ABOUT US
SKINCARE FOR LIFE IN THE SUN.
Botanical Intelligence.
Modern Skin Science.
Made in Long Beach, N.Y.
We make skincare for people who actually live.
Sun. Salt. Stress. Travel. Late nights. Long days. Life leaves its mark on skin. Meadow and Bark was created to help skin meet all of it—with formulas that bring together potent botanicals, thoughtful formulation and modern skin science.
Defend What You Have.
Restore What Modern Life Takes Away.
FOUNDER
It started with sunscreen.
I'm Marisa Russell, founder and Chief Alchemist of Meadow and Bark.
Our life has always revolved around the water — surfing, boating, beach days, travel, and yes, probably a little too much sun. Surfboards leaning against the house. Sand in the car. Sunscreen in every bag. Protecting our skin was never an abstract idea for us. It was personal.
After watching my children react badly to conventional sunscreen, I started questioning what we were putting on their skin — and whether there could be a better way to protect it.
Then my husband Scott came home from a surf trip to Indonesia with a story that changed how I thought about it. After getting badly burned by the intense equatorial sun, he was introduced to a simple botanical preparation used locally to soothe his skin. I became fascinated by the idea that plants, oils and minerals used for generations could still have so much to teach us about caring for skin exposed to sun, salt and the elements.
I got curious. I researched. I experimented. I formulated.
What started as a search for better sun protection eventually became something much bigger: skincare designed for the way we actually live.
— Marisa
OUR BEGINNING
Before there was Meadow and Bark…
…there was a family that spent a lot of time in the sun.
Our life has always revolved around the water—surfing, boating, beach days, travel and, yes, probably a little too much sun.
Protecting our skin wasn’t an abstract idea. It was personal.
In many ways, Meadow and Bark grew out of the life we were already living.
LIFE IN THE SUN
The ocean has always been part of our story.
Scott has surfed for as long as I've known him, and our kids grew up surfing and swimming right alongside us. Surfboards leaning against the house. A lot of time outside — and a lot of thinking, eventually, about what we were putting on our skin every single day.
Long before Meadow and Bark became a business, the reason for creating it was already there.
THE EARLY DAYS
Some of our best ideas started at home.
Some of our best ideas started at home.
In the early days, Meadow and Bark was very much a family experiment. Avery and Teagan grew up around my endless batches, ingredients and ideas. They tested textures, gave brutally honest opinions, and occasionally came up with ideas of their own.
One of those ideas became Mermaid Surf Paste — a product Avery and Teagan helped dream up that went on to become one of our most-loved products.
We still jokingly refer to this photo as our "early days of clinical testing." Of course, it wasn't clinical testing — it was curiosity, experimentation, a mom trying to make better products for her family, and kids who made the whole process a lot more fun.
Long before there was a lab, there was our kitchen, our family, and a lot of experimenting.
GROWN CLOSE TO HOME
Our formulas begin with plants.
At our home in Long Beach, NY, we grow and study many of the botanicals that have shaped Meadow and Bark. We also source from a medicinal plant farm on eastern Long Island, keeping some of what we work with remarkably close to home.
Calendula. Lavender. Borage. Purslane. Marshmallow. Gotu kola. And more.
Scott tends much of what grows in our garden. I get to turn some of it into skincare. It's a pretty good arrangement.
BOTANICAL INTELLIGENCE
We believe plants still have alot to teach us.
We choose botanicals for more than a beautiful ingredient list.
We consider what they contain, how they’re grown, how they’re extracted—and what they can bring to a thoughtfully formulated product.
Sometimes nature gives us the best answer. Sometimes science does.
The most interesting formulas happen when we stop asking them to compete.
DISTILLED BY US
Yes. We really make this stuff.
The equipment has moved out of the kitchen, but the philosophy hasn't changed. Our kitchen doubled as my first lab — rose, lavender, neroli, sandalwood, frankincense — distilling botanical waters, experimenting with plant extractions, learning how to capture more of what made each plant interesting.
From distillation and botanical extraction to formulation and small-batch production, staying close to the process is still part of who we are. Because knowing where an ingredient came from is one thing. Knowing what happened to it next is another.
THE PLANTS BEHIND PLT9™
Nine plants. Chosen for a reason.
PLT9™ begins with nine botanicals, each chosen for the distinctly different naturally occurring compounds it brings to the mix.
Calendula. Purslane. Borage. Alfalfa. Marshmallow. Arnica. Meadowsweet. Helichrysum. Gotu kola.
Look closely at a plant and there's an entire world of chemistry inside it — polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, phytosterols, fatty acids, minerals and other plant compounds that have fascinated herbalists and scientists alike.
PLT9™ isn't about finding one miracle plant. It's about the power of botanical diversity. We harvest and source our botanicals with care, dry them slowly, and then the transformation begins.
SLOWLY EXTRACTED. ON PURPOSE.
We let time—and nature—do some of the work.
Some of our botanicals are slowly extracted in glass vessels in sunlight, the same light that gave the plants life in the first place. Others are extracted away from light in our glycerite complexes, where time and fermentation become part of the process.
We developed these methods because we're interested in more than putting a beautiful plant name on a label. We want to work with the plant — to understand it, extract it thoughtfully, and bring its naturally occurring constituents into our formulations.
It's slow. It's hands-on. And it's distinctly Meadow and Bark. The result: PLT9™ — our proprietary nine-plant complex, our process, one complex you won't find anywhere else.
BEYOND PLT9™
Every formula has its own reason for being.
PLT9™ is our signature botanical complex, but it is only one part of the Meadow and Bark ingredient story.
We work with an extensive library of botanical oils, extracts, distillates, ferments, marine ingredients and modern cosmetic actives—choosing them according to what each formula, and each skin need, calls for.
We don't believe in building every product around the same trendy ingredient stack.
Different skin needs deserve different answers.
THOUGHTFULLY, ALL THE WAY THROUGH
What's outside the formula matters, too.
We put enormous thought into what goes inside our bottles. We believe the packaging around it deserves the same consideration.
We choose protective packaging—including UV-resistant glass for many of our formulas—to help shield light-sensitive ingredients and preserve the integrity of what's inside.
We favor glass where it makes sense, minimize unnecessary packaging where we can, and continue looking for better ways to reduce waste without compromising the formulas we've worked so hard to create.
Progress over perfection. Always.
USE IT. LOVE IT. BRING IT BACK.
Good packaging deserves another life.
We created our bottle return program to make it easier for Meadow and Bark empties to find their way back to us rather than into the trash.
Bring eligible empties back to the Glow Lab and we'll reward you with Meadow and Bark Rewards points—because doing something better for the planet should feel good for your skin, too. For orders shipped to you, contact us at hello@meadowandbark.com for details on how to participate.
Returned packaging is then directed toward reuse or responsible recycling whenever possible.
RETURN. RECYCLE. GET REWARDED.
GIVING BACK
Healthy skin. Healthy communities.
Taking care of people has always been part of what Meadow and Bark is about.
Each year, we give 2% through product and financial contributions to organizations and communities we believe in—from local schools and charitable organizations to ocean conservation and education.
Here at home, we support the Long Beach lifeguards—the people who spend their days protecting ours—and we're working to expand that support to lifeguard communities beyond Long Beach.
We've also supported the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center and organizations working to protect and educate people about the ocean that has shaped so much of who we are.
Some of our giving is close to home. Some reaches farther.
All of it comes from the same belief: taking care of skin means very little if we aren't also taking care of people and the places where we live our lives.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PLANTS
Good ingredients have a story before they reach us.
Some of our plants grow in our own Long Beach garden. Some come from a medicinal plant farm on eastern Long Island. And some of the ingredients we love most take us much farther from home.
When sourcing globally, we seek out thoughtful producers and prioritize women-led cooperatives and sustainable communities whenever possible.
Because an ingredient isn't just an INCI name.
There are people, places and livelihoods behind it.
OUR HOME IS BY THE OCEAN
Long Beach, New York.
Go live.
Swim. Surf. Travel. Stay out late. Get up early. Get on the plane. Walk the beach.
Live.
We'll take care of the skin you live it in.
SKINCARE FOR LIFE IN THE SUN.
