NEWS

‘Products made with promise’

Soulita brings lifestyle, skincare brand to Garden City Center

By EMMA BARTLETT
Posted 11/22/22

If there’s one word to describe the interior of Lexus Fernandez and Evan Delpeche’s Cranston store Soulita, it’s cozy. The building’s warm tones, relaxing aroma of products …

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NEWS

‘Products made with promise’

Soulita brings lifestyle, skincare brand to Garden City Center

Posted

If there’s one word to describe the interior of Lexus Fernandez and Evan Delpeche’s Cranston store Soulita, it’s cozy. The building’s warm tones, relaxing aroma of products and comfy furniture that you can just sink into, make you feel like you’ve walked into your happy place rather than a store. The pop-up shop is new to Garden City Center and is a lifestyle skincare brand offering skin and body care from natural and healing botanical extracts that address the skin's concern.

Soulita came to fruition when Fernandez, 24, needed natural solutions for her own skin. When the Providence native turned 20, a brain aneurysm ruptured in her head which instantly made her lose her livelihood. She couldn't go back to college or work and was unable to read or speak English correctly. After spending time in the hospital, Fernandez’s skin was very sensitive.

“I was filled with scars from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet,” said Fernandez.

In her first post-hospital shower, she broke out in a rash after using regular body products.

Fernandez had time on her hands during the rehabilitation process and practiced learning to read, speak and write with aromatherapy and herbalism books. She then started purchasing natural ingredients from grocery stores and herbal shops to create soaps, rose oil and rose water to help her skin. 

Fernandez knew she couldn't go back to a normal job with so many visible disabilities so, in 2019, she set up Soulita’s first website (Soulita Soap) and sold creative soaps, rose oil and rose water. It was around this time that she met Delpeche, 32, and the two started working together. Delpeche had just moved to Rhode Island from New York City – coming to the Ocean State with a background in marketing and branding which he used in New York’s fashion industry. Delpeche used his skills to work with Fernandez on innovation and progress, and finding that long term end result for the brand.

Since the co-founders wanted to make Soulita a lifestyle brand and expand their line of products, they started inventing. In April 2020, Fernandez and Delpeche relaunched Soulita’s website as businesses – many similar to theirs – scrambled to establish an online presence in the new pandemic world. In addition to Covid, there was a heightened focus on the George Floyd murder as well as focus on Black lives.

“I feel like the whole world was starting to support Black businesses more outwardly,” Fernandez said.

During this period, Soulita was roped into 20 local to nationwide articles focusing on supporting Black businesses in Rhode Island. In Friday’s interview, Fernandez and Delpeche laughed, saying that no one messaged them to tell them they were being featured, but Soulita was suddenly receiving so much support with the store making its goal every day.

“With the whole Black Lives Matter movement and the situation with Covid, it kind of brought out the hustle in us,” said Delpeche, adding that he and Fernandez were looking at how to recourse and become more sustainable while growing the brand.

The co-founders recently celebrated their one year anniversary at their Providence location. The two had opened as a pop-up shop in November 2021, but two months turned into a year lease. Fernandez said the Providence space means so much to them because everything in the shop was either recycled, upcycled or donated.

“Honestly, other people’ trash turned into treasures for us,” Fernandez said.

Their Garden City Center store is also a pop-up location and they will be there until Jan. 22. However, if things work out, the co-founders would like to stay in the Cranston location and make a second home for Soulita.

Fernandez and Delpeche have made the Garden City Center space their own and have built a lab in the basement where they make Soulita products.

“Every single line was inspired by something we, our friends or family were going through,” Fernandez said.

She said Soulita not only thinks about the ingredients individuals put on their bodies but the ingredients' mental, physical and emotional effects. For instance, if someone is using one of the brand’s bath and massage oils, Soulita makes sure the scent also gets customers into a relaxing mode.

Soulita’s products are rooted from the earth and the co-founders cater to a variety of skin type needs. Fernandez provides customers with information cards on how to use products based on whether individuals have dry skin, oily skin or normal skin.

Soulita has a skincare line, motherhood line, beard line and a whole line with massage oil and bath soaks. Since 80 percent of individuals who buy beauty products are women, Fernandez wanted to create unisex products that attracted everyone.

The skincare line includes facial dry masks and shea butter while the motherhood line focuses on products like belly oil, boobie butter and mama’s dry mask; the beard line includes beard oil, a beard mask and beard butter.

Delpeche said Soulita receives a lot of positive feedback from its body polishes.

“One use and you feel the difference,” Fernandez said.

She added that body polish is a natural way to exfoliate your skin. Soulita sells one body polish for dry dehydrated skin (Juno Body Polish) and another for uneven hyperpigmentation skin (Kin Body Polish). Depending on which product you choose, one will either tone your skin or bring back soft skin.

The co-founders also have fun naming the products – some of which have a unique Rhode Island twist. Soulita’s bath soaks are all named after prominent Providence streets including Thayer, Westminster, Hope and Broadway.

Fernandez said Soulita’s formulations are simple and effective – adding that there’s no product with more than 10 natural ingredients. She said a lot of these other beauty and skin products at big box stores will sometimes have over 20 ingredients with water as the main ingredient.

For Delpeche and Fernandez, a product – from idea to shelf – takes at least three months to create, with testing and research taking up most of the time. The two will participate in certificate programs and have been inspired by YouTube videos. Depeche said the key ingredient is patience.

“We make things with patience, love and care,” Delpeche said, adding that every product is hand-crafted and trustworthy. “A lot of these products are made with promise.”

While the products are created naturally, the co-founders recognize the importance of modern science. Fernandez said there was a trend going around where if you can't pronounce an ingredient on an ingredient list on a product, then it's not for you.

“That’s just not right,” Fernandez said, adding that with a little research you find that most of those ingredients are natural things like chili, coconut or apricot seeds. “We’re all for natural rooted ingredients but, also adding the science to it, we’re making sure our products are safe.”

While Fernandez appreciates customers buying Soulita’s products, she wants to make sure individuals are using them. She said people will buy skincare just to buy it, but she wants people to buy intentionally and create routines; using a product means individuals are spending time with themselves and are allowing themselves to heal – whether it be internally or externally.

“That’s what makes me happy,” Fernandez said.

To Fernandez, it’s also impactful to say she’s a local business owner and for other Brown and Black children to see what she’s achieved, so they can see themselves in those roles.

As for the business’s name, Fernandez said in Spanish, soulita means ‘for you.’ Solita (without the ‘u’) means ‘alone.’

“How I see it is you’re doing it for yourself,” Fernandez said.

She added that she wanted the root to be ‘soul’ for the product’s holistic healing. In order to heal, one has to take care of themselves; no one can do it for that person.

Moving forward the two would like to one day open a store in the Boston area. They’re also hoping to tap into the pop-up culture in different states, collaborate with other businesses and continue to grow Soulita’s line of products. The lifestyle brand has already hosted marketplace events and helped over 100 local businesses as Soulita continued growing.

“Even if we're in the same market under the same product it's not a competition, it’s more how can we work with each other,” Delpeche said.

Soulita recently released its woodsy and sweet smelling candles which capture a unique blend of fragrances. Fernandez and Delpeche are also working on extending their skincare line with moisturizers and cleansers, creating a lip line with lip balm and a lip exfoliator and increasing home essentials. Fernandez mentioned extending the beard line and developing a shampoo and conditioner.

“Soulita gave me purpose back in life when I started it,” Fernandez said. “I think no matter what career you’re looking at, you should put it to one of your highest priorities to take care of yourself.”

Soulita, skincare

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