Meet the Founder

Dr Shabana Hijazi

I’m an NHS GP, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and acupuncturist. My work sits at the intersection of modern medicine and traditional wisdom - two different ways of understanding the body, but both grounded in the same belief that we need to look at the whole person, not just the symptom in front of us.

I also trying to build an acupuncture practice as a social enterprise, because I believe that kind of care shouldn't be locked behind a price tag it doesn't need to have.


Lylas Blend® grew from the same way of thinking.

I created it because I wanted to bring that approach into something simple and everyday. A moisturiser that is considered, purposeful and beautifully made, but that also gives you a reason to stop for a moment.

Every formulation here follows the same principle. Not to mask. Not to fix. To work with the body, not against it.

I will always create with intention -choosing ingredients for a reason, formulating thoughtfully, never adding something simply because it sounds good.

Every jar of Lyla's Blend® is made with the same rigour I bring to a clinical decision. Anhydrous. Concentrated. Free of synthetic fragrance or filler.

Nothing in this formulation is here by accident. I chose all of it. I stand behind all of it.

But this isn't skincare as habit -something you do without thinking.

It's a pause.

The noise drops, and you come back to yourself.

Warm the butter between your hands. Breathe. Apply it slowly. Give yourself a moment before you move on to everything else.

That is the thinking behind Return to Self.

And I want Lyla's Blend® to give you something back beyond what it does as a multi-tasking moisturiser. A small, meaningful moment in the day to pause, breathe, and reconnect with yourself.

Because when you reconnect with yourself, everything else tends to follow. For me, that is where skincare becomes more than skincare. That's the whole idea. Return to self, five minutes at a time.

Explore more of my work at Mojo Health → [coming soon]


Return to Self.

With Love

Dr Shabana Hijazi

MPhil | MBChB | MRCP | MRCGP | DipTCM

Science and heritage, in equal measure.

MY STORY

I always told people I never set out to build a skincare brand.

That's not quite true.

I set out to build one at fifteen. Green and gold, GCSE Art, a full catalogue for a shelf that didn't exist yet in Bradford. I got an A, and then life asked something else of me, and it went into a drawer for thirty years.

In between, I became a doctor. My world was people, symptoms, questions - trying to work out what sits underneath what we can see. Years of that, alongside my practice in acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, taught me something modern healthcare doesn't always leave room for: the body is always talking. Stress shows up. Sleep shows up. Hormonal change shows up. Sometimes the skin says it before the person's found the words themselves.

And I noticed the other thing, just as often: most of us leave no space to actually hear it. We look after everyone else first. We put ourselves at the bottom of a list we wrote ourselves.

Then 2020. Lockdown. My kitchen.

I made a whipped butter for myself and my children - every oil chosen the way I'd choose a prescription, for a reason, with thirty years of reading and evidence behind it. Then my family tried it. Then my friends. Then they kept coming back.

I called it Lyla's Blend®, after the daughter I always wanted, who came without being asked for.

It's anhydrous, concentrated, built from ten ingredients I'd defend individually; shea, jojoba, sweet almond, avocado, castor, vitamin E, frankincense, myrrh, neroli, sandalwood. Every one chosen with purpose. Every texture made with care.

But the ingredients were never the whole point.

Warming the butter between your hands.

Breathing in.

Feeling it melt into the skin.

Taking a moment before you carry on with everything else.

That's the idea behind Return to Self.

Not becoming a different version of yourself. Not starting something new in 2020.

Just going back to the drawer, thirty years late, and finally opening it.

MY PROMISE

I will always create with intention - choosing ingredients for a reason, formulating thoughtfully, never adding something simply because it sounds good.

Every jar of Lyla's Blend® is made with the same rigour I bring to a clinical decision. Anhydrous. Concentrated. Free of synthetic fragrance or filler.

Nothing in this formulation is here by accident. I chose all of it. I stand behind all of it.

And I want it to give you something back beyond what it does for your skin — a small, meaningful moment in the day to pause, breathe, and Return to Self.

My Philosophy

Work With the Body, Work With Intent

I believe in working with the body with intention, not constantly trying to override, suppress or fight what it's telling us.

Science & Tradition

I believe modern medicine and traditional wisdom can sit at the same table — with curiosity, evidence, and respect for what each one knows that the other doesn't.

Small Moments of Joy

Skincare doesn't have to be a chore you get through. I wanted it to hold small moments of joy - the kind that catch you off guard, an "oh, aha" in the middle of an ordinary day.

I created Lyla's Blend® with one intention: to bring people back to themselves.

Explore my wider work with MOJO Health → (link soon)