Brands Briefing: How companies like Dieux, Glowbar and Evereden are meeting demand for ‘science-backed’ skin care

In an age when shoppers are quick to turn to Google, TikTok or ChatGPT for answers, the beauty and personal care world is leaning more heavily on science-backed products with efficacious ingredients. But there’s more to it than just listing what ingredients are in the product and citing third-party data or definitions. Instead, brands are showing receipts that their products really make a difference, whether showing evidence from their own clinical trials, from independent studies or from lab testing. While it’s an expensive undertaking, some brands are finding that the more research they do upfront pays off with customers who want to know they’re getting the real deal.

As Liverman said, “If you are trying to pull the wool over [consumers’] eyes, they’re going to call you out so fast that your business will never have a leg to stand on.”

Some new data suggests that brands with their own scientific data and clinical results to back up their products are more likely to get funded, too. An analysis by XRC Ventures’ Brand Capital Fund showed that about 26% of venture funding in the CPG space last year went to science-based or clinically-backed brands, up from 17% five years earlier. This category includes brands that are driven by biotechnology or by ingredients like peptides and retinoids. But it also encompasses dermatologist-founded brands, products that lean on the gut-skin connection, and companies that focus on addressing sensitive skin and eczema. The analysis, published in the first quarter of 2025, says there has been “a meaningful shift” of early-stage capital going to brands in this category.

A survey conducted by Harris Williams in the fall of 2024 also showed that shoppers prefer beauty and personal care brands to come from people with scientific and medical expertise. Overall, about 72.5% of shoppers said they were more likely to buy from a dermatologist-founded skin-care brand, compared to about 52.1% who said the same about brands founded by estheticians and 21.3% who said the same about influencer-founded skin-care brands.

Diana Melencio, general partner at XRC’s Brand Capital Fund, said the funding is following shopper interest and momentum. The past five years have seen a turning point where consumers are doing more research on their products, learning about certain ingredients and spending more time in front of cameras, thanks to the pandemic-led influx of video conferencing.

“All those things combined led us to where we are now, where you’re expecting the same level of efficacy even at a $30, $40 or $60 price point,” Melencio said.

Behind the scenes, Melencio said funders are looking for brands that truly know their science. In her case, she said she’s more likely to support companies that have a founding team including someone from a medical or science background.

“With both tech and consumer investment, there’s a founder who knows how to make the stuff and a founder who knows how to sell the stuff. Sometimes you get both of those things in a single founder, but that is very rare,” she said.

Brand investment

For brands, these consumer and investor trends mean putting more time, effort and money into validating that products actually work. Skin-care brand Evereden, for instance, employs three full-time chemists who work in a formulation and product development lab in New Jersey. Co-founder and CEO Kimberly Ho said it’s a big upfront cost but allows the brand to develop products three to four times faster than outsourcing its scientific research and development. The brand has raised $40 million to date and says it is currently profitable.

Ho told Modern Retail that she founded the company back in 2018 with the express interest of finding clean ingredients that were clinically proven to work.

“Everything goes through the strict screening that our doctors apply from their years of research, but on top of that, they are not just screening out bad ingredients, they are also constantly helping to think about great ingredients or innovations that will go further in helping skin issues,” she said.

As far as how products prove themselves, there are a variety of testing methods that investors look for. Clinical trials are a main source of information, but can be costly for young brands to front. Running such tests may cost anywhere from $20,000-$50,000, according to XRC Ventures. Consumer perception studies and lab testing are also becoming standard for brands.

At skin-care brand Dieux, co-founder Joyce de Lemos designs the clinical studies that products go through, then sends them out for testing through vendors. Some of the lab testing is done with certain tools to see how the product works on skin, like using a meximeter or colorimeter to determine the balance of skin color and demonstrate a decrease in redness. She said the brand only feels comfortable releasing a product when its clinical studies and consumer perception testing line up.

In the case of Dieux’s Instant Angel, a lipid and peptide moisturizer, marketing claims include that it is clinically proven to increase hydration by 113% and retain skin moisture by 62%. Clinical testing is “a huge investment,” de Lemos said, but one that’s worth it because of the brand’s commitment to science-backed products.

“A lot of smaller brands will only invest in consumer perception testing because clinical testing is not cheap,” de Lemos said. “But because we’re so deeply rooted in science and data, we look at ingredients that have clinical data and conduct our own clinical studies after we’ve made the formulation.”

Beyond its own products, de Lemos said one focus of Dieux’s marketing is to combat misinformation around skin-care ingredients and labels. Each product label says how much of an ingredient is in the product. This week, the company released on its website “Sun-Screener,” an AI-powered tool that lets people look up the specific ingredients in their skin care and learn about how they work and what their limitations are.

Charlotte Palermino, co-founder at Dieux, said the tide is turning when it comes to skin-care success relying on marketing versus actual product efficacy. That’s why Dieux is specific about the percentage of active ingredients it uses. For instance, while many shoppers may know that lactic acid can be used as an exfoliant, that’s not the case if it is under 5% of the formula, she said.

“It’s better for the industry when skin care does what it says it’s going to do,” she said. “I think it hurts the industry as a whole when a brand overpromises — somebody tries it, and then they become increasingly jaded.” –Melissa Daniels

SharkNinja builds out its beauty team

SharkNinja appears to be going on a big hiring spree to build out its beauty business. The home appliance company has already hired a couple of heavy hitters in beauty business this year; Michelle Crosssan-Matos, formerly the chief marketing officer of Ulta Beauty, joined SharkNinja in April as its new chief growth officer. And Kleona Mack, formerly the CMO of Glossier, became the global chief marketing officer of beauty for SharkNinja in May. 

Now, they appear to be building out their team. Mack and Crossan-Matos have been all over LinkedIn the past week promoting various job openings. Some of the beauty-focused roles SharkNinja is currently hiring for include: vp of integrated marketing communications at SharkBeauty, creative director of SharkBeauty, senior director of global social, and marketing directors for both Germany and France. The full list of beauty openings can be found here. 

SharkNinja has historically been known for vacuums and blenders, but it got into beauty in 2021 with a line of hair styling tools. Then, at the beginning of this year, it got into skin care with the launch of an LED mask. “We think beauty is going to be a category that is going to generate significant global growth for us over the next five years. And we really feel like we need the talent that is going to be able to help us propel in those categories to the next level,” SharkNinja CEO Mark Barrocas said during the company’s most recent earnings call in mid-May. –Anna Hensel 

How The Honey Pot is winning with the WNBA

Last year, The Honey Pot Company, a plant-derived personal care brand, became the exclusive body-care partner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. One of many brands sponsoring women’s sports, The Honey Pot set up displays in the players’ locker room, installed courtside signage and gave away free products at games. Now, more than a year later, the numbers are in — and The Honey Pot is happy with its points.

The company told Modern Retail that content regarding its 2024-25 partnership with the Atlanta Dream led to 2x the expected social reach, with 2.9 million total impressions. The Honey Pot also got “more than double” the return on its investment, with $81,000 in earned media value. And, it received 379,300 impressions via influencer activations.

Now, The Honey Pot is back for round two of its work with the Atlanta Dream. This season, it’s continuing to supply attendees with products, and it’s bringing an OBGYN “more into the fold” on panels and at events, said Jazmyn Williams, The Honey Pot’s vice president of brand. The Honey Pot is also setting up another custom display in the locker room, with period-care and personal-care products, new branding, and fresh player photography. And, it’s continuing to highlight its work with the Dream on social media.

More than a month into the season, things are going well, Williams said. During the home opener, there were “people who came up to us and said, ‘Oh my gosh, I learned about you last year, and we’ve been using your products ever since,’” Williams said. What’s more, she said men are getting in line to request pads and wipes for their wives, nieces and daughters. “If that’s not destigmatization, I don’t know what is,” she said. 

She added, “To deliver that fan experience for the Dream fans and serve our community, and for people to be excited to see an intimate care brand at a sports arena, it’s revolutionary. To me, that is qualitative proof that this is working.” –Julia Waldow

What we’re reading

• Unilever has acquired Dr. Squatch in a bid to boost its men’s personal care business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 
• Private equity firm TSG Consumer has made a strategic growth investment in Dude Wipes. Terms of the investment were not disclosed, but according to press materials, Dude Wipes drove $220 million in sales in 2024. 
• The launch of NikeSkims has been delayed.

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