High Tea Skincare Founder Marika Conway Is Rethinking Botanical Skincare, Aging and the Future of Indie Beauty

From One Face Cream to High Tea Skincare

High Tea began with a product Marika wanted for herself.

As her own skin changed, she went searching for skincare that felt multifunctional, effective and honest. Instead, she found herself frustrated by complicated routines, questionable claims and an industry constantly telling women what they were supposed to want. 

“I don’t do particularly well with being told what to want or do,” she says. 

So Marika decided to formulate her own face cream. 

She pursued a Diploma in Organic Skincare Formulation, combining that education with a professional background spanning sports medicine, nutrition and holistic wellness. 

Then people began noticing her skin. 

Friends wanted to try what she was making. A test group followed.“So I made more. I gave it away. Then I had a test group. And suddenly, things were on fire.” 

The original face cream eventually became LUSCIOUS, one of High Tea Skincare’s signature formulas. It took 54 iterations to perfect. 

“Fifty-four tries. It sounds insane, right?”

Photo Credit: Marika Conway

Those 54 formulations taught Marika how ingredients interact, how texture changes a product experience and why every ingredient needs a reason to be there. 

“Every ingredient needed to work within that particular formula and also play well with everything else,” she says. “Not just play well. Synergize, baby.” 

That level of intention now runs throughout High Tea. 

Her sports medicine background taught her to understand physiology and healing. Nutrition taught her to question what each ingredient contributes. Cooking and mixology gave her a creative framework for experimenting with texture, balance and unexpected combinations. 

“It’s like I’ve always been heading here,” she says. “I do love a puzzle.” 

Photo Credit: Jay Mailo Photography

Changing the Conversation Around Aging 

High Tea is also built around a larger conversation about women, beauty and aging. Marika rejects the idea that getting older means women should stop caring about how they look. “I don’t want to pretend we should stop caring about how we look because we’re getting older,” she says. 

“We also shouldn’t accept the idea that we’re somehow approaching the end of our usefulness, or that we’re done being hot.” Then she adds: “Because I’m not.” 

What she does reject is beauty marketing built around fear. Rather than promising to erase aging, Marika focuses on supporting the skin women have now: hydrating it, nourishing it, protecting the barrier, softening the appearance of fine lines and enhancing its natural glow. 

“Work your assets!” she says. “But do it because you’re taking care of something valuable: yourself.” 

Her philosophy is summed up in one line:“Beauty is not a depreciating asset.” 

Why High Tea Is Built Around Ritual 

Tea is woven throughout High Tea both as an ingredient and as a philosophy.

“Tea is so me,” Marika says. 

Green tea has a long history in beauty and wellness, and as a formulator Marika can work with it through extracts, seed oils, waxes and hydrosols. 

Still, even green tea has to earn its place. “It doesn’t get a free pass just because it’s tea,” she says. 

The ritual of tea also inspired the way Marika thinks about skincare. 

Photo Credit: Marika Conway

Preparing a cup can transform an ordinary few minutes into something intentional.

She wants skincare to offer that same opportunity. 

Some days, that might mean slowing down, massaging products into the skin or practicing facial massage. 

Other days? You have 45 seconds. “The ritual of it isn’t another standard we have to live up to,” Marika says.

“It’s an option that’s there when you need it, or want it.” 

Because, as she puts it, “ordinary moments can be something greater if we let them.”

High Tea Expands Into Men’s Skincare

High Tea is already moving into its next category.

After meeting men who were curious about skincare but uninterested in complicated routines, Marika began developing products around their needs.

“I won’t say men are lazy about skincare, but...well, yeah. They can be.”

The upcoming men’s skincare collection centers on two multifunctional products: a serum designed to work as a toner, treatment and aftershave, and a finishing cream created to hydrate, nourish and protect the skin barrier.

Marika calls them simply: “A treatment and a shield.

"Early testers have embraced the products, with some even expanding into cleansers, eye products and facial massage.

“Routine? Ritual? Maybe they’re not ready,” Marika says.

"Or are they?” 

A Bigger Vision for Indie Beauty 

Men’s skincare is only the beginning of Marika’s larger vision.

She can envision future High Tea products for teens and younger women, along with Fresh Formulation Facial Clinics, where estheticians and formulators could collaborate on personalized skincare experiences.

But her ambitions extend well beyond products.

“I want a seat at the table,” Marika says. “I belong where decisions are being made.”

As High Tea grows, she wants to participate in conversations around indie beauty, ingredient transparency, skincare regulation, sustainability, ethical marketing and the way the beauty industry speaks to women.

For Marika, independent beauty matters because innovation often begins with a founder listening closely to the people she serves and asking: What do you actually need?

Her long-term vision even extends beyond beauty, including potentially supporting an organization helping women transition from abuse or homelessness into employment and independent living.

That is the big vision.

For now, the mission is simpler:

Create exceptional botanical skincare. Earn people’s trust. Keep listening. Keep innovating.

And get High Tea onto as many faces as possible.

Because in the end, as Marika says: “The proof’s in the pudding, babe.”