Former StiVectin Exec Emphasizes Transparency And Clinical Results At New Skin Longevity Brand Parëva

Smitha Rao, a microbiologist who’s created 200-plus haircare, skincare and wellness products and worked on over 15 brands, including Sugarbear and StiVectin, where she was previously chief innovation officer and VP of product development and regulatory affairs, respectively, is well aware that the beauty industry is crowded and confusing.

In the lead up to launching her brand Parëva Beauty, which describes itself as “clinically crafted skin longevity,” she learned about the extent of the confusion in a survey of 3,000 prestige beauty shoppers that discovered 90% are perplexed about what skincare products they should be buying. At Parëva, she’s offering three products—$69 Coll20 Gel Cream Moisturizer, $74 C35.5 Firming Glow Serum and $49 and $49 RH5.5 Hydrabond Primer—to help consumers not be overwhelmed by the clutter.

Rao says, “You don’t need multiple steps and the fact that all three of our products are multiple products in one, we are simplifying the consumer interaction with skincare with fewer, but higher quality products.”

To further clear up confusion about skincare, Parëva features what it calls The (F)actuals divulging information online and on packaging for each of its product about testing, formulation and company responsibility. For example, it details C35.5 Firming Glow Serum’s formula is 35.5% high-performance ingredients such as goji berry, sunflower and pincushion flower stem cells, the three ingredients in its proprietary ingredient blend Molecur 3, and vitamin C, resveratrol, turmeric and ceramides; 60.5% clean functional ingredients; and 4% inert base ingredients.

Parëva commissioned a four-week clinical study on C35.5 Firming Glow Serum with 30 people, and 97% saw improvement in skin firmness and 98% felt their skin was soft and supple. The brand abides by Credo’s clean beauty standards, plans to define a science-backed climate goal by 2028, become a B Corp by 2029 and establish an ingredient and packaging traceability system by 2030.

On its website, Parëva says, “We unmask the ingredients in our formula in an effort to give our users a thorough understanding of what’s in our products…Some brands exaggerate their efficacy when in reality they contain little more than a sprinkle of performance ingredients. Our products are loaded with powerful ingredients and we believe in sharing just how much of those ingredients we use.” 

Parëva went live in direct-to-consumer distribution in the first week of January, and 90% of its sales so far are from a $172 bundle containing its three initial products. From an individual product perspective, Rao anticipates Coll20 Gel Cream Moisturizer being a frontrunner. She characterizes it as an essence, hydrating serum and peptide moisturizer in one. 

The product is inspired by platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatments that use a patient’s blood to promote wound healing. Rao sought to nail down a skincare formula that delivers similar results. The target customers for Coll20 Gel Cream Moisturizer are women between the ages of 35 and 60 years old with wrinkles and lines who are hunting for alternatives to fillers and Botox and women who get fillers, Botox and other aesthetics procedures and are drawn to topical skincare products that will enhance them and make them last. 

Rao raised a pre-seed funding round to support Parëva‘s path to market. She declines to share the amount she raised for the round and the backers involved, but mentions she owns the brand. Investors are undoubtedly interested in its longevity positioning and Rao’s background. At StriVectin, she says she updated the formula of the brand’s bestselling neck cream, TL Advanced Tightening Neck Cream Plus, and developed the Advanced Retinol and Multi-Action collections of products rooted in clinical results.

“We unmask the ingredients in our formula in an effort to give our users a thorough understanding of what’s in our products.”

Parëva gets its name from a shortened version of the word parevartan, meaning “transformation” in Sanskrit, and Rao emphasizes the brand rests on three pillars: robust science, radical transparency and joy. Parëva’s products incorporate plant biotechnology from Switzerland. It touts Molecur 3 reduces the appearance of aging by up to eight years and boosts the effects of ingredients it’s paired with like vitamin C and hyaluronic acid.

The joy aspect is embodied by Parëva’s bright red, green and blue packaging and the sensorial experience of its formulas. Rao teamed up with an undisclosed French fine fragrance house to concoct custom scents for the formulas. “If you look at the competitive set in the derm market and some of the products in prestige category, they are very poor on the sensorial experience,” says Rao. “I wanted the consumer to get everything in this jar and that’s what I set out to do.” She declined to share which fragrance house the brand worked with.

Parëva is deploying paid media to spread the word. Its influencer strategy revolves around teaming up with aestheticians, dermatologists and longevity experts to build credibility. Dermatologist Hadley King endorsed the brand during a launch event held in New York City last Wednesday. King has a relationship with the sheet mask brand Loops, too.

Parëva aims to sell to aestheticians and dermatologists in the professional skincare channel and branch into retail in year two or three. Rao says, “At the risk of sounding delusional, I’m very optimistic about the future of the brand.”