Most founders eagerly await Sephora sliding into their DMs. Exciting as it was when that happened to Experiment co-founder Lisa Guerrera three years ago, she told the beauty retail behemoth her brand would wait to launch at it.
“I think that’s critical advice for all beauty founders,” she says. “We were still a small brand. We wanted to make sure we had the capital, the team, the brand awareness, the right amount of products, the right spread.”
Now, the wait is over. The 5-year-old science-forward skincare brand is arriving online at Sephora, its first beauty specialty retail partner, and will land on The Next Big Thing displays in 90 of its highest-trafficked stores in the middle of next month. Experiment’s full six-product range priced from $16 to $32 will be available on Sephora’s website and all but its $19 Avant Guard reusable sheet masks will enter stores.
Having an in-store component to Experiment’s launch at Sephora was especially important to the brand. “In-person is the game changer here,” says Guerrera. “We have such a visual brand, and we have great online channels, our DTC is great, we grow through TikTok, but in store is where things will really start to shine. So, that was a big deal for us.”
Experiment spent the years it held off on Sephora building momentum virtually with cult-like products, distinctive packaging saturated with color—its Super Saturated barrier support serum is described as “blue goo” and packaged in a vibrant turquoise pump bottle, while its reusable sheet masks are fluorescent yellow and its Buffer Jelly treatment oil-gel is housed in a neon green bottle—and scientific, space age motifs in its imagery. This year, its sales have multiplied 2.5X via DTC, TikTok Shop and Amazon. Prior to Sephora, the brand extended beyond DTC to Urban Outfitters and Amazon.
Ninety percent of the visitors to Experiment’s website are organic. On TikTok Shop, consumers have snapped up over 14,000 products. When bestseller Super Saturated sold out last year, the 30% glycerin serum amassed a 10,000-person waitlist, and it generated a six-figure sales total the day it returned in stock.
Experiment is venturing to Sephora as the retailer is focusing on clinical skincare brands. The clinical skincare buyer made first contact with the brand three years ago. Guerrera explains that, with Experiment’s average products priced in the $20 to $30 range, it fills a pricing gap in Sephora’s clinical skincare collection. Brands like The Inkey List and The Ordinary are on the cheaper side of the clinical skincare spectrum at Sephora, while brands like Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, Drunk Elephant, Dr. Barbara Sturm and Element Eight are on the pricier side.
From its initial contact with Sephora on, Experiment was crystal clear with the retailer that the brand doesn’t categorize itself as clean. On an early Zoom with Sephora, Experiment co-founder and cosmetic chemist Emmy Ketcham emphasized that the brand sticks to science and uses parabens, the synthetic preservatives that are no-gos for clean beauty.
“When people’s wallets are tight, they’re going to prioritize the stuff they trust works.”
“The second she said the word ‘parabens,’ everyone’s pens started writing,” chuckles Guerrera. “We were upfront because we wanted to make sure that Sephora was aligned with us, but also [aligning with clean] would be harmful to the brand in a lot of ways.”
Anxious scribbling aside, Sephora stood by the brand and its strong footing in science, which Guerrera believes is especially crucial amid economic uncertainty. “The clinical skincare division of Sephora has become more important within Sephora. They know doubling down on clinical is the way to go,” says Guerrera. “When people’s wallets are tight, they’re going to prioritize the stuff they trust works and that isn’t so expensive.”
A major retailer can put pressure on a brand to churn out newness to chase sales, but Experiment plans to stay very intentional with releases. It expects to introduce two to three new products a year. Without flooding the market with newness, the brand is skilled at stoking excitement with multifaceted months-long campaigns that offer product sneak peeks, lab sampling, PR Boxes and education.
Experiment has raised $4.3 million across two funding rounds, most recently a $3.3 million seed round in April 2024 led by venture capital firm Greycroft, backer of Mother Science, Arey and Seed Health. Although the wheels were in motion for the brand’s Sephora launch when it was fundraising, Guerrera says it’s not what sealed its funding. Instead, she points to the organic growth of the brand driven by a slim product selection as behind investor confidence in Experiment.
Speaking of nailing down early-stage investment during a moment of high investor discernment, she says, “If you have strong convictions about brand marketing, using influencers to the fullest extent, making sure that you’re not beholden to ads, it’s totally possible.”
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