Our Story
Oak + Tonic — Started at a street market, Calgary 2015
Beauty that knows
what it is for.
We are not here to sell you a routine. We are here to help you build a relationship — with your skin, your senses, and how you want to feel in the world. Oak + Tonic is the result of a decade of listening.
"I didn't set out to open a beauty store. I set out to change how beauty feels."
— Wil Lakatos, Founder
A letter from the founder
Let me be honest with you.
Most beauty experiences leave something to be desired. Not because the products aren't good — sometimes they're extraordinary — but because the experience of finding them, understanding them, and trusting them is often designed to overwhelm, not to guide.
I spent years working directly with people as a hairstylist, product formulator, and retailer. In that time, I saw the same thing over and over: intelligent, thoughtful people walking away from beauty counters feeling confused, oversold, or quietly diminished. They came in with real questions. They left with full bags and unanswered ones.
I started Oak + Tonic to be the opposite of that. Not a counter. A conversation.
I've spent years studying what actually works — not what's trending, not what has the most impressive packaging — but what genuinely serves different skin types, different lives, and different ideas of what feeling good should look like. I've formulated products from scratch. I've sourced ingredients from places that care how they grow them. I've turned down brands that didn't align with what I believe, even when the margins were attractive.
I believe deeply that beauty and wellness are not superficial. The ritual of caring for yourself — of choosing something intentional and applying it with attention — is one of the quietest forms of self-respect that exists. It deserves to be taken seriously.
This store, and everything we are building around it, is my answer to the question: what would beauty retail look like if someone genuinely cared? Not just about the products. About you.
We're growing — a second location in Calgary, new tools including AI-supported guidance I'm genuinely excited about, new brands, and new ways to understand your skin and your senses. But none of it changes the fundamental thing: there is a real person behind this. Someone who has held the same questions you have. Someone who takes this seriously.
I'm glad you found us.
Warmly, Wil
Calgary, Alberta
A place built
to slow
you down.
The store was designed to feel different from the moment you walk in. Warm wood, apothecary shelving, natural light, and a counter where questions are welcome. No pressure. No scripts. Just the right conversation at the right pace.
Southcentre Mall, Calgary — and a second location opening at Aspen Landing in 2026.
The name has meaning
Oak.
Ancient. Patient. One of the longest-lived organisms on earth. Oak represents groundedness, accumulated wisdom, and the kind of trust that only comes from staying rooted through seasons of change. Wherever we are, that is what we aspire to be: a place you can return to.
Tonic.
Apothecary-born. The idea that something can restore you — not just cosmetically, but at the level of how you feel. The apothecaries of the past were the original integrators: herbs and science, art and knowledge, tradition and curiosity. That is the lineage we draw from.
"Together, they describe a modern apothecary for people who want beauty to mean something — grounded and restorative, natural and intelligent, old enough to know what matters, new enough to know what's coming."
What we
believe.
These are not taglines. They are the operating principles behind every product we carry, every brand we choose, every conversation we have in the store, and every tool we are building.
Beauty should feel like support, not pressure.
The goal is to help you understand your skin and your senses — not to make you feel like something is wrong with you.
Ingredients deserve explanation.
You should know what you're putting on your skin, why it works, and where it came from. Education is not a bonus feature — it is the product.
Fragrance is a form of memory and identity.
The right scent doesn't just smell good. It orients you. We treat fragrance discovery with the seriousness it deserves.
Curation is a service.
Every brand we carry has been chosen deliberately. The absence of something is just as intentional as its presence. We are not a warehouse — we are an edit.
Technology should amplify human connection.
The tools we are building — like our skin consultation — are designed to get you to the right answer faster, so that when we talk, we can go deeper.
Wellness is not a category — it is a lens.
Every product we choose, every ritual we recommend is filtered through one question: does this genuinely support how someone lives?
What makes us different
This is not a shelf.
It is a point of view.
Most beauty retail is designed for volume. Large-format stores carry everything so you can feel like you have choice — but without context, choice becomes noise. Oak + Tonic was built around the opposite idea.
Human guidance
Real knowledge, real conversation.
We understand formulations, ingredients, and skin. When you ask a question, we have an answer — not a script.
Thoughtful curation
Less, but better.
Every brand here has been chosen over dozens that weren't. That restraint is deliberate and it is the point.
Sensory intelligence
You experience it, not just read about it.
Fragrance, texture, ritual — these are things you need to feel. The store is designed for that encounter.
Personalised discovery
Built around your skin and your life.
Our skin quiz and in-store consultations are designed to understand you first — and recommend second.
Where we are going
The next era of Oak + Tonic.
The store has always been the foundation. But what we are building now is something closer to an ecosystem — a way of engaging with beauty and wellness that meets you wherever you are: in-store in Calgary, online from anywhere, or through an AI-guided consultation that knows the difference between your skin type and your skin goal.
A second Calgary location — Aspen Landing — is opening in 2026, with a dedicated fragrance discovery area, broader wellness programming, and more room for the kind of unhurried conversation that good guidance requires.
This is still a deeply human business. It always will be. But the tools we are building will let that humanity go further.
2015
Oak + Tonic begins — six foot table at a Calgary street market
2019
Permanent home opens — Southcentre Mall, Calgary
2026
Second location opening — Aspen Landing, SW Calgary
10+
Years of beauty expertise behind every recommendation
12K+
Canadians in the Oak + Tonic wellness community
Find your ritual
You don't have to know where to start.
Take the skin quiz, explore the Wellness Lab, or visit us in Calgary. We'll help you find what belongs in your life — and why.