Birch water serum? Homegrown skincare business takes root in Yukon

Joanne Sherrard'sfledgling business is literally homegrown the raw material for her skincare line grows right outsideher door in Dawson City, Yukon.

"We just we tap the birch trees actually in my backyard, and we then use that birch water to create a birch bio-ferment," Sherrard explained.

In November, she and her business partnerElise McCormick launched Aurum Skincareonline, selling "calming" birch serum and birch masks topical skincare products pitched as "soothing nourishment for dehydrated and reactive skin."

"Birch water has been used for a long time for people to drink, and hasgreat hydrating properties in it," Sherrard said.

"We wanted to emphasize that hydrating capacity."

In 2017, Sherrard and McCormick pitched their idea as a candidate for theYukon Innovation Prize an annual award geared towards a certain area of innovation. The theme that year was health and wellness.

"We thought, 'Well this was kind of meant to be, let'stry and see what happens,'" Sherrard recalled. "We felt that it was a timely opportunity."

They were right their idea won the $60,000 prize, and Sherrard said the money allowed them to get their business off the ground much faster than they otherwise would have.

"It allowed us to test for shelf stability, it allowed us to bring on board a design team to help us with the packaging, to allow us to bring into production something that we wanted to share with other Yukonersand Canadians," Sherrard said.

It didn't take long fortheir first batch of products to sell out. According to their website, all products are on backorder.

"We sold out in about a month, which we really hadn't anticipatedbut was very exciting."

Sherrard said they're happy keeping the business small for now, but that could change.

"Depending on how many trees that you tap [for birch water], you could really expand the business depending on what it was that we were wanting to do," she said.

"I do feel that there is opportunity for growth."

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