Jacob & Sebastian is an apothecary that Joel Dart dreamed up during vacations in world-class cities. “I would visit these stores and they were just so beautiful. For twenty dollars you could walk away with something special.” London, New York – wherever he was travelling, Joel would duck into boutiques that sold creams, lotions, and soaps. He always bought something luxurious and relatively inexpensive to bring back home to Toronto.
In 2009, he decided to bring these gems home to Toronto – permanently. He opened up a shop that emulates the apothecaries he’s always been drawn to. As a result Jacob & Sebastian is thoughtfully stocked with beauty, skin and bath products that aren’t normally on the shelves of drugstores.
Their two downtown locations carry dozens of brand name body care products for men, women and children. They carry products by Coola Baby, makers of gentle chemical and preservative-free sunblock for infants. The SPF 50 Unscented Moisturizer contains organic sunflower, sesame seed and avocado oils and organic shea butter. Particularly intriguing is the Binchotan line of charcoal-based facial cleansers sourced from Japanese oak. For the guys, they have Baxter of California general hygiene, shaving and facial cleansing products.
Jacob & Sebastian is TO’s go-to for all your au naturel and organic beauty products. From skincare to bath and body care, you can slather the goodness on all over. You’ll find some top-notch makeup options at this Queen West spot, like creamy lip and cheek stains from Tata Harper (all products are 100% natural and on average 30% organic). Shop certified organic and refillable eye shadows, foundation, blush, and highlighters by Kjaer Weis, or lip luxuries by Dalish, a Toronto-based, kitchen-made cosmetic line that’s natural, free of harsh chemicals, and uses organic ingredients like castor oil and carnauba wax.
With so many organic options to choose from, you’ll never need to go back to commercial brands, not when you have a sweet local beauty boutique like Jacob & Sebastian. They carry amazing local lines like the Toronto-based Wildcraft (who are devoted to using 100% natural, simple, easy-to-understand ingredients like honey, distilled flower waters and essential oils) as well as Leaves of Trees, purveyors of the city-famed lotion deodorant. They also stock many international labels, including sensitive-skin saviour Malin + Goetz, Queen of green Tata Harper (cruelty-free products) and London-based Pai, designed for sensitive, allergy-prone skin.