Goop’s Latest Entrant Esker Does A Body Better

The body may be a treasure, but trend forecaster Shannon Davenport didn’t spot too many products in the beauty market that treated it like one. After graduating from the New York Institute of Aromatic Studies in 2015, she set out to create a brand that did.

Nearly three years later, Esker launched in October last year with three body oils teeming with organic ingredients – Firming Oil, Clarifying Oil and Restorative Oil – and quickly became a darling of retailers with instincts for identifying brands desired by in-the-know consumers with taste. It’s entered Jenni Kayne, CAP Beauty, Goop and The Line in succession.

“There are a lot of really cool retailers looking for brands with authentic products. It was really important for me to find the right retail partners who would help us tell the story in a special way,” says Davenport. “It used to be harder to be a small brand. Small brands used to want to look bigger, but now I’m finding a lot of positivity in the fact that it is a small brand.”

Not told in a special way, Esker’s story is that people shouldn’t slather themselves in crap. Davenport carefully selected essential oils to achieve the purpose of each product. The Firming Oil is centered around juniper to deflate bloat; the Restorative Oil spotlights antioxidant-loaded carrot seed to combat signs of aging; and the Clarifying Oil taps cypress to address discoloration and varicose veins. The products are priced at $40 for a 60-ml. size and $75 for a $120-ml. size.

“Body oils have been more of an afterthought. They had sunflower seed oil or apricot oil in them. Those are good oils, but there are more interesting plant-based oils out there that are nutritive and sink into the skin well,” says Davenport. “The R&D process to create a dry oil that absorbed well and wouldn’t sit on the skin took a long time, but everybody who I talked to said don’t rush it and wait until you get the perfect formula, so I did.”

As Davenport builds Esker’s product portfolio, she’s intent on introducing products that aren’t everywhere and she can put a distinct spin on. The brand’s next product will be a body wash. Davenport reasons natural body washes haven’t bombarded store aisles. Pregnancy oil and bathing merchandise are on her to-do list as well.

“Natural body wash is tricky because there’s obviously a price cap on how much someone is going to spend on a premium wash, but I think it can be an interesting extension. As the market is growing with people doing shelfies and bathroom shots, it’s really fun to create something beautiful to go into the shower,” says Davenport, noting she has no plans to move Esker beyond the body care category. “I just love body. I like that it’s sensory and slow. It’s about taking care of yourself and creating a ritual.”

For Esker’s packaging, Davenport sought to incorporate pops of color while sticking to sophisticated, streamlined boxes and bottles. Colors are comported on their sides to almost resemble bar graphs with various shades indicating specific ingredients (green is cypress and blue is juniper, for instance), and the expanses of the shades within the bars conveying their strengths in the formulas.

“I really wanted to have color, but in an elevated way. It still feels minimal and has a modern aesthetic, but it’s unique. The feedback that I’ve gotten so far from stores is that people are really responding to the color,” says Davenport. “It stands out when a lot of branding looks really similar in this industry.” She continues that metal skirting below the bottle tops and serif font on labels rather than the ubiquitous serif font add further touches.

In another unusual touch, Esker, which gets its name from geological features formed by melting glacial water, places envelopes filled with seeds from pollinator-friendly plants inside its packaging. “I’m really passionate about plants and plant-based ingredients, and I wanted to use packaging as a vehicle for raising awareness around pollinators,” explains Davenport. “Without pollinators, we wouldn’t have any of the incredible essential oils in my formulas.” She points out the seeds make the body oils eminently giftable and also encourage people to snap photos of plants they’ve cultivated from the seeds.

Davenport’s deft feel for differentiating details could make her a skilled merchant someday. She’s tossing around the notion of opening a store. “I grew up in the Bay Area and, when I was I kid, I loved going into Body Time. It was so ahead of its time. It had only natural products and a few wonderful scents. They were amazing products with a lot of integrity,” says Davenport, currently a Los Angeles resident. “I would love to create a modern version of that, where you have different aromas with a lot of meaning, and you can translate them into washes or body oils, and I love the idea that you could give those to somebody as gifts.”