The Faces of Beardsgaard series takes you inside the story and the world of each of our products ~ our real live regular clients, cut by the barbers of Beardsgaard, groomed by River Peak Apothecary, on location, often just off the beaten path.

Journey to our realm, nerds.

SCENT MEMORY

The human animal has five senses, but only two of them pass through the portion of the mind linked to emotion and memory. Of the five, only taste and smell can instantly bring to you faraway and long ago places.

The whispering floral herbs that are medicine to the body and soul.

Moss crushing under bare feet as they race after fireflies in the falling twilight.

The sun warmed petaly jewels that unfurl from the trees to tempt the bees.

It is for this simple reason that we made our grooming products in the scents of the seasons, so that you can change along with them.

Fjordmist is for: Spring days after a rain when the early trees are in full bloom

THE STORY

Having created the world of Beardsgaard, you can imagine that when we decided to delve deeper into our craft and introduce our own product line, we felt we also needed to delve deeper into the mythology we had been creating amongst ourselves.

We already had the map of the Realm on the wall, after all. So when it came to creating the scents of our grooming goods, we first looked to the seasons that our corner of the world has in abundance, all from natural sources.

And then came the names, which are added as locations on the map, each with a mythology all its own.

Our beard oils, balms and butters are created by barbers to tame the most Ent-like beards of the thousands we encounter, but more than that, they tell a story.

This is the story of Fjordmist.

THE MYTHOLOGY

The mythology of the realm of Beardsgaard grows and grows. And we do not speak of some metaphorical mythos of a business, we actually started writing origin stories, and kept writing.

In the Fjordmist mythology, this little village is located on the Calaer Coast, at the mouth of a river the brings the plant medicine of Alfheim to the coast to ship to the other kingdoms. But a blight has been creeping down from the north, and a shepherd of plants on the river in on a quest to stop it.

Keep up with the story as it unfolds right here.

THE FACE

Despite looking like he should be raiding hamlets in the fjords, Matt is in fact a nurse, so he errs on the side of healing as opposed to pillaging. Hence us casting him in the role of an elven plant shepherd.

His hair is truly ridiculous, this cascading waterfall of soft but heavy waves - if we hair people had to dream up the perfect follicles, it's any color of this. Flawless, and we barely have to do a thing to it.

Costuming for these shoots is largely furnished by local gem All Dressed Up Costumes, generally augmented with things from our personal, getting extensive, costume closet.

THE SETTING

LES ARENDS FOREST PRESERVE • BATAVIA, ILLINOIS

If you live in our realm of Batavia by the river, you know well how many tucked away pockets of nature we have around these parts. Step a few feet off the paved paths onto the muddy ones, however, and you find a whole different world.

We did not stay particularly clean.

This is Les Arends Forest Preserve here in Batavia, a narrow strip of land between Route 31 and the river. On the paved and unpaved winding trails, in the early parts of spring the trees are so green they're almost neon, but it's beautiful (and often less wet) in the other seasons.

THE SPIRIT OF FJORDMIST

Pale misted air settles heavy about green and growing things, broad white sky above. Loamy earth, lapping water new life blooms in the flora and fauna, cacophony layered upon silence.

Let us take you there.