The skincare product this beauty mogul waited 22 years to launch

Most cosmetics empires begin with a miracle product,such as Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew,Elizabeth Arden’s creamy moisturisers and Revlon’s nail polish. Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris has taken the long road,backwards,to launching the first in-house product for the leading Australian online retailer.

After 22 years selling more than 260 competing brands,Morris’s company has launched its first skincare collection under the new AB Lab brand,in a very specific category.

Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris with the first products from their in-house brand AB Lab,

Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris with the first products from their in-house brand AB Lab,Darrian Traynor

“I get so many people asking me what the one best thing is for you,” Morris says. “They’re wanting a magical product,so I ask ‘Are you wearing sunscreen?’ Start there. If you’re not doing sunscreen,there’s no point.”

Morris took her own advice further by including members of Adore Beauty’s online community in the research and development of AB Lab’s sunscreen collection.

More than 800 members of the business’s loyalty program Adore Society were surveyed about their skincare choices,with 80 per cent putting their digital hands in the metaverse air to say they would use an SPF if it included treatment products that would improve the condition of their skin.

The result is AB Lab’s Dewy-C SPF50+ Facial Sun Milk for normal to dry skin and Barrier Boost SPF50+ Facial Sun Cream for oily/combination and sensitive skin with Barely There
SPF50+ Facial Sun Cream,suitable for most skin types,arriving next year.

Like a saleswoman working on commission,Morris is eager for me to feel the products’ light texture and experience the easy absorption into the back of my sun-pashed hands. The cream is easy to apply,but Morris’s own smooth skin,which she proudly announces has experienced Adore’s entire product range,is an equally compelling advertisement.

“My face has been at the disposal of our customers since the beginning,” she says.

Morris sees no harm in competing with the brands that helped establish Adore’s reputation,since launching the business from the garage of her Melbourne home in 1999.

“We’ve always backed brands that we believe in,” Morris says. “For us,this is another brand that we believe in. It’s not about us pivoting around at all. It’s about where customers feel as though their needs aren’t being met.”

Dewy-C SPF50+ Facial Sun Milk,daily SPF50+ broad spectrum UVA&UVB protection with Vitamin C&Resveratrol,$39.95 (75ml) and Barrier Boost SPF50+ Facial Sun Cream,daily SPF50 broad spectrum UVA&UVB protection with Niacinamide&Ceramides,$39.95 (75ml) from Adore Beauty.

Dewy-C SPF50+ Facial Sun Milk,daily SPF50+ broad spectrum UVA& UVB protection with Vitamin C& Resveratrol,$39.95 (75ml) and Barrier Boost SPF50+ Facial Sun Cream,daily SPF50 broad spectrum UVA& UVB protection with Niacinamide& Ceramides,$39.95 (75ml) from Adore Beauty.Supplied

“This isn’t becoming the AB Lab show,with us moving away from 260 brands,” Morris says. “We do have global ambitions for this.”

Private label products are a common feature on the crowded beauty landscape,with Ella Bache selling skincare through salons for decades and Adore’s Australian beauty rival Mecca launching their Mecca Cosmetica range in 2003,followed by Mecca Max in 2017. The difference is that Adore Beauty does not have shelf space in physical stores for customers to try their products.

“I think people are increasingly comfortable trying products from online for the first time,particularly based on the position of trust we have with our customers,” Morris says. “We know that from our loyal following with our podcasts. It’s not about marketing. The products have to work. You can get people to buy anything once. That’s not the point.”

Skincare is the tip of a profitable iceberg,with Morris saying that other product categories,based on consumer research,are already in development. These should be relatively simple,having picked the challenging area of sun protection as AB Lab’s product debut,following two years in Australian laboratories.

“We picked the hardest products in the hardest category,with Australia having some of the strictest therapeutic regulations around sun protection,” she says. “Australia overall is a tough country to succeed in beauty.”

“You have a customer who is extremely educated and very discerning and has access to all the global brands,but it’s not that big a market. You have to be a big fish in a small pond. If you can be successful here your chances are pretty good globally.”

Adore Beauty launched on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2020,with recent financial reports patchier than teenage skin. In August,it posted earnings before interest,tax,depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $5.3 million for the 2022 financial year,down 30 per cent on the previous year.

In August,chief executive Tennealle O’Shannessy announced that she would be leaving the company in February,but Morris has no plans to leave her post as Adore Beauty’s chief of innovation.

“I haven’t been the CEO for five years,” Morris says. “I’m having lots of fun here. Talking to customers about what they need from us and what we need to adapt and evolve is exciting. It’s like Madonna. You don’t survive without evolving.”

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Damien Woolnough is the style editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

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