Jeanine Mojum has struggled with highly sensitive skin since childhood, but it became practically intolerable in her early 20s when she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome and stressed from working 100 hours per week in investment banking at Goldman Sachs.
Itching to start something new and find products right for her skin, Mojum, who after about two years at Goldman Sachs had a two-year stint at Amazon as a fashion program manager, enrolled in Wharton to get an MBA, where she spent months talking to people dealing like her with sensitive skin. She learned they were timid about skincare products—and exfoliants in particular—due to their tricky skin.
Mojum, 28, says, “Many are afraid to try a new product or rely on just one product to solve a skin issue because they fear irritation, reactions and that a single product can instigate more issues.”
Armed with those insights, Mojum decided to launch a skincare brand with high-performance formulas—not boring or basic—that cater to sensitive skin without deteriorating skin function. In November last year, her brand, Amoureux, hit the market with two products, including a gentle exfoliant designed for finicky skin that was tested by over 100 people to ensure it does what it promises.
“The majority of exfoliators on the market have acids in them, whether it’s alpha hydroxy or beta hydroxy acids, to surface and brighten,” says Mojum. “While these ingredients are effective, they come at a cost because they have a low pH, so they’re likely disrupting the skin barrier and are naturally stripping.”
Amoureux’s exfoliant, $48 The Soft Serum, contains pH-neutral pomegranate enzymes for resurfacing dead skin cells, niacinamide to improve texture and evening, marrubium vulgare extract for skin decongestion, and potassium azeloyl diglycinate for brightening. The Cozy Cream is a $58 soothing cream packed with ceramides for barrier function, centella asiatica for tightening, glycerin for moisture retention, and heterotheca inuloides extract for plumping and luminosity, among other ingredients.
“The brand is redefining sensitive skincare with formulas beyond basic barrier care,” says Mojum. “Just because you have sensitive skin doesn’t mean you must compromise.”
Amoureux, which translates to “in love” or “lover” in French, is focused on the concept of softness and bringing joy to caring for sensitive skin. To Mojum, the concept of softness counters the endless pursuit of self-optimization that is in much beauty and wellness marketing today. She says, “If you look at the language, even in sensitive skincare, the products promise to fix or save the skin.”
“The brand is redefining sensitive skincare with formulas beyond basic barrier care.”
Amoureux’s deep green and pale-yellow colors are intended to encapsulate the softness concept and veer from sterile clinical branding common in skincare. “The sensitive skincare category lacks indulgent, fun packaging. To me, everything is bland,” says Mojum, adding, “I wanted the brand to feel timeless yet become an advocate for the idea that we can be ambitious and soft as people and that formulas can be high performing and gentle.”
Mojum spent $85,000 from her personal savings to get Amoureux off the ground. She’s also raised what she describes as a “small” round of family, friends and angel investor funding and received $8,000 in grants from Wharton Venture Lab’s Penn Wharton Innovation Fund and through VIP-X Accelerator program. Mojum was in the program’s spring 2024 cohort.
Instead of spending on public relations, Mojum has prioritized spending on efforts such as clinical trials and Human Repeat Insult Patch Tests (HRIPT) important to establish Amoureux’s products’ bona fides for sensitive skin. Mojum began marketing the brand a few weeks before it made its debut.
First came an Instagram account, which has served as a documentary-style outlet for behind-the-scenes glimpses at the making of the brand along with feel-good moments in building it. On TikTok, Mojum captures her personal and entrepreneurial journey, too. She has 5,361 TikTok followers.
Mojum’s sales goal for Amoureux is to break into the seven-figure range in year one. To help it realize that goal, it’s gifting people with perspectives on beauty she finds interesting, not necessarily influencers. Genuine reviews and before-and-after photos have been moving the needle for the brand so far. It held a pop-up at a New York City café last month, and it’s been plastering the city with printouts that read, for example, “Honestly, he might be too basic for you,” with a QR code that takes people to Amoureux’s website.
The brand is sold exclusively on its site and a few boutiques. Mojum expects to keep it that way for a bit. She says, “I see the value in retailers, but, right now, the investment required to go into Sephora or Ulta is huge, and the bandwidth isn’t there as a solopreneur with just one marketing hire.”
A healthy portion of Amoureux’s initial product testers have become loyal to the brand and vociferous supporters of it. To amplify its audience, Mojum plans to tap dermatologists and aestheticians. She says, “There’s a lot of noise in this space, and although I was able to launch the brand with the feedback of real people in real life, I want to amplify the brand’s community-based aspect so we don’t get lost in the sauce of online.”
For the next year or two, however, Mojum’s primary objective is to learn as much as possible about Amoureux’s core customers. She says, “Our relationship with them is special, so we want to stay direct with them.”
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