2/25/2023 0 Comments Stratia liquid gold![]() ![]() I took the raw cost of goods sold-the ingredient costs, the bottle and the label-and multiplied it by an internal multiplier to take into account my time, the fees of being on Shopify and shipping. Today, Stratia has seven products priced from $15 to $28. It helps me ignore a huge range of potential ingredients when I focus on the goal. I made sure it was in service of barrier repair, and it’s for all skin types. So, I found the right emulsifier that didn’t feel greasy. In an excel spreadsheet, I played around with a way to recreate the exact ratio and added other ingredients for barrier repair, and made the final formula lightweight because I wanted it to be something that people with oily skin could use. I was basing it off of a study I read about the ideal ratio of ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol for skin barrier repair. That’s when I had the idea that maybe I could sell this. Eventually, I had a couple of formulas based off of peer-reviewed research I had read, and they were products I didn’t really see anywhere else on the market. Formulating skincare is all trial and error. The way I formulate, I try to have a specific goal in mind, whether it’s that I want something that’s anti-aging or that features retinol. Then, I started coming up with my own formulas. I initially started out by trying existing formulas and moved on by teaching myself to reverse-engineer my favorite products. There were communities about formulating your own skincare in a very scientific way. You can learn how to do anything on the internet. How were they formulated? Were the ingredients at the right percentages with the right vehicle formula? So, I decided to start formulating my own. That was on the one hand and, on the other, I wasn’t getting enough information about the skincare products I was using. I have a chemistry background that I wasn’t using in my career, and I was really missing lab time, which was always my favorite part. What was it like when you first started formulating? “My biggest fear is bringing on someone who will push for Stratia to lose its soul.” Beauty Independent talked to Reed further about fundraising, rejecting major retailers, operating in a crowded skincare segment, marketing effectively and why she’s rooting for a parabens comeback. “The worry I have-and it’s something that gets reflected in a lot of horror stories from people that have taken on investment-is that the investor doesn’t get it, that they seem like they get it and they really don’t,” she says. Reed is keenly aware those steps could have downsides for Stratia. Stratia is far from the size of Paula’s Choice-it’s on track to surpass $4 million in sales this year, up from roughly $2.5 million last year, compared to closing in on an estimated $300 million in 2021 sales-but it’s beginning to take steps that Paula’s Choice took (retail expansion and external investors are possibilities) to become a significant beauty industry player. Launched with $3,000 by Alli Reed, an ardent skincare tinkerer and Redditor, in 2016, more than 20 years after Paula’s Choice, it shares many of the assets that made the preceding brand attractive to Unilever, which revealed last month it’s acquiring Paula’s Choice: affordability, community and transparency. ![]() The description fits Paula’s Choice, but, in this case, Stratia is the subject of it. This skincare brand started in direct-to-consumer distribution has fervent fans and serious skincare formulations built on proven ingredients. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |