Indie Beauty Profile
Stephanie Additon, JAVA Skin Care
Many food and beverage trends evolve into personal care and cosmetic trends. For instance, the LVMH brand Fresh has a Vitamin Nectar line, Bite Beauty products are made with organic ingredients said to be good enough to eat, and countless skin care brands have products like body butters in their portfolios.
Now, it’s fair to say that coffee as a beverage is much more than a trend. So perhaps it will come as no surprise when one day skin care derived from coffee garners great success and becomes something of a national obsession.
Here, beauty entrepreneur Stephanie Additon shares a profile of herself and the JAVA Skin Care brand.
Name: Stephanie Additon, Founder/President/CEO
Indie Beauty Company: JAVA Skin Care
Launched: September 2013
Headquarters: North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Cash flow: Our first JAVA Skin Care products were released in October, 2013. Since then, our annual sales have doubled each year.
Team work: 3 full-time employees and 4 part-time
Distribution: JAVA Skin Care is sold across the country in independent boutiques, online at our website as well as other web-based stores, and is used in treatments as well as retailed at spas across the country.
Years in beauty: 4
Years at JAVA Skin Care: 4
Entrepreneurial experience: Before deciding to start JAVA, I opened a coffee roasting company and cafe with my husband. My experiences at the cafe with direct customer service, back-end management, and of course the extensive learning I did about coffee are what the JAVA brand grew out of. We still own the shop where it all started.
The business: It began with an exquisite cup of coffee from our family-owned coffee roasting company. It was here that we found the unlikely intersection of coffee and beauty; a new kind of JAVA, this time to be savored by the skin. Our line of all natural skin care products harness the rejuvenating properties of organic green coffee, one of nature's most powerful sources of antioxidants and caffeine.
The wow-factor: JAVA Skin Care is an all-natural line of Organic Green Coffee Infused face and body care. All of our products are centered around our hero ingredient, Smithsonian Certified Green Coffee for its high content of organic caffeine and antioxidants. Every ingredient we use is specially selected to meet our high standards of efficacy and sustainability, and to heal, protect and nourish the skin. All of our products are formulated for all skin types, and are incredibly gentle, making them great for consumers with sensitive skin.
The customer: Our favorite customer is a woman who knows she wants to stay away from toxic chemicals but still wants her skin care to be luxurious and effective. We love ingredient readers! But we formulate our skin care for all skin types, so it's great for the whole family.
Milestone moment: We have received multiple awards this past year for our skin care that we are super proud of, but launching our line with Lord & Taylor has been really exciting. Working with such a well-known national retailer feels like we have taken an important next step for the brand.
Advice for fellow indie beauty entrepreneurs: Surround yourself with people who are smarter then you, and then build your team with the ones you trust. None of us do this by ourselves! You always need strong, supportive team members by your side to help you through the tough days and to celebrate the victories with you.
Just one: It has to be our JAVA Body Serum. I use it every day for locking in moisture all over my body and face and even use it to take off my makeup at the end of the day. I can't live without!