Jessica Turner Developer of the Elizabeth Arden PRO line, Joe Lewis, President of US CosmeceuTechs, LLC, spoke with Ashleigh Sharman.
When a global brand embarks on a revolutionary project — that takes it back to its roots, to the realm of the professional — there’s one man whose name, personality and cosmetic know-how is inescapable. Joe Lewis, President and CEO of US CosmeceuTechs, LLC is no stranger to working with iconic beauty brand Elizabeth Arden.
First partnering with Elizabeth Arden, Inc. in 2005 to launch Prevage, which has won more than 160 awards globally, Lewis, a chemist and cosmeceutical skincare researcher, is best known for introducing some of the world’s most cutting-edge skincare ingredients including alpha-hydroxy acid in 1983, idebenone in 2004 and coffee berry in 2007. He is also the founder of PRIORI Skincare.
This relationship, already built upon a strong foundation, took a new direction when in March 2013, the CEO of Elizabeth Arden, and good friend, E. Scott Beattie, approached Lewis with a joint venture opportunity to take the brand direct to the skincare professional — launching first in four major markets, United Kingdom, Canada, Scandinavia and Australia.
“Arden today is primarily a fragrance company but that is not its heritage. Elizabeth Arden started the spa industry. She opened the first spa in 1910 on Fifth Avenue and this amazing woman was one of the first to grace the cover of TIME magazine. She was all about innovation, quality and excellence but since her death the company lost its professional face.
“With Elizabeth Arden PRO, we have an opportunity to provide the professional skincare market with some of our most advanced skincare technology. These products are the result of years of research and the development of clinically proven ingredients, allowing us to produce a highly effective yet aesthetically elegant skincare line,” says Lewis, who explains that the Elizabeth Arden PRO brand is based on a very simple pillar to success.
This pillar, explained in detail in a new peer review journal, is based on the Skin Health & Beauty Pyramid — a philosophy on how to achieve maximum clinical results in the jungle of ingredients and products currently in the marketplace. Out of that pyramid also came a new standard in topical skin protection and a clinical mineral skincare line.
“We wanted this to be a solution-driven brand — simple, effective and affordable— that comprises just three products all inside the pyramid. I’ve done other brands, such as MD Formulations and Priori, but I’ve never had the brand equity that Arden has. Everybody has heard of Elizabeth Arden so if you have some brand equity to start with, the marketing, the PR dollars, the company behind it then, then we have something we didn’t have in the past,” Lewis says.
Among the sea of retail and professional brands, hero products and hero ingredients reign supreme. Built on that very concept, Elizabeth Arden PRO set out to build their professional brand on a hero skincare philosophy where everything is hero because it is based on the very concept of the Skin Health & Beauty Pyramid.
“This philosophy simplifies the marketplace, and in my opinion if you’re shopping outside this pyramid, as a consumer or a salon owner, you’re wasting your time. The pyramid contains everything you need, everything your client needs,” explains Lewis whose non-negotiable product, the one he is most proud of, is the Triple Action Protector.
There are three parts to the pyramid:
- The bottom, or fundamental layer, includes must have every day, topical skin protection and repair using SPF, antioxidants and DNA enzymes.
- The second layer, or transformative layer, includes the pillars of dermatology to moisturise, exfoliate and encourage cell turnover, using AHA s and retinoids.
- The top, or optimization layer, incudes stimulation of the skin using peptides and growth factors. Lewis admits however that “the jury is still out; we’re a long way from being there”.
Elizabeth Arden PRO then is designed around these three parts of the pyramid and addresses key skin conditions in four simple regimens – Problem Prone, Brightening, Age Defying and Hydration — with extra booster products designed for all skin types. Elizabeth Arden PRO also offers two professional-strength, chemical peel treatments to address the key skin concern areas utilising a 30 per cent Hydrating Peel Gel and 50 per cent Multifunctional Peel Gel.
“We believe the combination of these novel technologies offers new, simple solutions for clients’ skin conditions with improved efficacy, reduced irritation and therefore better overall results. The pyramid philosophy allows the Elizabeth Arden PRO skincare professional to customise and explain product selection for client skin type and condition to provide straightforward, effective solutions. Who doesn’t want that?”
Elizabeth Arden PRO is distributed exclusively by True Solutions International, true-solutions.com.au
Further Reading:
*The Skin Health and Beauty Pyramid: A Clinically Based Guide to Selecting Topical Skincare Products. F.A. Mayoral, J.R. Kenner, Z.D. Draelos: Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, April 2014, Volume 13, Issue 4.
