Meet Our Founder

Ross Macdougald

A chat with our founder

THE STORY BEHIND THE BRANDS

Throughout his career, Ross can be credited with developing countless products and formulated active ingredients which are currently sold in brands across the globe.

"Deliver what the body requires in the delivery system it knows with the nutrients it needs."

QUESTION 1

WHAT WAS YOUR DRIVING FORCE INTO RESEARCHING PLANT EXTRACTS?

In the mid-2000s, beauty companies only used plant extracts to look good on labels. They added tiny amounts that did not actually help your skin and coming from an oil product background, I knew plants had real power. That led me to testing plant extracts that were available at the time, and I found that most were just coloured water with no benefits.

I then started to investigate how people made these extracts. They soaked fresh or dry plants in liquids like alcohol, water, or glycerine for weeks. This process just created liquid from rotting plants which destroyed the good nutrients. To remedy this, companies then added man-made chemicals to the liquid and . called it a "standardised" extract.

I wanted to change this, so I set out to create a real plant extract. My goal was to make something as strong as synthetic chemicals, giving you the same benefits as eating the fresh plant.

THE BRANDS BEHIND IT ALL

  • Biologi

    “When I started offering the extracts I had created to customers of Phytoverse Oils and explaining to them the benefits these extracts had there was little interest. I then realised that the only way to prove the extracts did what I said they would do I needed to prove it and Biologi was born.”

  • Plant Extracts

    “My goal was to make something as strong as synthetic chemicals, giving you the same benefits as eating the fresh plant.”

  • Phytoverse

    “I have worked with essential oils for over 30 years of my professional career. One of the businesses I founded is Phytoverse, a wholesales essential oil company.”

QUESTION 2

WHAT IS THE BRAND ETHOS BEHIND BIOLOGI?

Firstly I need to explain where the brands ethos comes from. Humans and plants evolved together and that is why plant nutrients are critical to our well-being. These nutrients need to be delivered in the same delivery system that plants produce and nothing more. It has taken millions of years for the human body to develop to where it is today. In its development plant nutrients have powered the beneficial changes in us. The human body has developed unique pathways for the uptake of plant nutrients, and these pathways are activated by the plant liquid matrix that carries the plant nutrients. For the human body to benefit from nutrients they need to be from a plant source, in the plant’s liquid matrix.

QUESTION 3

WHY DID YOU DEVELOP A SKINCARE BRAND?

I knew that plant extracts were so beneficial for the skin in so many ways and so I decided to bring a skincare range to market that proved this. Today, we have hundreds of customer testimonials stating that Biologi has changed their skin for the better. 

AUSTRALIAN BOTANICALS

QUESTION 4: When you launched Biologi, you chose Australian botanicals including Kakadu Plum, Finger Lime and Davidson Plum. Why did you choose these plants, and what makes them so unique?

I chose the Australian natives as several of them grow in the region I live and accessing them and understanding their biodiversity was important. These indigenous plants are termed “living fossils” which means they closely resemble ancestors. The species are highly abundant in plant nutrients that the human body needs and contain the liquid matrix that the body requires to deliver them. There was also a need to support the growers of these unique plants for the industry as a whole to prosper.

QUESTION 5: Biologi is plant-based and uses minimal ingredients, with each serum centred around a single botanical plant. What ingredients would you never use in a formula, and why?

C.L.E.C.S.™ is a unique extraction process which I created in 2017. As mentioned earlier other extraction techniques have their failings, and I wanted to eliminate these while also extracting the full plant profile of phyto-nutrients along with the unique liquid matrix the plant creates. C.L.E.C.S.™ creates an environment around the plant material that allows the nutrients and liquid matrix to flow through the cellular structure of the plant into the extraction vessel. The entire process takes only a few hours. In 2019, we further developed the extraction system to create C.L.E.C.S.™ II extracts. These extracts are only used in the Biologi serum products making them unique.

QUESTION 6

WHAT BIOLOGI SERUM DO YOU USE ON YOUR SKIN EVERY DAY?

I use the Biologi Bm RegenerateAnti-Ageing Serum. I love it and use it every day.

PLANT EXTRACTS

QUESTION 7: What is your favourite plant extract and why?

Finger lime extract is my favourite. The amount of phyto-nutrients it contains and how well it works for so many skin issues for so many people. When I launched Bf Restore Serum, I wanted to explore what was possible with a body serum made from citrus botanicals. Today it is the number 1 product in the Biologi range.

QUESTION 8: You talk about phyto-actives – what are they?

Phyto-actives are the nutrients found in plants. There are presently 50,000 – 130,000 phyto-nutrients found in the plant kingdom. Phyto-nutrients act like a natural shield for your body by cleaning up cell damage (as an antioxidant), to reduce swelling (as an anti-inflammatory), as a defence against severe diseases and balancing hormones and immunity. The golden rule is to source from plants instead of pills.

QUESTION 9

WHICH KEY ELEMENTS DO YOU CONSIDER VITAL FOR OPTIMAL SKIN HEALTH?

Skincare products should only contain ingredients that the skin needs. These ingredients need to be directly from plants and must be delivered at levels that do not exceed what the body requires and most importantly the product must contain delivery system plants produce.

PLANT-BASED OILS

QUESTION 10: You also have an interest in essential oils, can you explain a little about how they work and what to consider if using in a skincare formula?

Skincare products should only contain ingredients that the skin needs. These ingredients need to be directly from plants and must be delivered at levels that do not exceed what the body requires and most importantly the product must contain delivery system plants produce.

QUESTION 11: Biologi have face and body oils as part of their range. Can you explain the benefits of choosing cold pressed, unrefined oils and why they are so good for the skin?

Using oils that are as close to the oil found in the seed is very important as that is the oil your body is used to when you consume the seed. Cold pressed oils have little processing to them and if kept in the first pressed state (unrefined) they keep the highly coloured vitamins they contain and the fatty acids which are critically important to our health such as alpha linoleic acid. That is the reason why the Biologi Br Rosehip Oil is a vivid orange/red as it’s the Vitamin E & A while the Biologi By Blackberry Seed Oil is a deep green due to the Vitamin K content. Both these oils also contain significant amounts of Alpha Linoleic as well.