Macrene Actives Is Now Available at Sephora – WWD

Macrene Actives has a new retail partner.

The skin care brand — among the first to boast both “clean” ingredients and clinical backing — is teaming up with Sephora, where it will launch online Tuesday. The assortment will consist of a Sephora-exclusive range called the Skin+Earth Collection, which includes a face cream, a serum, a cleanser, an eye cream and a non-injectable “lip filler.” Prices range from $95 to $225.

The brand was founded by Dr. Macrene Alexiades, a New York-based dermatologist who holds three Harvard degrees.

The products include glass packaging, uncoated paper boards and vegetable inks, as well as wood caps for the lids and jars that are completely devoid of plastic. “I took this [partnership] as an opportunity to take my vision for clean beauty to the next level,” Alexiades said. “I had solidified the clean, active ingredients well and fine in my formulations… I’ve made whole the second pillar of my vision.”

Though her innovation pipeline is robust — she recently debuted her first body care range — Alexiades does not take new launches lightly. “Some of these other brands have 40 [stock keeping units]. I don’t do that,” she said. “I have eight, nine skus that are highly concentrated and packed with actives because it’s less energy waste, less physical packaging waste, and maximal results. I teach that less is more, quality over quantity.”

Macrene Actives has robust distribution with department stores and with online retailers, such as Moda Operandi and Violet Grey. Her partnership with Sephora comes at a time when specialty beauty retailers are amping up their luxury offerings — last week, Ulta Beauty unveiled its revamped luxury assortment in an effort to attract Gen Z spend.

“I’m attracting a younger and younger demographic — people in their 20s and 30s,” Alexiades said. “They recognize the truth to the quality of what I’m doing, they’re not just looking at the next shiny object… they care about the Earth as much as their own health. Skin+Earth is really going to reverberate with this younger consumer.”

To that end, the products each contain 50 active ingredients, some of which are certified organic. “I have my supply chain locked down, and I’m pricing out glass and wood lids — [the price] gets up there,” Alexiades said. “My tinted moisturizer lasts six months; my clients could have gone through 10 other bottles of another product by now… that’s the generosity and height of excellent craftsmanship.”

Alexiades didn’t comment on sales, but industry sources estimate the brand to reach between $2 million and $3 million in sales for 2023.

“The business is healthy, it’s strong and the sky’s the limit,” she said. “We really want to make a difference, I don’t want people to think this is a get-rich-quick thing, where I’m going to sell the business and go [retire]. I am in it to make a difference on this Earth.”