Brand Identity System · 2024
Boutique skincare rooted in slow beauty, botanical ritual, and honest craft.
01 — Logo System
02 — Color Palette
Nightsoil (ink), Terracotta (accent), and Cream Paper (background) form the irreducible core. Use across all touchpoints for immediate recognition.
Deep Moss and Sage Mist bring the botanical dimension. Use as supporting tones in backgrounds, dividers, and secondary text to add depth without competing.
60% Cream Paper / Nightsoil — 30% Moss tones — 10% Terracotta. Terracotta is precious; its power comes from restraint. Avoid overuse.
03 — Typography
Display · Cormorant Garamond 300
Slow beauty,
honestly made.
Headline · Cormorant 400
The ritual begins
with intention.
Subheading · Cormorant Italic 300
Botanical extracts, wild-harvested.
Body · Jost 300
Each formula is developed over eighteen months of testing — because our customers deserve products that work, not products that market well. We believe the best skincare is invisible; it simply lets your skin become itself.
Caption
Wild-harvested · Small batch
Eyebrow
New Collection · Spring
Cormorant Garamond
A refined old-style serif with long ascenders and deep inktraps. Used for all headlines, product names, and brand wordmark. Its elegant letterforms carry the brand's commitment to craft and longevity.
Jost
A geometric humanist sans with restrained proportions. Used for body text, labels, UI elements, and all functional copy. Provides clarity and modernity against the warmth of Cormorant.
Pairing Philosophy
The sharp geometric sans against the organic serif creates productive tension — science and nature, precision and poetry. This mirrors the brand's identity: botanical ingredients, rigorous formulation.
04 — Brand Voice
We don't shout. Our formulas speak. Solène never makes promises it can't keep, and never undersells what it delivers. The tone is assured — the way an expert speaks when they have nothing to prove.
Every sentence earns its place. We resist filler, resist urgency, resist the pressure to say more than is true. Our writing breathes — short sentences, unhurried rhythm, meaningful pauses.
Scientific accuracy isn't cold here. We name ingredients with care, explain what they do without condescension, and make the complex feel approachable without dumbing it down.
Our sourcing story is real — the valley, the harvest, the hands. Solène voice always connects product to origin. Geography and season are characters in our narrative, not marketing decoration.
✓ Solène Voice
"Rosehip, slow-pressed from fruit harvested after the first frost. It takes time to become what it is. So does your skin."
— Product page, Rosehip Repair Oil
✗ Off-brand
"Our INCREDIBLE Rosehip Oil is packed with nutrients your skin is literally CRAVING right now. Don't miss out — limited stock!"
— Urgency, hyperbole, exclamation: never.
05 — Business Cards
06 — Letterhead
12 Millbrook Lane
Asheville, NC 28801
solenebotanicals.com
Dear Ms. Beaumont,
Thank you for taking the time to meet with us last week. I've been thinking about our conversation since — particularly your observation about what customers actually linger over versus what they simply pass by. It confirmed something we've believed for a while: people can feel when a product was made with care.
I'm writing to formally propose a consignment arrangement for our Spring Harvest Collection, seven SKUs including the new Bergamot + Ashwagandha Face Oil and the refillable Milky Cleansing Balm. Each product ships with our full ingredient provenance card, which we've found meaningfully increases average basket value in similar retail environments.
I've enclosed our wholesale terms sheet, press kit, and three product samples for your team to try at your own pace. No urgency — we'd rather you know the products before you carry them.
With warmth,
08 — Brand Guidelines
Use Cormorant Garamond for all display and headline type
Maintain minimum 30% clear space around the wordmark equal to cap-height of "S"
Lead with Terracotta as the sole warm accent — never use two accent colors simultaneously
Write in complete, considered sentences — no sentence fragments in brand copy
Ground all product claims in ingredient fact, not aspiration
Use photography that feels documentary, natural light only
Place the wordmark on a patterned or photographic background without a clean field
Stretch, condense, outline, or add drop-shadows to the logo
Use exclamation marks, ALL CAPS copy, or urgency language ("limited!" "don't miss!")
Use sans-serif fonts at display sizes — Jost is body-only
Substitute any other color for Terracotta (#C4825A) in the wordmark accent
Use stock photography that feels staged, aspirational, or demographically filtered
07 — Social Templates
Consistent across
every channel.
Instagram Post · 1:1
New · Spring Collection
Bergamot +
Ashwagandha
Face Oil
Instagram Story · 9:16
Brand Philosophy
"Slow beauty is not a trend. It is a return."
Instagram Post · Alt Color
Behind the Batch
Wild rosehip,
after the frost.
This is where it begins.
LinkedIn Banner · 4:1
Small batch. Wild-sourced. Made for skin that deserves honesty.