Moline-based Lillie & Pine makes self-care smell good

Katy Miller never meant to start a skincare company. It just happened.

As the founder of Lillie & Pine, a company specializing in all things skincare, she's now accepted her fate and has made it her mission to promote wellness — and smelling good — wherever she goes. But that wasn't initially the goal.

In fact, she hadn't wanted to own a business at all.

"This was accidentally established in 2017," she said. "Be careful with your hobbies."

Her interested in skincare started early in her marriage. While on a road trip with her in-laws in New Mexico, she asked her mother-in-law what products she was using.

"And she said, 'Oh honey. We just put whatever was in the kitchen on our face. Don't ask me, I make my own stuff,'" Miller said. "So I said, 'Well, cool. Send me some recipes because that sounds fun.'"

Then began the research into the importance of skincare not only for outward appearance, but for overall health. The skin is the first line of defense for the immune system, and Miller soon learned hers was very sensitive.

"I really was somebody who used a lot of commercial and conventional skincare, a lot of perfumes and I had headaches and allergies, and I just thought that came with life," she said. " And so I noticed that when my mother-in-law gave me these recipes and I started making my own skincare, I just felt better."

It didn't take long before Miller experienced a huge relief from her allergies and headaches. Next, she got good at taking the existing recipes and making new ones.

"And I got really good at what I do by making about 10,000 mistakes in little Tupperware jars," she said. "And when I got really good, on about the 10,000th jar, people started saying, 'Can I have some?'"

It was 2014 and the business had no name, but it did have products in Tupperware containers, sealed with packing tape. But people still wanted the products and she still enjoyed making them for gifts.

"If you ask my family, at one point they said, 'What are you going to make next? Elbow serum, right arm soap, left arm soap?'" she said with a laugh. "I was making everything."

Before long, her friends and family saw the vision of a business. But Miller wasn't buying it.

"I never had any ambition to own my own business," she said. "I said, 'That sounds crazy, selling soap and lotion for a living.' But what they said is focus on your core competencies."

Instead of launching a product line with dozens of items, Miller slowed it down and started focusing on lotion. It was an instant best seller.

With the products now selling, Miller needed to come up with a name for her company. She thought back to her childhood home, where she grew up on Lillie Avenue and Pine Street. 

Being a self-taught chemist, Miller credited the mistakes in the Tupperware jobs for how she perfected her craft. She knew she was looking for a lotion with a rich scent but satin-like texture that wasn't greasy.

She spent two years on the recipe, often passing it through what she called the "iPhone test." After applying the lotion she'd swipe her finger across the screen to see if it left a mark. When it finally didn't, she knew she had the right recipe.

"I did get good enough at the chemistry where I've been able to write a few molecular structures," she said.

It's something she's proud of, considering chemistry was not her strongest subject in school. She was more focused on writing and thought she'd be a journalist.

Instead, she combined the skills for her own business with the writing skills coming in handy when its time to make labels and write product descriptions for her website. In addition to her own brand, Miller makes products for Bella, a boutique in LeClaire, and Sanctuary Studios in Moline.

"I've even gone as far as LA six times now to pitch a product for Snoop Dog," she said. "A hemp lotion using his own hemp."

The details are still in the works, but Miller has the packaging and presentation all laid out. She ended up on Snoop's doorstep after working on another product for music artist Waka Flocka Flame.

That interaction happened at the Freight House Farmer's Market in Davenport where Miller had set up a pop-up shop for her products. Someone who worked for him came to her booth and the pair began talking.

Miller had been working on a tattoo balm she wanted to pitch to someone. She suggested they could call it Waka Wax.

"And then I found myself on Facetime with Waka Flocka two weeks later," she said.

Immediately the rapper was impressed by the packaging Miller created, because it matched his cars. He couldn't believe it, Miller said, but it's a point in her business where the journalism and chemistry meet.

"When I want to create a product for someone I have no shared background with, I do all the research and watch all the interviews," she said. "Journalism has opened all the doors for chemistry."

Miller has since created a sample for Waka Flocka Flame, but no official orders have been placed. And, that's OK, too.

Brand exposure and getting to see new parts of the world mean just as much to her as collaborations. What's lead to her success, she said, is wearing her "Quad-Cities personality like a 10-gallon hat."

"It's very hard to stand out in markets like (LA) but what can help is when you're from a place like this," she said.

Asking questions and seeing how she can work with people and not for them often sets her apart, she said. Brand executives in bigger cities are used to people wanting things from them, but not so much the Midwestern nice that invites collaboration and solutions.

But even the Midwest has its challenges.

When Miller launched in 2017 she opened a booth in The Spotlight Theatre in Moline. The building has been transformed into a neighborhood of shops for business owners like Miller.

She attempted to merge the company with another shop nearby, but the chemistry was harder to grasp than expected. Instead, she relaunched again in 2023, starting Lillie & Pine all over again.

"It's really been a couple years now with the challenge of what direction we want to go in," she said.

Shortly after outgrowing the booth, Miller purchased an 8,500 square foot building in Moline. It was a big upgrade from the 1,000 square foot production facility she had been using, but it wasn't quite right for retail and was going to be listed for sale soon.

"And what I've found and heard from my customers, is that they want to see us in a lot of retail locations, if not our own," she said.

Narrowing down the perfect place for a flagship store is easier said than done, it turns out. Instead of focusing on one location, Miller has her sights set much bigger and has a goal to be in 20 retail locations by the end of 2025.

It's the perfect formula for a business based on smell and texture. Those two things are what set her products apart from others, she said, and are why she continues the hard work of being a business owner.

"I found that my 'why' since I was little was to always make people feel comfortable in their own skin and to make people feel good," she said. "That translated to the chemistry of skincare. Every product that I make is designed to feel perfect in your skin. It's designed to perform without you knowing it's on you, except for the smell and the softness of your skin."

Miller can't possibly decide which product she likes the best.

"I can distinctly remember the moment that I created each one of these recipes, or decided on each scent," she said. "They're so very personal to me."

Being part of a personal routine, too, is a goal for Miller. Before making her own products, she used lotion every day to combat dry skin. After making her own products, she only needs it a few times a week.

"I use less because it's cleaner. It just works better, lasts longer and it's efficient," she said. "I worked really hard on the chemistry part."

And, her hard work was noticed by others in the industry.

Shortly after launching Lille & Pine, Miller was approached by the company Iowa Naturals. They'd been around for 20 years and specialized in self-care products.

The owner was looking to retire and offered to sell it to Miller, who declined. A few years later the new owners approached Miller again, asking if she wanted to purchase the company.

They'd bought it as a side-hustle, but were expecting their first child and didn't have the time to continue the operation. Miller relented, and expanded her line to include their products as well.

It's a lot of work, she admitted, owning her own company and being one of just a handful of employees, but over the years, the business became part of her family.

"When you create every label, every ingredient, the packaging; I spent hours researching and testing and all the labels I designed myself. Every part of this business, down to the photography on our website, the coding on our website, washing the dishes. I've been involved in everything the way a mother is involved with a child," she said. 

But it's not just part of the family. It's a family business, it's her life's work and it's proof 10,000 mistakes in Tupperware jars aren't all mistakes.

"This is a hobby gone terribly right," Miller said.