Beta Test: A Korean-inspired skincare line for the Gen Z market

Beta Test is a column where we'll periodically test and sample locally made products from entrepreneurs around the Bay Area. Have a product that you'd like me to consider? Email me at: sbloomberg@bizjournals.com.

Cityface

About Cityface:

Walk into any Sephora and there's a good chance you'll be overwhelmed by the thousands of products on display, from serums to perfumes to dry shampoo. But just because something smells fancy or is expensive doesn't mean it's effective. 

Cityface wants to create high quality, affordable skincare products that are good for sensitive skin and tailored for a Gen Z market.

The startup was founded last year by Berkeley Haas business administration student Jeena Chong, 20, who was looking for products that would be good for her sensitive skin. She decided to launch her own line and also wanted to incorporate a social impact element into the business from the start. She donates $1 from each product sold to nonprofits located in San Francisco, New York and Seoul — cities that are featured on her first three products.

"I see a lot of brands in general and direct-to-consumer brands targeting our demographic because we are one of the most powerful consumers, but I realized there was a disconnect between how they were trying to serve us and what we actually need," Chong said.

She's a junior at Berkeley Haas and expects to graduate a year early. Last year, Chong moved back home to Seoul when the pandemic hit and at that point started workshopping some ideas for a product line. She consulted with cosmetic chemists and met with several manufacturers in Korea until she found one that took her seriously and could guarantee high quality ingredients at a reasonable price point. After working through dozens of samples and testing out the formulas on herself, Chong picked the best ones and launched her new business at the end of 2020.

Each product is inspired by a major metropolitan city: her hometown of Seoul for the facial lotion, San Francisco for the toner and New York for the serum.

"We're targeting the city lifestyle," Chong said. For example, "working in San Francisco with all the pollution, the stress, the late hours. We have specific ingredients and formulations that try to target that lifestyle."

The ingredients include calming extracts and antioxidants including calendula flower, ginseng root, centella asiatica and niacinamide. Each product contains between 30ml and 95ml (approximately 1-3 ounces) and costs under $30 each. A bundle of all three goes for $75.

A facial serum from the luxury brand Tata Harper that shares two of the same active ingredients — calendula and centella asiatica extracts — retails for $130 for 30ml, more than four times as much as Cityface's serum.

The company currently has six employees, all of whom are Gen Zers, who work remotely from cities around the U.S. including San Diego, New York, Los Angeles and Berkeley.

Chong has bootstrapped the operation so far and is hoping to raise seed funding through Berkeley's Launch accelerator and angel investors. She wants to launch a new product next year, too.

Sales have been increasing every month, Chong said. She currently sells directly to consumers through the Cityface website and hopes to get into retail storefronts next year.

Testing notes:

All three products are very gentle and don’t have any added fragrances or essential oils, making them well-suited for sensitive skin.

The packaging design uses monochromatic line drawings inspired by traditional Korean art and evokes the city each product is inspired by: the Golden Gate Bridge for San Francisco’s toning pads; the Empire State Building for New York’s serum; and the mountains and hills of Korea for Seoul’s moisturizing lotion.

I have oily, acne-prone skin that’s probably a tad more sensitive than I previously realized. My face also has some persistent hyperpigmentation and redness. For over two weeks, I used all three of Cityface’s products, not changing anything else in my regular skincare routine except for swapping out my basic moisturizer — dry skin may benefit from layering moisturizers but not my oily skin.

I mostly used the products at night after using my normal cleanser and before applying a retinol. The toning treatment comes in a plastic jar filled with pre-soaked cloud-shaped pads — they felt like mini facial masks — and it came with mini plastic tweezers to help peel off a single pad at a time. The cloud pads felt cool on my face. After massaging the toner into my skin, I used a few drops of the serum. A little goes a long way, and it absorbed very quickly. I only needed one or two pumps of the facial lotion, and again, it absorbed into my skin without feeling heavy or greasy. At no point did any of the products pill, a phenomenon that occurs when different products repel each other and form into annoying little balls or flakes.

In the morning, I occasionally used the serum or moisturizer after cleansing and applying a vitamin C serum — and before using any sunblock or tinted moisturizer. Again, everything absorbed quickly and I didn’t have any adverse reactions.

After a few days I noticed that my skin was feeling a bit less irritated and within a couple of weeks my skin tone started to even out a little bit despite my continued use of strong actives which include a daily retinol and the occasional chemical exfoliation.