Skin Inc is taking customized skin care to the next level.
The Singapore-based brand is headed to America with its collection of nine serums and Skin Identity Check, a three-minute online test that includes a series of yes and no questions such as if the user smokes or if he/she has sensitive skin.
“[Consumers] want to be on this empowering [skin-care] journey,” said Sabrina Tan, founder and chief executive officer of Skin Inc. “[They] want to do it online, anytime.”
In August, the line will launch on iloveskininc.com. Once consumers have taken the Skin Identity Check, a customized diagnosis is generated to highlight three key issues that the user’s skin is currently experiencing. Each customer is given a “prescription” for their skin consisting of three serums. According to the company, these are to be combined in an empty bottle, which is available in seven colors so consumers have a say in packaging, called My Daily Dose. As seasons and climates change, brand executives encourage users to retake the test.
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“I saw this encapsulation technology and I thought, bingo, that’s how you can wrap your hyaluronic acid and your collagen and be able to mix and match it so you can have your antiaging, hydration and brightening all in one bottle,” said Tan. “That’s why we call it My Daily Dose, because your skin and your lifestyle are totally different from mine.”
Tan, who created Skin Inc in 2007 comes from a technology background in marketing and channel management and developed the brand due to frustrations with her changing skin condition and overflow of skin care products.
“Skin care has to work, be fun, be effective and be simple,” she said. “It cannot be intimidating or scientific and it has to suit [a consumer’s] lifestyle.”
To that end, Tan set out to find a way to meet a variety of skin-care needs. Skin Inc’s custom element is made up of nine serums, which includes marine collagen, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, licorice, chlorella, French pine bark, Coenzyme Q10, vitamin A and vitamin C. Each active ingredient is encapsulated in seaweed to keep the product fresh until the point of release.
“[It works] regardless whether you’re Caucasian, Chinese or Indian, etc., because those are active ingredients,” noted Tan.
In addition to the nine serums priced at $45 each for 10 ml., and the My Daily Dose bottle, $10 for 30 ml., the company will also launch nine other stockkeeping units priced from $45 for a cleanser to $145 for a hydrating mask.
In September, Skin Inc will be sold in-store exclusively at Sephora locations at 34th Street and Times Square in Manhattan, as well as on sephora.com. In November, the brand will be available at the Robson Sephora store in Vancouver.
“[Skin Inc’s] philosophy of ‘prep, nourish, seal’ is very aligned with our approach as well,” said Margarita Arriagada, chief merchant at Sephora, adding that the Skin Inc experience in-store for Sephora clients will include a diagnostic consultation with a Sephora employee and then their serum will be custom blended at the store.
Currently, Skin Inc has flagships in Singapore, Barcelona, Madrid and 13 other cities. The brand is also distributed internationally in Sephora and select online beauty sites in Southeast Asia and on Singapore Airlines. Tan hopes to grow with Sephora in the U.S. as an exclusive partner and explore strategic distribution into channels like QVC.
While Tan declined to discuss sales projections, industry sources estimated that Skin Inc could do upward of $4 million to $7 million at retail in its first year in the U.S.