After TikTok Virality Led Wrinkles Schminkles To Sell Millions Worth Of Patches, The Brand Is Reckoning With The Waste It Caused

In February 2022, a 17-second TikTok video showing Shannon O’Brien, owner of Abundance Naturally, a Canadian distributor of beauty brands, including Wrinkles Schminkles, remove Wrinkle Schminkles’ Forehead Wrinkle Patch from her forehead to reveal line-free skin went viral. Since it posted, it’s drawn over 57 million views and been shared by doctors Mamina Turegano, Azadeh Shirazi and Anthony Youn, who verified that O’Brien’s results are “real, not sus.”

The sales results of the viral video are also real, not sus. Featuring “nobody’s gonna know” audio and the caption, “When people assume I’ve had Botox & fillers but I’m just wearing my Wrinkles Schminkles,” it caused a Forehead Wrinkle Patch to sell every minute. All told, the video led to more than 571,770 of the $19.95 product being snapped up by consumers. In dollar figures, that amounts to over $11.4 million in Forehead Wrinkle Patch sales.

And it wasn’t only the sales performance of Forehead Wrinkle Patch that was boosted by the video. Across its business, Wrinkle Schminkles, which has a total of 20 stockkeeping units priced from $15 to $112, reports it’s registered a 57% sales increase in the wake of the video—and the brand doesn’t anticipate growth slowing. “It’s supported our ability to work with and appoint some of the best people and agencies in the beauty business in the USA,” says Gabrielle Requena, who’s based in Sydney, but produces Wrinkles Schminkles’ medical-grade silicone patches at a Food and Drug Administration-registered facility in the United States.

In the last four months, the brand has hired people in e-commerce, social media, digital marketing and content roles, and it plans to hire a COO soon. One agency it’s tapped, Market Defense, has been instrumental in multiplying Wrinkles Schminkles’ Amazon revenues 4X. On its own website, the brand’s sales jumped 3X after its game-changing TikTok virality.

Wrinkles Schminkles is out to leverage its exposure to build its retail network and is turning to the agency KSJ Collective to help it do so. In the U.S, it’s available on Nordstrom’s site in addition to Amazon, but is interested in placing its products in the likes of Cos Bar, Ulta Beauty and Bergdorf Goodman. Abroad, Wrinkles Schminkles has expanded its reach to 15-plus countries. In Australia, it’s available at Priceline, and it’s recently entered Iceland, Norway and Israel. In Europe, it inked a deal with Orbico Group, a distributor present in 20 different countries and regions.

But Wrinkle Schminkles’ viral success isn’t without a downside. Totaling up the waste associated with all the Forehead Wrinkle Patches that sold due to the brand’s TikTok virality, it calculates five tons of silicone could end up in landfills. “That is a number we found hard to ignore,” says Requena—and she didn’t ignore it. Wrinkles Schminkles has launched a silicone patch recycling program in partnership with TerraCycle, the resource for hard-to-recycle materials. The brand believes it’s the first silicone patch recycling program.

Wrinkles Schminkles’ patches can be recycled in four steps: First, customers request a return envelope via an online order form. Second, they place a prepaid label on it. Third, they fill the envelope with used silicone patches. Fourth, they drop it off at a postal service location, and it will get shipped to TerraCycle to sorted in a warehouse, cleaned and transformed into something new like outdoor furniture. Wrinkles Schminkles covers the costs of the program.

Beauty brands and retailers are increasingly adopting recycling programs. Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom offer TerraCycle recycling programs. Pact, an alternative to TerraCycle, works with over 150 brands and retailers such as Ulta Beauty, Credo, Cos Bar, Sephora, Sky Organics, Ilia, Three Ships, Pacifica, Rizos Curls and Victoria Beckham Beauty on mail-back and in-store collection programs.

“We’re not in the business of creating a polished branded TikTok account.”

In a country with dismal recycling rates and capabilities—it’s estimated that under 10% of U.S. plastic waste is recycled—it’s unclear if these programs are making a dent. They represent a single tool in a toolbox of many strategies beauty companies can pursue to prioritize sustainability. Wrinkles Schminkles has encouraged people to repurpose its patches to, for instance, protect their feet from blisters, and its patches are reusable. The Forehead Wrinkle Patch can be reused eight to 10 times.

Beyond what they recycle, the spread of recycling programs may raise awareness about recyclability challenges and possibilities in the beauty industry. Wrinkles Schminkles will keep a close eye on the volume of patches that get recycled from its program to improve it in the future if need be. Requena says, “We’re going to be working really hard to make sure that our customers do recycle our products.”

Of course, TikTok will can be a vehicle to raise awareness of Wrinkles Schminkles’ recycling program. In general, on the platform, the brand leans into fun and educational posts incorporating unfiltered women who are relatable to viewers. Although it went viral with videos that have garnered 5 million to 10 million views prior to O’Brien’s explosive TikTok post, O’Brien is a prime illustration of a non-influencer having success for the brand. “Anyone can do it, and everyone on a global and broad business team can contribute,” says Requena.

Zeroing in on what its products looks like and do is crucial for Wrinkles Schminkles on TikTok. “We liken the peeling off of the silicone patch of the plastic liner/backing on TikTok, close up to the camera to be like an unboxing experience, and it’s proven to stop the ‘thumb scroll,’” says Requena. “When viewers see the close-up footage of the crisp clear silicone patch being peeled away ready to place on the target skin area, they remain engaged, curious and watch.”

Wrinkles Schminkles focuses on its TikTok engagement rate rather than following. It has 136,200 followers and 3.9 million likes on its TikTok account. Requena details the brand drills down on “engagement rate by video, engagement rate by followers [and] length of the video view” as well as video views, shares, likes, comments and hashtags. Hashtags such as #microneedlepatches and #skincarethatsticks have 2.5 million and 10 million views, respectively.

Along with the waste triggered by virality, negativity is a social media challenge. Requena says, “We all know and say to ignore the trolls on social media, but the reality is you don’t know how that feels as a human being until you are dealing with it…The small percentage of negative commentary is still hard to ignore when you are the human behind the content and the brand. It’s something that requires all of the team to support each other and protect each other as it is just part of the channel.”

Wrinkles Schminkles has been invited to be in the TikTok Shop beta program. TikTok Shop is the platform’s e-commerce integration. As it ramps up TikTok-fueled commerce, in its content, Requena’s goal is for the brand to maintain an authentic voice. She says, “We’re not in the business of creating a polished branded TikTok account.”

Requena, a former consultant at Deloitte and senior internet marketing manager at eBay, started self-funded Wrinkles Schminkles for a personal reason: She wanted affordable, effective and non-invasive solutions for signs of aging she spotted on her chest. She says it’s “easy to get injectables on the forehead and around the eyes, for example, but you can’t do that for neck and chest.”

To perfect Wrinkles Schminkles’ patches, they endured extensive prototyping—there were a whopping 37,000 prototypes, to be specific—and clinical testing. In clinical testing, 98% of 92 participants applying the brand’s patches over a four-week period saw smoother skin.

Now, Requena says, “2023 marks a decade in business for Wrinkles Schminkles, and I liken where we are today like a puzzle where we have laid out all the pieces, and we are step by step securing them together for what will be an important and big year for Wrinkles Schminkles.”