It’s hard to imagine a world before all this—a world pre-phone, pre-Internet, pre-old school land line, even. A quick text (mostly emojis, perhaps with an acronym thrown in for good measure) is enough; a bite-sized caption—just right. There’s beauty in brevity but there’s something special about a longform letter.

And we want to bring it back.

True, I’m typing this, and this letter is meant to live in our corner of the World Wide Web (that’s what we called it back in the day!). Though not true pen-to-paper, the intention is: Letters from Londontown is where we plan to dive in and discuss in-depth all the things we love and everything you might have questions about. In short, anything that’s simply too long for an Instagram post. We’ll be sharing odes to our favorite products; tips and tricks from the LT team, and exclusive behind-the-scene previews just for you.

More importantly, though, Letters from Londontown is how I’m paying tribute to my grandmother and great aunt. Not only were they two of the most special women in my life, but it’s because of them that Londontown exists at all.

When they were separated during World War II, my grandmother and great aunt wrote each other letters to stay connected. These were no ordinary letters though: my great-aunt would send back hand-picked flowers to her sister so she could concoct her own beauty essentials. (Wartime rationing meant little to no access to beauty products.) My grandmother would then press and extract botanical oils out of these finds, then create and send a restorative elixir back. Words may have been their lifeline, but beauty was their love language.

Those very remedies became the inspiration behind Londontown’s formulas—one of which would become our proprietary Florium Complex. In fact, I rediscovered them while I was pregnant with my first child and have since been on a mission to share these cherished family recipes. Not only did they change my nails, but they changed my perspective on beauty.

All this is just to say: welcome. Join us for the ride as we unravel beauty myths and prove clean can be just as effective, luxurious, and more.

(Or, when we just feel like waxing poetic about our holy-grail favorites.)

With love,

Marina