Spotlight on: Skin+Me skincare
The digital skincare service is now available at John Lewis. We chat to Horatio Cary, Skin+Me’s Co-founder and CEO, to find out more about the move from online to in-person
Skin+Me has spent the last six years creating products that improve people’s skin – offering treatments for acne and spots to skin-ageing and rosacea. And now, John Lewis is thrilled to be the first retailer to launch the purpose-driven brand in-store, allowing a new audience to experience the expert products in-person.
Until now, the digital beauty brand has offered bespoke online treatment plans to customers, which includes ongoing medical consultations with an expert Dermatology Team and products shipped to your door on a monthly basis.
Here, Skin+Me co-founder Horatio explains how the brand is as sustainable as possible, which product they’re launching next and the one skincare myth he’d like to break.
How did you get into the beauty industry?
“My background wasn’t originally in beauty. I worked in Operations and Development for a food subscription service called Graze. I learnt how online subscription businesses work, and during this time I met a dermatologist who told me all about their frustrations with the profession, which included only being able to help a small number of people who are the richest in society.
We [Skin+Me's co-founders] realised that by launching a business online, dermatologists could give their advice to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, rather than five or six people each day in their private practice.”
How important was it for you to create a skincare brand with the best ingredients that was also accessible to people?
“Incredibly important. Deciding to start a company is hard work and you only want to do it if you’re going to make a big impact. We only wanted to start Skin+Me because we believed we could make a difference to millions of lives. We wanted to give people the best skincare ingredients at an accessible price, but we also saw accessibility away from price – we chose branding that was neutral in colour and genderless, so anyone can use us.”
And now launching in John Lewis will make Skin+Me even more accessible...
“Yes, we’re so excited. It’s the perfect destination for our customer. A trusted British brand known for its excellent customer service. We’ve made the range available at John Lewis as simple as possible – there are cleansers and moisturisers suited to different skin types, and a ready made doser which is tailored to a specific skin concern, like pigmentation or fine lines, and your skin type.”
Why did you want to launch Skin+Me in physical retail?
“It gives the customer flexibility – they can buy one product, rather than going online and signing up to the subscription service. We also realised that some customers won’t buy products online without seeing and feeling them first, so these customers will be better served through John Lewis, rather than our current online offering.”
Is Skin+Me for everyone, or does it best serve people with specific skincare concerns?
“Our acne treatment was our first ever product, but since then we’ve expanded out and developed products for all skin goals and skin types. We just can't treat people with large amount of eczema or psoriasis. We refer them to GPs, because if you’ve got wounds there’s a risk of infection.”
What product would you love to launch next?
“The product I’m most excited about launching is really great SPF. It’s much more difficult to develop than other products, but we’re putting a huge amount of energy into making it the best it can be.”
Why is it important for your brand to have a sustainability promise?
“Before launching Skin+Me, I visited lots of recycling plants in the UK to see how they worked. I noticed how valuable aluminimum is – there are special pickers who take it off the coveyer belt – because it can be melted down and used infinitely. This differs from plastics, because while they are reyclable, they can’t be reused infinitely (they have an end of life and will end of up landfill).
With this in mind, I wanted our products housed in aluminium. I developed that packaging and it was really expensive and really hard, and delayed our launch of the business. But it meant so much to us. I truly believe our brand is as sustainable as a skincare brand can be, all because we have the most recyclable product."
Do you think there is a still a stigma around men using skincare products and caring about their routine?
“It’s moving in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go. We built Skin+Me to be inclusive, and we’ve seen that men do try our products, like them and stay as loyal customers – it’s just that far more women buy skincare. The industry spend is 95% female and 5% male, it’s an extreme issue.”
Step 1: cleanse
Step 2: serum
Step 3: moisturise
Finally, what’s a skincare myth you’d like to have busted?
“The idea that more is better. You don’t need a 10-step routine. What you need is a simple three-step routine. Cleanse, serum, moisturise and also add SPF (in the morning).
Our Dermatologists told us they would ask patients to bring in the products they used before treatment. These patients had horrible skin and often they were spending hundreds of pounds to see the Dermatologist and get treatment. They would come in with bags of products. Ultimately, stripping it back and using much less is the best thing you can do for your skin.”
Skin+Me is available online now and will roll out to selected stores from 23 September, including Oxford Street, Peter Jones, Cheadle, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
