Swiss skin care brand Alchimie Forever is looking to broaden its horizons.
Launched in 2004 by Ada Polla, daughter of Forever Institut founder and dermatologist Dr. Luigi Polla, the company is branching into the lip category for the first time with the introduction of its Peptide Lip Booster.
But the expansion signifies more than a category foray for Alchimie Forever. The brand’s first new product launch in four years, the hydrating and plumping lip treatment is part of a broader mission to boost Alchimie Forever’s profile among its target Millennial and Gen X consumers.
“It’s an important launch for us because we’re almost thinking of it as Alchimie Forever coming out of the bathroom,” said Ada Polla, who is also chief executive officer of the brand. “We’re a skin care line, and we’ve always lived in the intimacy of your bathroom vanity; it’s been very private. With this product, we’re hoping to have Alchimie be more visible — this is a product you take with you when you leave the house, that you reapply throughout the day in public.”
Alchimie Forever Peptide Lip Booster
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Launching Thursday for $29, the lip treatment taps ingredients such as Sederma’s maxi-lip and volulip; vitamin B3-derived methyl nicotinate, edelweiss, peptides and shea butter in an aim to smooth and firm lips. It joins Alchimie Forever’s portfolio of anti-inflammatory skin and body care offerings, many of which have been developed for post-procedure use.
“All of our new product development starts with my father, Dr. Luigi and Forever Institut — that’s our ground zero,” said Polla, who is based in the U.S. though her family operates three Forever Institut medspa locations across Switzerland. The first location opened its doors in Geneva in 1997 with a focus on laser treatments, and the clinic has since expanded its purview to include botox and filler injections; facials and peels; body sculpting treatments, and cosmetic procedures including facelifts.
“We’ve had the idea to do something for lips for about two years: lips were all over social media, our patients at Forever Institut were getting more and more lip injections done, and the idea was to create a product that would be a natural extension to the rise of injectables and lip fillers,” said Polla, adding the product falls in line with her father’s ethos of “helping you look the age you feel.”
The Polla family’s Forever Institut medspa, which opened its first doors in 1997 and operates three locations in Switzerland.
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The product launches direct-to-consumer and at select medspas and pharmacies across Switzerland and the U.S., which is the brand’s core market. Alchimie Forever’s DTC website is its largest sales driver, and the brand reports 60 percent of purchases made via the site are by returning customers. The brand is projected by industry sources to reach $4 million in net sales in 2025.
“We have an extremely loyal base, and that’s definitely one of our assets; where we have opportunity to grow is in bringing out products to a larger audience,” said Polla, who hired the brand’s first vice president of marketing late last fall to get the Lip Booster launch off the ground.
“We’re focused on growing our social channels — TikTok and Instagram but also Facebook, which is where our target Gen X and Millennial customer is,” Polla said. “The core of our sales comes from OGs — our Kantic collection and so on — but newness creates energy, and that’s especially important for a 21-year-old brand. We’re proud of our longevity, and we want to continually create energy and excitement.”
