Skin care brand founder and aesthetician Janet Schriever founded Code of Harmony in 2016; and already she’s seen the ingredient supply side of the cosmetics and personal care industry change and become more accessible and more transparent.
Her brand, which she describes as a skin-calming botanical skin care line, is the sort of brand that clean beauty consumers gravitate toward. And that’s no accident, not only does the Code of Harmony Skin Lab in Long Beach, California, have a very contemporary vibe (with pale pink and ivory decor, gold accents, live plants, and skin care packed in dark glass bottles), Schriever’s ingredient and formulation strategy is all about clean beauty too.
“I want [every ingredient] to be very clean,” she tells Cosmetics Design. “The [ingredient supply] companies we are working with, I have been very choosey about. Yes, they are conventional. Yes, they are very well-known suppliers and used by a lot of other people,” she says, but she’s also taken the time and done the research to ensure that her suppliers are delivering ingredients that live up to her idea of what clean beauty is.
“As an indie brand,” she admits, “it’s been a little challenging [identifying suppliers] and finding out who makes what…But just in the last probably year and a half, I’ve seen a lot more of the bigger companies reaching out [to indie beauty brands],” says Schriever, explaining some of the changes she’s seen as the industry at large takes more interest in all things indie beauty.
Brands like hers also seem to be influencing the professional spa space. Consumer demand and the availability of effective clean and plant-based beauty products means that some spas are moving away from medically inspired treatments toward more hands-on skin-calming treatments and services, says Schriever, noting that “that calming effect that the CBD also gives is very welcomed by the client.”
All Code of Harmony skin care products are made with CBD, but Schriever is quick to point out that “I use it as one of many efficacious botanicals,” in the Code of Harmony product formulations.
Watch the full video interview above to learn more about the Code of Harmony brand and Skin Lab, to hear why spa retail is a valuable channel for indie brands, to find out which ingredient supply companies Schriever checked in with at the recent California Society of Cosmetic Chemists Suppliers’ Day tradeshow, and more!
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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.
