ABI AMÉ, a new body care brand, aims to revolutionize skincare by introducing high-performance products specifically designed for the body. By incorporating nourishing and effective ingredients typically reserved for facial skincare, ABI AMÉ seeks to address a neglected aspect of self-care. Inspired by founder Yasmin Zeinab's dedication to her community, the brand actively listened to their needs and recognized the importance of nourishing the body. Through extensive research, Yasmin gained valuable insights into the challenges faced by women when caring for their bodies. As a result, ABI AMÉ introduced their groundbreaking product, Summer Skin, a serum-lotion hybrid that is the first of its kind for body care. We spoke to Yasmin about inspirations, the importance of high-performing body care products, and Summer Skin.
What was your personal relationship with body care growing up?
I saw my mother and grandma prioritizing and ritualizing their body care routines growing up, so body care was instilled in me from an earlier age. It’s something I’ve always bonded over with the women in my family, and I’m so excited to now be able to share that through ABI AMÉ. The brand is named after my mother, and we’ve included a subtle nod to my grandma in one of our next products!
What gaps did you see in the skincare industry that you wanted to fill with ABI AMÉ?
In creating ABI AMÉ, I spoke to 1,000 women about their body care routines. I learned about their unaddressed needs and pain points in their body care routines. It became clear that there are huge gaps in the body care space. The type of products we need as a collective don’t exist, so I set out to create them.
We’re filling two main gaps as a brand. We're creating face-grade products for the body using active ingredients typically not found in body care products. Body care has been overlooked for a long time, and there is a real gap in the quality of products available for the face compared to the body.
Then, we’re going one step further by creating products to solve specific body care pain points for which there hasn’t been a solution until now. Our first product Summer Skin is a great example of how we fill these two gaps. It’s a serum-lotion hybrid with a unique formula that includes active ingredients typically only found in products for the face, and it solves a specific problem our community told us they experience. That moment in the summer when the body lotion they’ve applied starts sweating off their skin in the heat. We like to say it’s body care like you’ve never seen it before!
Could you talk about the way that body care has been historically overlooked?
The body care category has been stagnant for a long time, and there’s been very little product innovation. In part, that’s been driven by consumer behavior, we’ve historically been more focused on our faces than our bodies, but that’s starting to change. As a collective, we’re starting to pay more attention to our bodies, realizing that our skin neck down needs the same attention as our face.
What challenges did you face when developing your products and building the brand?
Packaging was a major challenge for us. Much like body care formulas, body care packaging hasn’t been much innovation. We wanted to package our products in airless pumps to preserve the integrity of the formulas and to ensure that all the product is used (traditional pumps require you to cut the bottle open to using that last ⅓ of the product). At the time we were making our first product, this type of packaging didn’t exist for body care!
What are the main benefits of your product Summer Skin?
It improves the health of your skin for the long term. Summer Skin has a hardworking formula of deeply hydrating and nourishing ingredients that repair your skin barrier for healthier, hydrated skin in the long term. Its hero ingredients are saccharide isomerate (we like to call it hyaluronic acid’s more effective cousin), niacinamide, vitamin B5, and oat extract.
The best part about this product is that it’s super hydrating without being heavy or greasy. It’s a serum-lotion hybrid, which means that it hydrates like a rich nourishing lotion but feels like a barely-there, fast-absorbing serum. It’s the perfect body care product for summer, it leaves no sticky residue and won’t sweat off your skin in the heat!
How do you want your customers to feel when they use your products?
So far, the reaction to our first product has been, “Finally!” and that’s exactly how I want our customers to feel – like they’ve finally found the body care product they need! Our products spark this feeling because everything we do starts with our community. We make the products they tell us they need rather than using them as a sounding board or testing group to validate our product ideas. Everyday women make ABI AMÉ and our products for everyday life.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
We’re big on community at ABI AMÉ. We call our community our AMIES (friends in French, and that’s because that’s what we are, it’s not your standard brand community - I’ve had women from our community sleep on my sofa bed in Paris!). Everything we do starts with them. We’re an ever-growing collective of people worldwide, and everyone is welcome to join us; our door is always open!
Comments