Cannabis skincare brand Herb Essentials celebrates New York creatives

Cannabis skincare brand Herb Essentials has revealed its collaboration with jewellery line L’Enchanteur and photographer Annie Powers for a new campaign titled ‘Your Hands Are Essntls’. The images celebrate the launch of Herb Essentials first hand cream which, like the other skincare in their collections, is a gender-neutral product formulated with an ultra-hydrating blend of cannabis seed oil, safflower oil and beeswax.

Since it was established in 2015, Herb Essentials has sought to support creatives in its native New York City with a line of collaborative campaigns. ‘Your Hands Are Essntls’ highlights the work of sisters Dynasty and Soull Ogun who as L’Enchanteur are best known for handcrafted ornate and totemic jewellery that often looks as if it's been retrieved from an ancient burial ground.

Much of the sisters' work is informed by the mystical world of dreams and ancient mythologies: ‘Ancient Mayan, Ancient Yoruba, Ancient Asia, India, China,’ says Soull Ogun. ‘We were going to Russia and Poland and all that stuff. The myths trickle in everywhere.’

For the duo, the act of creating jewellery is its own kind of magic. ‘That’s what alchemy is,’ says Soull. ‘You take the dirty and gross and try to make something magical. When you're making jewellery – jewellery has to get really dirty before it gets really shiny and people don't know that process. Your hands are filthy when you're making jewellery and you're pulling up the grotesque, the dirt, whatnot.’ 

The sisters’ constant work with their hands made them perfectly suited to showcase Herb Essentals’ new hand cream. For the campaign, New York-based photographer Annie Powers has captured them moving around their Brooklyn-based studio surrounded pieces of gold jewellery they’ve made for artists like Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu.

‘My vision was to show Soull and her work, attitude, and style’, says Powers about working on the project. ‘I was excited to get the freedom to play. I appreciated the privacy to connect with the subject and I think that adds to the authenticity of the images.

INFORMATION

herbessntls.com