Frilly Lilly

Our Story

Since our first Frilly Lilly boutique opened in 2005, our brand has quickly grown to have boutiques across Canada. Our feminine boutiques specialize in waxing, manicures and pedicures. We also offer our signature bath and body care products as well as a full range of jewelry and accessories. We only use the highest quality products, maintain the strictest health standards, and make sure our team is expertly trained.

Our fearless leader Debra Van Dyke opened our first boutique and launched our Frilly Lilly product line. Her dream was to create a comforting and relaxed boutique for waxing treatments that was complemented by useful products that also look beautiful. The result was an assortment of treats including our signature Sugar Lilly Parfum, hydrating Body Butters, luxurious Bubble Bath and our must-have Bikini Care products. Debra still hand selects the jewelry and accessories to ensure each boutique is filled with lovely items. 

We’ve grown from a small team of three to having many boutiques that include a fantastic and diverse team. We are thrilled to be able to empower women to join our team and open their very own Frilly Lilly boutiques.

Debra is still the visionary behind Frilly Lilly along with help from her remarkably good-looking children, Lisa and Jeremy. Frilly Lilly Head Office is in Calgary, Alberta but on lucky occasions you can find the three of them enjoying the sun in Santa Monica.

A Note From Debra

“We opened the doors in 2005. At the very start, there were just a few of us; Claudia, Lisa, Jeremy, and myself. We were just a tiny little boutique. We made all our products in very small batches and we put the labels on and tied all the bows ourselves. We only had one or two estheticians working on a daily basis. It takes a lot of time and effort to start a boutique and to launch a product line. Things start very slow. 

I loved what we were doing so much but when we first opened, I wondered if people would love us too.

It took me at least three years of planning to fully develop the idea of Frilly Lilly. I would create vision boards, read design books, go to antique shops, work with chemists, and anything else that was needed for me to feel proud of what I was creating. Some small details have changed over the years but I always wanted to create a beauty boutique that would specialize in waxing, manicures, and pedicures. I wanted to have our own signature bath and body care products too. This way I knew I’d love every product we created and that they would be just as lovely and functional as I wanted.

It was the help from my children, Lisa and Jeremy, and my friends, Claudia and Carly, that allowed our first boutique to grow and flourish from the tiny little boutique it once was. I’m grateful they are all still a part of the Frilly Lilly team.

Shortly after we opened, I was in Las Vegas for a business trip. I don’t know what encouraged me to do it but I decided I wanted to show our products to a few businesses. I think I was just hoping I’d get some feedback from someone after I put so much effort into creating the line. The first place I visited was the Palms Hotel. They decided to place an order on the spot. I had to call Jeremy back in Calgary to write up a price sheet that day. We had never planned on selling our products to other businesses so we were completely unprepared for it. From there, the next two places I visited were the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas and then Fred Segal in Los Angeles. They both placed orders. None of us expected to have other stores carry Frilly Lilly. We were all so shocked and excited. It was validating to feel that stores known for being trendsetters seemed interested in what we were doing. 

Within a few years, our first boutique was doing well and we had other spas and stores carrying Frilly Lilly products. After that, I became comfortable with the idea of opening more Frilly Lilly boutiques. I loved the idea of being able to encourage and mentor women to open a business of their own. I wanted to be able to give women the tools they needed and empower them to be successful.

After we took care of the extensive paperwork and planning, we opened our McKenzie Towne and Victoria boutiques in 2009. From there we opened our Yaletown, Aspen, and Crowfoot Corner boutiques.

There are still times when I find it unbelievable that we have more than one boutique. I’m so proud of each boutique and the amazing team we’ve built. It’s hard for me to believe that it wasn’t that long ago that there was just a handful of us at one boutique doing the best we could to grow.”

– Debra Van Dyke –Founder and President