How a health crisis sparked Lake & Skye founder Courtney Somer’s passion for wellness and alternative healing.
We’ve got a new brand we are loving, and it’s clean, organic fragrance developed with intentionality and a quest for health.
Lake & Skye founder Courtney Somer found a passion for wellness and alternative healing after working through an unexpected health crisis in her twenties. Frustrated by a lack of answers from medical professionals after two surgeries, Somer started exploring other options for healing her body.
When the brand’s best-selling 11 11 fragrance was released, it developed a cult-like following in Somer’s very first year of business.
“Now, there’s so much information around wellness and the connection between mind, body and spirit, what we eat, how we think, all those things,” says Courtney. “More than 20 years ago, there really wasn’t as much of that information at your fingertips, so I had to seek it out myself.”
Courtney spent more than ten years studying a variety of alternative healing methods, including aromatherapy, reiki, nutrition and meditation. Inspired by what she had learned, Somer launched Lake & Skye, a modern and conscious fragrance line named for her two children.
“When I launched the brand, I was really into aromatherapy—that was something I had studied and I got certified to become an aromatherapist,” says Somer. “It was right around the time I had my first daughter, and the whole birthing experience and the recovery from it, it’s something. The first time I really needed things to help me heal, and I turned to essential oils for that.”
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While her daughter napped, Courtney began experimenting with simple, yet intentional, blends of essential oils, inspiring the line of fragrances she developed for Lake & Skye. When the brand’s best-selling 11 11 fragrance was released, it developed a cult-like following in Somer’s very first year of business.
“We saw the success of that fragrance take off right away,” says Somer. “The funny thing about this fragrance is when I was working with the perfumer, I knew what I liked, and this was one of the ones that came together with almost with no revision.”
Inspired by numerology and the practice of kundalini yoga, the 11 11 fragrance—inspired by new beginnings and the lucky master number in numerology—is a unisex blend that “captures the feel of skin after emerging from the ocean, mixed with a crisp texture and transparency.” And 11 11 is known as a make-a-wish number, some do so daily at 11:11.
The fragrance brand sources their natural essential oils and floral waters from ethical farms around the world.
Available as a rollerball fragrance oil, eau de parfum or candle, fans of the sheer, clean and uplifting fragrance can enjoy it at home or on the go.
In addition to caring about the health of the body, Lake & Skye also puts an emphasis on caring for the earth, sustainability and giving back. The fragrance brand sources their natural essential oils and floral waters from ethical farms around the world, and they are vegan and cruelty-free, containing no parabens, sulfates, phthalates or palm oil.
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“In 2020, we started partnering with One Tree Planted, and this is an effort that will continue for the life of this brand,” says Somer. “We donate one dollar to the organization for every product that’s sold on our website.”
“They’re all about reforestation in various countries, everywhere from North America to Africa to Asia, and they go into certain areas that have had issues with forests burning down and they work with the local community and to not only create jobs, but also to plant trees where they’re needed,” she says.
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