For years, Carrie Clark suffered from horrible headaches. She realized that they were more prevalent whenever she was around fragrance. As she told friends about the problem, many of them spoke up, saying they had noticed a similar issue.
One afternoon, Carrie was making candles with a granddaughter, and she had the thought to look into what exactly was in traditional fragrances. “I started looking into the chemicals that were put in commercial brands,” Carrie says.
Manmade toxins like phthalates and parabens are often added to fragrances because they make them cheaper to produce. Carrie says that during her research, she found that prolonged exposure can bring about a whole host of problems, from infertility to cancer. And for people like Carrie, it makes them feel sick when exposed to those chemicals via fragrance. When she realized these toxins were connected to her head pain, she was shocked, and realized how important it was to use natural products.
Instead of giving up completely on fragrant products, Carrie set out to reinvent them. She says she took a fragrance-making class to learn about the entire fragrance-making process, from choosing top notes and base notes to knowing what makes a good fragrance. Then, she applied herself to learning what natural ingredients could replace typically toxic ones.
She started with candles. Now, Purple Duck carries everything from perfume and room sprays to body butter and baby shampoo. They’re even working on a line for pets, because they believe your animal deserves to be smell good and be healthy too. The company’s products are made using completely clean, natural ingredients for people who want good scents without side effects.
And the best part? The clean formulas still perform like high-end fragrances. “These will rival any Dior or Gucci scents,” she says.
Carrie doesn’t scrimp when it comes to quality. She laughs, saying that a marketer once told her, “You guys are losing financially…you’re making it last too long. You don't have to reapply your perfume three times a day.” But Carrie sees this comment as evidence of her products’ value: although it has a slightly higher cost than the average drugstore product, it works. It really works. She says people who wear their products are always asked, “What are you wearing?”
Customers have responded in unexpected ways. Carrie’s husband, Brian, often helps out at trade shows and conferences, chatting with customers. He recalls one woman who sampled a body butter at a trade show. She told him that she’d battled eczema for years and had just never found anything that helped. “She was very apprehensive to try any of our products,” Brian says, but she kept coming back for more samples of the body butter throughout the duration of the conference.
Recently, Carrie and Brian were surprised to receive an email from the woman, who said she had been so happy with the product that she kept buying it.
“It cleared her eczema,” Carrie says, beaming. “She was so thrilled all these months later to let us know.”
It’s a testimony to Carrie’s belief that natural ingredients make all the difference.
Carrie’s niece and marketing director, Jaycee Conrad, helps translate that mission into social media content, helping educate people on what makes their products different. Together, Jaycee and Carrie create new scents in their home “laboratory,” having fun as they mix different notes together, creating the perfect scent. “She’s in her 20s, I’m in my 60s, so we have a whole different kind of taste,” Carrie says. “But we can put it together, and it works.”
Purple Duck has a core scent group that’s always around, but they also have seasonal scents that change four times a year. As Purple Duck heads into the holiday season, the team is thinking festive. Their “12 Days of Christmas” box features a dozen seasonal samples, from sugar cookie to spiced chai. Their holiday scents are a great way to celebrate the season safely and healthily.
Carrie hopes that Purple Duck will continue to reach their target audience. “It’s for people who care more for their health than just having something smell good,” Carrie says, because she believes that beauty shouldn’t come at the expense of health.
Find Purple Duck’s toxin-free fine fragrances online at PurpleDuckStore.com
It’s for people who care more for their health than just having something smell good.
You guys are losing financially…you’re making it last too long. You don't have to reapply your perfume three times a day.