Owner of Roswell-based apothecary finds calm in the chaos | Business News

ROSWELL, Ga. — Nestled in a triangle-shaped store at the corner of Alpharetta and Frazier streets in Roswell, Carol McEwin combines science and art to create skincare products. 

Lilly Sage Apothecary crafts self-care rituals made of all natural, eco-friendly ingredients. McEwin works in her lab, carefully concocting new lotions, lip oils, bubble baths, body oils – even her own skincare line, LS.Topaz. 

For most of her adult life, McEwin worked as a real estate agent, but she always carried a little of the hippie from her youth with her. 

Growing up, McEwin said she was a true hippie who was always fascinated with oils, plants and mother nature, growing even more inspired thanks to her father who was a surgeon.

“The kind of thing that a hippie would be influenced by, and so that was really what started it,” she said.

She applied her fascination for oils and botanicals to create products to treat her and her daughter’s eczema after becoming frustrated with dermatologists.

“It scared me,” McEwin said.

Her fascination continued throughout her life, even while in the corporate world. She would draw inspiration from the remote places she lived, like Alaska, to create products that matched her lifestyle.

“I would look at one oil and play with it and see what it did and how it felt,” McEwin said. “And so, I was always doing that my whole life.”

In 2012, she moved to Roswell. When she retired in 2015, she realized it was time to return to her hippie roots. McEwin enrolled into Formula Botanica, where she took rigorous coursework online. There, she learned that she would go down the facial, skin and body care route.

“Mother Nature brings us lots of lovely things,” she said.

McEwin discovered her quaint triangle store after facing the reality of high rent on Roswell’s popular Canton Street. The building was practically abandoned and dirty, so she started from the ground up.

Researching store renovation, she realized most pampering places were almost all pastels, so she went the opposite route.

“I wanted men to feel warm and comfortable, so I went with powerful blues,” McEwin said.

The apothecary is filled with warm and cozy décor, with nods to her mother and father. Hidden in the store, visitors can find her mother’s teapot and her father’s medical bag.

McEwin noted that the store functions as two parts, a place to manufacture products and another to get feedback on her products.

“The store has always been about the production and the testing and selling of my products,” she said.

In the left corner of the apothecary, guests can find McEwin and her staff cooking up new recipes. She creates scents such as Georgia, which features notes of Kudzu paired with peaches and gardenia. 

“It’s definitely an art,” she said. “Scent is so important in our lives.” 

McEwin noted that she gets some of her inspiration from her dreams.

“I go to sleep with the thing on my mind and in my dreams, it sorts of cooks, and then I wake up and go,” McEwin said.

She carefully layers notes of scents to get the perfect product, which can take months – sometimes years – to create.

In addition to marketing her two different lines in the store, she also features other small businesses and collaborates with other local stores to create soap scents.

She currently sells two soaps that feature two local businesses, Gate City Brewery and Oli+Ve.

McEwin said she finds it critical to feature other small businesses, especially in the wake of tariffs.

“We need to help each other and recognize that the talent that that person has brought to the table and risk and investment they brought to the table to try and create this thing they’re working on,” she said.

Tarriff, she said, have absolutely affected her, likening it to a domino effect.

“I may be buying from an American company, but I don’t know how much of their supply chain came from probably China,” she said.

But it’s not just China, McEwin sources her pure essential oils from all over the world.

Despite this concern, she is hopeful for the future. McEwin said she is excited to welcome the Chambray Hotel, a $30 million project to create a five-story boutique hotel nearby. Construction of the 125-room hotel is set for completion in 2026.

“It’ll bring a lot of foot traffic that we don’t currently have,” McEwin said. “We were really on an island.”

She attributes the lower activity and foot traffic to the fact that her store is not on Canton Street.

“Roswell is more than just Canton Street,” McEwin said. “It’s so much more, and we need to be able to expand our consciousness.”

McEwin invites guests who want to venture off Canton Street to come play and learn more about her products at the apothecary. 

“You can always wash your hands but washing your hands with something that feels really beautiful, like a luxurious experience is just a nice little touch in your day,” she said.

More information is available at lillysageapothecary.com, or you can visit the store at 1097 Alpharetta St.

McEwin hopes her products can add some comfort and calmness to the lives of her customers in a time of chaos.

“If everybody walked out of the store with that feeling, I would have done something,” McEwin said.