Beauty line profitable for locals

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Lynn Johnson wanted to follow her dream of creating an all-natural home spa product line. So, about three years ago, she gave up her job in salon management and started making the products in her kitchen.

Now, a little more than two years later, her line, Natural Beauty of Las Vegas, is being sold at several stores around the valley, as well as at both Whole Foods Market stores.

"I thought why not make a line that's pure," Johnson said. "I thought there was a niche for it. For something that has no additives, no preservatives, no colors or harsh chemicals. And luckily, there does seem to be a niche for it."

When Johnson's business began to grow, she asked two of her friends, Francine Thomas and Carolyn Johnson ---- no relation ---- if they wanted to become her business partners, and they accepted.

The Natural Beauty of Las Vegas line of products includes face scrubs, sugar scrubs, salt scrubs, olive oil soaps, shea soaps and a milk bath. All of the products bear the line's signature mermaid.

"I just thought the mermaid looked really good," Johnson said. "It's chic, fun, whimsical, beautiful and natural. Well, however, natural a mermaid can be."

Carolyn Johnson created the company's logo.

"I knew she wanted a mermaid, so I created it, and it kind of stuck as the logo," Carolyn Johnson said. "And then Lynn asked me to be a partner, and I invested a lot of time in the logo. I love the product and the idea of it, so I said, 'yes.'"

The products also contain natural scents with straightforward names, such as tangerine vanilla, cucumber melon, lavender coconut and green tea mango.

"I didn't want to have the products have cutesy names that didn't say anything about the scent," Johnson said. "So I figured I'd stick with the actual names of the scents. I think it works."

Johnson, originally from Oregon, said the idea of creating a "pure and clean" product seemed alluring to her partially because of her surroundings in Oregon.

"I'm from Eugene, and there are a lot of hippies there," she said with a laugh. "All of the products are vegan except the milk bath. The milk bath is so relaxing and moisturizing, it feels wonderful. You take one and you can think of Cleopatra."

Even though her roots are in Oregon, Johnson noted that she thought it was important to include Las Vegas in the title of the product.

"People don't think of Las Vegas as being an earthy product place," she said. "And I think that's part of the uniqueness of it. It's being made in the desert."

Johnson noted that both of the soaps available through the line are moisturizing, which is important for those of us living in the desert. However, the shea soaps are more moisturizing than the olive oil soaps. And the trick to keeping your skin feeling and looking healthy is to "exfoliate and moisturize," Johnson said, "that's it."

The prices of the products vary from about $5 to $14.

Erin Russell, associate team leader in the Whole Body Department at the Whole Foods store in Henderson, said the products have been doing quite well after being on the shelves there for only a couple of months.

"People seem to love the stuff," Russell said. "One, because it's a local product made here in town, and two, because it's just a great product."

"It works great, it smells wonderful, it's not too overpowering. I even use the stuff regularly. And it's set at a really great price point. It's not at the highest or lowest price point, so it's working," she said.

For more information, log on to www.naturalbeautyoflasvegas.com.