Friends of Trouva: Pelegrims

If, like us, your favourite self-care ritual is a rejuvenating skin care routine paired with a relaxing glass of wine at home, then this one's for you.

Pelegrims is a sustainable skincare brand that creates vegan, low-intervention, active formulations that work in harmony with your skin - and your evening wind-down. Working with UK artisanal winery Westwell Wines, based in Kent, each product in their collection for face and body, from the Hyaluronic Plum Facial Oil to the Exfoliating Hand Cleanser, is made using waste product from the vineyard’s sustainable wine-making process. Meaning you can sit back and enjoy a crisp glass of wine, while your skin enjoys the benefits of the powerful grape extracts.

Natural formulator Alex Verier is the brains behind the Pelegrims operation, supported by co-founder and former tech executive, Jerome Moisan, who also happens to be a trained sommelier. We spoke with Alex to chat about all things Pelegrims.

How did Pelegrims come to be?

"We launched Pelegrims in September 2021 but started work on our formulations around a year and a half before launch and then we had to do a lot of work designing and sourcing materials too."


Where do you find your inspiration?

"Westwell Wines, where we get the grapes that go into our extracts, are a constant inspiration in terms of their low intervention and small batch wine making process. We also find inspiration in the local countryside, coastline and outdoor spaces - the whole of the UK's natural world is incredibly inspiring."

Which product is your current favourite?

"I use nearly all the products every day but the Vitamin Boost Facial Cleanser is most used at the moment. The Cleanser is brilliant at giving your face a really deep clean but it’s gentle enough to hydrate and protect the skin and leave a healthy glow. I follow that with our Facial Oil to lock in moisture and get my skin ready for the day ahead."


What is the key ethos for Pelegrims?

"Low intervention, small batch skincare which is improving all the time in terms of efficiency, ethics and sustainability."

Skincare is all about routine - what does your current evening routine look like, and which wine would you pair it with?

"It would have to be a glass of Westwell Pinot Noir, it’s a really delicious wine that’s not too rich or heavy so it's still good on summer evenings. My morning routine and evening routine are quite similar: Vitamin Boost Facial Cleanser followed by either our Facial Balm or Facial Oil or a combination of them both. In the evening I'm more likely to sometimes take more time and massage my skin more to reduce stress, but I keep it quite simple. All of our face products use the Pinot Noir Grape extract which is the grape used in the Pinot Noir Wine too!"

Which indie brand are you championing right now?

"Other than our own I would say Story MFG for clothing, I've known them since their beginning and they've remained the best, most ethically-driven brand I've ever known. For fragrance I run a small range of fragrances in a shop in Folkestone, where I live, called Foras. In general, I always love well made indie brands over big brands because they're able to bring more care and attention to what they do, and it results mostly in a much better end product."