verryk

I work with plant extracts in the way of essential oils, absolutes, C02 extracts and tinctures. they are all so incredibly potent and powerful - for example, 3-4 tons of rose petals (3,000-4,000 kg) yields only 1 kg of rose oil. if you just think how light a rose petal is... a single drop of rose oil requires 1000's of rose petals. this also explains the costliness of plant extracts.

anyway, I am deviating. because the extracts are so powerful, I dilute them in alcohol to evaluate and formulate with.
most I dilute at 20%, others 10%, some 5% and particularly strong ones at 1%. the insanely strong materials like cade and violet leaf gets diluted down to a mere 0.1%, and at that concentration they still pack a punch.

featuring a snap of some dilutions done in 5ml vials.
I write the material name, its botanical name, date of dilution, date of extraction, date of purchase and the supplier. it all gets quite scientific. I am rather analytical and enjoy jotting down this information. and I just love the handwritten labels on my little baby bottles!

beautifully wrapped skin butter for a dear friend, and most loyal customer 🌾🤍✨ 🌍 KATmospolitan 🌍 Katja ordered a few of these lovingly wrapped, as gifts for friends and colleagues of hers.

if you'd like yours to be specially gift wrapped too, just specify yes at "is this a gift?" when ordering online 🎁 verryk.com

well hello, it's me!

I'm Zéa, a perfumer and the owner of verryk, on the cusp of sharing my very first perfumes with you all.
I craft botanical perfumes with a strong focus on Fynbos materials, from my very own country and heritage.

I chose verryk as my brand name as I wanted a meaningful Afrikaans name to celebrate my own heritage. verryk means to "enrich", and I hope to do so through my perfumes and products.

I registered verryk as a company the other day, and I feel like my baby business is now official official. I'm living my dream and my passion. I am truly and utterly blessed xx

I am married to the most wonderful husband who is my biggest champion and supporter. And he has an exceptional nose, without any training - my true sounding board in every sense.

I love life, I love nature, I love pasta, coffee, and Fynbos.

welcome to my corner xx

a fair chunk of my time this year has been spent formulating, and, I love it. the joy I feel when I've "hit the jackpot", when I've achieved the scent I was aiming for or even something better than my wildest dreams, is something I cannot quite describe. It floods me with joy, inspires me, gives me hope, enlivens me. It makes me fall in love with life, makes me want to jump up and down and sing and shout and dance.
there's usually quite a few trials leading up to that point - but I must say, I love the journey. I learn so much about my materials, what they do when they meet each other, and discover things I could never have thought. die lewe is 'n lied. sing dit!

I cannot wait to share my perfumes with you. soon. soon!

xx🤎

Dry, sensitive skin?
Well, no more.

Our organic skin butter moisturises, nourishes and nurtures dry and sensitive skin perfectly.

Tired of applying lotion and your skin feeling like you haven't given it anything 10 minutes later? Me too.
Lotions (and some body butters too) contain water, which feels lovely upon application but evaporates quickly, leaving dry skin still wanting.

Our skin butter does not contain water - just oils, butter and wax for an extremely rich moisturiser that deeply saturates, leaving your skin silky soft and supple.

Made with ingredients that soothes and calms sensitive skin.

Did I mention it smells heavenly too? Scent of honey-veld.

Link in bio xx 🤍



African oils, butter and wax.
Fynbos essential oils grown and distilled in South Africa.

🫒 Olive oil grown and cold pressed on a family farm in Wellington, SA.
🐝 Beeswax made by a proud one-man bee owner in the Breede Vallei.
🌰 Shea butter sourced from a women's co-op in Ghana.
🥥 Coconut oil made in Mozambique.

Is it not glorious that materials from our continent can nurture us this way?

Link in bio xx 🤍

the pretties, packaged 📦

wit suikerbossie
protea repens

called as suikerbossie, 'sugarbush', because the flowers are filled with a sweet sugary nectar. in times past the locals used to make a syrup from the collected nectar, called "bossiestroop" - directly translated as 'bush syrup'. this bossiestroop had an important place in medicine cabinets in the 19th century.

the sugarbush protea comes in many different colours, ranging from cream to tinted with pink and fully hot pink. a truly special Fynbos treasure.
the beloved vibrant little "suikerbekkie", sunbird, love to pollinate these suikerbossies.

"I think one of the most fascinating things about perfumes is how they change with each person’s skin chemistry. I’ve always thought of them as verbs, not nouns. Truth, I’ve found, is much the same."

-The Scent Keeper, Erica Bauermeister

shea botter // butter

a glorious and integral component of our nourishing skin butter and Beard & Body Balm.

silky, gentle, super moisturising and calming - shea butter is excellent for eczema, and dry, sensitive, itchy and irritated skin.

our shea butter is sourced from Ghana, produced by a co-operative of rural women. it is of the utmost quality - being A grade, organic, unrefined and fair trade.

shea butter is made from the nuts of the shea tree. the nuts are washed, crushed, roasted and then milled. this shea paste gets kneaded and the butter separated; the butter is then cooked, filtered and continually stirred whilst cooling down to obtain a luxurious creamy texture.

known as "women's gold", it is culturally a revered product and is mostly made by women. for many rural women in the shea area, the making of shea butter is their livelihood.

shea trees grow wild across the "shea belt", in the savannah regions of West and Central Africa.

the use of shea butter and trade thereof dates back to the 14th century - and 5 centuries later, we are still loving it.