Meet Amber Ray of Butter & Fig in East Valley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Ray.

Amber, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My soaping journey started back in 2009 as a creative outlet from my career in finance. I not only enjoyed creating something I could use but the science behind it.  In 2014, my very young sister-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, which she fought for 18 months until she passed away in 2015 at the age of 29, leaving behind two small children. Through this process, I started researching and becoming more familiar with ingredients and what we put in and on our bodies. This changed me. How I live, what I cook with and what products I use externally as well as internally. I believe in creating products that promote balanced beauty, from the way it looks and smells to the impact the ingredients have on our body.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In 2016, I went through a divorce and completely walked away from my skincare business. I was ready for a new chapter and at the time I thought what I had created left with my marriage. Often in life, changes occur that at the time we don’t understand and I promised myself I would have faith that I would be directed where I was meant to go. I never planned on soaping again. And as life has it, in 2017 I met Erich. Erich would hear me talk about my business and the products and saw how my face would light up and get excited talking about it. Through him, I found my creativity and passion for soaping again. Sometimes it takes the right person by your side to pull you through the darker days and to keep you going when things get really rough. It takes someone to help carry the heavy lifting when things do get tough and to wipe away the tears when things don’t go just as planned.

You see when I walked away from my business in 2016; I also walked away from everything that I had built, through inventory, supplies, my customer’s and my brand. The toughest part has been rebuilding, getting back what I had once created. But each day brings its little obstacles and then all it takes is someone telling me how much they love something we have created for me to love the journey I am getting to take again.

Please tell us about Butter & Fig.
I think the best place to start is with our name, Butter & Fig. We use some of the most luxurious butters and oils on the market while figs remind me of sitting as a child on a hot summer day in the shade of a fig tree on my grandparent’s property. If I had known then how much I love figs today, I would have picked the tree bare of fruit. I love researching the benefits and incorporating locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.

We specialize in natural skincare where our products range from 96-100% natural. I am someone who doesn’t like to spend a lot of time on my skincare routine, so we create products that are versatile and can simplify your beauty routine. Each product is created with simplicity in mind and most known for our desert-inspired line; such as, our Prickly Pear + Poppy and Barrel Cactus + Rain products. We are also known for our quiet performer the Meadoe Face Oil which has given a few of our customers the ability to step away from wearing makeup.

Butter & Fig is similar in a lot of ways to other skincare lines on the market, but what I think makes us different is our bright and simplistic packaging with an amazing lineup of ingredients. Each ingredient is hand selected and a lot of research goes into each and every product. Each process, from product formulations to the packaging/labeling are still done in-house.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I touched a bit on my favorite fruit tree as a child, but I feel the love for the everyday beauty found around us was inspired by my other grandmother, Roma. My memories as a child were that of long walks collecting flowers and investigating. Finding the small miracles of life through these walks, such as a butterfly nestled in a beautiful flower or a rock that when turned over it glistened when the light hit the quartz just right. Wild + Unclaimed beauty.

Hands full of our findings, my grandmother and I would then head home after what seemed like hours. We would then press the flowers in a vintage flower press from my grandmother’s childhood and then later placed into a scrapbook. My grandmother found the beauty in wildflowers where others may have looked upon them as weeds. My grandmother lived to be in her 90’s and I believe these long walks and the enjoyment she found in the little things added to her life in such a positive way. Our Wildflowers + Mimosa products are inspired by my grandmother’s love of wildflowers and for her favorite color yellow.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1401 E. Williams Field Rd #101 Gilbert, AZ 85295 (Inside the Salon Boutique)
• Website: www.butterandfig.com
• Phone: 480-744-7160
• Email: hello@butterandfig.com
• Instagram: @butterandfigco
• Facebook: @butterandfig

Image Credit:
@blushingcactusphotography, @alykirkphoto

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