PaperCity Magazine

July/August 2017 - Dallas

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58 O n a sweeping hilltop in McKinney, Texas, beauty entrepreneur Shannon McLinden has turned a five-acre rural plot into a work-live-create oasis. Surrounded by white picket fences, two horses graze on the grass, and baby donkeys frolic in mud. A gravel road leads to a massive, modernist ranch house, and black-cherry tomatoes, red-garnet micro amaranth, and loofah plants sprout in a chic little greenhouse. Here, McLinden lives and works as the founder of FarmHouse Fresh, a line of organic skincare and body products with such cheeky names as Sweet Cream Body Milk, Splendid Dirt Mud Mask, and Fluffy Bunny Body Wash. Her empire launched in 2005 when the Texas Christian University alum created a simple foot scrub out of rice-bran oil and sea salt to combat cracked heels. When Oprah Winfrey added it to her coveted favorites list, FarmHouse Fresh catapulted to global recognition — even Friends actress Courteney Cox wrote McLinden a thank-you note. Organic lavender from Washington, pumpkin purée from Oregon, milk from Wisconsin cows, and honey from Texas — FarmHouse Fresh ingredients are all grown in the United States. Some, including the aforementioned amaranth, tomatoes, and loofah, are sourced from McLinden's own backyard. Last fall, Cartermere Farms out of Celina, Texas, "grew two or three thousand pounds of organic cucumbers," McLinden says. "They were put into our Peat Perfection Mask; it's calming and leaves skin really dewy." Of all the products borne out of McLinden's McKinney farm, the vegan Sand Your Ground face mask (free of gluten, parabens, and sulfate) is on constant rotation. "It has red Arizona mud in it and leaves your face so shiny and exfoliated that any serum you put on gets sucked right in," she says. She puts her Guac Star mask in the fridge before application and uses the Three Milk Moisturizer to soothe rosacea. FarmHouse Fresh is also the only brand in the industry to partner with liquor companies for its product recipes. Launching soon: a moonshine scrub that uses Fitch's Goat WHERE THE GRASS IS GREENER A BEAUTY ENTREPRENEUR BUILDS A CHIPPER COUNTRY COMPOUND WHERE HOME, OFFICE, AND ANIMAL SANCTUARY COEXIST. B Y L I N D E N W I L S O N . P H O T O G R A P H Y M A N N Y R O D R I G U E Z . The resi- dence-to-office breezeway. Visual Comfort Morris Lanterns; antique pot from White Elephant Antiques; Park Hill Collection cast iron mirror. FarmHouse Fresh's office assembly area.

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