A Macon-based natural beauty and bath bar opens second location in Warner Robins

Emily Amos said she’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

As far back as middle school, the Dallas native was buying snacks, then taking them to school and selling them for profit to her classmates.

Amos also started working at a grocery store when she was 14. But she cannot remember not ever having a side hustle.

It’s not surprising that Amos not only started her own business but also began to sell products that she makes herself.

Saturday, Amos opened a second location of her Macon shop, The Naturalista, in a Warner Robins shopping center.

“We do all kinds of natural bath and body care,” Amos said. “We make handmade organic artisan soaps. We make body moisturizers. We make bath bombs, shower steamers. All things related to bath and body.”

A natural progression

A professional makeup artist, Amos opened Baby Doll Cosmetics in Macon about 14 years ago.

Before that, she’d lived in Atlanta doing on-location makeup for special events and photo shoots. She also worked at a bank.

When she moved to Macon about 16 years ago, she worked at a local beauty shop where she did makeup and hairlines before she opened Baby Doll Cosmetics on Vineville Avenue.

With Baby Doll Cosmetics, Amos said she spent a lot of her time traveling to her clients to do their makeup for weddings, proms and photo shoots.

During that time, Amos also started making her own lip gloss that she tried out on her clients. She continued to do research, creating eye shadows, blushes and foundations that she began to sell at the shop.

“It just kind of fell into my lap,” Amos said. “It’s just something that naturally happened over time.”

She next began experimenting with bath and beauty products, first only for herself. Then she began to give the products as gifts to family and friends.

Her husband and son were her “guinea pigs.”

Bath and beauty products

“I think the very first beauty product I made was a bath bomb … and I was sitting and thinking, well, you know what, if I’m soaking in the tub with a bath bomb, I need soap.

“Then I thought, well, I’m out of the tub now, I don’t want to be dry or ashy so I gotta have moisturizer, and how can I create a moisturizer that will last all day, that you don’t have to keep putting on, that doesn’t have any harsh chemicals or preservatives? So I did my research on that and came up with my body mousse.”

About five years ago, when she moved to her current Macon location at 2367 Ingleside Ave, Amos changed the name of her business to The Naturalista because she said she wanted to focus more on the bath and body products.

“A naturalista is just a female who’s all about natural hair care, natural vibes,” Amos said. “They try to use as many natural products as they can. We call those women naturalistas.”

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amos said she phased out the makeup.

Self-taught, Amos and a team of employees make the bath and body products at the Ingleside store.

“Our most popular product is our Forever Yoni Fresh soap,” Amos said. “It’s a feminine soap ... Our next most popular product is our whipped body mousse which is our natural water-less moisturizer. You can use it all over the face, the body … because we don’t put any chemicals or preservatives in it.”

Opening a new store

Amos decided to open the Warner Robins location because a lot of her customers were driving up to Macon from Warner Robins, Byron and Perry.

The Warner Robins store is located in the Gunn Battle Shopping Center near the intersection of U.S. 41 and Watson Boulevard. The shopping center is less than two miles from Interstate 75.

“One of my favorite parts is we have a reading nook,” Amos said. “If you want to come in and be more knowledgeable about herbs or essential oils or natural home remedies, we have several different books where you can sit down and flip through.”

The shop also has “a little man cave area” specifically for men’s products.

“I’m super excited,” Amos said of opening the Warner Robins store. “It’s been a passion.

“It’s been a dream. And you know, it’s something I’ve been working on for years, even going to the Warner Robins location. I’ve actually been working on that three or four years … To see your dream actually manifesting and unfolding before you is just a indescribable feeling.”

Amos plans to rotate back and forth between the Macon and Warner Robins shops, spending more time initially in Warner Robins as she gets that store up and running.

Regular operating hours for the Warner Robins shop at 6009 Watson Blvd., Suite 410, will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m .Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The shop will be closed on Sundays and Mondays.

This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 12:08 PM.