EXCLUSIVE: Victoria Beckham Beauty Scales Business With New Category Launch
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LONDON — Victoria Beckham is scaling her beauty business by introducing a new category: cleansing, with help from celebrity facialist and aesthetician Melanie Grant.
However, the fashion designer isn’t just launching one product, but two.
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One is a gel cleanser and the other an oil-based cleanser.
“It may not have been the natural next step if you follow the rulebook, but I am not one to follow. I was longing for a cleanser that matched the standard of my serum and moisturizer, that felt different in the market, but mainly that it felt equal to the rest of my skin care routine and not an afterthought,” said Beckham in an interview.
The cleansers have been two years in the making using ingredients such as olive fruit oil; rice bran oil; avocado oil; fermented green tea seed; lactic acid; rose damascena flower water, and saccharide isomerate.
“I’ll be honest, there were many, many iterations [of the cleansers] and at one point, I thought maybe the manufacturer just wouldn’t work with us because there was so much back and forth. It was tricky, but it was also an education for me, to know how much goes into formulating a great product,” said Grant.
The Australian aesthetician has built a successful business with studios in Los Angeles and Sydney over the span of 25 years in the beauty industry.
“Melanie is my go-to not only for facials, but skin care advice. The idea of collaborating happened very organically; we both kept talking about not being able to find the perfect cleanser, and it was as simple as me saying, shall we create it together? I know what I know, but I’m very aware of what I do not know, and when that happens I want to collaborate with the best to create,” explained Beckham as to why she chose to collaborate with Grant.
“After our first meeting, she stayed for an hour and a half going through skin care. Many people don’t know the difference between laser or radio frequency, but Victoria loves treatments, devices and ingredients,” added Grant.
The bottles are in a muted forest green and dark brown that resembles a resin table.
“I truly obsess over the smallest of details — even with a cleanser, I pour the same amount of attention to detail as I do when we create a makeup product,” explained Beckham as to how she designed the exteriors of the cleansers.
Victoria Beckham Beauty is picking up momentum in all markets, with a heightened appetite coming from the U.S.
In September last year, the brand launched fragrances with three unisex scents inspired by personal moments from the designer’s past, and especially her alone time with husband David Beckham.
Beckham developed the fragrances — Portofino ’97, Suite 302 and San Ysidro Drive — with perfumer Jérôme Epinette and produced them in-house, without a licensee.
“Fragrance was very well received in Q4 of 2023, and a strong Q1 in 2024 [so far]. Victoria always wanted this brand to be three axes, and we did not go into that lightly, we know that in order to do that we need to build our consumer’s trust in all three categories,” said Katia Beauchamp, chief executive officer of Victoria Beckham Beauty, adding that the brand has seen a growing amount of traction via its direct-to-consumer website.
Beckham revealed that over the years, she’s been decluttering her personal skin care routine.
“It’s become simpler over the years, more of an edit, it is not about 20 different products, simplicity and highly effective individual products. Cleanser, serum and moisturizer. As simple as that. And then I do try to use a mask most nights,” she said.
The designer teased that she has a project in the works with Augustinus Bader coming out later this year.
She’s been working with Bader for four years to develop the skin care arm of her beauty business.
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