Iris&Romeo Makes National Retail Debut

Iris&Romeo, a pioneer in skin care/makeup hybrid products, is making the leap from DTC to brick and mortar with its debut in Credo Beauty, beginning today.

The brand’s full assortment, founded by Michele Gough-Baril in 2019, will be available online and in all 11 of Credo’s physical stores.

The lineup includes Weekend Skin SPF 50 + Vitamin C + Glow, Best
Skin Days SPF 30, Ceramide Multi-Balm, Brow Up Thickening Brow Balm, Power Peptide Lip Balm, and The Reset Luminous Hyaluronic Serum Spray. Prices range from $26 to $87.

Credo was always Michele’s vision for the brand’s brick-and-mortar debut. “They are credible in everything they do,” she says of the retailer best known for its stringent vetting process.

The debut wouldn’t have been possible without Michelle first experiencing career burnout, and owning a horse named Romeo.

Michele helped nurture Smashbox from indie status to its acquisition by The Estée Lauder Cos. in 2010. “After it was acquired, I was in a pivotal
moment of my own journey; I was burned out,” recalls Michele.
It was then that she met a former racehorse named Romeo. “Like me, he was burned out from his racing career and needed a new place, and I needed a new purpose,” she says. She had never been around horses, but she and Romeo set out to blaze a new trail.

While living on a dairy farm where Romeo could run free, and where Michele could prioritize her health, she thought about the need for a more
sustainable beauty brand with transparency behind its ingredients. That
brought her to launch a conscious line that could achieve results in a few steps for busy lifestyles.

“I came back to do it differently,” she says of the clean, hybrid
skin care brand made with SPF that she named after her horse and the Iris flower, which is also her mother’s name.

The debut of tinted skin care aligned with the beginning of
the pandemic — a bad time for raising capital, but a fortuitous moment to
capture consumers stuck at home searching for new products.

“Everyone was behind their cameras and wanted to be Zoom-ready in
minutes,” she says.

Attracted by Michele’s ethos and knack for creating breakthrough
products, Tara Desai, a former Estée Lauder executive, joined
Iris&Romeo as CEO almost a year ago. “I’m obsessed with innovation,
and we will launch new products — but they will have to make sense, be
thoughtful, and be aligned with our values.” She doesn’t rule out further
retail expansion down the road. “Right now, we are focused on this
partnership, and we want to be very strategic in our growth.”

How Five Teens Co-Created Personal Care Brand JB Skrub

When actress Julie Bowen (Modern Family) teamed up with media veteran Jill Biren to create a line of skin care for teens, they put the creative process into the hands of their sons who range from 12 to 15 years old. Julie has three sons – Gus and John Phillips, twins who are 13, and Oliver, 15. Jill is the mom of Luc and Alex, ages 12 and 15, respectively.

Julie and Jill first hit upon the brand’s concept at a birthday party when they noticed a change in their kids’ body odor due to puberty. They didn’t think the products on the market were appropriate for their young sons, but they knew it was time for something different for their “pits, nuts, and butts,” Julie said on a segment of Extra.

The result, three years in the making, includes five products — a body wash, a body spray, a face wash, a face lotion, and toner pads. Prices range from $16 to $20 for the DTC brand, which follows retailer Credo Beauty’s clean guidelines with ethically sourced ingredients and PCR packaging.

Expanding to physical retail is part of their vision. Estimates are that the brand could hit seven figures in sales in its first year. Although teens are only teens for a finite period — the target market is still considered ripe with more than 22 million people falling between the ages of 15 to 18 years old at any given time. Thanks to social media, teens also use products at a younger age.

Listing their favorite activities as hockey, collectibles, basketball, hanging out, sending Snaps to friends, videogames, and soccer, the teens also became the backbone of the brand. Here, they discuss their involvement in launching JB Skrub.

Beauty News: Why do you think there was a need for this?
“We needed this because our school smells bad.” – Gus Phillips

BN: After three years of keeping it under wraps how do you feel about seeing the line?
“I was kind of amazed. That’s pretty cool. An actual product people will see on the shelf. Because a lot of products aren’t targeted at teenagers. At first, I thought it was more of an idea or just a concept. I didn’t think it would be an actual product. I think it’s cool that it has actually become ‘something.’” – John Phillips

BN: How involved were you were in prompting your moms to get into the teen skin care business?
“I’m the reason my mom was sparked with the idea of starting a skin care line for boys. I went to sleep away camp seven years ago and told her I was not taking my baby body wash. I labeled hundreds of mini products. In return for my help, I earned money to contribute to sneakers I wanted to buy. I am the voice of the JB Skrub business line voicemail.” – Alex Biren

“I came up with the name Skrub. Skrub alone was trademark taken, so we all had to come up with something with Skrub, JB Skrub [Julie and Jill’s initials]. She asked me and my brother a ton of questions — if we liked different shaped bottles, paper labels or screened labels, how things smelled. The scent was a big deal to us — everything had to smell great, and we’re picky. The initial face lotion made my skin red — that was a miss, but the final product feels great, and makes my face feel great.” – Luc Biren

“I remember mom asking all of us and all my cousins about the coloring and the packaging and what would grab our attention the most and make someone want to buy it the most. We saw a lot of pumps and bottles and smelled like a hundred things. I remember smelling all kinds of sprays and [mom] asking which one we liked the most. We liked the orange.”
– John Philipps

BN: What was one thing you felt was important about the product?
“I told mom you can’t just have a bottle and put a sticker on it. The whole bottle has to be a color.” – Oliver Phillips

BN: How would you describe the home office when your moms were working on the project?
“It looked like a bunch of Zooms and lots of scheduling and lots of strong, female women. Sometimes they’re just sleeping here.” – Gus Phillips

BN: Where do you like to shop? Where do you get influences?
“If my friends like clothes or products, we share where to get them. Mostly I just see videos on TikTok. If they show something I think is cool, I’ll try to get my parents to buy it. I like to buy stuff at the mall or Amazon. I’m saving up to buy cool sneakers right now.” – Gus Phillips

“Tik Tok is where I find new products such as Prime sports drink. I ask my mom to take me to Target or Ralph’s grocery store to buy what I see on my phone.” – Luc Biren

“I find out on IG [Instagram] and Tik Tok. My mom buys me my products. Occasionally I like to go to Target and the drug store CVS.” – Alex Biren

4.5.6. Skin’s Newest Launch for Melanin-Rich Skin

Consumers with melanin-rich skin now have a hydrating treatment made specifically for them. Skin Bouquet is the latest from 4.5.6., a science-backed line created for people with higher levels of pigmentation.

Formulated with a botanical-infused lotion to reveal a healthy glow, Skin Bouquet joins 4.5.6’s lineup of cleansers, masks, oils, serums, essences, and creams.

Despite advancements in products suited for all skin tones, there’s still a gap in science-based skin care for 40 percent of the population, according to Noelly Michoux, CEO and one of the brand’s founders. The company name comes from the Roman numeral phototypes used to categorize the amount of melanin in skin.

“The one-size-fits-all approach of international brands prioritizes research and testing based on white skin standards, ignoring the needs of darker skin even as calls for racial equity grow louder and the face of the public becomes ever more diverse,” Noelly explains.

Like many founders who create brands for specific needs, Noelly struggled to find products for her melanin-rich skin. With the help of experts in dermatology, skin research science, and skin care formulators, she developed a brand with customized solutions in 2020 with research initiated through the LVMH Cosmet’up program.

Customers take an online quiz to determine their customized skin care regimens. Tapping technology, an algorithm determines the best-suited formulation for a customer’s skin. The bespoke formulas are then made fresh to order and delivered.