Meet our Vendor: Render Skincare

Meet our Vendor: Render Skincare

We are so excited to introduce you to new vendor, Render Skincare. Kari is awesome and soon you will be so intrigued by the magic of tallow!

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Kari. I am the owner/creator of Render Skincare. We are a small-batch skincare company based in Bellingham, WA. All of our products are made from locally sourced grass-fed tallow. Our mission is to infuse healing & nutrient-dense ingredients into your skincare routine while also creating a business that fosters local and sustainable agriculture. All of our grass-fed tallow is sourced from small-scale ranchers who utilize holistic land-management practices.

What’s the latest thing you’ve been working on?

Right now we are finishing up testing on our newest product: a micro-exfoliation face wash. I seriously can’t wait to get this out to our customers. Our soft launch will happen in June and we’ll be coming fully stocked to the summer show.

We have been using our balms and whips as a face wash for quite a while using the Oil Cleansing Method (check it out, it’s awesome). Washing your face with fat has so many benefits! Most traditional face cleansers tend to strip away the natural oils your skin produces to keep itself plump and moisturized. When these oils are stripped away, we tend to be left with a tight, dry and very uncomfortable face. Our skin then overcompensates on it’s oil production to re-moisturize itself, and then we’re left with overly oily skin. This cycle just repeats itself and, if you’re like me, your left thinking you need to wash it more, or moisturize more or that your face is just a lost cause.

Making the switch to washing my face using the Oil Cleansing Method has made a huge difference. I no longer have that terrible tight skin after showers, my pores are smaller and it’s helped balance the extremes of feeling dry and flaky and oily all at the same time. Our new face wash has the added benefit of micro-exfoliation and it leaves my skin feeling SO soft and supple. I’m very excited to share this with folks – it’s a game changer!!

What do you love most about craft show vending?

Gosh, there’s a lot to love about vending at craft shows. As a small-business owner without a brick and mortar shop, I think the best part of doing shows is the opportunity to interact with your customers. We get to see people learn about our products for the first time. We watch them go from skepticism, to intrigue to amazement all in the span of under a minute — it’s pretty awesome! Since we are a skincare company, it’s really special to get talk to people about their skincare needs and their struggles with finding products that really work and are safe. We get to see people actually trying our products in person and giving us instant feedback. It’s a much more energizing experience than running an online shop. Aside from meeting all our amazing customers, it’s also just really inspiring spending time with the incredible maker community we have here in the PNW. I’ve found it to be such a welcoming and uplifting group of folks. There is just an unbelievable amount of talent in this neck of the woods!

What’s your favorite item that you sell?

My personal favorite, and the first blend to make it into our official line, is our Geranium + Carrot blend. We make this in both a balm and a whip, but I’m particularly keen on the whipped version. I like to use it on my face as my daily (and nightly) moisturizer and the tallow whip is so light and silky; its perfect this. It keeps my combination skin feeling well balanced all day. It helps keep blemishes at bay and it smells like a dream. The Geranium essential oil is filled with fresh floral notes while the Carrot Seed essential oil is earthy and warm. These are both balanced out with notes of sweet Lavender and spicy Frankincense. I think our Geranium + Carrot blend will always be my #1.

What’s the best experience you’ve ever had with one of your customers?

I LOVE our customers — somehow I still manage to feel connected to every jar of our grass-fed goodness that goes out into the world.

One of my most memorable encounters with a customer happened last year at a two-day holiday show. This older guy moseyed up to our booth and chatted for a bit. He was intrigued by our unconventional product, but was still a bit skeptical. Several other customers came and went as he tested and smelled all of our blends. He left for a bit and came back with his wife. After he returned we started chatting a bit more and he showed me his thumb, which was bandaged up. He moved the bandage aside and his thumb was cracked, deep, right down the middle. He had thick calluses on all his fingers and they were cracked and bleeding (a lot like our heels get in the summer time). He said he’s tried everything, from over the counter and prescription creams to natural remedies, and nothing would help. After MUCH deliberation, he bought a small jar to try out. It was very memorable because even as he bought it he had this look like he knew it would be just like all the other things he’d tried…

The next day as I stood at my booth chatting with shoppers I see him making his way toward our booth. I got a little nervous at first thinking, Does he want his money back? Is something wrong? He came up to the booth with a big smile and excitedly stuck out his thumb: “It worked!” He came all the way back to this big, hectic holiday market to tell me in person that our product is the only thing that has helped to soothe his skin — after one day! Needless to say, it totally made my day and I don’t think I’ll ever forget his grin.

Be sure to follow us on Instagram for your chance to win a 2oz. jar of my favorite, our Geranium + Carrot Tallow Whip. ($18 value).

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