One beauty veteran is looking beyond the parameters of the industry’s four key categories.
Lorne Lucree, consultant and seasoned executive, is bringing beauty’s playbook to wellness — more specifically, allergies — which he believes to be the two sectors’ next point of convergence. His brand, Wizard Wellness, launches Thursday on its website with sinus rinses, nasal sprays, nasal sticks and oral strips, plus bundles around routines with each. Prices for the individual products range from $14.99 to $22.99. It is also rolling out to Amazon, TikTok Shop and an ensuing in-store rollout with Walmart in August.
“My career hasn’t been linear, on purpose, because I’m super curious about all the parts and pieces of product,” said Lucree. “I love how consumers interact with product, specifically beauty, because it’s so emotional.”
His a-ha moment came from thinking about his own seasonal allergies through a beauty lens — “I’m puffy-faced, my skin is dehydrated, my eyes are bloodshot. The concealer doesn’t work and the skin care doesn’t work,” he said, and that’s where he identified room for market disruption. “There’s this disconnect between the product piece and the allergies, and when I used a product that was interesting, I read the ingredients and saw it read like a face mist’s,” he continued. “It led me down this rabbit hole of mood, gut, and all the other categories getting disrupted. And for some reason, nobody has touched allergy.”
Industry sources estimate the range to hit between $5 million and $6 million in first-year sales. In addition to Lucree’s anticipated consumer demand, there’s investor appetite as well, with the brand boasting backing from True Beauty Ventures, Able Partners, G9 Ventures and The Venture Collective.
The products themselves utilize ingredients that Lorne has used in various beauty roles at the likes of the Estée Lauder Cos., Unilever Prestige and Luxury Brand Partners. “Take licorice root extract, which you see all the time as a brightening ingredient in formulations. It can help with hyperpigmentation because it’s anti-inflammatory, and it performs the same function when used in nasal care,” he said.
Other key trends in beauty are dribbling into the allergy space, such as the microbiome buzz. “It’s emerging in terms of the science and validating it, but we’re hearing from our retail partners that this is on the innovation roadmaps of larger CPGs and pharma companies. We will be first to market,” Lucree said.
He also noted allergies’ role in holistic well-being, and how that’s played into the brand’s positioning. “When your skin is itchy, it affects how you sleep. When your face is puffy, you’re not looking good. It’s all those different things it holistically affects,” Lucree said. “The purpose with Wizard is to connect the dots and make people think about allergies differently as part of a wellness routine. When you’re washing your face, I want you washing your nose as well.”
