skin. And botanical ranges that sell the plant, with less said about the formulation rigour behind it. Both have their place. Neither started from the question we kept asking: what does skin actually need under daily sunscreen, in a country with this UV, this wind, this salt and this changeable weather?
sootheKA sits in that gap. Formulation discipline from one side. A sensorial, considered touch from the other.
Why I built it
I studied chemistry, and I grew up around pharmaceutical manufacturing. I know exactly how supply chains operate. I know which quality controls matter, and I wanted those standards built into every stage of this product.
When I moved to New Zealand, products I’d trusted for years stopped working. The intense UV, coastal wind and high humidity changed how they behaved on my skin — redness, breakouts, pilling under SPF. The pharmacy staples were gentle enough, but they felt like nothing. I couldn’t find the product I wanted, so I wrote the brief myself.
My own experience. It is not a claim about results for you.
— Apurva, founder
Quality assurance from the ground up
I didn’t hand a brief to a white-label factory and walk away. We worked with highly qualified industry experts to formulate our products. I took them a problem, not a product, and every element was scrutinised:
The actives.
Every active we name — Pentavitin®, Aquaxyl™, niacinamide — comes with its original supplier documentation: SDS, technical data sheets, clinical studies. We hold it all on file.
The fragrance.
A deliberate 0.1% micro-dose for the sensory experience. I personally audited the supplier’s IFRA compliance certificates. It is cleared for facial use at levels at least 35 times higher than what we use.
The testing.
Both formulas were subjected to independent dermatological patch testing on a sensitive-skin panel under direct supervision. Both came back non-irritant. We don’t guess about skin compatibility. We test it.
The process.
More than twenty samples. Each one refined, each one worn on my own skin, until one still felt right after a month of daily use.
Made in India. Briefed in New Zealand.
We manufacture in India because that is where I found the specific formulation expertise capable of executing this brief to my exact QA standards. The brief, the quality standard and the brand are New Zealand.
We don’t publish a claim we can’t prove.
- Formulation & manufacture
- India
- The brief & QA standard
- New Zealand
- The brand
- New Zealand
Where we’re going
Barrier care is where we begin. The aim is to become a staple in a New Zealander’s skincare drawer: something that feels made for this place. Two formulas now. More to come.
Join the waitlist. 48-hour early access, and everything we publish along the way.
First batch is strictly limited.
Waitlist members get 48-hour early access and everything we publish along the way: ingredient evidence, formulation notes, the launch date. Everyone gets 10% off their first order.
10% off your first order when you're signed in to a sootheKA account. Applied automatically at checkout. One per customer. Can't be combined with the mini credit: the bigger saving applies. Prices in NZD, including GST.