You know how after you begin to notice something it’s all of a sudden everywhere. That was case for Gigi Howard with décolleté wrinkles. An unsubtle woman pointed out to the longtime public relations executive that her crinkled chest didn’t match her youthful face, and crinkly chests were immediately ubiquitous. “I became very insecure, and I started to wear turtlenecks and scarves,” recounts Howard. “And I started looking at other women’s décolletées and seeing their décolletées were the maps of Georgia, but their faces looked great.” Desperate to find a solution to her upper body creases and those of her fellow sufferers, a lightbulb went off in Howard’s head when she spotted medical-grade silicone at her obstetrician-gynecologist’s office. Over the next three or so years, Howard vetted 180 silicone prototypes before landing on a comfortable line-busting chest pad with the help of Lorrie King, who was previously in marketing posts at Coty and Boots. SiO Beauty was born in July 2016 with its SkinPad offering and, a year later, released a face version called FaceLift. FaceLift is currently SiO Beauty’s bestseller, but SkinPad isn’t trailing far behind as the brand banishes incongruent faces, chests and necks worldwide.
Launch date: July 2017
Sales growth: Audrey Leibovich, who joined SiO Beauty as CEO in October following a stretch as Hudson’s Bay Company’s vice president of digital marketing, reports the brand doubled its sales in the first quarter of this year from the fourth quarter of last year. “We sold more FaceLift in 2018 so far than all of 2017,” she says.
Total retail doors: 30
Distribution strategy: Shen Beauty was one of early supporters of SiO Beauty. Today, the brand has spread to select spas, stores and sites across the country as well as abroad. Niche Beauty is a strong account for SiO Beauty in Germany. The brand is on Amazon, too. Leibovich points out SiO Beauty’s distribution emphasis is on its direct-to-consumer business. “That’s where we believe we can really win,” she says, adding, “We are holding distribution very close to the vest, but we are looking to expand within the e-commerce realm.”
Retail price: SiO Facelift can be purchased on a one-time basis at $49.95 for four patches: one for brow, one for the neck, and two for the eye and smile areas. The patches can be used 15 times. King and Howard studied the market when determining the price. “Even though we are a superior product in terms of performance, we still wanted to be approachable,” says King. “The price point allows us to compete against sheet masks because our price per use is a lot lower than a sheet mask you could buy for $20.” SiO Beauty also made room in the pricing to incentivize subscription. Subscribers buy SiO Facelift for $39.95 to receive it every 30, 60 or 90 days.
Development process: Compared to the creation of SkinPad, creating FaceLift was a cinch. Prior to SkinPad, King and Howard worked tirelessly toward their goal of making silicone look and feel like skin. “I wanted a woman to wear it and forget it was there,” says Howard. The trick to FaceLift was perfecting patches to place on the face. “When they’re laid out, they look like that old brand Colorforms, which is a series of stickers,” says King. The neck patch in particular posed a problem because SiO Beauty had to ensure it didn’t hug the neck too tightly or cause irritation.
Media milestones: SiO Beauty hit Vogue in an exclusive story out of the gate. Shortly thereafter, the brand was featured on the morning television show “Today” with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford. The New York Times highlighted SiO Beauty in January last year in an article covering products for the neck. Celebrities, notably Vanessa Williams and Christina Ricci, have become big fans of the brand. Influencer fans include Tina Craig of Bag Snob and Charlotte Groeneveld of Fashion Guitar.
Packaging design: Howard strove for the packaging to communicate the clinical aspects of SiO Beauty – the brand commissioned a third-party evaluation to assess the results of its patch on improving skin conditions – while not looking overly sterile. “I wanted it to be medical meets chic,” she says. Inspired by jeweler Tiffany’s signature blue, the blue shade in the packaging is intended to infuse style into its encasements. SiO Beauty gets its name for the chemical abbreviation for silicone paired with the letter ‘o’ for oxygen.
Customer base: Howard asserts SiO Beauty’s consumer demographic range is wide. She says the brand attracts 20-year-old women and women over 60-years-old. The reason for its broad draw is that older women turn to SiO Beauty for anti-aging remedies while younger women are taking preventative measures and aiming to combat what’s dubbed tech neck. “They have two neck wrinkles although no wrinkles on their face. It’s from looking down,” says Howard, speaking of SiO Beauty’s younger clientele.
Building on the momentum: Leibovich outlines SiO Beauty is making a substantial marketing push and shoring up its direct-to-consumer presence. “It’s important for us to continue to reach out and find more customers,” she says. “We are investing in building retention programs to keep existing customers coming back to us. We want to continue to invest in our website and make it a great customer experience.”
Retailer take: “I love SiO. The results are insane,” says Jessica Richards, founder of Shen Beauty. “I actually posted a story on my Instagram Stories a while back showing the results after just one night and the response I got through DM was astronomical. Then, we sold out. I think the price point, the effective and immediate results as well as the re-use, travel-friendly [format] and technically green beauty [element] is like nothing else on the market. I have seen some copycats out there that don’t hold a candle. Trust me, I’ve tried them.”
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