Sephora’s Newest Beauty Brand Wants to Rethink Inclusive Skin Care
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Sephora has a mighty new initiate.
Founded by ex-Googler Madhu Punjabi and finance veteran Nisha Phatak, skin care brand Lion Pose is launching Monday on the Sephora app with its Unspotted 4X Acid Jelly Night Serum.
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Retailing for $79, the serum is fueled by a 15 percent blend of lactic, glycolic, tranexamic and azelaic acids, and aims to tackle hyperpigmentation for those with darker skin tones.
On Tuesday, the brand (and 2022 Sephora Accelerate program graduate) will go live on Sephora.com; on August 25, it will enter all Sephora doors.
“There’s an enormous lack of research published on diverse skin tones, and skin tone matters when it comes to deciding what ingredients to use on your skin — there’s no one-size-fits-all,” said Phatak.
To help bridge the research gap, Lion Pose enlisted the help of dermatologists Tia Paul and Laura Scott to inform the development of the serum, also conducting third-party clinical trials across diverse skin types to ensure efficacy.
“We tested across all skin types, but with a special emphasis on Fitzpatrick skin types III through VI — essentially the medium to deepest skin tones,” Phatak said.
For Punjabi, who has long grappled with acne and tried everything from chemical peels to punch excision to address her skin discoloration, the Lion Pose mission is personal.
“My first attempt at solving for scarring was bleach,” said Punjabi, who was 10 years old at the time. It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis a few years ago that she stopped.
“I realized how toxic bleach could be after doing the research, and I was shocked — nobody had told me any of this. I needed safer, more effective solutions for myself, and I just felt lost,” said Punjabi.
Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Punjabi enlisted her friend and former colleague Phatak to embark on Lion Pose, which was named after the yoga pose believed to relieve tension in the chest and strengthen the voice.
“That’s why we chose that name — we’re pushing against restrictions in the skin care industry and bringing out the voice of underrepresented skin tones,” said Punjabi. “There are still people who think lighter skin is better skin. We believe that even skin is better skin.”
To date, Lion Pose has raised $3 million from investors including Ignite XL, actor Rob Lowe’s LH Capital, and comedian Mindy Kaling, who said in an email to Beauty Inc that after testing samples, she immediately knew she wanted to join the brand as an investor. “It’s like what I’ve found as a producer: More representation for more people is just good business,” she wrote.
While Punjabi and Phatak did not specify sales expectations, industry sources estimate Lion Pose could reach up to $5 million in first-year retail sales.
“Our priority is to make the Sephora launch as big as possible and get people excited about the brand, but more than that, to create a brand that lasts,” Punjabi said.
As for what’s next, the brand aims to continue targeting specific concerns including eczema, acne and ingrown hairs. “Any issues that are typically solved via clinically focused treatments and experts, that’s what we’re building the line around,” Phatak said.
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