Versed Sets Sights On Democratizing Skincare With Clean Products For Under $20

The brand co-created its 19 high-performance skincare products with sister company Who What Wear and its community of 16 million people.

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Versed

May 19, 2019, 13:11 ET

LOS ANGELES, May 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Launching today, Versed is the first digitally incubated, drugstore, clean skincare brand to debut mass retail in its first year. Driven by a team of skin experts and a community of 16 million people, Versed's mission is to make skincare easy and affordable for all through its clean products, personalized regimens, and uncomplicated results. Versed's 19-product lineup of high-performance treatments, cleansers, and moisturizers retails for under $20 and is available at Target stores nationwide and on Target.com.

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Katherine Power serves as CEO and founder of Versed. Power is also the CEO and co-founder of Who What Wear, the leading digital fashion community and product line that generated more than $100 million in sales last year. Melanie Bender serves as GM of Versed and worked with Power to develop the skincare brand. Bender previously led marketing for Clique Brands and Who What Wear, with prior brand-building roles at Westfield and Mana Products, a leading beauty manufacturer. Michael Giordano is the COO and comes to the brand after serving as VP of Strategy at Lime Crime before helping to lead the organization through its sale to Tengram Capital Partners.

"Because of our editorial roots, our team has tested thousands of skin products over the last 12 years and scoured even more questions, comments, and reviews to understand what's most effective and what's missing from the market," said Power. "We were constantly hearing from our community about their confusion and discouragement when it came to their skincare routines—including too much guesswork about what will work for them, too-high price points, and not enough clean options that are easily accessible to them. With that foresight, Versed begins and ends with our community—listening and working with them in lockstep over the past 18 months and pairing our data with product development to solve that problem."

Using a unique process of data-driven development, Versed leverages eight types of proprietary insights to shape products that will work better for everyone's skin. The approach brings together mass digital data from WhoWhatWear.com's audience of over 16 million people and rich insights from a group of over 9,000 highly engaged participants. Each product is vetted by the community via feedback on everything from formula performance to packaging and prices.

Also unique are the brand's democratized prices, which range from $9.99 for skin-perfecting masks to $19.99 for high-powered serums. Versed is able to achieve its disruptive prices by focusing on the formulas. Whereas many beauty brands spend more on packaging than on the goop inside, Versed invests in formulating with research-backed ingredients at levels shown to benefit the skin concern each product addresses—using tried-and-true ingredients such as hyaluronic acid and vitamin C—while stripping out common cost drivers like custom packaging and celebrity endorsements.

"We're incredibly proud of the caliber of formulation we've been able to achieve, which could retail for up to $80 if we followed other brands' markups," says Bender. "Many consumers have had to choose between effective, clean, and affordable when it comes to their skincare, but we believe in making good skin and clean products accessible for all."

Versed is formulated in accordance with the European Union's standard of "clean," which prohibits over 1,350 questionable chemicals from use in cosmetics—far stricter than the U.S. FDA's prohibited list of 11. In response to requests from its community, the brand has even gone above and beyond the EU standard to formulate without silicones, added fragrances, added colors, or animal-derived ingredients. Versed is also certified by Leaping Bunny as an animal cruelty–free brand and is committed to reducing landfill flow through the use of recyclable and lower-waste packaging.

COMPLETE PRODUCT LIST:

WASH IT OUT Gel Cleanser ($12.99)
DAY DISSOLVE Cleansing Balm ($17.99)
DEW POINT Moisturizing Gel-Cream ($14.99)
SKIN SOAK Rich Moisture Cream ($17.99)
STROKE OF BRILLIANCE Brightening Serum ($19.99)
JUST BREATHE Clarifying Serum ($19.99)
ON THE RISE Firming Serum ($19.99)
HYDRATION STATION Booster With HA ($19.99)
FOUND THE LIGHT Powder With Vitamin C ($19.99)
NIX IT Complexion Solution ($12.99)
VACATION EYES Brightening Eye Gel ($17.99)
ZERO-G Smoothing Eye Cream ($17.99)
THE FIX Emergency Eye Mask ($17.99)
SILK SLIP Conditioning Lip Oil ($9.99)
KEEP IT SUPPLE Body Oil ($14.99)
LOOK ALIVE Hydrating Plumping Mask ($9.99)
PHOTOS, PLEASE Brightening Tightening Mask ($9.99)
FIND CLARITY Purifying Mask ($9.99)
THE SHORTCUT Overnight Facial Peel ($19.99)