In 2015, beauty industry veteran Kendra Kolb Butler (who worked at brands like Dr. Dennis Gross and Clarins) packed her bags and left New York City with her family to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Somewhere along the line, she decided to make her temporary stay into her permanent home. The picturesque mountain town of Wyoming also became the inspiration behind her skincare line called Alpyn Beauty. Here, she shares the story of her leap from city life to countryside, the art of wildcrafting and the appeal of living so close to nature.

What inspired the move to Jackson Hole, Wyoming?
I was in Manhattan for 20 years and starting to get very burnt out. I was feeling overwhelmed by the stress of living in the city, the anxiety and the pollution. I was feeling very unfulfilled. Driving home from work one day, I heard someone on NPR say, “Sometimes you just have to jump off a cliff and build your wings on the way down.” That quote really resonated with me. You don’t always know what’s going to be next, but if you have faith and trust in yourself, you are the only person who can find your own happiness. My husband and I left our corporate jobs. We put the dog, the kid and a couple pieces of furniture that we had in the car and drove West, landing in a town called Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We had come for three months just to get some fresh air, press the reset button and be around nature. Five and a half years later, I’m still sitting here today.

After you moved there, you ended up opening your own beauty store in Jackson Hole? How did that happen?
I was feeling kind of lost living in a community that didn’t have a beauty store because I’m such a beauty junkie. I love skincare and makeup, but there was nothing here. Everybody was just getting products shipped. For me, beauty is about exploration—trying things, testing them and seeing how certain things look on you. There was no apothecary here so I opened my own.

What beauty brands did you curate?
It was kind of like what my bathroom looked like. I love Tata Harper, Dennis Gross, Ursa Major. I was like, ‘I’m just going to reach out to the brands that I like’ and started calling all of the companies where I was a customer. That first summer, we got about 36 brands to sign on between hair, makeup and skin.

How did the store inspire you to create Alpyn Beauty?
The more time I spent in the stores, the more I started to realize that the women who lived in this town had some real skincare issues. I would sell [something] and they’d come back two days later and say, ‘I’m still dry. This isn’t working for me.’ My return rate in skincare was through the roof. I was seeing the same thing happen with the products I brought from Manhattan. In the summer of 2016, I remember looking out [from my backyard] at all the flowers and plants. Everything in nature was flourishing. I thought, how did the plants figure it out? They had adapted and found a way to not only flourish, but also thrive in a climate that was wreaking havoc on everyone’s skin.

I started researching and I found that growing all around me were plants like chamomile, borage, sage and calendula. All these wild plants were also skincare ingredients.

I started to become very curious about the plants that were indigenous to the land and the property that I was on. I researched and found that growing all around me were plants like chamomile, borage, sage and calendula. All these wild plants were also skincare ingredients. I thought it was the most ironic thing. There were skincare ingredients growing wild in a town filled with people suffering from bad skin. There had to be a way to connect the dots. We started wildcrafting. I met a local farmer and a botanist and I just was like, show me what this process is.

What is wildcrafting?
Wildcrafting is the act of sustainably harvesting a plant from its natural environment. We look for plants that are unaltered and are available in their natural state. The difference between a wild plant and something that a farmer plants is that they set up the ideal growth environment so that plant has the ability to flourish. We look for areas that have a harder time, like the side of a mountain that has had the most sun in the summer because those plants have a way to protect themselves from the sun.

What are some hero ingredients in Alpyn Beauty that can be found right in your own backyard?
We have tons of huckleberries here, which is also in our new Wild Huckleberry Peel 8-Acid Polishing Peel. It’s an antioxidant that’s very rich in vitamin B and resveratrol. Arnica is a big one, which grows as far as the eyes can see. I think we have enough arnica in Jackson Hole to support the entire world. It’s very firming and an anti-inflammatory. Choke cherries [are] very high in vitamin C and antioxidant properties. Sage is very hydrating and great for healthier, brighter, and smoother looking skin. All my formulas have vitamin C and squalane, but my wild plants are the secret sauce.

When you eat a salad, you want all those colours. You want peppers and onions and broccoli and peas, because everything that is in that salad is giving your body a different nutrient. That’s the way that we approach skincare: we find really good ingredients and we want them all like a salad of wild plants.

How has living here informed or changed your approach to life?
It has mellowed me out a lot. I moved here to have a better work-life balance. I’m an entrepreneur so that’s debatable because I’m trying to build a brand. I do feel the benefits from the fresh air and vitamin N, which we call nature. It’s just a different environment when you’re living in a place that is full of wildlife and animals. I go outside and breathe and it clears my mind. My body has responded a lot better to living in a mountain town.

What are some of your favourite things to do in Jackson Hole?
It depends on what season. In the summer, we like to fly fish, we hike, we take boat trips down the river, we float. In the winter, we ski, we snowshoe, we cross country. The adventure and exploration is endless.

The Alpyn Beauty line-up includes:
PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer
PlantGenius Survival Serum
PlantGenius Line-Filling Eye Balm
Wild Huckleberry 8-Acid Polishing Peel