Winter Farmers Market - Vendor Spotlight

Sundays, January 12 - May 18

At just 19-years-old, Amari is making waves in the Chicago beauty community. From her booth at the South Loop Winter Market at Water Tower Place, it would be easy to mistake the young entrepreneur as an employee. But behind the table stands the visionary founder of Ari by Amari, an up-and-coming local vegan lip gloss brand with a compelling story that’s capturing attention and growing fast.

Amari’s obsession with lip gloss started early—mostly out of necessity. Sensitive skin made it difficult for her to find formulas without irritation.

“When I was 14, I was always looking for the perfect lip gloss for my sensitive skin,” she explained. “So, I decided to create my own.”

Amari got to work, spending hours on YouTube watching videos on lip gloss production and researching ingredients safe for sensitive skin. Using 100% organic coconut and vitamin E oil, she started experimenting with formulas. And just like that, Ari by Amari was born.

“I had no idea how to run a business,” she said. “But my mom is an entrepreneur. She set me up to sell my lip gloss at a pop-up stand, which was hard at first, but such a great experience. It made me realize that it’s not just teenagers who love lip gloss and want natural ingredients, it’s a much wider range of people.”

Over the last five years, Amari has grown Ari by Amari from a passion project into a real beauty brand, creating lip glosses with between four and six nontoxic, cosmetic-grade, vegan, gluten-free and cruelty-free ingredients. Along the way, she’s blossomed from a shy young teenager into a confident, outgoing business owner who loves connecting with her customers.

“I really enjoy meeting people,” she said. “From four-year-old kids who want to wear lip gloss but aren’t allowed to use products with toxic chemicals, to people in their 60s going through chemo, it’s been amazing to see how many people these products resonate with.”

Lip gloss lovers of all ages can find Amari on the fourth floor of Water Tower Place every Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. through May 18.