To kick off Skin Cancer Awareness Month, skin-care brand EltaMD has expanded its UV Clear and UV Daily collections to include Deep Tint iterations of the bestselling products.
Inclusive shade ranges in beauty have long been a point of contention, and in sun care, that’s been amplified. According to research from Boston Medical, 62% of tinted sunscreen products are only available in one shade, excluding consumers with medium and deep skin tones. Statista predicts the sun-care market will be worth $13.6 billion by 2028.
With more consumers demanding a wider range of shades, beauty brands across categories have been rapidly expanding their collections, but not every brand has gotten it right. Case in point is the 3-year-old Gen-Z beauty brand Youthforia, which recently came under fire for attempting to extend its foundation collection to include medium-deep to deep shades. Beauty creator Golloria’s TikTok video reviewing the brand’s darkest shade, which she compared to black face paint, now has 2.7 million likes and 32.8 million views.
In the last decade, several sun-care brands and products have launched to cater to darker skin, including Black Girl Sunscreen and Mele No Shade Sunscreen Oil. In 2020, tennis legend Venus Williams’s activewear brand EleVen by Venus Williams expanded into the sun-care category with two SKUs developed for all skin types and tones.
“Deeper skin tones are under-acknowledged within the [sun-care] market,” said Echo Sandburg, chief brand officer of CP Skin Health, parent company of EltaMD. “Compared to Black [dermatology] patients, white patients are more likely to be counseled about SPF usage. … We saw it as our duty to provide a solution for everybody and not to overcomplicate things with 16-20 shades.”
To formulate the Deep Tint shade, EltaMD created what it’s named Invisible Blend Technology, a patent-pending process leveraging a specific ratio of iron oxides. The brand then tested the resulting formula on 156 women over the age of 18 and with skin types 5 and 6 on the Fitzpatrick scale, which factors the amount of melanin pigment in the skin.
“The goal was to find the ideal ratio [of iron oxides] that will blend into your skin and allow you to look natural without a white cast and without looking artificially too dark,” said Devon Cocuzza, a principal scientist at CP Skin Health. “Higher Fitzpatricks are more prone to hyperpigmentation, and adding iron oxides is one of the most proven ways to mitigate that.”
Currently, the Deep Tint products are only available in medspas, plastic surgeons’ offices and dermatologist offices and on EltaMD’s e-commerce site. On May 13, they’ll roll out to its online retail partners, including Dermstore, SkinStore, LovelySkin and Amazon. The products retail for $41-$45.
To promote the new products, the brand will focus on education, influencer campaigns and a sports sponsorship, Sandburg said.
Coinciding with the products’ launch, EltaMD will sponsor the Melanoma Research Foundation’s #GetNaked campaign featuring Raheem Mostert, a running back for the Miami Dolphins. The purpose of the campaign, which will live across both companies’ social platforms, is to encourage consumers to regularly visit the dermatologist. The campaign will also be featured on a Times Square billboard for wider brand awareness.
Additionally, EltaMD teamed with a suite of dermatologist influencers of color, including Dr. Adeline Kikam, Dr. Corey Hartman, Dr. Laura Scott, Dr. Mara Weinstein, Dr. Nkem Ugonabo and Dr. Caroline Robinson. The dermatologists will educate their audiences about skin cancer prevention while also promoting the new products on their social platforms and in-office. In addition, EltaMD enlisted a handful of lifestyle influencers to create paid content about the products.
EltaMD will also prioritize product sampling. “We want people, especially people of color, to try it because that’s where the magic happens,” Sandburg said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, EltaMD announced it is the official 2024 sunscreen partner for Major League Pickleball. Through the sponsorship, the brand will provide free sunscreen at all MLP events throughout the year and produce dedicated social, digital and experiential programming. It also signed a one-year deal with pickleball pro Parris Todd, making her EltaMD’s first-ever athlete ambassador.
Consumer products company Colgate-Palmolive Company, parent company of CP Skin Health, acquired EltaMD in 2017. Colgate-Palmolive Company’s first-quarter 2024 earnings reported in April showed net sales of $5.07 billion, up 6% year-over-year.
