Apothecary Fairy
 |
Products Offered
Handmade Shea Butter Soap (7 Essential Oil Blends), Healing Body Cremes, Fresh Facial Toners & Lotions, Mineral Salt Baths, Soy Candles, Organic Sugar Scrubs, Lip Treatments and more. *All freshly handmade with no synthetic ingredients or preservatives.
Market Days
Bi-Weekly
Contact Information
Elia Singer
orders@apothecary-fairy.com
www.apothecary-fairy.com
|
As a young girl, Elia Singer, a native Californian, learned the lost art of handmade skincare products from her Norwegian Mother and Grandmother. Young enough to sit inside her mother's kitchen drawer, watching amber glass jars being filled with fragrant facial masks and tinctures, Elia was fascinated by all of the textures and scents and especially loved to take part in "beauty treatments" with these freshly blended delights. Her fascination grew into a hobby through college, then at the age of 25, as a means of affording to put herself through college, she founded her first business, "Apothecary Fairy" in 1996.
Starting very small and by taking time to create her most special handmade soap recipe, she began selling fresh, hand cut bars of olive oil soap at local street festivals and farmer's markets. Gradually, her line of products expanded into handmade skin cremes, salt baths and lip treatments, building on the principles of making each product in small batches, using herbs and essential oils with no synthetic fragrances or preservatives. As most mass-produced products are filled with additives to prolong shelf life, Elia maintained the belief that while we seek out natural foods, we should also treat our skin to wholesome products.
Gradually, and predominantly through word-of-mouth advertising, Apothecary Fairy was earning quite a reputation and clientele. At her most lucrative venue, the Malibu Farmer's Market, she was approached by the Production Team of the series, "Ally McBeal" and was asked to bring her wares to the sound stage where they filmed. Through such wonderful exposure, Elia earned such celebrity clients as Robert Downey Jr., Lucy Liu, Harry Connick Jr., Salma Hayek and a list of celebrity make-up artists who would use her products on the set. The fact that Apothecary Fairy products were not on every spa boutique's shelves made the products even more desirable and elusive and again, the word got around. Eventually Elia was called upon to make custom products for celebrities such as Stevie Wonder, and the cast and crews of television dramas "The Practice" and "Without A Trace."
With her business booming as it was, she chose to postpone her college career as she was thriving due to her entrepreneurial efforts. She hired a small staff to stir, pour and wrap and eventually added a select group of Day Spas who private labeled her products to both use on their clients and sell in their boutiques. These included the Sundance Resort and Breathe Day Spa in Utah and Kinara Day Spa in West Hollywood, CA. Though Elia was enjoying her entrepreneurial success, she had wishes of starting a family and that seemed to take precedence over her business at least for the time being. She knew that she would be able to reopen her business when the time was right and that, she certainly did.
In 2003, Elia relocated to Memphis, TN to take time off from her business and raise her family. Now with 3 children, Elia has retired the name “Ophelia Snodgrass Apothecary” and re-introduced her business under its original name of Apothecary Fairy. Elia quickly acquired a loyal clientele here in Memphis with interest from local retail shops and her orders began to increase. As soon as she put up her newly revitalized Apothecary Fairy website, Elia began receiving emails from her West Coast customers saying how much they've missed her products and that they were so happy to find their favorite products again. This was the beginning of her newfound success in Memphis.
Elia. and assistant Cori Kaplan maintain a booth at the downtown Memphis Farmer's Market from April through October in addition to hosting Open Studio events and offering “Traveling Apothecary” Home Parties over the holidays. She is very much enjoying her business here in midtown Memphis while being a stay-at-home Mom to her children. She is currently in the process of expanding her business and staff to accommodate new accounts and to increase production while preserving her high quality standards for handmade and fresh skincare products that she believes so much in maintaining. Life is full of adventures, so who knows what the future holds for the Apothecary Fairy!