Today we’d like to introduce you to Mel K. Wilkinson.
Hi Mel K., thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Greenmade goods started in my Nashville kitchen in 2020 with $500 and a simple frustration: I couldn’t find a cuticle oil that was genuinely clean, actually worked, and felt like a little luxury instead of a chore. So I made my own — a twist-pen cuticle oil with real botanicals suspended in the barrel, made with 100% plant-based ingredients and scents that make you want to reapply.
Lavender, Jasmine, and Rose were the first three scents I created, and they’re still our top sellers today. I officially established the business in 2021, and what started as one product made in small batches has grown into a line of 16 scents sold as singles and giftable trios, handmade in the USA, and shipped to customers in all 50 states.
The moment everything changed was winning the Allure Best of Beauty Award in 2023 for our Lemongrass pen — validation that a tiny kitchen-born brand could stand next to the biggest names in beauty. Since then we’ve won four Clean Beauty Awards for nail care (2022, 2024, 2025, and 2026) and been featured by Oprah Daily, CNN, and Woman’s World. Today about three-quarters of our business is wholesale — spas, salons, gift shops, pharmacies, and hotels — alongside our website, Amazon, and Faire.
I’m a mom, a wife, and (fun fact) a Certified Sommelier, which is probably why I’m so obsessive about scent. My mission hasn’t changed since day one: making cuticles cute, with products that are truly good and good for you.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not a smooth road — I don’t think any bootstrapped business gets one! Starting with $500 meant there was no cushion. Every dollar had to earn its place, and I was every department: formulator, photographer, web designer, ad manager, customer service, and shipping department, often after my family went to bed.
One of the biggest ongoing challenges is competing as a small-batch brand in a category dominated by big legacy players. I can’t win a price-per-ounce war against mass-produced cuticle oils, and I had to make peace with that early. Instead, I leaned into what they can’t do — real botanicals you can see in the pen, giftable packaging, and small batches — and let the product quality speak for itself.
The learning curve on the business side has been steep, too. Selling on Amazon means constantly mastering advertising, listings, and algorithms that change under your feet. I’ve even had to fight off a counterfeit website impersonating our store, which is something no one warns you about when you start making cuticle oil in your kitchen.
But every one of those struggles taught me something I use daily. The awards, the press features, and the retailers who reorder again and again make all the late nights worth it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Greenmade goods specializes in botanical cuticle oil pens — clean, plant-based nail care that you apply with the click of a pen. Each pen has real botanicals suspended inside, so you can actually see the lavender buds, rose petals, or lemongrass in the barrel. We offer 16 scents as singles and as giftable trios, all vegan, cruelty-free, and handmade in small batches in the USA.
What we’re known for is making cuticle care something you look forward to instead of forget. The pen format is mess-free and TSA-friendly, the oil absorbs in seconds without a greasy finish, and the scents are good enough that people describe applying it as a ten-second mini-break. Our tagline says it all: making cuticles cute®.
What I’m most proud of isn’t a single moment — it’s the repeat customers. The spas and gift shops that reorder every season, the women who buy a trio as a gift and come back for their own, the reviews from people who say they’d never kept up a nail-care habit until the pen made it effortless. Building that kind of loyalty by hand, in small batches, while raising a family — that’s the real win.
What sets us apart is that we refuse to choose between clean and delightful. Plenty of cuticle oils are effective but clinical; others are cute but full of artificial fragrance and dyes. Ours are 100% plant-based with nothing artificial — and they’re the ones people buy three of, because the trios have turned cuticle oil into a gift people actually get excited to give.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I absolutely take risks. Starting a business at all is a risk — you’re trading a predictable path for something with no guarantees, and betting on yourself in a way that feels equal parts thrilling and terrifying. When I started, there was no roadmap and no safety net. I was pouring time, money, and heart into an idea most people would call niche: cuticle oil, in a pen, made by hand. Plenty of people would have told me that market was already taken.
But my view on risk is that the size of the risk isn’t the real question — the quality of the bet is. I didn’t gamble recklessly; I risked deliberately. I started small, proved people wanted the product, and let real demand tell me when to take the next leap. Each step — investing in retail packaging, expanding to new scents, going after wholesale accounts and bigger retail conversations — felt scary in the moment, but each was backed by evidence from the step before.
The riskiest thing I’ve done is also the simplest: choosing to follow the passion at all. There’s a version of risk nobody talks about, which is the risk of not doing it — of wondering forever what would have happened. I decided I’d rather fail at something I believed in than succeed at ignoring it. Once you frame it that way, the late nights and the leaps feel less like danger and more like commitment.
So yes, I’m a risk-taker — but a calculated one. Dream big, bet small, and let the wins fund the next bet!
Pricing:
- Lavender Cuticle Oil- 2x Clean Beauty Winner $14
- Lemongrass Cuticle Oil- Allure Best of Beauty Winner- $14
- Honeysuckle Cuticle Oil- Clean Beauty Winner $14
- Chamomile Cuticle Oil- Clean Beauty Winner $14
- Lavender, Jasmine, Rose Trio $28
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.greenmadegoods.com/
- Instagram: @greenmadegood
