At the end of the day, Mary Butler and Cat Tatman just get each other. They both understand the importance of clean beauty products—and they both love Colorado. They’re co-founders of Denver-based Intelligent Elixirs, an innovative business that offers clean products free of toxic ingredients coupled with a commitment to complete transparency of the ingredients in the products. Their products are focused on anti-aging and improving the skin’s health and overall appearance. Combined, this dynamic duo has been creating professional cosmetics and skincare products for over three decades. During that time, both women have continued to educate themselves and learn more about safe, clinically proven ingredients that aren’t toxic to the environment or the consumer.
“Many products in the marketplace use ingredients that are inexpensive and easy to formulate with, but not necessarily beneficial to the skin. It was counter-intuitive to create products to improve the health of the skin with ingredients that aren’t beneficial to it,” says Tatman, who grew up in Boulder.
Bringing Positivity Back
After working together for ten years at a professional skincare and cosmetic company, the duo started their business together. They both have a huge interest in the clean beauty space and immediately knew they wanted to create a product line that was clinically driven and non-toxic. That’s why setting up shop in Colorado made perfect sense, especially with 300+ days of sunshine a year which generates so much positive energy. “In our opinion, positive energy allows clear thinking and the drive to be active and creative,” Butler explains, who has lived here for twenty-four years. She also says that being a female-owned business is important to them because they hope to encourage other female entrepreneurs to follow their dreams—which they have evidently done so successfully.
Quality Over Quantity
Their product line has a core differentiator that helps them stand apart. “A core intelligent elixir differentiator is what sets us apart,” adds Tatman. “As well as the quality of our products and level of results delivered for the price point.” From an R&D standpoint, although time-consuming, they spend a lot of time researching ingredients that meet their clean and clinical beauty criteria.
“After identifying the key ingredients, developing the product can take months. We work with our chemist adjusting formulas until they meet the performance levels we require and have the aesthetics we conceptualized for the product. And then, last but not least, is the critical formula testing phase, which typically requires more than six months to validate the product stability and shelf life,” says Butler. “Our active levels of clinical ingredients deliver noticeable benefits people are seeking at a price that resonates and is reasonable.”
What To Look Out For
Butler and Tatman are excited to release a brand new product this year, which will include a much-anticipated Blemish Control Gel Cleanser. “Regardless of age, most of us will experience simple to complex acne,” adds Butler. “Our new cleanser will be formulated with 2% Salicylic Acid, which is an excellent ingredient to heal blemishes.” And, this is why we are all chomping at the bit!
