Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/209310
TALENT PATROL Owner Tara Foley stocks Follain with all-natural skin care products. Natural Beauty TARA FOLEY SERVES UP CHEMICAL-FREE SKIN CARE PRODUCTS IN THE SOUTH END AT FOLLAIN. BY REBECCA M. KNIGHT I n an industry where most beauty products are mass-produced and chockfull of chemicals, Follain—the new all-natural skin care store in the South End—offers something distinctly different. With its crisp white walls, marble countertop, and porcelain sink salvaged from a local antiques store, the shop evokes a beautiful powder room at an upscale country retreat. Tara Foley, the store's owner and self-professed "ingredient junkie," eyes the shelves lined with bottles of essential oils, bars of handcrafted olive oil soap, and creams and cleansers made with simple ingredients like shea butter and witch hazel. "There are no unpronounceable chemicals here," she says proudly. PHOTOGRAPHY BY CRAIG CARPENTER/LUSTER STUDIOS (FOLEY) INSIGHT Follain—which means healthy, wholesome, and sound in Gaelic—opened in July. Foley, who is fresh-faced with long coffee-colored locks, has Favorite eatery: grand plans for her brand. "I want to do with the "Sweetgreen on beauty space what Whole Foods did for food." A Boylston Street. former marketer in New York City, she turned to Everything they serve is delicious the natural skin care field after learning about the and clean." harmful petrochemicals that comprise most Nature girl: "I'm mainstream cosmetics. "I always paid close attenalways amazed, tion to what I ate and where my food came from," motivated, and says Foley, 28, a devoted yogi and occasional trihappy when I'm athlete. "So when I started looking into what I was outdoors." putting on my skin, I felt like such a hypocrite." Trending: "Women She began blogging about wholesome substiwant products that align with their tutes in her spare time. Through her blog she met healthy lifestyles." skin care brand founders and learned how they made their products. Foley contemplated starting a website that sold an assortment of organic cosmetics, but decided against it. "Research shows women don't buy skin care products unless they're able to feel, smell, and experience them," she says. "I knew then that it had to be a bricks-and-mortar store." She had a concept, but she needed a plan. She applied to Babson for business school and got in, but before she enrolled she spent six months immersed in the industry. First she moved to Lherm, a tiny town in the southwest region of France, to work on a lavender farm. There, Foley learned to farm, harvest, and distill the properties of lavender oil. (Lavender is a common ingredient in natural beauty products; not only is it a popular form of aromatherapy, it is also used as an antiseptic.) From France she traveled to Maine, where she worked as an apprentice at a private-label skin care manufacturer. At Babson, she honed her idea and also won first place in a national business plan competition. Foley chose to locate her pilot store here, "because Boston is one of the healthiest, most well-educated cities in the country," she says. "People are fit; they're active; and they're into buying local." To that end, Foley strives to carry many locally made brands. Some of her favorites include Amber Blue, an aromatherapy company run by a motherdaughter duo based in Hudson, Massachusetts; Penns Hill, a soap company from Quincy; Jamela, an argan oil company based in Cambridge; Shamanuti, the skin care and cosmetics line based in South Natick; and Farmaesthetics, which is based in Newport, Rhode Island. Foley spends most of her days at the store talking to customers. "I'm learning what they like, what they don't like, what kinds of consistency and smells they favor," she says. "It's giving me ideas on which direction to take." 53 Dartmouth St., 857-284-7078; shopfollain.com BC 64 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 064_BC_SP_TP_Tara_Holiday_13.indd 64 10/31/13 4:11 PM