In a small cabin, tucked behind the Matakana Village Butchery, a family-led collective is turning a traditional, often overlooked ingredient into simple, natural skincare, building a distinctly local narrative along the way.

Words Lucinda Diack

Sisters, Haylee and Kylie Collings and Sarah Watts, together with childhood friend Zak Thomson, make a formidable team at Matakana Village Butchery. Owned by Sarah and her husband Matt, the butchery has become more than just a workplace – it’s the foundation that inspired this tight-knit foursome to turn an old idea into a new way of life.

For the women behind Matakana Tallow Co, the revival began in the most ordinary of ways: mothers trying to help their family with dry, irritated skin. Utilising a by-product from the butcher that was otherwise destined for waste, Haylee started to experiment with tallow in her home kitchen. Kylie laughs, ‘I couldn’t believe when she gave me some of her tallow cream and it worked. When you first put it on, you notice it’s there but then it just absorbs in. There is no greasy film or unwanted smell, which is something people are often concerned about with tallow.’

From the beginning, they agreed that if they were going to put it on their own families, it needed to be as honest and transparent as possible. ‘We have created a product that doesn’t contain a lot of ingredients ,’ says Zak. ‘There are no fillers, no artificial fragrances and no long list of mystery additives.’

Every batch is produced to cosmetic grade quality through a careful, multi-step rendering and filtering process that controls temperature to avoid burning the tallow oil. From there, it is melted and blended by hand to produce around 20 jars at a time. ‘Small batch production is really important to us,’ says Kylie. ‘And we have fine-tuned our process for this; we aren’t chasing supermarket shelves, this is about helping people and education as much as it is about skincare.’

‘Each batch is made from just one or two animals,’ explains Zak. ‘We don’t mix different fats together as we then batch-number every jar for full traceability so our consumers know exactly where their tallow has come from.’

‘We source all of our tallow from a single farm in Matakana,’ continues Haylee. ‘It’s slow, deliberate work, but it underpins what matters to us most – creating honest, intentional products people can trust and that truly work to improve your skin.’

What is Tallow?

A by-product of beef, tallow is naturally high in vitamins A, D, E and K, as well as fatty acids that support skin renewal and repair while also providing antioxidant support, hydration and overall barrier function. It has been used as a cosmetic ingredient for centuries, particularly in traditional skincare practices where simple formulations were the norm. Because its fatty acid profile resembles that of human skin, it absorbs effortlessly without leaving a greasy film; feeding the skin rather than just sitting on top of it.