This is an episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the beauty and wellness industries. More from the series →
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CPG disruptors have entered just about every legacy category over the past few years in hopes of capturing bored consumers looking for more interesting everyday products.
We’ve seen this play out across dandruff shampoo, toothpaste and mouth wash, supplements, sunscreen, and, most recently, the allergy aisle.
“We did a ton of consumer work up front, probably too much, pulling research reports, data and our own survey of 600 consumers, and what we realized was that there is a huge experience and efficacy gap,” Loren Lucree, the CEO and founder of 9-month-old allergy-care brand Wizard Wellness, told Glossy. “[We found that] only 7% were loyal to their current solutions, which is bananas. … [The] lesson is nobody’s writing love letters to Flonase or Zyrtec.”
Lucree is a beauty industry veteran formulator and executive. His CV includes Unilever and Estée Lauder brands. “One morning I woke up and told my poor husband, ‘I have to do this,’ … because somebody else will do it if I don’t,” Lucree said. “[I thought], ‘I have this amazing beauty network around me, and now’s the time’.”
Lucree secured $7 million in funding from True Beauty Ventures, G9 Ventures, Able Partners and The Venture Collective to launch Wizard Wellness via a DTC model in January. The brand is built on a beauty industry playbook, including cleaner ingredients, clear positioning, clinical testing, a dynamic OOH advertising funnel and social-first marketing.
Now, just nine months post-launch, Wizard Wellness has entered CVS, Walmart and, as of Monday, Target stores.
Glossy West Coast correspondent Lexy Lebsack sat down with Lucree to learn firsthand how he took on allergy incumbents and what it’ll take to become a leader in the space.
On turning allergy care into a beauty category
“It’s so fascinating what [Jolie founder] Ryan [Babenzien] did with Jolie. I [talk] over and over again about how he got people to think about a showerhead, of all things, as hair health, and to me, that’s the ultimate. He did such a great job with consumer claims and education, and to me, if I can get people to think about allergy as beauty, … People will adopt things for different reasons, but vanity is a strong, powerful one. … A beauty retailer [for us] would be like Erewhon. To me, that signals the allergy-beauty link. … That’s a really cool place to be.”
On including retailers at the right moment in R&D
“It was a fully baked concept with enough runway to have their fingerprints on it. So, having years of working with Sephora, which I just think of as an amazing brand partner in the way that they work upstream with brands, and seeing the value that they add — they know their consumers backward and forward, and they are the experts. And so I wanted the same for Wizard. … I wanted to get in front of these retailers as quickly as possible to be able to shape whether it’s packaging or messaging or how we’re showing up, or whatever it might be. And so, yes. … We were able to get in front of them. I think one of my first retailer meetings was February of 2025. … They bought into the branding, they bought into the whole idea, etc. … The packaging was really where we focused and getting that retail-ready.”
On competing with allergy aisle incumbents
“We did a ton of consumer work up front — probably too much, just pulling research reports, data … [and] our own survey, as well, of 600 consumers. And what we realized was … there is a huge experience and efficacy gap. Almost 80% of consumers are looking for a better experience — so, no burning or no side effects — and almost 84% were looking for improved efficacy. So, it was almost neck-and-neck. … And only 7% were loyal to their current solutions, which is bananas. You would never find that in skin care. … So, [the] lesson is nobody’s writing love letters to Flonase or Zerotech or whatever. God bless them. So it’s just the necessary evil of what [consumers] had, what they’re left with.”
