Christine Chang and Sarah Lee both knew from an early age that they loved the process and practice of skin care. Though they didn’t know each other growing up in Korea, the two have similar memories of watching the women in their families perfect their daily self-care rituals. “In the evenings, our parents would often just walk over to the fridge and take out cucumber slices or yogurts to make impromptu facials,” Chang tells Fashionista. “It was such a joyful experience growing up. I think that really influenced a lot of how we approach beauty and how we perceive skin care to be.”
The two would later find each other in their corporate careers, reminisce together about their parallel childhood stories and create the now wildly popular and renowned K-Beauty-inspired skin-care brand Glow Recipe. Chang shares, “The entire ethos [of our brand] is derived from those early memories where skin care was effective, but also sensorial and enjoyable.”
Photo: Courtesy of Glow Recipe
Though the skin-care traditions Chang and Lee experienced growing up have been embraced in South Korea for generations, the product category only began to significantly impact the global beauty industry in the last decade. While skin care has been seen as an act of wellness and a way to relax in Korea, consumers in other countries previously considered it mostly as a chore or something to get over with before doing your makeup. Chang and Lee saw this discrepancy in the market after working in both the Seoul and New York offices for L’Oréal in the company’s marketing department.
Chang and Lee both spent more than a decade at the beauty conglomerate, allowing them to learn not just the difference between American and Korean formulations, but also how products are differently marketed toward each consumer audience. After regularly meeting up at work to discuss new K-Beauty launches that excited them, the two had their collective “Aha” moment. “We wanted to create a destination that ultimately brought the U.S. and the rest of the world the best natural Korean skin care,” explains Lee.
Thus, in 2014, the first iteration of Glow Recipe — a digital storefront filled with a carefully curated selection of Korean beauty products marketed toward U.S. customers — was born. “We started the company with $25,000 each from our savings accounts, which we spent most of on inventory,” Lee shares. Shortly thereafter, in 2015, the company reached $550,000 in annual revenue, Chang and Lee appeared on “Shark Tank” and subsequently declined offers from the majority of the panel. And then, after three years of business, the duo saw room for a change.
“We went to some North American Sephora locations and asked the beauty advisors how Korean beauty is perceived in-store,” recalls Lee. “Some of them were telling us that they felt Korean beauty was so innovative, but the multiple steps and different products were overwhelming. They wanted something that was multitasking and simple without compromising efficacy.”
And so, Lee and Chang went back to the drawing board. “We didn’t want people to think Korean skin care was this extensive, complicated and complex routine,” Lee explains. “We thought, ‘How can we create a new brand that gives you the two worlds, where you’re getting an amazing experience you look forward to instead of looking at it as a chore, but you’re still going to have transformative results?'”
Photo: Courtesy of Glow Recipe
What came next was the brand’s very first original product — the Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask, inspired by another early experience the two shared. “We both have memories of our grandmothers chilling watermelon rinds in the hot summer months to rub against the skin to soothe heat rash and irritation,” says Chang. The product combined the benefits of several products, including the plumping results of a moisturizer, the hydration of a hyaluronic acid serum and the exfoliating properties of glycolic acid. Though it’s now discontinued under its original label, the beloved product lives on as the Watermelon Glow AHA Night Treatment (a name with purposely more scientific-sounding language).
“We realized that the approach to beauty [in the U.S.] was quite different [from in Korea]. For us, skin care was the best part of our day. It really helped us think, ‘How can we make skin care that is not just about the efficacy and results that the products drive, but also is about how the product feels in your hand, how it smells coming out of the car — even how the jar looks?'” explains Chang.
After the product formulation came the now easily identifiable packaging, a core element of Glow Recipe’s success. “We envisioned an ice cube with softer edges that would create this sort of irregular shape,” explains Lee. “A lot of effort, thought and detail went into the packaging because every product had to sell by itself. We wanted it to be truly scroll-stopping [on social media].”
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The brand’s online presence continued to play a big role in establishing a steady and eager community of shoppers. From their time at L’Oréal, the two had gleaned that American consumers make their skin-care purchases based on an upfront understanding of a product’s benefits and results, driving the co-founders to heavily incorporate education-based content into their social media marketing and advertising.
“We’re very focused on education, or what we like to call ‘edutainment.’ It’s snackable, fun skin-care education,” says Chang. Lee adds, “We’ve always felt like it was so important to make sure that people understood not only are they getting this fun new product, but it really delivered because of its ingredients and technology. I think the fact that we started as a curation business gave us a lot of credibility and authenticity, and people believed what we had to advise and recommend. That educational aspect has played a really key role [in the brand’s success].”
Today, Glow Recipe’s social channels continue to release content with education-forward messaging. The pretty products make both aesthetically pleasing images and draw the viewer to learn about what’s inside the treatments. “Each of our products all have some form of clinical or consumer testing. We serve that data up as snackable education to our customers, whether through infographics on Pinterest, our point of sale, or what our display looks like at Sephora,” says Chang. “Every touch point we create has some form of education so that the customer can make an empowered and informed decision around the products.”
Photo: Lilly Lawrence/Getty Images
Ten years in, the brand has launched in more than 35 markets throughout multiple continents and is in the top 10 skin-care brands sold at Sephora, with only 23 products in its lineup. Though those are two very substantial milestones, the educational access that Glow Recipe has built out for its audience remains an especially major accomplishment for the two. “It’s always been so important to us that we grew Glow Recipe not just as a brand, but also as an education platform,” says Chang.
The educational aspect is a big part of the brand’s success with Gen Z and Gen Alpha — a.k.a. those who are just beginning to figure out their skin-care routines and may need some guidance. Though Chang clarifies that the brand never aims to market toward anyone too early in their skin-care journey, Lee admits that the Glow Recipe consumer base does tend to lean younger: “[Our] core customers are Gen Z and millennials…[so] it’s important that we educate our younger customers on which formulations are right for them.”
On top of the success with its educational content, the brand’s feature on “Shark Tank” is another favorite achievement of the duo’s. “We pitched our vision and mission in front of a nine to 10 million people viewership. That was incredible and did open new doors for us,” says Lee. “When we first launched with Sephora, our product sold out constantly. I think it was eight consecutive times with the Watermelon Sleeping Mask. All of the amazing launches and the journey we’ve been on with our community, I can’t even describe to you how that feels. It’s surreal.”
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Despite these 10 years of immense, industry defining success, Lee still feels that the brand has only just scratched the surface of what’s possible. “There’s so much more that we want to do and fulfill with our innovations. There are so many product ideas and innovation plans that we have in the pipeline that we’re excited to bring to market,” she says. “We don’t want to grow too fast. We’ve had this steady growth and we want to continue that. What I look forward to most is really just working collectively as a team to create magic together. I see this brand living forever, honestly.”
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Source: Fashionista.com
