An Inspired Chat with Amber Champagne

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Amber Champagne. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Amber, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity all day. You can have the energy of a toddler who just discovered sugar and the intelligence of a walking encyclopedia, but if you don’t have integrity, none of that really sticks. People feel your character before they remember your credentials. Plus, let’s be real, energy runs out (especially if there’s no Champagne Apothecary x Scott Patterson Gilmore Girls style coffee) and intelligence is Google-able. But integrity? That’s your brand, your reputation, your secret sauce.

So yeah, I’d say integrity is the MVP. And I hope you expected me to say that, because otherwise I’ve really overhyped my moral compass. 😂

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Of course. I’m Amber Champagne. Licensed Esthetician, Clinical Herbalist, and founder of Champagne Apothecary and ETHYST® Skincare. Basically, I took my obsession with radiant, healthy skin and my lifelong love of herbs and turned it into a brand that helps people actually repair their skin barrier instead of just slathering on marketing hype.

What makes us unique? We created the “Champagne Standard™”, our proprietary benchmark for clean beauty that goes beyond Sephora, Ulta, or Credo. If it doesn’t pass my ridiculously high standards, it doesn’t go in a bottle. Period. We’re talking lactic acid, glycolic acid, barrier-supporting oils, adaptogens, and microbiome-friendly formulations that work for real people with real skin… not just paid, filtered models on Instagram.

I transformed a small town where “self-care” was basically drinking a Dunkin’ iced coffee in the Walmart parking lot. I built a retail shop from scratch, transitioned to a thriving e-commerce business, and now we’re scaling into bigger opportunities like major retail partnerships, subscription models, and tech-facing wellness initiatives.

What I’m working on right now? A little bit of everything: reformulating products to meet our new Champagne Standard, growing ETHYST® subscriptions, writing my monthly Sanctuary e-zine, and building out SystemOverglow, a cryptic recovery protocol for the tech world (because burnout deserves a serum too).

At the end of the day, my work is about making people feel at home in their own skin with a mix of science, ritual, and a dash of humor. Because glowing skin should be powerful, but it definitely doesn’t have to be corporate and boring.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was the kid mixing “potions” out of wildflowers, kitchen spices, and whatever I could sneak out of the bathroom cabinet. (Let’s just say my Barbie dolls went through a lot of “clinical trials.”) I was endlessly curious, creative, and stubbornly sure that nature had answers the world hadn’t figured out how to bottle yet.

Somewhere along the way, society tried to tell me that success meant playing small, being agreeable, and sticking to “safe” paths. But honestly? That never fit. My inner rebel always wanted to build something different, something that fused science, herbs, and humor with a side of rebellion against the watered-down, greenwashed “clean beauty” industry.

That same kid energy is still at the heart of my work today. It’s why I built Champagne Apothecary and ETHYST® Skincare, and why I created the Champagne Standard™, a no-nonsense benchmark for clean skincare that surpasses what Sephora, Ulta, or Credo call “clean.” I still approach everything with curiosity, creativity, a little mischief, and a lot of laughter no matter what I’m working on.

So who was I before the world told me who to be? The same person I am now… just with more coffee and a much better understanding of how we actually get real results from skincare.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I stopped hiding my pain and started using it as power after the stillbirth of my second son. That grief cracked me open in a way nothing else ever could. For a long time, I thought pain was something to push down, to manage quietly so the world wouldn’t see the cracks. But losing him shifted everything. It made me realize that life is too short to live muted or to follow paths that aren’t aligned with who we really are.

That loss became the catalyst for what I do now. It pushed me to stop playing small and instead build something that honored both healing and resilience. That’s how Champagne Apothecary and later ETHYST® Skincare came into being, not just as products, but as a mission to help people feel at home in their own skin. I wanted to create something rooted in both science and ritual, something that reminded people that scars, whether physical or emotional, don’t make us less beautiful. They make us more human.

Turning that pain into power taught me that grief can be a seed. Out of mine grew a thriving business, a community focused on wellness and self-care, and a brand standard (the Champagne Standard™) that refuses to compromise. Every bottle, every campaign, every conversation is built on that foundation: the truth that even in loss, there can be creation.

So when did I stop hiding my pain? The day I realized that the hardest part of my story wasn’t my ending, it was a new beginning.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
One of the biggest lies the beauty industry tells itself is that slapping the word “clean” on a label makes it true. Most “clean beauty” brands are really just marketing with a prettier font. They hide behind vague definitions, greenwashing, the lack of consumer knowledge, and trend-chasing instead of doing the hard work of reformulating to truly safe and effective standards.

Another lie? That skincare has to be complicated to work. The industry thrives on convincing people they need a 19-step routine with products that don’t even get along with each other. That’s not self-care, that’s chaos, wasted time, and wasted money.

That’s why I created the Champagne Standard™. It’s not just a buzzword. It’s our proprietary benchmark for clean skincare that goes beyond Sephora, Ulta, and Credo. No PEGs, no sneaky toxins, no half-committed formulas. Just barrier-safe, microbiome-friendly products that actually deliver results.

The truth is: skincare shouldn’t be smoke and mirrors. It should be effective, honest, and accessible. And the sooner the beauty industry admits that, the better off consumers will be.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope the story people tell about me is that I turned pain into purpose and left the world softer, stronger, and a little more radiant than I found it. That I didn’t just build a skincare brand, but a movement that reminded people that real self-care and skincare are not vanity… they’re vitality.

I hope they say I helped change the conversation around beauty, cutting through the noise of fads and filters with honesty, humor, and science. That I created the clean beauty standard these big, wealthy companies should’ve been setting in the first place (the Champagne Standard™) and that it gave people the confidence to demand better for their skin, their health, and their lives.

And beyond the business, I want people to remember me as someone who kept showing up for others, even when life knocked me down. Someone who wasn’t afraid to be real about loss, grief, or resilience, and who used all of it as fuel to build something meaningful.

If the story ends with: “She made people feel at home in their own skin and she never stopped fighting for authenticity in a world that thrives on artifice,” then I’ll have lived the kind of legacy that mattered.

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