About Us

The story behind skinChemists is really all about passion. Passionate Chemists who understood that looking and feeling your best can make the world of difference to a person’s life.

skinChemists is a British-born, beauty company that traces its roots back to the 1800s, with Thomas Ridley & Sons Chemists Ltd celebrating Queen Victoria's Jubilee with their popular Quinine and Tonic formula.

In 1955, our founder (Richard Walkers)’s father, Francis G. F. Walker, graduated as a Pharmaceutical Chemist and went on to take over Ridleys, in Carlisle. It was shortly after this, that he created one of the first vegan, botanical, skin creams, fusing Elderflower with a natural moisturiser - a product that went on to make people look and feel the best for the next 50 years. Even back then, the dedication to quality and the commitment to results was there to be seen by the people they served.

Mr Walker fused science and nature and was a pioneer of advanced effective natural skincare. Today, in 2022, those principles of caring, quality treatments and delivering advanced results are at the core of what we do.

At skinChemists, we have one aim: to deliver targeted results - results which let you live the life you want to live.

"My father was a Chemist and member of the Pharmacology Society of Great Britain graduating in 1958. In the 1990’s while I was working with him making a new formulation, we were talking about what makes a great formulation. He said to me, "Richard, when we’re making a skin treatment, you need to make it with passion, to make it with love, and make it knowing that your treatment is going to help many, many people."