Our Story

Skincare shouldn't need a footnote

We make products with the smallest ingredient list that does the job — and we'll tell you exactly what's in them.

Boty started as a small kitchen experiment in Montréal in 2019 — a jar of propanediol, a gram scale, and the frustration of reading a "clean" brand's ingredient list that ran twenty-seven ingredients deep. We thought we could do less, and be honest about it.

Six years later we still formulate the same way. Every product starts with a question: what is the fewest number of ingredients that will deliver a measurable result? Our Pure C Serum is three ingredients. Our Jojoba Oil is one. When a formula needs more, it's because the chemistry asks for it — not because the label looks better with a rose petal extract on it.

How we formulate

Functional minimum

If an ingredient isn't pulling weight in the formula, it doesn't make it into the bottle. We'd rather ship a shorter list than pad it for marketing.

Honest labels

Every active is listed with its concentration. Fragrance or essential oils are flagged. pH and shelf-life are published on each product page.

Gentle by default

When a stronger and a gentler form of the same ingredient are both effective, we choose the gentler one — unless the whole point of the product is potency.

What we don't do

  • We don't test on animals and we never will. All Boty products are Leaping Bunny certified.
  • Most of the range is fragrance-free. A few products carry natural essential oils (orange peel, rose), and three products use a light parfum where the formula needs it. Whichever it is, it's disclosed on the label and the PDP — and we publish a fragrance-free filter in the shop.
  • We don't ghost retinol, BHAs, or AHAs. Potent actives work — we just pair them with clear usage instructions and pregnancy/patch-test flags so you can make an informed call.
  • We don't claim skincare will change your life. It might change your skin. That's enough.

Sustainability

Every Boty bottle is post-consumer recycled glass or PCR-PET. Droppers and pumps are recyclable separately at TerraCycle drop-off points; we publish a free prepaid label on our Care portal for US and Canadian customers returning five or more empties.

We formulate in small batches of 500–2,000 units and publish a manufacture date on every bottle rather than a generic expiry. This means we occasionally run out of things. We'd rather do that than overstock a product that degrades on a warehouse shelf.

Shipping is carbon-offset through a verified forestry project in British Columbia. Boxes are FSC-certified recycled corrugate; the crinkle paper is compostable.

Where we're based

We formulate in Montréal, Québec. Production happens at our own facility and at a small group of audited partner labs in the United States and France, chosen for the equipment a given formula needs — cold-press for oils, low-shear emulsion for our barrier creams, regulated SPF lines for our sunscreens. A few ingredients have their own home: rose hydrosol from Bulgaria, sugarcane-derived squalane from Chile, manuka extract from New Zealand. Country of manufacture is listed on every product page.

Questions?

We read every email. Usually the founder replies before lunch.

Get in touch