When Priya Gandesha talks about Cinnacare, she doesn’t begin with product formulations, branding or market opportunities. She begins with her children.
Every successful brand has a story, but the ones we remember rarely begin in a boardroom. They begin around kitchen tables, in moments of worry, or in the determination to solve a problem that feels deeply personal.
Cinnacare is one of those stories. Long before there were product formulations, branding meetings or launch plans, there was simply a mother searching for answers. Priya Gandesha wasn’t looking to create a luxury skincare company. She was looking for comfort, reassurance and something she could trust for the three people who mattered most in her world.
Priya was a teacher; she loved teaching secondary school, she loved her students, she loved that every day was a new challenge and an opportunity to shape the lives of the next generation. But she was diagnosed with Lupus, forcing her to leave teaching and to implement a regime of self-care. This made her become much more conscious of the products herself and her family used every day. And in her search, she found purpose.
Sometimes, the businesses that go on to touch thousands of lives begin with a single family trying to navigate life’s challenges, and that is exactly where the story of Cinnacare begins.
Watching all three of her children experience different skin conditions was both heartbreaking and frustrating. Like countless parents, Priya found herself standing in front of shelves filled with creams, oils and lotions, reading ingredient lists, comparing labels and wondering whether any of them truly offered what delicate young skin deserved. Each child had different needs, different sensitivities and different reactions, making the search feel endless. “At first, I wasn’t trying to build a business at all,” she reflects. “I was simply trying to help my children.” It is a wonderfully simple sentence, but it explains everything about Cinnacare. This was never a brand born from spotting a gap in the market. It was born from love, from instinct and from a determination to create something she would feel completely confident using on her own family.
However, ironically perhaps, there was a gap in the market; a host of parents were searching for the same thing; because our children are delicate, their skin is delicate and we all want to find that solution that looks after our children; who better to find that out than a mother? Because at every point of research and development, a mother asks “Would I feel confident using this on my own children?” – and that is the kind of reassurance that is so important for parents to know.
As the months turned into years of research, reading and asking questions, Priya noticed something unexpected happening. The more she searched for modern solutions, the more she found herself thinking about the traditions she had grown up with. Like many British Asians, she had been surrounded by natural botanicals throughout her childhood. They weren’t presented as wellness trends or miracle ingredients. They were simply woven into family life, passed from one generation to another almost without question. Among those memories, one ingredient continued to stand out: Cinnamon leaf.
It represented warmth, comfort and care, and Priya began to wonder whether generations of inherited knowledge could sit comfortably alongside modern skincare science. Rather than choosing between tradition and innovation, perhaps the two could complement one another beautifully. That thought would eventually become the very foundation upon which Cinnacare was built.
“When it comes to babies, it’s about knowing every ingredient has been carefully considered, every formulation has been developed with purpose and every detail, from the texture to the packaging, has been created with care. Parents deserve products that feel beautiful to use while giving them confidence in what they’re putting on their child’s skin.
My proudest moment has simply been proving to myself that this was possible. Cinnacare began with an idea, years of research and countless conversations around my kitchen table, so seeing it become a real brand is incredibly emotional.
The biggest challenge has been patience. Creating something you truly believe in takes time, and I’ve refused to compromise on quality simply to launch more quickly.”
Looking back, Priya believes that the moments which test us most often become the very moments that define us. What began as a mother’s determination to find something better for her own children has evolved into something far greater than a skincare brand. For her, Cinnacare is a celebration of family, heritage, resilience and hope, and a reminder that the wisdom passed down through generations still has an important place in modern life. More than anything, she hopes her journey encourages other parents to trust their instincts, to value the traditions that have shaped their own families and to recognise that even life’s greatest challenges can become the beginning of something truly meaningful.
Cinnacare will be launching their Soothing Baby Oils in September 2026, followed by the Soothing Baby Lotion in late October 2026. Both products will be available through the website, www.cinnacare.com, with selected retail partnerships to follow.
Cinnacare will launch its Soothing Baby Oils including the Newborns+ and 6 Months+ variants in September 2026, followed by the release of the Soothing Baby Lotion in late October 2026.
All products will be available directly through the official website, www.cinnacare.com, with selected retail partnerships to follow.
Credits:
Photography by: @omj.studio
Hair & Make-up by: @fatinhmakeup
Creative Direction & Styling by: @anishavasanicreates
