Latest / Skin Anarchy / Seadrop Skincare: Merging Tradition with Sustainable Innovation & Zero Waste Skincare

Transcript

Seadrop Skincare: Merging Tradition with Sustainable Innovation & Zero Waste Skincare · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, welcome back to Skincare Anarchy.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is your host, Ecta, and I'm so excited about our episode today because I have been absolutely obsessing over this cleanser that I've been using and I love their whole approach, this brand's approach to skincare, because I'm I'm truly a believer in your skincare should be something that's easy to take with you wherever you go.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: It should be easily accessible and all these great things, right, that we're all looking for in our products.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like the brand that we are hosting today definitely embodies all of that.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to the founder of C Drop Skincare, Serena Advani.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show, Serena.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited to host you.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to be here and have been a fan of the podcast for a while now.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you so much.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, no, I think all of us here are big skincare geeks.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's uh definitely a podcast that took off based on that.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: And your product is just so lovely because for all of us out there that we want good skincare, but we don't want it to take up literally, you know, an entire closet full of space.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is such a brilliant approach.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't wait to dive into the actual products.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: But Serena, I would love to learn about you first and just your background, your journey, and creating this wonderful brand, if you could share some insight and info.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, yeah.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: For a bit of context, I am South Asian.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up with Indian parents in North Carolina.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And one way that I really connected with my Indian culture was by mixing these powders that we had in our kitchen with water at home with my mom and grandma for skincare.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: We were mixing basan, multani, miti, you know, chickpea flour, turmeric with water.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I always knew there was something to that waterless form of skincare.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Fast forward to 20 years later, and I actually found myself working in the beauty industry.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: First at McKinsey, working on beauty private equity due diligences, and second at Estee Lauder Companies, where I was working on global brand strategy for Bobby Brown.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I loved the space, really loved working in beauty, but quickly learned a couple things that surprised me.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: One was that skincare is actually mostly water, and a liquid facial cleanser is actually the worst offender.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: About 90% of a face wash is just water.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why these beauty products have to be stored in single-use packaging, usually plastic.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's why you add artificial preservatives into the mix, things, you know, that historically have sometimes been linked to endocrine disruption.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, it's just really heavy and carbon intensive to ship.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, from a sustainability perspective, I started to question why we were doing that.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And a couple of years ago, put together that Indian heritage with my clinical knowledge of the skincare world and realized that there's an opportunity to bring that same waterless form of skincare to life in the US with a derm-tested, you know, clinically developed product that uses that same waterless form that I grew up with and loved as a child.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I love that.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: I love, I mean, you you really covered a lot of stuff there because I I like the fact that you you kind of grew up with this understanding that skincare doesn't have to be in this like typical form that we see it now, the serums and the you know, the liquid cleansers and like everything you you discussed.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think that the way that our culture has been around, you know, in this in this industry, it's like everyone expects things to look like that, you know?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it's interesting to see that from a cultural perspective, you've had this, you know, growing up where you are like, no, wait a minute, you know, I have this other view of skincare, and that's very unique that you brought that to our industry because I always see like that's where the real innovation happens, is when we just say, I'm gonna ignore everything that's out here right now and rethink the model, you know?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really cool.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, thank you so much.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that makes a lot of sense.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I've I've realized that sometimes working in the space where you're innovating by modifying what already exists, you're kind of staying within the same realm of, yeah, creams, lotions, gels, and skincare.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And having that background and that heritage around waterless skincare from my Indian background actually really helped reinvent what I call the blue ocean strategy for blue oceans and rethink the skincare from both the sustainability perspective, but then also the efficacy and the, you know, like actual skincare ingredient efficacy perspective.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that actually leads me to one of my big questions for you.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: I know your formula is a really heavy-hitting formula.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great product for everyone listening.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, it's genuinely one of the best cleansers I've used.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I've never been a huge believer in cleansers, but I think the one you use should actually do what it's supposed to do.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's my honest opinion.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I remember the first time I tried it, it's a little bead or you know, tablet, and you just crush it in your hand, add some water, and it turns into a cleanser, but it's removing everything you need it to remove without stripping your skin.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's just so brilliant the way it's put together.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to learn more about that.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Could tell us a little bit about you know what went into this formula, how long did it really take you to create this?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's a very nice, wonderful formula.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: That means so much to hear that you like the formula, that you've you know enjoyed using the cleanser.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it's definitely a really unique formula, not only just visually, because it comes in a tablet form that you mix with your tap water, but also with the ingredients themselves.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the whole product ethos is rooted in this idea of skinalism and barrier repair.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I really wanted to design something for all of those consumers that kind of burned their faces off five to six, you know, to seven years ago, where we were overusing acids, overusing retinols.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And while I think there's definitely a time and place for the actives, I actually was a victim of burning off the top layer of my skin by accidentally mixing two products that I received for free at work that had the same actives.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to create something that was really hydrating and really cleansing your skin of any makeup, dirt, oil, SPF, while adding in those barrier strengthening, repairing ingredients so that every time you cleanse, you're actually prepping your skin to take in any of those actives and those serums a lot better instead of overdoing it and adding in something too harsh in that cleansing step of your routine.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So to answer your question on why it feels so hydrated when you're done using it, but still takes off all the makeup, I really wanted to think about this not just from a clean formulation perspective, but a clean and clinical perspective.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And wanted to make sure to add ingredients like oat oil and oat flour, for example, that can really help hydrate your skin and strengthen the barrier.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then also add in what we call triluronic acid, which is a blend of three molecular weights of hyaluronic acid that target different layers of your skin.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And again, hyaluronic acid is all water activated.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's actually very potent.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And when you mix it with water to cleanse your face, you're actually putting that hyaluronic acid into your skin at different depths.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of the rationale behind the ingredients.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Everything is plant-based, cruelty-free, dermatologist tested, allergy tested.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: We deliberately left the formula artificial fragrance-free because we wanted to keep this safe for sensitive skin as well.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's really interesting.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I like that you you named it triluronic acid.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's really cool.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I think, you know, I've definitely heard the argument of using different molecular weight, you know, hyaluronic acids, but I have always been skeptical about the delivery mechanism of that, you know.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that putting it in a cleanser is actually brilliant because the first part of your routine is your cleansing step.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where you should initially start.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, part of priming your skin is to make sure it's properly hydrated, you know, and I think a lot of people forget that.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know uh we've had these discussions in the industry before, but if your skin is like dry or not hydrated, it's not going to absorb anything else.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's not, it's not gonna like, you know, like be open to receiving whatever serum you're putting on next or, you know, whatever that might be for you.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be more prone to saying, no, keep it away from me.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's that's the nature of your skin's physiology.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's very unique that you you really did put that thought into the cleansing step, you know, that's very cool.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I yeah, I think we're we're definitely thinking about that in the same way.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanted this cleanser to be something that, you know, takes off what's on your skin, but also adds in all these benefits, especially around hydration.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I will actually note that we've had a couple aestheticians try the product, and some of the anecdotal feedback we've heard is that by using this product that's so hydrating, some of their clients can actually tolerate the treatments like retinols or AHAs or whatever they're doing in an office a little better because it's prepping their skin for all of those serums.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I've also noticed that I can tolerate retinol better personally after I use this, especially if I leave it on my skin for 30 seconds as I cleanse.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: See, that's that's exactly it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think it's so easy to underestimate sometimes that, you know, when your skin, even like the top layer, and it's for everyone listening out there, like even that top layer, the way I see it, it's dead skin cells, right?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: So even if you are going for an exfoliation step, you have to understand like cells can't be like too dried out or too dehydrated or whatnot, because that's going to interfere with whatever you put on next, or it might actually increase the potency of that product.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if it's an active, you might feel that burning or that tingling that people often say with like, you know what I mean, like AHAs or BHAs, like you'll feel that more if your skin is dry.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just because those cells are not balanced when it comes to pH, they're not balanced in hydration.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I can definitely see what you mean where you said that people are tolerating those kind of treatments even better, you know, after using this cleanser.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: It makes sense to me, and especially with the retinol piece that you mentioned, because retinol, one of my biggest gripes and one of my pain points with retinol is that I feel like consumers aren't educated enough about the care that you know should be there along with your retinol routine.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it's good that you're using retinol, but you should also be using hydrating ingredients in other steps of your routine, and that's very, very important.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that, and I think it's it's absolutely brilliant.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I want to ask you actually, you know, one thing that we talk a lot about this, and I think your brand is a huge like beacon of sustainability.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: When I look at it, it screams sustainability to me because obviously the packaging and the way you've you have the little tablets, it's not, you know, giant bottles like we were discussing earlier.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: I want to actually have you like kind of talk to us a little bit about sustainability.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you view it and what was your approach to it when you were crafting the brand?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sustainability is such a tough conversation in beauty, especially, because most of these products that we see today are housed in plastic that honestly ends up in landfills.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I realized that even though consumers at the end of the day are not seeking out sustainable beauty products in the same way, they're seeking out efficacious beauty products.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: To me, it kind of ends up being on me as the brand to craft something that is truly an incredible product that works the best it possibly can for your skin, and it happens to also be zero waste.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was super committed to creating a packaging system that is not just, you know, zero waste in name, where you might get a jar and then be told, oh, you can use it to store candy when you're done.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: I really didn't want that to be how we were in sustainability.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted all of our packaging to actually get recycled and actually be truly biodegradable by the end of the process.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, for a bit of context, the way our refill system works is at your first purchase for a welcome kit, a consumer receives a glass eternal jar that is designed to be refilled and a two-month supply of facial cleanser in a biodegradable paper tube that is made of FSC certified paper and printed on with soy-based inks for a maximum biodegradability.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: I actually toured and consulted with various MERFs or these recycling facilities across the US and asked them, like what actually gets recycled?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because you see that, you know, there are all these other options.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: You could use refill glass jars, refill plastic jars, refill aluminum, refillable, you know, lined paper where you have a plastic lining on the inside of the tube, like a milk carton.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer I kept hearing over and over again is that while in theory all of these other materials could be recycled, in practice, they're not actually getting recycled and they're often ending up in landfills or our oceans.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: That was why I pushed so hard to have that true uncoated paper tube that is curbside recyclable designed to disintegrate instead of something that sacrifices that sustainability for the sake of that luxury appeal of the packaging.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's so interesting to me that you say that because I've always been curious about that.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like what actually gets recycled and what doesn't, because you're right, like there's so many things where I'm like, this is hella suspect.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know if this is actually going where I want it to go, you know.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm very like, I think a lot of us are.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone living, you know, on the East Coast is super into like recycling and we're kind of required to do it.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I know all of us are spend a lot of time, you know, sorting our trash and our waste.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so sad to hear that a lot of times those things aren't really recyclable that we think are, you know.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's very interesting to me that you brought that up.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I actually have a couple fun facts if you're curious on the sustainability piece, because I spent so much time researching it.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just to give you kind of the life cycle of a regular cleanser that comes in plastic packaging, you know, just when you start, you buy a regular cleanser.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: On average, again, a lot of these are housed in plastic, and the beauty industry produces 120 billion units of rigid packaging every year.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: So just for context, it's a it's a massive problem.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then, second, even if you try to recycle it, where transparently most people don't really recycle their skincare, we ran a survey of more than 100 consumers and found that less than one in five consumers actually consistently recycles their skincare.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, there's no shame, we're all about removing any shame around sustainability, but it's just a difficult behavior change to recycle something when you're done with it in your bathroom.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it is what it is.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: But even though less than 20% of that skincare is getting recycled in the first place, even going in the right bin, we then found that 91% of the plastic that ends up could be recycled, 91% of it never ends up getting recycled anyway.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this is from National Geographic in 2022.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just so shocked by these numbers, even though intuitively it does make sense because transparently I'm also guilty of throwing away a skincare bottle that I finished and just putting it in my bathroom trash can.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think we all are.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there's a shame in it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm like, at the end of the day, I'm not designing skincare for people who want to feel guilty about the non-sustainable things they're doing.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm designing skincare for what I call the middle greens who are interested in efficacious skincare, quality comes first, and if it happens to be zero waste, then that's ideal.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not the you know reason why you buy our product.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: But then anyway, I found I was even more surprised.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to go a step further, like, where does that plastic go?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I found that a lot of the plastic is not only ending up in landfills, but it's actually also ending up in our oceans.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't know exactly how much, but science in 2015 estimated that one in 20 plastic products will end up in the ocean, like leaking into our water systems and honestly our food supply.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that kind of comes full circle because that plastic breaks down into microplastics, which we then consume.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And estimates now show that we're eating five grams of plastic, microplastic per week, which is about a credit card's worth of plastic.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like a full circle, starting not just with skincare, but just the whole industry, the plastic space in general.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of what made me want to do something about this and change the industry from the inside out rather than putting it all on the consumers to have to try to recycle more or buy different products just because they're sustainable or whatever it may be.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: No, oh my God, like that makes so much sense to me what you're saying.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: And also, it's so sad to see that we have come to this place, you know, as a society and as as a world, you know, because at the end of the day, I don't know a single person that does not consume something from the beauty and wellness industries.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know a single person, whether you're a man or or a woman, you are using something from this industry, and we have to acknowledge that like not all packaging is made equal.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think a lot of times when I encounter brands that are kind of, you know, saying we're sustainable this, sustainable that, you know, my mind even doesn't go immediately towards asking these like really heavy-hitting questions, a lot of them which you've kind of you know addressed here, which is is your packaging actually recyclable?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I think that is a question now that consumers we should be asking, you know, like show us proof.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, show us proof that your packaging is recyclable.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Show us, you know, like actual data that supports what you're saying.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, a lot of times I've I've had the same situation which you mentioned about the, you know, the big serum bottle and stuff.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I've done that many times.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: And every time a part of me is like, oh my God, I feel so guilty because I think we're also at the same time being programmed to feel that kind of shame, right?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's weird.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's like an interesting dynamic with the whole sustainability conversation because, you know, on one hand, we're screaming it from the rooftops that we need sustainability, but on the other hand, we're like shaming consumers.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, whatever habits they're forming are not the ones that I think are going to be like long-lasting in a positive way.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're just saying, like, make sure that you're, you know, checking off that box that this brand does stand for sustainability rather than are is it actually practiced by them?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like theory versus practical.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think it's a very, very interesting conversation.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I love that you've taken this route and you've you haven't cut corners, you know what I mean?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you haven't like done the BS, basically.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: You've actually done the real deal here.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really cool.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's definitely an interesting one, yeah, with sustainability and trying to make sure that we don't make people feel guilty because at the end of the day, I think it's not on the consumer to make that macro decision.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's on the brands and the formulations to give way for consumers to easily purchase something sustainable.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: I 100%.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: I agree with you because I think a lot, and this has come up actually before on the pod where you know I've talked to other brands about this, is that the homework side of it has to be on the brand end, you know, because consumers are not.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: I it's like, you know, all that homework that you did, for example, like how many consumers do you know that will do that deep dive, right?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So like when brands actually step up and you, you know, like you guys show up in the right way, like that makes it not only easier for consumers, but I think it also does that whole thing of like programming your brain to look for this in everything that you're doing, you know, everything you're consuming or buying, you're looking for these like red flags or like, you know, things that you can spot that would signal that no, this is not the best place to spend my dollars.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's better to look for the brand that's actually doing it correctly.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm a huge believer in that.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, I I really, really love that you're kind of, you know, you're in this movement, you're doing it properly, and and that's something you guys have in your DNA as a brand, you know, it's really great.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Now I want to ask you one thing about the the whole idea of ingredients in a powdered down form.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've had conversations about this before, but I want to discuss it with you in terms of like, you know, with all the stuff you've put into the cleanser, how does this work?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: When you're actually like crushing the tablet and adding the water, how does the in terms of the efficacy of the ingredients like has what like just walk me through that, like the science of that?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: So for the context for people who haven't seen how it works before, you take one of these tablets, crush it with your dry hands, it turns into this powder that you can already see feels really softening on your skin.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: But when you add a couple drops of water, we say add a cupped palm full of water, and you foam it all together, that powder transforms into this cleansing foam.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that foam is activated again with all of these ingredients that really perform at their peak potency right when you're ready to use it, instead of being pre-mixed with water in a lab months or years before it ever touches your face.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: There are two benefits.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: One is that these ingredients maintain their full potency, in that triluronic acid, for example, which is water activated, gets to be activated with that water right when you're ready to use it.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing with any of the other ingredients, the papaya enzyme.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: We've got blue butterfly, pea flower powder, an orange extract for antioxidants.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: All of these ingredients are preserved in their natural and dry state and get activated right when you're ready to use it.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: The second benefit of that water activated formula is eliminating the need for artificial preservatives entirely.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: We found that again, with these water-based formulations, water breeds bacteria.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's why you need to add any of those preservatives in.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm not anti-preservative from the perspective of I'd rather have some artificial preservatives, certain ones that are safe for people, instead of bacteria growing in your skincare.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's definitely the scientifically correct answer.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, why not eliminate the need for those entirely and create an environment that's inhospitable to bacteria in the first place?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the benefit that these freshly activated tablets give us with C drop.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I love that.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: I I really love the idea of it.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: It reminds me of like big pharma, you know, in the best way though.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Not the negative stuff, uh, the good stuff, you know, and it really reminds me of stuff that I would like see in a hospital at one point.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you guys should really, you know, look into like germ offices and stuff because this is really cool to be able to from a physician's standpoint.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Standpoint, like have like samples of in your office.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you have a patient that comes in and is looking for a really great cleanser that you know is gonna help them, like give them a sample of this rather than those bottles that we get.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: We get so many bottles of like, you know, just uh mixed products, but this would be really cool.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think uh for me, like yeah, the big pharma thing really stands out, and I feel like it's really great for those of you that travel a lot out there.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a big traveler, if you're somebody I know a lot of executives are always, you know, uh going flying to different places, this is a great option, you know.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's something you can really pop in your bag and and rely on, and you know, it's something that's good for your skin, which is another big, huge heavy hitter because I won't lie, when I the first time I ever saw like anything that was like a dried-down form of like skincare, you know, you add water and I immediately my thought was, okay, but is it gonna leave my skin feeling like that$300 serum?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean, or like whatever that was.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I really, really love that you haven't compromised that.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the cleanser really feels like a very sophisticated cleanser, like something that you would genuinely come back to over and over again.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I I really, really enjoy it.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so wonderful to hear.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: That that means a lot.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that was exactly the goal in formulating it.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And to answer some of your other questions, yeah, I definitely want to start working with dermatologists, with aestheticians, people who are recommending those skincare products and also using them in office because this is a way to get something that's safe for all skin types, but also zero waste in the hands of more people.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the second piece on travel, yeah, that was definitely a huge part of my thought process around this.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: As a former consultant who was traveling four to five days a week for a couple of years, I, you know, had my skincare either leak, it was confiscated by TSA, it was just irritating to bring.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes with liquid products, you never know when you're gonna run out.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I would run out midway through the trip and then make a last-minute trip to CVS or Sephora.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that travel piece is definitely an important one.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And interestingly, we're actually finding that consumers who try us for travel, they buy it before a big trip.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: They end up actually using it after they are done traveling because they're like, wait, I just loved the cleanser so much.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's my everyday cleanser.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's definitely a big usage occasion for us, and we're trying to get people to try the product through that first.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: You guys should also look at airports.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I would totally buy you if I saw you at an airport immediately.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: That would be the goal.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're trying to get into travel retail and then also hopefully at some point partner with airlines or airport lounges to offer this as a trial where you can use it when you're really, you know, unable to bring liquids with you anywhere.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or even like when you're on a flight, right?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how many of you out there do your skincare on that flight?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: I always do, I always have like a mask with me and like, you know, something because I I have terrible like dry skin.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: It dries out so quickly.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: So this is so cool.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's just a really cool concept and I love it.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I I want to actually I want to shift gears a little bit and I want to ask you a little bit about your journey, Serena, because I know you guys have done things in a very unique way, especially when I look at like how you're marketing and how you're um, you know, you're really creating um something in a white space here.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously with that comes, you know, its own hurdles, all right?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: Its own set of hurdles.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I would love for you to speak a little bit about things like you know, the supply chain and some of the marketing things that you've had to go through as a brand, you know, especially like since uh you guys started off as you know, self-funded and you're you're you're working on from that and growing, you know.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: I would love for you to give some feedback and some insight here for anyone who's tuning in that might be an entrepreneur is thinking about starting a brand, you know.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I would say that as a product first brand that really put quality above all else, that is the one space on formulation, on manufacturing, on ingredients, on testing.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we refused to compromise at all.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the bulk of our spend went into, you know, in this case, it's also a patent pending product.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: So the formulation was really where I spent most of the time, energy, and expense.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I will say where we could be scrappy, we were really scrappy.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: And when it comes to also being a brand that is trying to be really mindful about spend and we're not, you know, you know, just hiring out a marketing agency to do everything, we got really creative.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple examples of how we did this that hopefully could be helpful for other entrepreneurs.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: When I was starting out, I was looking for a formulator myself.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I wasn't able to go, you know, find an easy turnkey manufacturer that provides for the L'Oreals of the world because my order quantity would be too small.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to start from scratch.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: I started with Google and then shifted to industry, trade shows, and different websites like Beauty Independent, Happy.com that list out manufacturer databases and eventually realized that I still needed more contacts.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually found this website called importyeti.com.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, have you heard of it?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I was looking at it the other day.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's so fun.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's so entertaining.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Was it for beauty or you just found it for uh because one of their big ones is Fenty on there?
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you click on Fenty, it'll show you all the suppliers and all the yeah, like I I was just checking it out because I was just like, Yeah, I heard about it randomly and I was like, oh, this is very interesting, you know.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I'd love to I'd love for you to share.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's so interesting.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you've already heard of it because it's such a neat website, but it's really great to reverse search for suppliers that ship into the US, especially for beauty brands.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: And back when I was starting out, I actually went through every beauty brand that I could find and looked to see if they were importing anything from abroad.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, um, I was looking at Europe and Korea, and I found a couple uh suppliers that would have the right MOQ, they would be able to help me.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but honestly, because I was doing this format, this tablet that no one had really ever done before, I mostly was just asking them for recommendations, like who could get creative enough to help me.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: But Import Yeti was the place where I started, and eventually that chain of people who connected me to more people led me to the formulator I ended up actually working with.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it was all thanks to this really random website that you know you wouldn't find unless you were trying to be really scrappy on that search.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I mean I think it's a brilliant approach though, because honestly speaking, like when I think of brand founders in our space, you know, in the beauty industry, I'm that those are some of my biggest questions is like, you know, where did you source your ingredients?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Who supplied, you know, what and who manufactured this stuff, you know?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um a lot of people that kind of chime in with skincare anarchy, you know, a lot of them are like budding entrepreneurs.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a question we get a lot, you know, which is can you help us figure out where to go to get this the first step started?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that's absolutely brilliant, though.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it is scrappy, but I mean, I think there's nothing wrong with that.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's something I think a lot of brands can l learn from, is to, you know, where do you really cut and where do you um, you know, just you don't cut, which is what you exactly what you said, you know, with your testing and with your actual formulation.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's the real good stuff.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm glad that you found these resources.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's very important.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I I agree.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's like that, that's where you can be scrappy.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, it took me more than 500 cold calls to find that formulator.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why what I tell entrepreneurs who are starting out, especially in beauty, but in every category, is don't get discouraged and stay resilient and you know, just have the grit to keep going and calling that one more person because you don't know when you're at 499 that call number 500 will be the one that leads to success.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's definitely time-intensive, but that's where you can be scrappy rather than on formulation testing any of the actual product depth benefits.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: So now tell me, like, in terms of creating the tablets, because like I said, it's a very big pharma feel.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, was that more expensive than something like, you know, a mixed formula, like a liquid formula?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I will say it is a little more expensive.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Our margins are still in the range of beauty products, so it's not terrible, but I could have done a liquid cream or gel product for much cheaper.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And now that I know that, it's you know, it's so easy to actually get a stock formula for a gel moisturizer or a gel cleanser.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm now realizing that I definitely picked the path of most resistance for this one.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's just the cost of building out something in a really innovative way.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's okay because the reason why it was so much more, you know, a little bit more expensive is purely because it just hasn't been done in this way before at scale.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely, you know, I had I went into that knowing that this would be the case, but I was so committed to the tablet form that I was willing to make it work.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I I find it to be interesting though, from the manufacturing side, why would they would make it more expensive?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, you would think like mixing something and putting it in like a liquid form would be more, you know what I mean?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because they have to go through more like steps, I guess, to actually add in all of the ingredients.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I have never manufactured anything.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but that's interesting.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, I think it's just harder to manufacture something new.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And these firms are used to working with liquids, creams, gels.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: The other piece is that if you think about it, a liquid face wash is 90% water, and their top ingredient is far cheaper to source than our cleanser, where the top ingredient is just, you know, straight skincare product, skincare ingredients.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that also plays in with it, where you're getting a concentrated form of that skincare as well.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: So part of it is just the complexity of manufacturing, and part of it is just the makeup of the actual product and each tablet as well.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm I'm curious, like, you know, I know that for you know, starting your own brand, starting it from scratch.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm sure there's a lot that goes into like building that customer base, building that consumer, you know, like that list of people that you know are going to like support you.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: So how was that whole process for you?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like building your your social following and and all of that, if you can walk us through that.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I can tell you a little bit about what we did pre-launch, and then I'll tell you what we're doing now post-launch.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Pre-launch, I really wanted to understand what the consumers actually wanted.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that involved, in my case, interviewing more than 200 consumers and focus groups and one-on-one interviews to really understand what their skincare behaviors were, what they're really excited about, what kinds of benefits they look for.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it taught me about consumers who shop really differently from myself.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, being in the industry, you you see so much product, but you also purchase things very differently when you're working on it.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I learned really interesting facts, like how some consumers actually do what they call a midday skincare break on days that they work from home.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: That is a skincare usage occasion I never would have thought of, like midday pick-me-up between meetings to go wash your face.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: I never would have known.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: And those focus groups really helped.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: The second piece we did pre-launch was running a couple surveys.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: We ran two 100-person surveys with a team of interns from Penn.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: They were phenomenal.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we learned a lot about beauty purchase behavior.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: We learned, for example, that most people don't recycle their skincare.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: We learned how often people repurchase skincare.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: We learned how much they're willing to pay for cleanser.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like we learned all of these pieces of information that helped inform our pricing, where we're very deliberately priced on par with the liquid facial cleansers at Sephora, where you're spending roughly the same amount per year.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Our refills are$32 or$29 on subscription for the two-month supply.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you end up spending roughly the same amount as you would with a cleanser at Sephora.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that kind of insight really helped us inform who we're selling to before we launched.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then after we launched, the focus shifted a little.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we wanted to work with one influencers and content creators who understand that brand ethos.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've loved being able to work with makeup artists, with chefs, with scuba divers who are showing us how this skincare product fits into their busy life.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: And also for some of these more niche fields, like the scuba divers, you can actually directly see the impact of plastic in our environment on the oceans.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been really interesting to see that kind of visualized in content about Sea Drop.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, now post-launch, have been really trying to focus on building out a community of people who are excited to chat with us, want to talk to me as the founder.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: We've been hosting in-person pop-up shops in Manhattan, and we're hoping to expand to Miami and LA and SF fairly soon.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're also just trying to build out that brand education online because at the end of the day, just showing people this tablet that turns into face wash itself is something that is sticky in their memory because they likely haven't seen anything like it before.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really the focus now with digital marketing and educating people online.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's really interesting.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I like what you said about you know showing people something they haven't seen before.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think that a lot of times I, you know, brands are always trying to do that.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: But we have these like cookie cutter formulas in marketing, especially with social media marketing.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: I recently interviewed like one of the experts that I know of, you know, in social media marketing.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think she was discussing this as well is that you know, you have to make content that is going to actually stand out.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it cannot be like, you know, everybody's making this real, let me just make one, you know, it can't be like that.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really cool that you guys have stepped outside of the box with some of these initiatives because that's I mean, for me as a consumer, I'll tell you, you know, that is something that I gravitate towards.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if I see a brand is putting in like, you know, a lot more thought into how they're delivering their their message, their vision, you know, whatever it is they're trying to do, like I'm more inclined to be like, yeah, let me take a second and listen to you, you know, like and and see what you guys are all about.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that's so, so cool that you've done that and you guys are doing that like, you know, from the ground up.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing, you know, to me.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um I I want to ask though, one thing, you know, that I think a lot of times many people get confused over, and and I can see why is, you know, how is it when you're when you're coming out with something, especially when you're filling a white space, you know, I know that before launch you guys had some issues.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: So like how is that bringing things to the point of, okay, we're ready to launch, we're ready to put ourselves out there.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what was that like for you, you know, um with coming out with C Drops?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's so funny.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is a true startup story, but in the two weeks before our launch, we actually did run into a couple hiccups in the literal final stage of getting the product.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it really, I will say, what brings a brand like this to life is as a founder, being super involved and educated on every part of the process.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that includes the science, that includes understanding clinicals, but it includes really getting granular and not just focusing on the high level or on the creative.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: So two weeks before our launch, I get a call from my manufacturer.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: And even though we're like, you know, we did all the test batches, everything was fine, he tells me that all of a sudden the powder is not granulating and it's not going through the tablet press properly.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: He described it as sticking to the sides of the tablet press like powdered sugar would.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we're both kind of panicking.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm definitely panicking.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: I've already invited people to the launch party.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have 120 people coming.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: There needs to be product.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm at the point where I'm like, I will go there and put on the hair net and front feet by hand.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was ready to go blend things if I needed to in a Vitamix.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I was really ready.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but instead of just being stressed or giving up at this point, I was like, no, this is my chance to use my neuroscience background and actually figure out how to make this work.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I went online and I found every powder flowability expert I could find online.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: There were professors, there were people working in pharmaceutical manufacturing, there were uh, you know, people that worked in powdered milk processing, like baby formula, anyone that worked with a powdered product.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I cold called them.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember it was a Friday afternoon, and I cold called this professor at Purdue, Kingsley Ambrose, I still remember, so grateful for him because he ended up calling me back and spent an hour with me consulting with me on how to better granulate this form so that it can flow through the tablet crisp properly.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: And with his advice and with my phenomenal manufacturer that was able to figure this out, we were able to re-granulate, run everything through that machinery.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: We had the product by Monday and we were ready to launch.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: The product arrived three days before our launch party, and now we're able to manufacture it at scale without a hitch.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: But it's stories like that where I learn as a founder, you really have to get into the weeds and understand the chemistry of what you're building rather than just the grand ethos behind it.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, what a wow, that must have been such a rush, though, when you finally, when you figured it out.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's oh my gosh, what a nightmare having to deal with that.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was a rush.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good way of describing it because honestly, I was sitting here, I remember I was on my phone, I was taking a walk in in Manhattan, I was in Madison Square Park, and that's when I get this call.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm literally it like deep in science, in nature, like looking at journals, scientific journals, trying to understand if anyone has written about this before.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, that science degree is really coming in handy now because at least I understand.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I mean I can't imagine.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: That must be like, yeah, the most like frightening thing and last minute, especially.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I but you know what?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: That comes with, like you said, you know, you're you're doing something that really hasn't been done before, you know, in this space.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's you know, it's just more of a testament to your dedication towards your brand.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I really love that.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think that a lot of people can learn from that, you know.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: Too often I see, you know, products from, I mean, these aren't brands that I've interviewed, but I've definitely seen the products where I'm like, do you even know like what this is?
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Or like, is there any anything here, right, that you could tell me about that's different or interesting or innovative or whatever?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: And most of the time the answer is no, because you can tell just by looking at the product.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so I completely agree with you when you said you have to know the chemistry, you have to know every single part of your brand and why you're making what you're making.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a page that a lot of people can take from your book here.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, at the end of the day, I'm always asking people, like, you know, what's your science, right?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's my thing.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: I love science, I love understanding it.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: But you would be so shocked, Serena, how many times people are like, Well, we have a really great chemist.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Well, that's not the answer I was looking for.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you have to understand, you have to take the time and understand, like, you know, this is what I'm making and this is what I'm putting out into the world.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it's, you know, everything about it I know, that kind of thing.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you've you have not cut corners.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know what you're doing and why you're doing it.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that's for me as a consumer, when I see that in a brand founder, that makes me really want to invest in that brand.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that and that's why I'm like kind of harping on this because I think that's that's really phenomenal.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you so much.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: That that means a lot.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been great to get into the weeds of the science behind this.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say, we also do have a really phenomenal formulator.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like at the end of the day, I wasn't mixing all of the ingredients myself.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and she was phenomenal, but I did make it a point to learn exactly what ingredients were going in, what kinds of standards we wanted to follow, and how all of these ingredients interact together.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think that for any other skincare founders out there, if you're just starting out, there's like nothing wrong with not having the cosmetic chemistry background.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I think at least it's so important to learn everything about each ingredient that you're using and why you're using it, because you're gonna have to be the face of that brand and you're gonna want to stand by whatever that great formulator puts together.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I 100% agree.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think also, you know, it's an interesting category that you picked, you know, with cleansers, because we don't like there's a lot of chemistry here, you know, in cleansing.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: The the first step for your routine, there's a lot of information, a lot of science that goes into understanding why this step is important.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I know I've seen a lot of like famous darms like on social media, they're recently they're posting more about cleansing and like the importance of you know using the right cleanser.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I think when it comes to the science, um, I would love to, you know, kind of uh hear if there were any pain points for you when you were kind of trying to understand, well, what what do I need versus what do I not need?
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like what was that process like for you?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so in terms of why we also picked a cleanser and then what we added in, what we need, what we don't need.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: So the first piece when I wanted to build out this tablet skincare brand was deciding how many SKUs we want and what we want those SKU to be.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: We initially I was debating between three products, a mask, you know, a different like a toner or a cleanser, or just a one skew strategy where you pick one and you go all in on that.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: I ultimately decided to do that and just pick one category, create something really new, and focus all of the messaging on education for that one category.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why I picked cleanser was because I actually found that consumers are most likely to switch into a new brand for a cleanser as that category.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're more likely to try something that they've never heard of if it's a cleanser than if it's a moisturizer or a serum, which intuitively also makes sense because it's something you rinse off and it's less likely to really, really irritate your skin.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there are some cleansers that really can mess up your skin, but on average, they're less likely to permanently damage your skin the way that a moisturizer can cause acne immediately or a chemical burn with a serum that's Strong.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I picked the cleanser to start with.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: In terms of then what I wanted to add and what I wanted to remove, I definitely wanted to remove the water.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: And in addition, I wanted to create a product that was pre-dosed.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I was so insistent on pushing for the tablets instead of just a powder, because I found that with other powder cleansers, the common complaint people share is that they don't know how much to use.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, if they find that the packaging can be a little messy, it's typically also stored in plastic packaging, so it's not really sustainable.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: But then if you get like a little bit of water in the spout, uh it becomes really difficult to use and it just becomes a little bit more of a pain point.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I figured if we can do this in a tablet form where you crush it and you activate it when you're ready to use it, it eliminates that guesswork, but it also preserves the integrity of the cleanser and allows you to have a really great product uh with just the tablet form instead of the liquid.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's really interesting.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm uh you know, I I find it to be like a very just unique category because um, you know, with powdered down formulas, like that was one of the questions I had was that the water component, you know what I mean?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what if something goes wrong in manufacturing?
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: What if something happens where like it's been mixed with water or something, some humidity is involved, or something like that whole process?
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's very interesting.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I want to actually round out the interview.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ask you for a little bit, you know, of advice for younger founders.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think right now, because of how much Gen Z is into skincare, I'm seeing a lot of people come up from the woodworks, you know, in terms of I want to start my own brand, I want to start my own company, do my own thing.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: What is some advice that you could offer somebody like that or just some words of wisdom?
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the main advice I I always share is to start a company when you're really, really insanely passionate about what you're building.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: I have seen a lot of founders start companies for the sake of just starting a company.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I've noticed that it can be a lot less successful when you're not as driven and passionate by exactly what you're building, because you're gonna have to live and breathe by whatever you build, and it should be on something you're really, really passionate about.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: So finding that, whether it's a different, you know, type of skin uh segment that you're targeting, whether it's a new format that you're creating, like with C drop, or whether it's a new kind of branding, just being really passionate about whatever's driving you to launch this, is super important to keep as your North Star.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: The second piece I'll add is to talk to as many people as you can, talk to consumers, talk to investors, talk to friends, talk to advisors, and get as many inputs as you can as possible.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think that's that's really important.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think the mentorship thing is like in this industry, especially, I keep seeing that it becoming a recurring thing of like have somebody on sidelines that can guide you a little bit, you know, because there's a lot of things you don't know, like the you know what you mentioned with that website, you know, nobody knows about that.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really good to have somebody who can who can guide you.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's wonderful advice.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope for everyone listening, you know, if you are somebody who is looking to start a brand, like you really consider a lot of the things that Serena and I, you know, uh talked about today here because yeah, it's a process, you know, there's a lot involved.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, you really have to think about what you're doing before you do it.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: But Serena, thank you so much.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: This was so lovely to chat with you and to learn about C drops.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm going to be tagging everything in this concept episode for everyone listening.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys want to try the brand, I really, really encourage you to give them a go.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's really a great product.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: The cleanser is very, very nice.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's literally no compromise here at all.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, like I've genuinely loved using this product.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so, you know, I really encourage you to vote with your dollars, vote for the brands that are doing things like sustainability correctly, you know, rather than just having like a stamp on their packaging that says they're sustainable.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, like look for the brands that are actually doing it, you know.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: So really encourage everybody.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have any questions at all, please let us know.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: Ema you can email us or chime in any of our social media outlets, and we can pass along any questions you might have to Serena and her team.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: But thank you so much, and I will be back next time.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: Please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: We are available on so many different platforms.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: So wherever it is that you're tuning in, just go hit subscribe.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: You will be immediately notified when we publish new episodes.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: This way, you're able to tune in to amazing insights from experts, brand founders, industry leaders, authors, all the wonderful people that we host.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that's very important for me because I love to hear from you guys and really understand what you love and what you want to hear more of.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: Also, make sure to give us a follow on all of our social media outlets.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: We're available on Instagram, TikTok, X, you name it, we're there.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: We also have a blog on Medium.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a reader and you love Medium blogs, check us out on Medium.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: We publish some really great articles on there that do deeper dives than just what's available on the podcast, and it's really a great place for all of you science geeks out there that want to learn a little bit more.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: We go above and beyond with our research and making sure we're bringing you information that you usually probably won't hear about in other outlets.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: So check us out, leave us a comment, leave us a review, and we'll be back next time with another episode.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.