AN AUTHENTIC LIFE Jen Auerbach opens up about safe beauty products, married life with Dan of The Black Keys, and working from The Barn BY LILY HANSEN PHOTOS BY CLAIRE FOTH
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hile it appears that Jen Auerbach has been living in the lap of luxury over the last few years, in reality, the young mom and business owner has just been trying to survive. Already on her fourth cup of caffeine as we chat one morning, she explains, “I’m too tired to crop my life or be anything but real.” As the owner of Clary Collection, the small-batch beauty line she co-founded with musician Adriel Denae, she’s as resolute about posting candidly on Instagram as she is about displaying her products’ ingredients on the front of each bottle. After living a very complicated life, the blunt and uniquely beautiful entrepreneur has scaled back in order to discern what is important to her: simplicity, sisterhood, and giving back to the communities in which she finds the space to be creative. Authenticity is synonymous with Auerbach and Clary Collection, whose staple products include all-purpose balm, body oil, face serum, and renewal oil repair. After starting the company in Auerbach’s kitchen as two sleep-deprived mothers in search of safe beauty products for their children, the line has grown beyond their comprehension. It was as if one day Auerbach turned to Adriel and said, “We’re starting a business,” and the next day they turned around and Clary was in 200 stores nationwide and a few boutiques in Singapore and Paris. While they spent years perfecting the formula and testing it on friends, neither had any idea how big Clary would be. Dropping out of school at age 15 may have worked well for Auerbach, but she wouldn’t encourage everyone to do it. Prior to producing organic beauty products in her Belle Meade backyard and becoming wife to The Black Keys lead singer and producer Dan, the witty and wisebeyond-her-years Auerbach hailed from the seaside town of Southampton, England, where she was born, and Australia, where she was raised. Moving around every six months made Auerbach durable and gave her the gumption to embrace every situation she found herself in. “You can throw me anywhere, and because of my upbringing, I’ll survive,” the chameleon jokes.
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