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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After more than seven years in business, Angela Caglia Skincare is having its hockey stick moment.
“Our sales are up 437% in the past year,” founder Angela Caglia told Glossy. “We’ll finish this year at close to $4 million [in sales] and around 90% of that will be the Cell Forté Serum; it’s all we’re promoting.”
Since launching the hero product in October 2023, the brand’s Cell Forté Serum has garnered several beauty industry awards from publications like Elle, Byrdie, TZR and Essence, and sold out three times on Violet Grey. And it was the catalyst for the brand’s expansion into Nordstrom last month.
Caglia’s focus now is keeping the serum in stock, and she hopes to expand the franchise next year with face and eye creams. The serum retails for $395 for 1 ounce.
The serum’s value proposition rests on its ability to replace antioxidant and hydrating serums, like those focused on vitamin C and hyaluronic acid, as well as exfoliating products and retinols, Caglia told Glossy.
The brand leads marketing materials with results from a 28-day clinical study where nearly all participants (87-91%) reported less hyperpigmentation, increased luminosity, improved skin elasticity and a more youthful appearance.
The serum is powered by “human-derived adipose mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) conditioned media,” a technology Caglia discovered when researching treatment options for her mother’s ongoing treatment of dementia. Today, she sources the material from a stem cell research lab based in Texas that specializes in stem cell banking and FDA-cleared clinical trials, she told Glossy.
MSC-conditioned media is sourced from fat, called adipose tissue, which is donated by young and healthy plastic surgery patients and then processed in a lab. As Caglia explained in the latest Glossy Podcast episode, the stem cells are removed from the tissue and placed in a human-like environment where they excrete growth factors, cytokines and proteins, which are then used in the serum. The stem cells, which hold the patient’s DNA, are removed before the broth goes into the serum.
Growth factors are a bit like little emails: They tell the other cells how to regenerate and act younger, which we don’t fully understand yet. Caglia is only one of very few brands playing in this space. Whereas there are many brands — like Eighth Day and Dr Diamond Metacine — that offer “bio-identical copies” of growth factors, few brands offer human-derived versions of growth factors.
According to market research company Spate, growth factors are a rising trend in online searches alongside skin care, with an average of more than 32,000 Google searches per month over the past year, marking a notable +202.7% surge.
Caglia joins the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss her new hero product, Cell Forté, as well as her journey to the brand’s hockey stick moment. Excerpts from the conversation, below, have been lightly edited for clarity.
On creating human-derived adipose mesenchymal stem cell conditioned media
“What we’re doing is taking one teaspoon of adipose tissue … done by a plastic surgeon, and it’s sent in from healthy, consenting adults. One teaspoon of adipose tissue of fat during liposuction procedures is sent to my clinical research stem cell research lab.
“They’re able to extract the stem cells, and then they create body-like conditions, and they grow and duplicate the stem cells, and they drink and excrete what I’ll call a broth or culture, which is also called ‘condition media.’ … This liquid has all of the magic that the stem cells produce naturally in our body. What happens is those are able to go in and repair the damage topically from your skin and are able to regenerate, just like it would within your body, but in a topical manner.”
On hockey stick growth
“This is really our franchise. It is a hockey stick. Our sales are up 437% in the past year. We’ll finish this year at close to $4 million … and that’s, like, 90% Cell Forté, because that’s all we’re promoting. It’s transformed the business. We’ll do $500,000 this month — $300,000 in direct-to-consumer and $200,000 in wholesale. It will be our biggest month in the history. … It’s unbelievable.”
