Botanical Bee ® Apothecary - Meet the Owner

No, you’re not seeing double. There really are two of us. Well, two bees, that is. In North Spokane, on a beautiful and spacious property, you’ll find a mother and daughter duo making their dreams come true. Meet Dena (left) and Chrystina “Chrys,” (right) the owners of Botanical Bee Apothecary.

Launching their online retail shop in early 2020, they may have been the “new kids on the block,” but they were no rookies. You see, Dena has been making homemade skincare remedies for herself and a few close friends for years prior. Dena is known for being resourceful and tries to keep everything from beauty products to food as natural as possible. She even grows her own organic ingredients that are used in their products. So naturally, her friends gave her the nickname “Gypsy Witch Doctor.”

For years, Chrys struggled with acne and used several prescribed treatments with harmful ingredients that sometimes even left her pillow sheets bleached. Yikes! After years of different treatments and even medication, nothing was clearing up Chrys’ skin, so that’s when Dena stepped in. Using a holistic approach, Dena began hours of research into what ingredients would best target Chrys’s problematic skin. After many different concoctions and fine-tuning each recipe, Chrys had never seen her skin so clear, and the answer was right in their backyard. That’s when they knew they had something too good to keep to themselves.

Dena knew she needed to take this outside of her circle of friends and family and make this available to the public. The relief and confidence that Chrys experienced after finally cracking the code to her skincare problems was something they wanted to share with everyone.

Of course, running a business with your mom/daughter and working from home sounds like a dream come true. Still, these two are so passionate about people falling in love with their skin that they really do make it as affordable and accessible to everyone as possible. Shop their bundles, and the prices are seriously almost too good to be true. I have been using their products for about 8 weeks now, and they are seriously liquid gold (coming from the girl obsessed with skincare.)

Because the two grow their own ingredients, the quality is simply incomparable to even the finest store-bought quality. I mean, look at the difference for yourself. Left is grade A storebought and right is Dena's homegrown.

They currently have several holiday bundle gift sets, one including a never before seen mask bowl and brush set. Both the brush and the bowl are made by local artists. Win-win! Spoiler alert (sorry, fam) I totally got products for everyone as holiday gifts. From anti-aging products to chapsticks, to baby skin products, and even a men’s line, it’s easy to shop for everyone when they have as many products as they do.

A typical day in business may look completely different from one to the next. Tending to the garden, whipping up a fresh batch of a product (did I mention they make almost all their products to order, so you are getting the best possible product), printing labels, or product photography. These two keep themselves busy. They are responsible for every single step that goes into this business, and they do so wholeheartedly. Dena even hand swirls the creams leaving a signature swirl, like a DQ cone. How cute is that?

I’m still somewhat in shock that this great skincare line is made right here in Spokane with ingredients that are grown in our own soil. But then again, Spokane is home to some pretty amazingly-talented people. If you haven’t had checked out their products, I highly recommend that. I’m sure you’ll love them just as much as I do. Follow them on Instagram and check out their site here.

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