Made From Something That Was Already Mine.
A Name That Was Always Personal
BEFORE THE BRAND
It Started With Shea Butter.
Long before I understood formulation percentages, emulsification, ingredient functions, or cosmetic chemistry, I was already making body butter.
Nearly two decades ago, I would be at my mother's house melting shea butter, adding oils I liked, and creating simple mixtures for myself. I shared them with my mother, friends, and family—not because I was building a business, but because making something that helped us care for our skin felt natural to me.
Years later, around 2015, that love followed me all the way to The Gambia.
While visiting, I was gifted locally sourced shea butter. And once again, I found myself doing what I'd always done—working with the butter, making something with my hands, and sharing it with friends, family, and loved ones there.
At the time, I still didn't know where any of it would lead.
I just knew I loved making it.
WHERE I LEARNED TO BUILD
The Hustle Came From Home.
Long before I understood entrepreneurship, I watched it.
My father has always been a hustler in the truest sense of the word. Before there were websites, content strategies, or carefully curated product launches, I watched him sell fragrance—sometimes from large tables filled with bottles, sometimes carrying what he had and going directly to the people.
And I was right there with him.
Summer days. Cold days. School breaks. Watching him work taught me something I wouldn't fully understand until years later:
If you believe in what you have, you find a way to build with it.
That entrepreneurial spirit stayed with me.
I didn't know yet what my thing would be.
But I knew I wanted to create something of my own.
Finding My Way Back
Before ANARC Essentials, there was ANARC Studios.
I was creating custom Islamic calligraphy and wood art—something I genuinely enjoyed and another way of turning creativity into something tangible.
But creating with wood came with challenges. The process aggravated my asthma, and because so much of the work was customized, every order often meant beginning again from scratch.
Eventually, I found myself thinking about something I'd loved long before the wood, the artwork, or the business:
body care.
So I returned to what I knew.
Only this time, I didn't want to simply make butter.
I wanted to understand why it worked.
FROM CURIOSITY TO FORMULATION
I Fell in Love With the Why.
When I returned to body care, I quickly realized how much I didn't know.
Years earlier, I could melt shea butter, add oils I liked, and create something that felt good on my skin. But formulation introduced me to an entirely different world.
Percentages. Ratios. Ingredient functions. Emulsification. Texture. Stability. Preservation. The way one small adjustment could completely change a formula.
And I loved it.
I'm a numbers person. I like precision. I like understanding why something works instead of simply knowing that it works.
So I learned.
I studied formulation resources. I learned from makers who generously shared their knowledge. I used the tools available to me. I researched ingredients. I calculated, tested, failed, adjusted, made another batch, and tested again.
And I'm still learning.
I don't see that as something I'll eventually finish.
Continuous learning is part of how I intend to build ANARC.
THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING DISTINCTLY ANARC
Five Herbs Became Our Foundation.
As I learned more about formulation, I knew I wanted botanicals to have a meaningful place within ANARC.
Not because herbs were trendy.
Because I had become fascinated by the long relationship between people, plants, and personal care—and by how ingredients found in nature have been used across generations and traditions.
So I researched.
I considered what I wanted the infusion to represent and how I wanted it to fit into the formulas I was developing.
Eventually, I came back to five botanicals:
Calendula. Chamomile. Yarrow. Burdock Root. Plantain Leaf.
Together, infused into lightweight grapeseed oil, they became the AE Five-Herb Infusion—and one of the signatures of ANARC Essentials.
MADE, TESTED, REFINED
Some Formulas Made Me Work for Them.
Not every ANARC formula came easily.
Body oils and whipped butters felt familiar. Emulsions were another story.
The Botanical Butter Cream challenged me.
I tested. Adjusted percentages. Changed ingredients. Reworked texture. Made batches I loved and batches that sent me straight back to the formula.
But I kept going because I knew what I wanted it to become.
Today, when someone tells me how much they love the texture, how their skin feels after using it, or that they've found something they genuinely look forward to applying, I still blush.
Because I know how much work happened before that jar ever reached their hands.
That's the part of handcrafted body care I never want to lose—the connection between what I create and the person who eventually experiences it.
I Didn't Want to Sell Random Products.
THE STORY IS STILL BEING WRITTEN