Episode 6: Katonya Breaux - Unsun Cosmetics with BestViewsReviews

Apurv : Welcome to the Product Life. So if you would have heard our episode this week we had Debora from Bel Essence she was in cosmetics as well, today we have another founder from cosmetics, we have Katonya, she’s the founder of Unsun cosmetics, she is based in LA and her products are listed on Amazon and they are performing really well. So for our listeners who might not be aware of unsun, could you give us a brief outline?

Katonya : Ofcourse and we’re also sold on Amazon but we’re sold at so many other stores CVS, Bluming dales, Macys and the list goes on so you can find us anywhere and so Unsun was created to provide a clean mineral based sunscreen option for originally people of color like myself of course and for all skintones. There are over 80% of the sunscreens on the shelves that the stores are all chemical actives which we are discovering more and more just aren’t good for the person or the environment so wanted to make using mineral sunscreen easier and not have to do with the white cast or the ghostly white residue and that’s what we do.

Apurv : That sounds quite interesting so how did you come up with this idea?

Katonya : Well I needed to buy sunscreen and I discovered this late in life in my thirties when I started getting these moles on my face that I found were not genetic and I discovered through my dermatologist that it was sun damage. It was really shocking because I didnt believe that black people are people are of color in general needed sunscreen so I went and got a tube of sunscreen and I went through so many different tubes, they were irritating to my eyes and my skin, I hated the chemical smell and it took me a while to discover a mineral sunscreen which did not do any of those things. The problem was that it left a thick white residue on my face so I decided fast forward many years later to build a brand created products made of mineral that would not leave that thick white layers of residue on your face and that was also clean.

Apurv : Got it, so how did you manage to create this product?

Katonya : A little but of trial and error because sunscreen as many people know and many don’t is considered an over the counter product so its heavily regulated by the FDA and you can’t just make it and sell it like you would a face cream or an eye cream so I had this learning course so I had to hire consultants to tell me how to do the drug labels and what size the fonts needed to be on the tube, it was a bit of work but we got it done.

Apurv : Wow, seems like a TDS task, so how has the journey been so far? In terms of success, sales?

Katonya : Its been really great, its been you know the universe, I always say the universe loves Unsun because we’ve never had to go and seek out a store for our retailer, they’ve all come to us and people who try the product really love it, its gotten really great reviews. We launched with one scew and now we have 11 scews across 2 lines, a mass line and a prestige line so we’re happy, yeah its good.

Apurv : So what is the key differentiator?

Katonya : Mineral one, making a formulation and attempt that all skintones can use. Many of the sunscreens on the market when I started were not tinted with my skintone in mind so they made me look grey or lavender and its important for people of color to have a product that they can use and they can feel comfortable, thats good for them, that doesn’t make them look crazy and so that’s what differentiates Unsun with different sunscreens on the market that address the needs of people on the market on we’re very proud of that.

Apurv : Interesting, so have you faced any difficulty in developing this brand?

Katonya : Well there are always difficulties, if you open a tshirt company you’re gonna have difficulties, with us its a little more intense because we are so regulated and we have to use a certain kind of tool when we have to put certain things into certain places of the tubes. So its a little more challenging for us and it continues to be marketing as a little challenging because the algorithms change every 5 seconds so we’re constantly having doubt to those changes. Getting the word out to all the people that this brand is for everyone, if you have skin, you need sunscreen so of course there are challenges that continue you to push through.

Apurv : So how do you deal with quality control and marketing challenges?

Katonya : I do quality control, I oversee all the ingredients, I oversee all the formulas and there are certain ingredients that I would not have in any of my products and so marketing challenges we just hire a new marketing firm, we just hire a new agency to do marketing for our ads so we just keep evolving, keep looking for the best people to help us figure this ever changing world out.

Apurv : And what are your plans for the future? Are you planning on launching Sqs, expanding to more stores?

Katonya : Always, always. We’re launching 2 new Sqs later this year and we’ll just continue to evolve and create new and different products so hopefully people would just layer on sunscreen like put on my sunscreen then maybe add a little highlighter with SPF or maybe put on a little lip blam with SPF because the more protected you are the better it is for your skin.

Apurv : Are you planning on expanding globally as well?

Katonya : Yes we have our NPN numbers in Canada so we’re selling in Canada now and we’re undergoing compliance in the EU and the UK as we speak to be completed in the next month of june.

Apurv : And how big is your team currently?

Katonya : There are six of us so we’re small but mighty.

Apurv : That’s a good number. So these were all the questions that I had. Thank Katonya. So for our users who are looking for a sunscreen BestViewsReviews has recently launched a new product magic which lets actually see the challenges, great value players, rising stars and leaders in any category that you want. So if you’re looking any gifts for thanksgiving do go to our website BestViewsReviews and check out the categories, check out the best products in each category. Katonya do you have a promo code that you could probably share with us?

Katonya : Yeah so use Product Life to get 15% off.

Apurv : Wow that’s nice and where can they apply this promo code?

Katonya : On our website, unsuncosmetics.com

Apurv : Got it so you heard it so you can go to the website and apply the promo code and we have a special guest for you on thanksgiving next week so stay tuned and follow along, thak you for listening.