About Us
Meet the Founder
Trista is our cosmetic chemist, designer, and handcrafter. She holds a Bachelor of Nursing degree and works in acute care in Calgary, Canada. She is a nature lover at heart with a devotion to organic beauty, herbalism, and natural healing. Nursing is both an art and a science. She uses her well-rounded background in the sciences and research along with an innate sense of care and compassion to create eco-nourishing, evidence-based formulas. She also has a drive for lifelong continuous learning and a lot of her knowledge in skincare specifically is self-taught from passion and deep personal interest. She takes great care and attention in ensuring that our products are safe and effective. To do this she heavily researches ingredients for scientific evidence, follows safe usage rates and dosages, reads ingredient nomograms from the manufacturer, and checks the EWG skin safety ratings. She also pays special attention to synergy, bio-compatibility, and microbiome friendliness. She is mindful of everything including the ethics of the manufacturer where each individual ingredient is sourced.
Trista grew up in a quiet coastal community in Conception Bay on the island of Newfoundland. She recalls feeling a deep sense of community with life focused around social connections. She reminisces about the simple pleasures such as berry picking, family gatherings, and feeling the warmth of a wood stove. Thoughts of 'home' are a reminder to cherish the little things. Trista now resides in Calgary with her husband and dog Olive. Her self-practice of yoga keeps her grounded outside of Nursing and running a business.
Inspiration Story from Trista
In Calgary, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to some remote places. Most notably were my visits to small coastal and mountain villages in rural Belize, Lombok, and Fiji. Despite having little in terms of materialistic things, I specifically recognized a sense of resilience and happiness in the people of these smaller communities, especially in comparison to urban centers in North America. It was like stepping back in time. They universally lived off the land and water surrounding the village and used resources from their local area. They kept busy whether it was weaving, pottery, cooking, socializing or caring for animals. They felt their respect for the land and were very in tune with nature. One interesting observation was that everyone I had met who was native to these villages had bright, clear glowing skin and healthy white teeth. The only connection I could make was that they didn't have access to processed goods or used commercial products. Their diet was mainly tropical superfood vegetation and they bathed in the ocean and/or natural waterfalls. This was/is a reminder that our own health and beauty is not only hereditary but a direct reflection of the environment we live in. Through research I learned that interestingly acne is predominantly a condition of westernized societies only. An interesting thought considering the myriad of skin treatments and topicals available to us. I wondered, could we be doing more harm than good with all the layers and complicated formulas we put on our skin? Chemistry can sometimes make products ‘better’ but may unknowingly create a host of other concerns that science may discover at a later date. On the other hand, nature is in perfect harmony as is, naturally designed to sustain and nourish. You do need to know however what ingredients are nourishing vs are bad (ie toxic or not safe for consumption or applied topically) and for what usage. This is then where science and research should come in. As a nurse, I trust science when it is used for the greater good. I am also aware that there is so much of nature that science hasn't discovered yet. Sometimes when we try and change nature to 'fix' something we just end up creating another problem to solve. In this example, probably acne.
My travels and village visits were the inspiration to a cleaner and healthier lifestyle and helped me to think differently about what I’m putting into my body and onto my skin.
Our philosophy is always to provide the simplest formulas, made with ingredients in their most native state.
Trista Champion