OUR STORY & PHILOSOPHY
Hello and thank you for visiting our page!
We thought some of you might be interested in how and why we got started.....
As an acne sufferer for more than 30 years, I tried every remedy-topically, orally, over-the-counter and prescription and while some of those made a small. temporary improvement to my skin, nothing ever truly cleared it up. A couple of years ago, while trying to strategically use concealers and foundations to cover up what I couldn't clear up, I realized that my skin was just getting worse-not surprising when you look at the list of harsh chemicals on the ingredient labels on many major brand products. At that point, the thought of not wearing foundation and concealer was sadly not an option and that's when the thought occurred to me: "What if there were a foundation/concealer that was actually nourishing for skin and didn't contain harsh chemicals and preservatives? Could it provide coverage while healing and calming my skin?" After looking on-line for weeks for such a product and coming up with nothing that fit the bill, I decided to research the purpose and function in each ingredient contained in foundations and concealers and learned a great deal. I began to experiment with nourishing and healing ingredients that could be used instead of the chemicals listed in store-brand make-up. What I came up with was a game changer! I combined healing shea butter and non-comedogenic grapeseed oil to create a nourishing base, kaolin clay for absorption, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide for opacity/cover, iron oxides to achieve the correct shade and essential oils rosemary (an anti-oxidant) to prevent rancidity, tea-tree for its anti-bacterial/anti-fungal/anti-acne properties, lavender for it's soothing properties and geranium for it's known benefits for acne sufferers. The end result was an actual make-up that not only looked and smelled beautiful, but it was healing and clearing my skin as I wore it-I was on to something and I knew it! My skin showed a remarkable improvement over the next several weeks and I was very excited about the results as well as the prospect of creating other products that were good for skin and contained mostly natural ingredients. (I will most likely be formulating this one to sell in the near future:)
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As a music teacher, wife and busy mom of two children, my formulation process was put on hold for a bit during the school year while family life and my career continued to thrive and keep me busy. Fast forward to the pandemic when I was working from home and finding myself with a lot more free time, as many of us did. I once again began to turn my thoughts toward formulating other gentle natural products. I made soy candles which burned clean in our home and I began to explore the possibility of creating products that would not just benefit me, but also my family...enter SOAP! I actually didn't even use soap-none of us did-I always found it to be too drying and it left a weird film on my skin, but I thought that maybe I could come up with a formulation that would be moisturizing and rinse clean, while reducing plastics in our home. Well, as it turns out the formulations I was coming up with were clearing up my skin and giving my face a glow that I did not expect! They did not dry out my skin (thank you, glycerin and nourishing butters) and they did not leave a sticky weird film either! They were also very kind to my (ahem) "maturing skin." Although my teenagers were less-than enthusiastic about giving up their favorite shower gels and being forced to test out "Mom's soap," it only took a month or so before they were asking for more of that "stuff you made that smells like lemons and oranges" ("Meadow Mountain Citrus" Shower Bar")....they were sold, and so was my husband. I figured if my soaps were passing muster with this reluctant shower gel-addicted crowd, I might be really be on to something! Sure enough after sharing samples with friends, family and neighbors, my soaps were getting rave reviews. At first I thought people were just being polite and trying to be supportive as good friends, family and neighbors are prone to do, but when they started coming back for more, I was convinced I needed to turn this oh-so-expensive hobby into a business in order to be able to continue making and to share these products with everyone! All at once, friends and family were requesting that I formulate soaps for certain conditions also such as eczema, which I did with much success by all accounts! (Hello, "Soothing Wild Kasturi Turmeric and Oatmeal".)
My mind was racing.... I needed a business license, I needed a social media outlet, I needed a website-I needed help! Enter loving and supportive husband who has been instrumental in helping me turn this passion into a business. (Thanks, buddy!) So you see, I never initially intended to start a business-I just wanted to fix my skin. In doing so, I ended up creating great natural products that are good for people and the environment and that's what I will continue to do, one small batch at a time. Thanks so much for supporting our budding small business-we truly appreciate you!
