Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Bouchard and Viana Newton.
Katie and Viana, please share your story with us.
Potion started in the winter of 2016 at our kitchen table. While living together, we sat up many nights talking about family traditions, spirituality, and society. We spent a lot of time conversing about our own health concerns including asthma and dermatitis which led to us investigating what we were putting in and on our bodies. We quickly came to realize that a lot of the products we were using were full of fillers, synthetic preservatives, and unrecognizable ingredients.
We decided to use our knowledge of skincare and love for plants to formulate beauty products with minimal, well thought out botanically based ingredients. We aspired to make products that would ease our minds about what we were putting on our bodies.
The process began by handing out products to close friends and roommates. When positive reviews came back, we decided we wanted to share these products with the public. Our line is totally transparent about our ingredients, and utilizes an old world method, bringing back simple and effective ingredients.
After some months of perfecting and testing out recipes, Potion launched in May 2017.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s never an easy thing running a business, but it’s all worth it if you believe in your company and wants to see it grow. We’ve had our fair share of complications be it little details like packaging or more important legal obligations as a cosmetic brand. We try to take it one day at a time and be thorough when researching and experimenting. We’ve spent a lot of time on every product we come out with, including studying with one of Boston’s best clinical skin care therapists, Dana Thomases to create formulas best suited for certain skin types. Katie being a licensed Esthetician has been helpful with our journey too. Viana went to school for PR and marketing, which is something that is so important for running a business these days. We are incredibly lucky to have each other and bring such different but important skills and perspectives to the table.
Our advice for women starting their journeys as business owners are to stay true to yourself and your brand. Never compare yourself to other brands/people, or you will never feel good enough, and you are good enough! Stay focused on your dream and never stop educating yourself in your field.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Potion – what should we know?
Potion is essentially a collection of handcrafted, organic self-care rituals. What that means is we have (and we are continually adding to) an assortment of skin care, body care, and what we call rituals -which has products for bath, home, and spiritual practices. We hand make all of these products and try to use as many local to RI ingredients as possible. We’ve also teamed up with The Nitro Cart and use their coffee grounds in our Coffee Eye Serum. Everything down to the photography and illustrations we use is created by New Englanders that we hire to support our community.
We aren’t necessarily making products that are just pretty or just smell good – we are making products that achieve results, teach you to take a moment to care for yourself and are truly good for you. These are standards we hold very high for ourselves and we have kicked products aside that don’t fulfill those needs.
We are most proud of the fact that we have continued to stay true to ourselves and Potion as a brand. It is easy to find cheaper ingredients or make only trendy products but the whole point of creating this business was to offer honest, healthy products to folks who are sick of spending their money on big businesses who claim “all natural” while cutting corners to save money.
We’re interested to hear your thoughts on female leadership – in particular, what do you feel are the biggest barriers or obstacles?
Honestly, we have been very lucky to be a part of a community with a lot of other female business owners and entrepreneurs who have supported us since the very beginning. Of course, we have run into the occasional person who tries to belittle what we do as a business, and we understand that you just can’t please everyone. Coming to terms with that has definitely helped us be able to set our sights on the people that want and need our products and our help and focus on moving forward in a positive direction.
A small issue that we have had being female business owners is trying to market our products to men as well as women. We do have men that use our products and Potion is meant to be used by anyone, but our clientele is primarily female. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing! However, we would like to share Potion with everyone and are working on products that men feel more comfortable using as well, because let’s be honest, we all need to learn helpful self-care routines!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shop-potion.com
- Email: sales@shop-potion.com
- Instagram: @shop.potion
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/shop.potion
Image Credit:
Maurisa Mackey of Eastern Native Photography
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