The Inkey List Couples Hydration, Exfoliation for First Body Products

James Manso
·3 min read

The Inkey List is taking its ingredient-first ethos below the neck.

The brand is introducing its first foray into body care, starting with an exfoliating body cream and an exfoliating body stick, respectively priced at $14 and $18.

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The products will debut in the Sephora app on April 16, before rolling out to the retailer’s website the following day and Sephora stores on April 19.

It’s the first major category expansion from the brand since it first took on hair care, though cofounders, Colette Laxton and Mark Curry said it had been years in the making.

“We’ve wanted to do body for a while — we’ve been looking at it for ages,” Laxton said, noting she first received samples of the products in 2019.

The launch comes at a time of growth for the category. Data from Circana for 2023 shows that prestige skin care grew 14 percent, outpacing the channel in the mass market. Though neither Laxton nor Curry commented on sales, industry sources say the brand’s revenues in 2023 surpassed $100 million.

Curry said the expansion also marked a shift in launch strategy, as the brand strives to create fewer, more impactful new products.

“There’s a lot you can get away with as a younger brand, but now we’re demonstrably showing organic growth,” Curry said. “The key thing about brand awareness is about being famous for your heroes and not just for launching new products, so we’ve been very focused on face. But body care is swelling.”

Laxton noted that body skin is drier, thicker and has less cellular turnover than facial skin, hence formulas that rely on chemical exfoliants. “People can still have scaly skin after putting moisturizer on because they’re not exfoliating properly,” she said. “Our perspective is to exfoliate. The old way of doing it is with a loofah or a brush, and chemical exfoliation is our perspective. We’re only starting with two products, one for everyday care and one for problem areas.”

The daily cream, the PHA Exfoliating and Hydrating Body Water Cream, derives its name from the brand’s facial skin care hero, Omega Water Cream. “Hydration is the mainstay of Inkey, and that word is absolutely critical to our brand,” Laxton said. “The strategy now is to take tenets we can really own, and drive them into different need states.”

That product includes a 3 percent polyhydroxy acid called gluconolactone, which doubles as an exfoliant and a humectant.

Meant for a more targeted approach to concerns like cracked elbows and keratosis pilaris, the Glycolic Acid Exfoliating Body Stick uses 7 percent glycolic acid, 0.5 percent salicylic acid and 10 percent shea butter for a stronger exfoliation.

Laxton and Curry also see opportunities on the marketing front, where they reasoned that consumers needed greater education on body care.

“Why would Inkey do it versus any other brand? We know there’s fragranced products, thick creams, the classic way of doing body,” Laxton said. “If you take hair and body, they are so far behind skin in these categories because there’s such a lack of understanding and knowledge about them.”

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