Eva Maison in Broad Ripple offers natural beauty brands

A small aloe plant is perched on a weathered wooden crate, sitting on top of a rustic table in the entrance of Eva Maison.

It's a tribute to Aruba Aloe, the family business of the shop's owner, Josh Posner. Aruba Aloe is the new beauty boutique's best-selling line.

Located on Westfield Boulevard in Broad Ripple, the store carries more than 30 brands covering makeup, sun, skin and hair care, nail lacquer, fragrance and a small selection of gift items such as cook books and candles.

The majority of the merchandise is geared toward women but many products are unisex, and one corner of the store is entirely dedicated to men's products.

Posner, who was born in the states but grew up in Aruba, says Eva Maison is the first in Indiana or the Midwest to carry most of the brands.

"I see this huge trend toward people wanting to have a selection of more natural and organic products," said Posner who describes the shop as "Sephora meets Whole Foods — but more up-scale."

Other top-selling brands include Drunk Elephant Skin Care, Herbivore Botanicals, S.W. Basics and RMS, a 100 percent organic makeup line.

"The RMS Living Luminizer is a cult-favorite and a huge seller — it's the line they use on J. Crew models," said Makenna Leibold, sales associate and store manager.

Prices range from $5-$100, not including the furniture that is also for sale and supplied by local salvage shop Flux.

The name Eva Maison doesn't have much of a background. "I just thought it sounded pretty. I need to come up with a better story," Posner said laughing.

However, the history of Aruba Aloe is long and complicated. Founded in 1890, it is said to be the oldest aloe company in the world.

When Posner's family purchased it in 2000, Aruba Aloe was in financial crisis.

"It was a business that never made any money. It was always going from one family member to the other. Everyone who touched it went bankrupt," Posner said. His father bought it anyway.

The family bought new factory and restored the 150-acres of aloe fields.

"We grow it, hand-cut in the morning and by the afternoon it's being packaged," said Posner who started out answering the 1-800 calls and later, managed the company.

Now, 15-years later, Aruba Aloe has 16 stores.

"We struggled for a while too. But we did a couple of things we got very lucky with. We figured out how to build stores for less money, we built 12 stores in two-years. We re-did the packaging to be more eco-friendly," he said.

Posner decided to take that knowledge and open Eva Maison when his wife of three-years and an Indiana-native, Melissa Greives, said she was ready to move back home.

So why not an Aruba Aloe store?

"It might not be as interesting here. With this concept we bring together the best beauty brands we can find in all categories," he said.

Posner is scouting locations for a second store and said he plans to have three or four stores by the end of the year. He said future locations could offer services like facials and manicures.

"I have a friendly family bet that Eva Maison will get to 30 stores before Aruba Aloe does — they have a 16-store head-start but I think I can do it."

Call Star reporter Leslie Bailey at (317) 444-6094 and follow her on Twitter @Lesalina, Facebook.com/Lesalina, and Instagram @Lesalina.

EVA MAISON

• Where: 912 E. Westfield Blvd.

• Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

• Info: (317) 964-0918, evamaison.com.