Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katie Mulcahy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Katie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

One of the most rewarding things about owning a brand is what it can do to positively impact the customer. Besides selling products, I also work one on one with clients through an online program where I offer remote Skincare Consultations.

I tend to attract the client who has “tried it all” and gone back and forth to physicians and dermatologists with no luck. My approach to wellness and skincare is holistic, I ask a lot of questions first so that I can get an idea of your lifestyle, eating and sleeping habits, stress level, the climate in which you live in etc. These things may not seem related to skincare but they are, and they’re important when it comes to finding the root cause to a symptom.

I am so honored that folks feel comfortable letting me get a peek into their lives so that I can offer advice and point them in the right direction for their needs. Through the years I have helped folks with everything from acne to fungal infections to sun damage. Sometimes all it takes is just a few tweaks to reach optimal skin health, but it can be confusing and overwhelming to figure that out on your own.

When I get an “After” photo or a thank you email from a client it reminds me that I am on the right path and just have to keep going.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Katie Mulcahy and I am an esthetician, herbalist and founder of skincare brand, Potion. My journey started when I was having a lot of GI issues that made me really sick. I started to develop pretty severe eczema on my face, neck and body and was feeling really lost and unheard by doctors. After sending a photo of my skin over to a friend of mine who is a skincare therapist, she told me she thought my issues were caused by digestive problems. I was blown away that she was able to tell what was going on internally with me by just looking at where the rashes were on my skin. That sparked something in me that changed the whole trajectory of my life. I dove deep into the world of skincare and wellness and took up courses in cosmetic formulation and holistic skincare. My friend was kind enough to let me study her in her treatment room where I would quietly scribble notes on skin conditions, diseases, and product ingredients. From there I found a functional nutritionist who helped me heal through holistic practices, herbal supplements and lifestyle changes. These women inspired me to learn as much as I could in order to find freedom from the diseases I had.

Feeling and seeing the transformation on myself was what really led me to want to share these new findings with others. Navigating the world of skincare and wellness is incredibly frustrating and overwhelming. There is just so much information out there and so much of it is false. My goal with Potion was and is to be a safe place to shop and ask questions trusting that I have done my research, have my esthetician license and am certified in cosmetic formulation. To me, these are important factors that set Potion apart from brands that don’t have that well rounded experience. My practical knowledge from working one on one with clients and studying under varies skincare brands allowed me to understand the customer experience, how folks want to feel when using a product, what their needs are and what hinders true skin health.

Potion offers a range of products from skincare, to body care, to plant-based versions of home goods. I am happy to say I also offer remote One on One Skincare Consultations. You can find Potion products online and in stores throughout New England.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I sell through Shopify, but started on Etsy. The skincare/apothecary world is pretty saturated and can be hard to get away from that “homemade” look. I wanted to be taken more seriously as a brand so moving away from Etsy was a big goal of mine. Having the community and ease of Etsy was really comforting in the beginning and I still think their platform is fantastic for artists and small businesses. Making the jump to Shopify meant being alone in a marketing aspect. To be honest. I am still navigating the marketing world as it is ever changing but am finding that I can’t do it all. Outsourcing marketing experts is the plan now!

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I formulate and manufacture all of the products for Potion but have hired a chemist to help me make sure products are shelf stable. When I was first dabbling in product formulation I made a ton of mistakes. Luckily Potion was teeny tiny and my customers were mostly friends and family (sorry fam!). My original thought process was that I wanted to work without synthetic ingredients and without preservatives. My heart was in the right place but it was naïve and potentially dangerous to be honest. Wellness doesn’t equal “no chemicals” because health isn’t that black and white. There are synthetic ingredients that are safer for our bodies and friendlier to our Eco-system than plant based ones and vice versa. There have been incredible advances in cosmetic formulation and there are preservative systems that can be used to keep products nice and stable without affecting the microbiome on our own skin. Having that happy medium has been amazing for a small brand like Potion.

My biggest advice to someone getting started in this world is to really put in the work to understand ingredients, how they work together and how they work in/on our bodies.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shop-potion.com
• Instagram: @shop.potion
• Other: https://shopmy.us/katiepotion/consults for Skincare Consultations

Image Credits
Maurisa Mackey @risslyn