Taylor Foster’s brand of beauty is about more than just makeup.
The former fashion model said inspiration for Heaven on Main Street, which opened at its 72 Main St. location in Andes earlier this month, took root decades ago.
“I came up to Bovina in 2005 and I opened … a bakery (on Main Street) there,” she said. “I did brunch and Friday night pizza night and then I sold the building in 2012. I was still back and forth to the city when I started the new iteration of Heaven on Main Street, which is skincare and makeup, about 10 years ago, so around 2015.
“Basically, I’ve been running a business in Delaware County for 20 years, but I did not have another brick-and-mortar until this past weekend,” Foster continued. “My degree is in baking and pastry … but I’ve also been a fashion model for pretty much my whole life and had a great run of it in my 20s — doing lots of runways and travel — but my skin started getting reactive to all the makeup and travel and I came up then with a mixture that I used for myself. It was an all-in-one, easy thing to calm my skin down. I never thought I’d go commercial with it, but I did my bakery time, got burnt out, had my son and was a new mom, sold the building and was like ‘OK, what am I going to do next?’”
On reflection, Foster said, the leap from baking to beauty made sense.
“The alchemy is similar to makeup, and I love making things, so off I went,” she said. “My friend had an open studio and I was like, ‘I’m just going to do my face oil and a body scrub … and I sold out and thought, ‘Huh, maybe this thing has legs and this is fun.’”
Foster said the mixture from her modeling days has become a perennial customer favorite.
“Across the board, the No. 1 seller is the Calm & Clear Face Oil, and that’s what I’ve been making for 20 years for myself, so that’s a heartwarming thing for me,” she said. “The Super Moisturizer that has rose water — and I grow the roses that go into that — that’s a bestseller, and the highlighter sticks, the Briana lip and cheek stick and face scrubs. I like to create all the time.”
Throughout the business’ evolution, Foster said, she’s prioritized her products’ usefulness and quality.
“Every product has been me saying, ‘Oh, I want this, I love this,’ and working with plants,” she said. “I do forage St. John’s wort, taro, birch, white pine, goldenrod, chamomile — all grow miles from here — and I grow what I can and harvest that and make infusions that go into what I make. I’ve always also been obsessed with smell and plants, so every lipstick has its own unique oil blend and every highlighter stick smells different, with pure essential oils, and I don’t just choose it for the smell, I choose it for the benefits.”
Customers, Foster said, appreciate her approach.
“It’s a mix, and I have some diehard locals, and it’s mostly women, but I do have some guys,” she said, saying male clients love her pomade, face oil and beard balm. “I’m a 50-year-old woman, and I feel like I create products for myself. That being said, I resonate with my peer group and the aging that is happening now with dryer skin, so every product I make, I make with that in mind, but my customers are from 20-year-olds up to 80-year-olds, so it does span the ages.”
The response to Heaven on Main Street coming to its namesake, Foster said, has been “heartwarming.”
“I’ve been here for 20 years and I’ve seen Andes ebb and flow and different iterations of businesses, and it’s always had a little bit of a sweet spot,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d have another brick-and-mortar, but I feel like the community around the products I create now is such a blessing. I’d been doing markets and things like that, and I love that interaction and seeing them play with the products I make, and there’s nothing like that. But now, to step into a space that’s permanent and for people to gather and feel good about themselves, that’s been really amazing.”
Foster said she hopes to expand offerings and increase that interactivity.
“I want to do events and classes and get the community together,” she said. “I make everything here, so it’s not just a shop; I built out a kitchen and workshop space in the middle, so I am making everything and shipping in the back … and this is perfect for a class and just bringing people together.”
Heaven on Main Street will be open from noon to 5 p.m. for Small Business Saturday, Nov. 29.
For more information and hours, visit heavenonmainstreet.com or follow @heavenonmainstreet on Instagram.