Founder Jordan Samuel on launching less products

He has grown, since then, but remained small, which he calls, a “badge of honor.” The brand is beloved by leading skin care influencers like Caroline Hirons (776,000 Instagram followers). It is primarily DTC but is carried at the fast facial bar, Formula Fig, as well as C.O. Bigelow, and available to international customers via Cult Beauty.

In this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, he discusses his unique trajectory from ballet dancer to brand founder, the autonomy he’s been able to maintain by being carefully selective with retail partnerships, and staying small, and why launching less makes a big difference.

Below are highlights from the episode, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

Ballet to beauty brand founder

“In a previous life, I was a former professional ballet dancer. And people always ask, ‘How did you get into skin?’ For me, it was organic, because I was wearing really heavy, thick stage makeup, sweating, rolling around on the floor, touching my face. So I was constantly getting facials, really early on to get my skin back on track and became fascinated with esthetics and facials and skin care and what was working and what wasn’t. So after a few injuries, after retiring from the ballet, I got my esthetics license in 2010 and then started the skin care line in 2013. [It] is truly a combination of dealing with what I dealt with in the ballet, which was always trying to keep a really smooth, calm, even tone, so it looked great under makeup. It looked great on stage, but then also what I saw every day in the treatment room. And we are now 11 years into Jordan Samuel Skin.”

The autonomy that comes with staying small

“There is sort of a uniqueness and a quirkiness to remaining small. But for us, I really wanted to prioritize my vision and the products I wanted to bring out — even if it was something that flopped, it was something that I just had to bring out. And I know that in traditional big box retailers, sometimes they drive the ship a little bit. They’re telling brands what ingredients to use or what products they have to come out with. It’s not exactly that they’re helping to formulate, but they’ll say, ‘We want X, Y and Z moisturizer, or X, Y and Z cleanser.’ Being from a creative background and this being an eponymous brand, I was like, ‘That’s never going to work well for me.’ So, for the most part, we have just maintained our The Little Engine That Could because we’re small but mighty, and we’re doing it, and we’re making it work, but we’re doing it without looking into big box retailers. I want all retail partnerships, whatever they are, to be manageable and to be a true partnership. I want to be able to give back to the retailer. I also expect them to give back to us — I want it to be a true partnership.”

Launching less

“Launches, and any brand would say this, they’ve just become more expensive, whether it’s the minimums … it’s not earth-shattering news to hear that raw materials are more expensive, packaging is more expensive, shipping is more expensive, marketing is more expensive. [Everything is] is more expensive. You’re trying to keep up with everyone — all these launch events, sending out PR, you have this over saturation of launches. Even a really big launch doesn’t have the same energy and momentum behind it that it used to in say, 2020, 2021, even 2022. So, we did not strategically launch three products last year, but one was delayed … it was this moment in time where it was like, let’s just do it. But it almost killed us. So this year we are looking to launch one, maybe two, which I know[might not seem like] that big of a difference, but honestly, it sort of is, [given] the amount of time and effort and energy from the team — especially [because] our launches just happened to be fairly close together last year. It was a bit much to take on. … We’re really looking to slow down the cadence of new launches — for many reasons.”