Social media is increasingly serving not just as a sales and awareness driver, but also as a product ideation and development engine.
That was obvious in the lead-up to Thayer’s newest product launch, the $14.99 Hydrating Milky Mist, which is currently available for pre-sale on Amazon and will be widely released on May 1. The product page went live on March 23, and within 24 hours, it had become Amazon’s No. 1 new beauty release of the week, based on sales, according to the brand.
The idea for the product was initiated back on June 5, 2025, when Nina Pool (6.2 million TikTok followers; 621,000 Instagram followers) posted a TikTok tagging fellow creator Shelby Ann Bell (2.2 million TikTok followers; 213,000 Instagram followers), a professional makeup artist.
In the post, Pool referenced the buzzy One/Size Powder Melt Glass Setting Spray. “I said, ‘You know, I feel like Thayer’s already has this product, but it’s not sprayable,'” Pool said. “I was drawn to some of the new viral skin-care products because they were sprayable and touchless. I have autism, so anything that is going onto my hands and then going onto my face is a complete nightmare.”
Pool tapped Bell to try spraying Thayer’s existing Milky Toner on her face, to see whether it was, indeed, a dupe. Bell took Pool’s assignment seriously and headed to the drugstore that same day.
She mixed Thayer’s existing milky toner, which came in a squeeze bottle, with water and poured it into the empty spray bottle of another Thayer’s product. The existing product was too thick to mist from a spray bottle. From there, Bell said, both creators’ communities quickly became vocal. “They were like, ‘We want this.’ They were in the comment sections,” she said. What followed, she said, was an organic conversation with the brand and both creators’ communities online.
According to Stacey Goldstein, vp of marketing at Thayers, the brand is “constantly monitoring the social conversation and chatter” about Thayer’s. When the team saw Bell’s post, they moved quickly, posting a video the same day asking, “Should we make a milky mist?” The post garnered more than 15,000 likes and nearly 1,000 comments, many of which called for a Bell and Pool collaboration.
So, Thayer’s got to work.
Goldstein noted that Pool and Bell had both organically posted about the brand even before the viral DIY mist videos and had already developed authentic relationships with Thayer’s. “How we operate on Thayer’s has really shifted away from, ‘How can we pay creators to post about us who have never talked about us before?’ … In this creator economy, consumers have wised up, and that just never comes off as authentic,” she said. The brand now starts with creators who are already genuine fans.
Thayer’s tapped the duo as brand consultants for the launch they had ideated. The team brought the creators to its New Jersey-based lab and shot campaign content with them to promote the new product. Though the formula was not co-formulated with Pool and Bell, they were given the opportunity to give their “final blessing” on it, Goldstein said. Pool’s description of the mist as “touchless” made it onto the front of the bottle.
Pool and Bell have also been involved in the go-to-market strategy and have posted about the launch as brand partners. On Thursday, Thayer’s will co-host an intimate launch event with the duo to celebrate the launch alongside their family, friends and the brand’s closest creator friendlies.
The beauty community has embraced not just Pool and Bell individually, but also their friendship. “Our [fans] call us the black cat and the golden retriever,” Bell said, referring to their contrasting aesthetic vibes. Both creators noted that Thayer’s stands out for embracing a wide range of creators, rather than a single type or look.
“I have a very hard time trusting companies,” Pool said. “I’m a big ‘No’ person, but [with Thayer’s] I just felt like this was going to be done correctly.”
“You’re so used to seeing brand trips where one type of person is invited and included, but when you look at a dinner that Thayer’s is putting on, you have everybody under the sun from every single community,” she added, noting that being inclusive naturally expands the brand’s reach.
Bell recalled attending a Thayer’s dinner where creators previewed the Milky Hydrating Mist. “We were sitting together in the corner of the room watching everyone open their box and get to feel this for the first time. That was such a surreal moment, because you’ve got your mature skin, you have your black and brown creators, you have your male creators, you have your skin-care creators, you have your makeup creators — you have everyone in the same room trying this product for the first time. I think it finally clicked for both of us that this is actually happening,” she said.
