Silky Water

Everyday Chemist was founded by Flavia Zhamo and her mother, Adriana, a cosmetic chemist. Flavia grew up in southern Albania among grapevines, lemon trees and summers by the sea, and spent time in her mother’s lab watching remarkable women drink coffee and do science.

After the family moved to Canada, cold winters and Accutane left Flavia’s lips painfully dry. When nothing on the shelf helped, she asked her mother to make something that would. That first sample became Lip Grease. Friends and family soon wanted it too, and the two shared it for ten years before ever offering it for sale.

Today Adriana develops every formula and handcrafts each batch at EC Studios, their Toronto lab, where they also formulate for beauty brands across categories. They choose ingredients for what they contribute and refine performance, texture and finish together. Lip Grease’s signature cushion took dozens of lanolin samples to get right.

Their products draw on the life they share: the softness after a day at the sea, a grandmother’s garden, the comfort a Canadian winter calls for. For Flavia, building the company is a way to show her mother how much her talent means to others, and to bring that same care to everyone who uses what they make.