It seems like all great beauty brands blow up virtually overnight. One day you hear about them and the next, they’re suddenly everywhere. Although this idea of overnight success couldn’t be further from the truth, it’s a testament to how incredible the visionary behind the brand is. Amy Liu is exactly that for Tower 28 Beauty. She’s the powerhouse founder that took the idea for a clean but fun beauty brand and made it come to life.
Amy has an impressive marketing background, having worked for some of the top beauty brands including Smashbox, Josie Maran and Kate Sommerville. Take one look at her branding and it’s pretty obvious that Amy knows a thing or two about standing out in a competitive market.
We talked with Amy about everything from why clean beauty to how her perspective has changed since having kids. She dishes on the secret ingredient that made her number one product and what’s up next for Tower 28.
AL
It sounds cliché but it’s true — once you get pregnant, you start feeling very aware and responsible for what you put on your body and in your bloodstream. For my kids, I tried to make sure they ate local and organic, but even though I live a decently healthy lifestyle, the cost differential held me back from doing those things for myself. Then one day I was wearing a liquid lipstick and my daughter wanted to kiss me in hopes of getting it to transfer to her own lips. I remember so vividly how much I did NOT want her to have that on her lips, but then I thought — wait, I’m eating it! That moment, plus working at Josie Maran Cosmetics (which was an early pioneer of clean beauty), made me realize how important clean beauty is since it is currently so poorly regulated.
AL
As an ingredient, hypochlorous acid has been around forever. In fact, hospitals have been known to use it for wound care because of its soothing, antimicrobial, and healing properties. The issue with it historically has been its stability, so the shelf life was questionable. I got turned onto hypochlorous acid by a friend who heard about it and recommended it because of my eczema. My team and I scoured labs to find someone who could make it stable, and once we found someone, tested different pH and concentration levels. Once we found a formula that worked on my skin, both face and body, we got 100 bottles to send out to anyone who was willing. The feedback was amazing, and we heard testimonials about how it helped to instantly calm redness, destress and help heal a myriad of skin issues — from acne to sunburn, post-procedure (lasers, etc), piercings and tattoos, etc. It’s really through testimonials and reviews that we have learned so much about what the product does. Speaking for myself, not until I started using SOS has my skin ever been so reliable. I still get bouts of eczema, but SOS stops it in its tracks, and I haven’t used any oral or topical steroids since I started using it… which says a lot!