So Glad You’re Here
Hello,
I would like to extend a warm personal welcome to the Alaric Arwen Mercantile. Please take a moment to get to know a bit about us as we’d love to connect with you.
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As humans, we thrive when we wander to gather experiences and confidence that come as a reward of age. Instead of going backward by seeking the Fountain of Youth, we seek to be our best selves now and for our future.
It's been said that all who wander are not lost. It was out of not-so-beautiful circumstances that eventually gave me my passion and guided me to where I was meant to be. I suffered from years of acne, eczema, psoriasis, and skin sensitivities and as I've aged, I've also had to deal with dark spots, lines, and dryness. To me. beauty and grooming goes beyond the superficial, and I knew too well what good and bad skin can do for your confidence, overall energy, and interactions with others.
What started out as a personal pursuit to help my own issues sparked my desire to help others. I became an esthetician, and with continued education plus years of hands-on work with clients of multiple ages, ethnicities, and skin conditions, I improved my understanding of skin and discovered what worked to help positively address several skin conditions and concerns. Even after almost three decades as an esthetician and makeup artist, it's that personal connection that makes me love my work, and seeing the delight on each and every face I work with still brings me so much joy.
It's been a long journey but founding Alaric Arwen helped me find myself in the process. Today, I humbly share my years of discoveries with you. Through a simple routine of proven essentials combining precise concentrations and synergistic combinations of ingredients shown to visibly help improve skin strength and beauty, it allows you to use less to achieve more.
Making a meaningful connection with you (whether through beauty or my other work) is important to me. I am grateful your path has brought you here as I hope I can be a small part to help bring a bit more beauty and joy to your life. Please visit often, email me @hello@alaricarwen.com to let me know you’re interested in hearing from me personally, and feel free to connect with me (and be a part of our wonderful communities) at the social links in the footer below.
Thank you for your trust and for allowing me to be a part of your personal journey. It just goes to show each path leads us to the people we're meant to meet and to exactly where we're meant to be.
With love & gratitude,
Alaric
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It's my hope that ALARIC ARWEN MERCANTILE can help to inspire us all to connect with our authentic selves through soul care through shared arts and self-care through skincare. We use vitamins, proteins, and enzymes that naturally occur in the body plus carriers and delivery systems that work best with the knowledge that our bodies fight off many foreign substances. We do away with the outdated natural vs synthetic war and stay away from commonly-used skin sensitizers, fragrant plant essential oils, added fragrances, dyes, and fillers. This allows ingredients and products to be more compatible with and work with your skin to activate energy that can visibly help decrease aging inflammation, and stimulate its detox and repair functions that help to regulate the visible biological aging processes of the skin.
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It all starts with the ingredients. We not only list our full list of ingredients, but we expand on what each purposeful ingredient does. We don't want to waste your time or money for marketing's sake by putting in anything you don't need that will not make the product work better and make your skin look better.
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I consider myself fortunate to have spent a lot of my life so far in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by so much beauty. From the vineyards of Willamette Valley, fruitful Sauvie Island, the grandeur of the Hood River & Columbia Gorge, to the independent, creative spirit of Portland, there's a lot to wander through and be inspired by. Alaric Arwen offerings were created in part, to allow us to enjoy what it all has to offer while feeling confident that we are doing the best we possibly can to help our skin protect and repair against the elements. After all, the less you worry about your skin, the more time you have to experience the joy.
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Beyond beauty, I plan to share my other pursuits here that I hope can serve as tools to help you connect with your own thoughts or with others, serve as messages of hope, healing, celebration and help you to discover or rediscover your dreams and passions. To me, beauty is not just about how we look, but it’s about finding the joy and beauty with every interaction and every day.
We say
Yes to universally beneficial, inclusive products
Yes to abundance in health & joy
Yes to microbiome care
Yes to smelling the roses & going-slow
Yes to mindfulness
Yes to time offline
Yes to connection & community
Yes to empathy and kindness
Yes to evolution and forward momentum
Our Promise
Rooted In Science
Our Alaric Arwen creations use synergistic and the most beneficial concentrations of ingredients established by recognized independent research organizations to provide transformative results.
Expertly Curated
Our mercantile offerings are carefully vetted to go beyond the marketing term “clean beauty” to actually be free of many sensitizers (both natural and synthetic) that have been shown to have high sensitizing potential for skin.
Simplicity
Nothing goes into our creations that isn’t absolutely necessary to restoring the vitality of your skin.
A Place of Joy
Our mercantile was started to inspire joy not only through confidence and beauty but also through creations that can uplift and connect with the soul. We hope to inspire you to embrace your uniqueness and live your passions each day so you can spread your joy.
We’re Continuously Evolving
My professional career began after college as a violinist and singer touring throughout Asia. However, as someone who’s always loved art, I saw what people were doing behind the scenes with makeup and asked celebrity friends if I could practice on them. After this, I began getting requests for professional work that included music videos, runways, magazine shoots, and appearances.
Upon my return to the Pacific Northwest, I began my career as an esthetician/cosmetologist, worked with several major lines, and opened up a spa that was named “The Best Beauty Shop” in Seattle by Marie Claire.
I began to develop products because my clients were disappointed with the offerings out there that did not meet their sensitive and aging skin needs. I knew there had to be a better way. Armed with huge research journals and lists of ingredients, I worked with dermatologists, chemists, and botanists to offer Lex and Jong medical-grade skincare and Alaric Arwen natural origins skincare - both of which have now gained very loyal followings.
Currently, I accept freelance work, in the process of finishing up my first skincare book, and continue to write and perform music to help inspire and connect more deeply with the human experience.
