New Beauty E-Tailer Rose Botanica Builds Upon Founder Chelsea Poling’s Personal Self-Care Experiences
In 2016, Chelsea Poling was stuck in a bad relationship and spiraled into crushing depression.
To help her literally see the good in herself, a therapist proposed mirror work, which required Poling, a former U.S. Agency for International Development and NASA contract officer then living in Washington D.C., to look at herself and speak of self-love. Poling’s beauty routine was the perfect opportunity to fit in the mirror work, and she extended her routine to a full self-care ritual that encompassed decompressing in bath soak-filled baths, meditating while burning incense and spritzing face mists.
“I was honoring how I felt each day and doing whatever I needed. The tools I was using such as bath soaks and incense became the catalyst for me to do self-care, and I realized how beneficial they could be. My days were getting easier, I was relaxing into the love, and my courage was growing,” says Poling. “I worked up the courage to end the relationship and move from Washington, D.C. to California without a plan.”
A plan soon emerged as Poling sensed she wasn’t the only person who could benefit from self-care products. Shortly after relocating to Los Angeles in 2017, she began to dream up an e-commerce website to encourage others’ self-care practices that’s become Rose Botanica, a new destination for face, makeup, hair, body, bath and ingestible offerings as well as metaphysical merchandise like tarot cards, crystals and smudge sticks.
“Rose Botanica is a self-care boutique. I want women and men to come to the online store and find what a self-care path can look like for them, taking into account their mind, body and spirit,” says Poling. “I truly believe and it’s my experience that these tools can enhance self-care. If you have a nice bath soak, it makes having one-on-one time with yourself much more enjoyable.”
“Rose Botanica is a self-care boutique. I want women and men to come to the online store and find what a self-care path can look like for them, taking into account their mind, body and spirit. I truly believe and it’s my experience that these tools can enhance self-care. If you have a nice bath soak, it makes having one-on-one time with yourself much more enjoyable.”
The site is currently stocked with 23 brands, including Uma, Ursa Major, The Organic Pharmacy, Four Sigmatic, Moonbeli, African Botanics, Juniper Ridge, Lilah B, Sun Potion, Daughter Of The Land, Pursoma, SkinOwl and Bottega Organica. The number of brands is expected to double soon, and among the upcoming brands are MyHavtorn and Kahina Giving Beauty.
Poling searched online and at stores to uncover brands for Rose Botanica. Products are tested for at least three weeks to evaluate their effectiveness prior to entering the site’s inventory. Rose Botanica tends not to pick up every stockkeeping unit from brands, but cherry-picks specific products appropriate for its self-care orientation. The products must not have ingredients on Rose Botanica’s no-no list of nearly 30 compounds that could potentially harm the environment or humans.
“I don’t need to carry entire 15-product lines. Typically, I have maybe two bestsellers from each brand. I feel like it’s confusing for customers if there’s too much, and I think people want to know what’s the best products from each line,” says Poling. In the early going, Uma’s Absolute Anti Aging Face Oil and a crystal skull under a Rose Botanica brand umbrella are strong sellers. Poling intends to expand the Rose Botanica brand into skincare products containing sandalwood and frankincense oils.
To guide customers to self-care products that are right for them, Rose Botanica has incorporated a quiz asking them about their feelings, beauty-related concerns and spiritual methods they’re interested in. After they’ve completed the brief quiz, customers are supplied with a so-called RB RX recommending a mantra to repeat regularly and providing a removable sticker that’s a prompt to utter the mantra, and suggesting face, body, wellness and spiritual items.
“Of course, self-care is a daily practice, and there are days when I’m too much in my head, and I don’t do it, but I notice such a difference in my day when I’m not having that one-on-one time with myself. I’m just incredibly thankful to be in this business. On days I don’t practice what I preach, I’m reminded how important self-care is. I know how helpful it can be.”
Rose Botanica also eases shoppers into a self-care regimen with themed bundles. The bundle Inner Peace, for example, has Bottega Organica Face Mist, Moonbeli Calming Adaptogen, Uma Pure Calm Wellnes Oil and Juniper Ridge White Sage Incense. The Women’s Health bundle has Daughter Of The Land Balancing Oil, Moon Divas Guidebook, Sun Potion Yin Power and the Rose Botanica Rose Quartz Crystal Wand.
Poling invested $100,000 to get Rose Botanica up and running. Much of the money was put toward the creation of the site. She tapped Jen Wuan for website development and Kati Forner for graphic design. Poling was adamant about cultivating an elevated shopping experience that didn’t leave customers agitated or confused, but calm and intrigued, sentiments Rose Botanica is trying to foster with its self-care approach. The site features a video ode to self-care products, and salmon and tan tones.
Poling doesn’t anticipate breaking even in Rose Botanica’s first year in operation. Her initial goals are to raise awareness for the site that went live in March and grow its audience. “Honestly, I thought it was so great that it would launch, and everyone would find it and orders would be coming through daily,” says Poling. “I had my hopes a little high, and the hustle is something I’m becoming familiar with.” Once the site establishes a steady customer base, a brick-and-mortar location could be a possibility.
Amid the hustle, Poling is trying to squeeze in her self-care rituals. “Of course, self-care is a daily practice, and there are days when I’m too much in my head, and I don’t do it, but I notice such a difference in my day when I’m not having that one-on-one time with myself,” she says. “I’m just incredibly thankful to be in this business. On days I don’t practice what I preach, I’m reminded how important self-care is. I know how helpful it can be.”
