Davlyn Mosley Worked With Her Dermatologist Mother To Create Namesake Skincare For Melanin-Rich Skin

When both of your parents are doctors, you may feel pressure to go into medicine. While Davlyn Mosley was profoundly influenced by her dermatologist mother, Dr. Lynn McKinley-Grant, she went the product rather than physician route to launch melanin-rich skin-focused Namesake Skincare.

Debuting today on the brand’s e-commerce website, Namesake is starting with one product, The Daily Moisturizer, $60, a multitasking cream formulated with ingredients such as polyhydroxy acids (PHAs), rosehip oil, and butterfly bush to gently exfoliate while helping to plump, brighten and even skin tone. 

The brand joins a growing fleet of emerging skincare brands, including Plantkos, Ustawi and Buttah Skin, aiming to meet the needs of melanin-rich skin. McKinley-Grant, who worked closely with Mosley on Namesake’s formulations and is the brand’s in-house dermatologist, says irritation is chief among the concerns of people with melanated skin.

“It was essential to formulate using clinically-tested, non-irritating ingredients that were powerful enough to help hydrate and refine skin tone, but gentle enough to avoid inflammation and the dark marks that can result,” says Mosley, whose father was a radiologist. “Finding the right balance took nearly two years to perfect.” 

Mosley grew up with skin she calls “very sensitive, very reactive” and wanted to make sure Namesake’s products were packed with ingredients she describes as “efficacious, but also gentle enough to not cause a reaction because the reaction causes irritation and inflammation, which then can lead to dark marks—and those are things that are a huge concern for people with melanin-rich skin.”

Because of her skin struggles, she was intent on conducting human repeat insult patch testing on The Daily Moisturizer, a third-party test done over the course of a few months where a product is repeatedly applied to the same patch of skin to track irritation. “My mom always says that allergy and irritation can happen over time, so that was really important to make sure that there weren’t any reactions, and we could feel good about putting this out into the marketplace,” says Mosley.

The seeds for Namesake were planted more than three decades ago. McKinley-Grant was pregnant with Mosley during her residency at New York University. Later, Mosley would accompany her mom and feed the mice when McKinley-Grant was doing research at the National Institute of Health. She even attended dermatology conferences with McKinley-Grant and worked in her practice.

“Skincare has really been a huge part of my life, just learning the ins and outs from her between treatments and about products and advice. Everyone always knew that I was the person that had a lot of opinions and helpful advice for them,” says Mosley. “Namesake is something I feel like I’ve been working on my whole life.” 

Mosley declined to share how much she spent to launch Namesake, but says it’s self-funded, forcing her to carefully strategize the brand’s priorities. She plans on building its direct-to-consumer business before courting retailers. Eventually, she plans to place Namesake in retailers, but start small with retailers committed to serving consumers of color. 

Additional Namesake offerings are scheduled for the near future. Mosley is concentrating on the essentials. A cleanser and exfoliant are on the way, and Namesake will heed the guidance of its audience to fill the pipeline with more products. Whatever merchandise the brand releases, McKinley-Grant will have a hand in developing it. Her role in Namesake comes as dermatologists have turned into popular beauty influencers. 

“I’m really into listening to what doctors say,” says Mosley. “They spent years and years of training in school, in their practices with patients, and they really know what works.”