The Potion Masters

The Potion Masters is a Canadian skincare brand and British Columbia business based in Sicamous. They create a number of award winning natural and waterless skincare products.

We absolutely love seeing mothers and daughters come together to build businesses like Joy and Sylvan from The Potion Masters. We asked this Canadian mother-daughter business some questions about their business partnership, what it’s really like working together as a mother-daughter business and any tips they have for up and coming mother-daughter duos. Enjoy!

The Potion Masters Waterless Skincare

How did your business get started?

Between the two of us we have two lifetimes worth of experience in spas and natural skincare retailers as Managers and product trainers. We’ve have had the opportunity to learn about, use and critique many skincare lines. We’ve have taken many courses in skincare formulation, which has been our greatest passion for the past decade. We wanted to create a truly revolutionary product, so we threw all our formulation training to the wind to try something completely innovative. An anhydrous, preservative-free formula that is as effective at hydrating as a water-based product. A formula that would offer the results of a ten-step routine in only two steps. After nearly a decade of formulating and testing and two years of human trials, the positive feedback was overwhelming and we knew we had to make our Potions available to the world!

Why did you decide to work together?

Because, well…we do everything together! We often joke that we are still attached by the umbilical cord. We live together, have the same group of friends and share the same ultimate passion which is skincare. We’re both a little witchy and one summer evening we were hanging out on our back patio communing with the moon and reading tarot and we were both struck by the new moon energy telling us it was time. We set our intention that night and the very next day went to the registry to make our dream reality.

What’s one thing that contributes to your success as a Mother-Daughter duo?

Our success comes from our differences, we both bring completely unique assets to The Potion. Mama Joy is our Director of Sales. She curates our markets, runs customer service for our direct and wholesale clients, infuses our Potions with magic and reads tarot cards at our outdoor markets. Sylvan is our scientist and product developer with training in organic chemistry and essential oil safety. Sylvan manages our supply chain and runs our social media and website. We have been in business for nearly one year and almost can’t believe the success we’ve been lucky enough to experience thus far. What gets us going every day is the amazing feedback from our customers who are finally at peace with their “Alberta skin.” Helping people is what it’s all about and being able to do that while working together is the greatest reward.  

What’s your favourite moment working together so far?

We all know Mama Joy’s favourite moment is every time she tells a customer her age and they can’t believe she’s nearly 70! But in all honesty, a moment we will never forget is after years of trying to create a water bonding oil without any chemicals (and hundreds of test batches) we tried out the batch that would evolve to become The Potion and it turned from oil to satiny cream on our wet skin. It was a very EUREKA moment, that we get to re-live every time we demonstrate The Potions for the first time on a customers’ skin.  

What advice do you have for other Mother-Daughter business partners? Is this something you would recommend?

Our best advice is to listen to each other and value the others’ ideas. Find the beauty in your differences because you will learn more from them than from your similarities. We would absolutely recommend working together, as long as you have a strong relationship with deep mutual respect and of course, love.  

Mother – Share your favourite thing about working with your daughter:

We laugh together, a lot! Being entrepreneurs is not always easy, lots of highs (like every time we receive a great review or thank you from a customer!) and sometimes lows (like when suddenly all of our months of planned future markets suddenly needed to be cancelled due to the Covid crisis.) No matter what unfolds in each day for us, we find a bright side, and laugh. Often we laugh just about how silly and goofy we can be just hanging out together.   
 

Daughter – Share your favourite thing about working with your Mother:

My Mom has such a contagious energy and a way of connecting with people that is so special. I learn so much from her about customer service every time we vend at a market. The other thing that really inspires me about my Mom is her unflappable joie de vivre. On a good day she brings up the energy of everyone she touches and on the rough days she finds a way to see everything as a blessing in disguise. She is truly the most inspiring woman I’ve ever met and I strive every day to be as much like her as possible.