Megan Cox woke up one morning to find she had made $10,000 in sales overnight. At the time, she was a student at MIT and had just launched her own skincare line, Amalie Beauty —her first step into the world of entrepreneurship.
Over the next few years, Megan grew her brand into a six-figure business. But even though her eyelash serums and facial oils were consistently selling out, she increasingly lost interest in running a direct-to-consumer (DTC) skincare brand. She was at a crossroads: expand or sell.
Megan decided to sell and turned her attention to another skincare project she had been building on the side. That company is Genie Supply , a clean beauty lab that creates products for hundreds of other founders who started their journey the same way Megan did—with an idea and a passion for skincare.
With experience in both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and manufacturing, Megan has no shortage of advice for those curious about how to start a skincare line. Here, she shares the hard lessons she’s learned along the way, as well as tips on everything from labeling to finding a skincare manufacturer.
How to Start a Skincare Line in 11 Steps
- Just start (even if you don’t feel ready)
- Take time to research
- Find your niche in skin care
- Invest in your skincare brand
- Use the resources you have
- Get involved in product formulation and manufacturing
- Develop a relationship with your skin care manufacturer
- Subject your products to rigorous testing
- Understand the safety and labeling laws in the skin care industry
- Build trust with your customers through transparency and ingredients
- Focus on what makes you unique
Starting a skincare brand means dealing with issues like basic chemistry, production standards, and ingredient sourcing. You may also need a significant initial investment.
But as Megan discovered, netherlands email list it’s possible to start on a modest budget if you’re passionate and resourceful. Here’s how to start a skincare line from scratch, with lessons Megan learned throughout her career in the beauty industry.
1. Just start (even if you don’t feel ready)
The global skincare market is expected to reach a value of €206.50 billion by 2029. Much of the growth in recent years can be attributed to independent brands. “The traditional brands – Estée Lauder, L’Oréal – are not growing, how nation defence academy offline classes foster healthy competition among nda students ” says Megan. “Indie beauty and clean beauty are driving all the growth in the beauty industry.” And the established brands are responding by acquiring smaller companies to secure their market position.
Tarte , a natural beauty line that began in founder Maureen Kelly’s one-bedroom apartment in 1999, became part of the Sephora line in 2003 and had sales of $12 million in 2008. She sold the majority of her shares to global beauty giant Kosé in 2014. Maureen started the company with $18,000.
When thinking about how to start a skincare line, remember to consider lead time. It takes at least 12 weeks to develop a skincare product, ch leads but most skincare lines require much more time for research and development , testing, and launch. Skincare products also require extensive testing, which takes time.
Since skincare trends evolve quickly, it’s better to capitalize on a great idea now than wait until everything is perfect.
2. Take time to research
Market research is especially important in the beauty industry—the industry is saturated and trends change quickly. But the ever-changing landscape means there are still opportunities for newcomers to launch skincare lines. Watch for trends by following beauty publications and influencers and using a tool like Google Trends to validate your ideas.
“There’s a big shift in how people spend their money as Generation Z comes of age,” Megan says. “There’s a lot of room for innovation.”
competitive analysis
When Megan was developing her skincare brand, she ordered every highly rated eyelash serum on Amazon. She also combed through MIT’s research database and found that essential fatty acids showed promise in studies, but weren’t being used in eyelash products by any other company at the time.
I had some chemistry background, but actually all the information was already available. There are many smart people on the internet who share information for free.
Megan Cox, founder of Genie Supply
Her formal scientific training helped her formulate products, but she found the most useful information on the Internet. “I had some chemistry background, but really all the information was already available,” she says. “There are a lot of smart people on the Internet who share information for free.”
Your research should include competitive analysis, market research, and keyword research to determine the profitability of your idea. This is also when you’ll want to crunch the numbers: How much does it cost to start a business, and how will you finance it?
