A new Chicago skincare startup is hoping you’ll take a chance on its three-step regimen that boasts being gender-neutral, sustainable and simple.
Sold exclusively on its website, Romer sells a cleanser, moisturizer and a CBD-infused overnight treatment, all designed to soothe, calm and hydrate skin.
The cleanser features unique and natural ingredients like Manuka honey, coffee seed extract and calendula flower oil. The moisturizer is made with shea butter, jojoba oil and hyaluronic acid, among other things. And the treatment mask contains prickly pear and carrot seed oil and squalane, an oil derived from olives.
Romer says the products work for all genders, skin types and ages. Combined, the products cost $150.
Romer was founded by Lauren Rome, who quit her Wall Street job in New York to move to Chicago to launch the startup. So far, she says she has bootstrapped her company.
“I wanted to look and feel my best,” Rome said at the startup’s launch party on Tuesday. “I had so many products overflowing in the cabinets, but really what was important to me was understanding the clean beauty space, which was really confusing.”
Besides creating a regimen that achieved the skin results she was looking for, Rome also wanted to build a skincare brand that wasn’t gendered. Men want to take care of their skin, too, so why market skincare products only to women, Rome thought. This approach has been a hit with non-binary customers, Rome said.
“It’s all about inclusivity,” she added.
Romer also has a focus on sustainability. Not only do the formulas avoid harmful chemicals and come packaged in recyclable materials, but each ingredient has been sustainably sourced, Rome says.
“When we say it's 'clean,' it's not just clean for the skin, but for the environment and for the community where each ingredient is sourced and mined,” Rome said.
Though skincare and beauty startups in Chicago are rare, they do exist. Oars + Alps, a local startup that makes skincare products for men, was acquired by S.C. Johnson last year. Chicago is also home to cosmetics giant Ulta. But otherwise, not many cosmetics upstarts have popped up in the Windy City. Typically, Los Angeles and New York are where consumer-focused beauty startups set up shop.
New York-born Glossier, the beauty and cosmetics startup founded by Emily Weiss that’s raised more than $185 million in venture capital funding, has cultivated a loyal customer base by offering simple, well-packaged cosmetics at an affordable price. For example, Glossier’s facial cleanser retails for $9.
Glossier has primarily relied on its e-commerce model, but has opened permanent and pop-up shops across the globe, including Chicago.
To attract new users, Romer has been organizing pop-ups around Chicago, recently showcasing its products at a yoga class hosted by Athleta at the Time Out Market in the West Loop.
“Gone are the days of boring websites and surface-level brand-to-consumer relationships,” Rome said. “We created an environment for our customers to share our values, and we make it a priority to create a community they can get behind, while having fun along the way.”
