Women at Work: Q & A with Little Lune Apothecary

Starting a new business takes a lot of grit, determination and patience. Meet Mary, she is the co-founder of Little Lune Apothecary. Crafting essential oil blends, natural perfumes and botanical skincare in in the mid-north coast of NSW, Little Lune’s mission is to use nature and its powerful botanicals to balance our mind, body and spirit. 

How did you get the idea for LL? What inspired you to start?

Little Lune was born out of the desire to have access to completely natural beauty, skincare and wellness products that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. I found that many natural products in the shops simply weren’t an affordable option for me — almost feeling like a luxury splurge. Not only that, with many products claiming to be “natural”, you’d only have to glance at the ingredient list to see it was anything but. For this reason, I had long been making my own natural products like deodorant, toothpaste and cleaning sprays for myself at home, and my business partner would make essential oil roller blends for friends and co-workers for fun. So we thought, why not combine our knowledge and create a product line that we’d actually buy ourselves, that we believe in, and that’s affordable for everyone?

What do you love about LL and creating unique products?

I love the excitement of developing a new product, especially the perfumes. As we only use the highest quality natural essential oils for our perfumes, it can take around three days for blended scents to fully alchemise — so it’s a bit of a waiting game to know if it’s a hit or miss. More often than not it’s a hit, and if we do need to amend the recipe, it’s a matter of adding just a bit of this or a dash of that to balance out the final product.

There’s no denying starting a new business takes a lot of grit. What have been some of the challenges/greatest lessons you’ve learnt from starting LL?

My business partner Lisa and I had another thing coming when we thought setting up a business would be a breeze! The financial and admin side of things can be very overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing. My advice to anyone wanting to set up a small business is to find a mentor — someone who has done it all before who can guide you in the right direction. We reached out to a friend who had set up multiple successful small businesses, and he was an absolute godsend for helping us dot our i’s and cross our t’s when it came to business and financial details that would have otherwise completely gone over our heads.

Tell me about your favourite products in your LL range

It’s funny, every time Lisa and I develop a new product it seems to instantly become our favourite, but they are very easy to fall in love with. If I had to choose though, I would say my never-be-withouts are our gorgeously silky About Face oil which makes your skin glow, and our macadamia rose nourishing lip balm which comes in a cute slide top tin. I also like to keep our tinctures in rotation, depending on what my body needs at the time. My father has Alzheimer’s disease, so right now it’s important for me to engage natural measures to keep my brain sharp. Our Brahmi tincture is a potent extraction of the brahmi herb, which is said to be excellent for brain, memory and cognitive function — so that’s the one I’m taking every day at the moment.

What does the future look like for LL?

We’re currently in the process of getting Little Lune into shops, so we’ve been working on getting our packaging and presentation to a level that is workable and functional for a commercial environment with high foot traffic. By continuing to do monthly markets, selling online, and stocking our products with retailers who share the same values as us, we hope to raise more awareness of our brand across Australia before expanding our reach to the overseas market. We’re also excited to develop our range to include more everyday practical natural products for the household in the near future.

How can people learn more and get their hands on some LL goodies?

Head over to our online shop www.littlelune.com.au, and friend us on Instagram at Little Lune Apothecary. As we grow, we plan to make our website a more solid learning resource for the herbs and oils we use, so anyone can come and discover the many ways plants work to enhance our everyday life and wellbeing