Skincare Brand TwinMedix Brings On Makeup Artist James Vincent As Creative Director As Its Consumer And Retail Reach Broadens

YouTubers, Instagrammers, egirls, it’s tough to keep up with who’s hot on social media, but celebrity makeup artists have remained relevant since the dawn of Hollywood.

Recognizing the sustained importance of professional beautifiers, skincare brand TwinMedix has signed on James Vincent as creative director to spotlight its vitamin-fueled products’ role keeping skin healthy to set the stage for makeup application. Longtime makeup artist Vincent’s client list includes Lady Gaga, Barack Obama and Charlotte Ronson. He’s consulted for the cosmetics brands Make Up For Ever, Yves Saint Laurent Beauté and Pat McGrath Labs, and is director of education and artistry for The Makeup Show and The Powder Group as well as previously holding the creative director position at Ardency Inn.

“When I use products, I’m using them on multiple people. This week alone, I worked with 17 models and a 70-year-old rock star. I need products in my kit that allow me to look at someone’s skin and find something right for them that works well, but also doesn’t interfere with their everyday skincare,” says Vincent. “What I love about TwinMedix is that it’s gentle enough to use for every situation and for every issue, and I can really customize it for the very specific needs of the person in front of me.”

Although TwinMedix co-founders Michelle Shaffer and Tammy Fleming are twin sisters, they have quite different skin. Fleming, for example, tolerates strong retinols while Shaffer’s face isn’t a fan of them. With their skin variations in mind, they designed items consumers can pick and choose from to suit their personal concerns, and easily insert into skincare routines that likely already have several products. Established in 2016, TwinMedix started with its Pro:Essentials collection containing serums, an exfoliator and a cleanser centered around vitamins A, E and C, Dead Sea salt and oxygen.

“In the past, skincare brands put out an entire system, and it was either you use everything or you use nothing. TwinMedix allows people to customize to their own needs in a way that’s simplified.”

“You get vitamin A, vitamin E and vitamin C, but also the idea that you can come in and resurface, and use an exfoliant to stimulate circulation. It felt like a modern approach to skincare and something that was developed to meet the needs of today’s lifestyle. Clients today are so individual,” says Vincent. “In the past, skincare brands put out an entire system, and it was either you use everything or you use nothing. TwinMedix allows people to customize to their own needs in a way that’s simplified. That’s why I was excited to work with the brand and be a part of the new launch.”

The new launch is TwinMedix’s Pro:Refine range encompassing a moisturizer, makeup remover, toner, charcoal mask, lip scrub and eye product with retinol alternative bakuchiol. At $10 to $35, it’s less expensive than the Pro:Essentials range running from $40 to $90. It moves TwinMedix squarely into the makeup prep arena, too, and broadens the demographic reach of the brand. Shaffer, former president of Embryolisse for the United States, a capacity in which she connected with Vincent, views the brand’s products as ideal for consumers in their teens to their 70s and older. She highlights the eye product and moisturizer, an offering that doubles as a primer, as Pro:Refine’s hero stockkeeping units. The products are vegan, and cruelty-, paraben- and fragrance-free.

Discussing the Pro:Refine collection, Vincent says, “Michelle and Tammy sat down together, called me and said, ‘What is the next step? How do we take these beautiful products that always felt maybe a little bit exclusive with the vitamin treatments and resurfacing, and add a piece to it that makes it very accessible?’ We wanted something that was very attainable no matter what your lifestyle or income is.”

“TwinMedix is a brand that, in a few years, every professional makeup artist, celebrity client and aesthetician will have. We think it’s where beauty is going.”

TwinMedix’s retail network consists of more than 50 boutique, professional beauty store and beauty school doors. Among them are Naimie’s Beauty Center, Kett Cosmetics, Thompson Chemists, Nigel Beauty Emporium, Cinema Secrets and Make-Up Designory. Within roughly a year, TwinMedix expects its door count to double. The brand declined to disclose annual revenues.

Given its price and product expanse, Vincent maintains TwinMedix can appeal to a wide array of retailers from “Target to Fred Segal.” So far at stores, he says, “The response has been amazing because people are able to get luxury ingredients at a price point that works really well and that they understand.” For the immediate future, Fleming notes, “The goal is brand awareness, sampling our products, getting people to understand the ingredients, and growing into different retail chains.”

Vincent has bolder ambitions. “My goal is world domination,” he says, only half-jokingly. “When we started working together on the brand [Embryolisse], there was only one store in the U.S. that carried it. We managed to build it to a place where every makeup artist had it in their kit. TwinMedix is a brand that, in a few years, every professional makeup artist, celebrity client and aesthetician will have. We think it’s where beauty is going.”