In September, Heyday realized a dream that had been on the drawing books for a sizeable chunk of time: the unveiling of its first-ever professional product line. Yes, this seven-year-old, growing-by-leaps-and-bounds facial purveyor, which has long prided itself on its expert curation of third-party skincare brands, has opted to stock its backbar with performance-driven formulas of its very own.

“This project has been more than two-and-a-half years in the making,” says Rachel Lubin, Heyday’s Vice President of Customer Experience and Innovation. “It was born prior to our move into franchising.”

Armed with a mission of making the once-rarified, spa-only facial far more accessible to the masses, Heyday has been quite vocal over the last year about its ambitions to grow via franchising. In addition to its 10 company-owned locations, which include six in New York City, three in Los Angeles, and one in Philadelphia, there are now 19 franchises sprinkled throughout the United States.

While that number is lower than the 40 to 50 franchises Heyday originally projected for 2023, a quick scan of the “committed openings” in the franchising section of the company website indicates major forward momentum on that front. 

Distinguishing itself with ground-floor, storefront locations offering hyper-customized, 50-minute facials “cocktailed” by highly trained estheticians, Heyday has also received major kudos for its carefully vetted skincare edit, featuring, among others, Naturopathica, Osea Malibu, Grown Alchemist, and Image, a spa-distribution powerhouse.

According to Lubin, none of those third-party brands need fear the new 19-SKU Heyday range, which encompasses a mix of Basics, Actives, Essences, and Concentrates.

“The Heyday professional line will be used in the core, results-driven portion of the facial,” Lubin explains. “All cleansers and finishing products, such as moisturizers and SPF, remain with our brand partners, with the ability to rotate-in new products on a seasonal basis to best suit our clients’ skincare needs.”

Crafted to be mixed and matched by estheticians, the color-coded lineup features products with names that are both easy to grasp, like Mineral Mud and Salicylic Sweep, alongside those that are a bit more esoteric, à la Cloud Cream, a blend of stable vitamin C, resveratrol, ceramide, and peptides.

Fully Leaping Bunny-certified, the line is cruelty free, vegan, and devoid of artificial colors, fragrances, phthalates, parabens, petroleum, and mineral oil. And with recyclable bottles that are up to seven times the size of standard professional products, the range was also designed with sustainability in mind.

“All products are packaged in larger-than-life professional sizes,” says Shea Amiruddin, Director of Skincare Education. “This makes sense for Heyday with the number of facials we perform on a daily basis, meaning less waste for the environment and easier cleaning and setup for our team. They’re thoughtfully packaged with the perfect dispensing mechanism to deliver the exact amount of product needed for each portion of the facial.”

That attention to detail, along with the formulas themselves, resulted in a creation process that was nothing short of arduous. To land on the final formulas, the team, working in tandem with an outside skincare formulator, sifted through more than 150 lab submissions.

“We leaned on our extensive experience in the treatment room and countless conversations with our team of estheticians to develop a product line that would support them in the way they work to create a backbar designed with mixability in mind,” says Amiruddin, an esthetician herself. “By focusing on time-tested ingredients with proven benefits, we’re able to deliver a results-driven facial that targets a client’s key concerns in the most personalized way.”

At launch, only Heyday’s company-owned shops received the line. But by the end of next year, it will have made its way to Heyday's entire roster of franchises. “We’re finalizing the timeline to launch in all franchise locations,” says Lubin, “with a march towards a complete rollout in 2024.”

Lubin says Heyday expects to realize north of $50 million in revenue from facials over the next year, thanks to its new mix and match backbar bounty. “Heyday professional products will help drive loyalty and client engagement,” she says, “which we’re confident will improve our bottom line.”