Sara Bumby has spent 20 years working side by side with the top chemists in the skincare, cosmetic, and beauty industries, formulating and creating leading product lines for clients. In 2002 she established First Impact New York, a skincare production, product development, regulation, and consulting company where she currently serves as President and CEO. Overseeing everything from formulation and ingredient selection to packaging and testing for the beauty industry’s top skincare brands, Sara is truly the mastermind behind understanding what components are required to make each and every element effective and alluring. Using this knowledge and experience, Sara launched her own beauty band Novare Beauty in 2017.
We sat down with Sara to talk product development and the launch of Novare Beauty’s first product based on a behavioral modification tool, breath freshener, and lip moisturizer called KISS YOUR CRAVINGS GOODBYE.
What is the unique value proposition your brand or product brings to the category?
Novare Beauty creates products that are not only solution based, but also stand-alone category disruptors. As a team, we have made a conscious decision to focus less on line expansions and more on developing and bringing to market products based on our own personal needs and what we feel is currently missing in the marketplace. Novare’s first product is KISS YOUR CRAVINGS GOODBYE, a behavioral modification tool, breath freshener, and lip moisturizer that crosses over the beauty, health and wellness categories.
Tell us about your product formulation philosophy and development process.
I’ve formulated well over 300 different products for clients through my company First Impact New York. For me, formulation always begins with the end consumer in mind. To accomplish this goal, we ask ourselves the following questions: Who is using this product? Why, how. and what will their experience be?
From there the development process moves to market research and these questions: What else is on the market? Are any other products making similar claims or already producing the experience we are interested in creating?
Next, we collect raw materials and begin the fun part, formulation. We write a paper formula, sketch out goals, and then produce samples until the product delivers the experience the client is working to achieve.
Did you develop your brand and product with a particular distribution channel in mind?
When we decided to take KISS YOUR CRAVINGS GOODBYE (KYCG) to market, the challenge was figuring out how we would connect with the customer. We realized very quickly that e-commerce would become a critical piece of our distribution plan. People are just now starting to learn that KYCG is a healthy tool to accompany any diet or lifestyle improvement, and our online sales, especially our partnership with FabFitFun, have shown that people are ready for it. We’ve just launched our Amazon store as well. Since initiating our marketing plans there, we are seeing great success. Finally, we’ve received a lot of interest from catalogs and storefronts. In fact, we see KISS YOUR CRAVINGS GOODBYE fitting well in the impulse buy, end caps, and checkout sections of drugstores, grocery stores, and beauty stores.
What is the most important thing an investor should know about your brand?
To date, I have been self-investing as I truly believe in my vision of KISS YOUR CRAVINGS GOODBYE and what we have decided to do as a company. Knowing full well what our team does for other corporations and having 16+ years of experience growing other companies, watching and learning, I decided to seize the opportunity and reinvest into myself and my team.
We are now starting to explore bringing in investors to take Novare Beauty’s Behave-Aid line to the next level. We’re excited about this prospect because we have so many more products in the works and investors will get to partner with a well-rounded company. First Impact New York (F.I.N.Y.) is the parent company of Novare Beauty and has 3 main departments: 1) product development, 2) production and inventory management, and 3) regulatory and compliance. Having this company be the primary support to Novare Beauty and the launch of KISS YOUR CRAVINGS GOODBYE has set it up for success as we are well versed at navigating the beauty and wellness industry in the US and abroad.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about launching a beauty brand?
“Measure twice, cut once.” Do your homework. Research every aspect of the industry and the regulations. Figure out where you are going, how you can get there and interview potential strategic partners. Analyze who you are selling to and why you are selling to them. Do all of your legwork ahead of time. Then give it everything you have while still being coachable and ready to evolve, learn, and grow!
What’s your vision for the future of the brand?
Our vision is to produce products for our end consumer and keep coming out with things that people don’t expect. Each individual product line will have its own unique and distinct purpose.
What is the biggest change you would like to see in the industry and what are you doing to address it?
With all of the government and FDA changes coming down the pipeline, I’m leading the charge and have joined the Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors (ICMAD), Personal Care Products Council (PCPC), Professional Beauty Association (PBA), and Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) groups to ensure we are on the cutting edge and helping to shape the industry. At both First Impact New York and Novare we create products that are innovative as well as safe, and with our regulatory affairs department we help other companies do the same. Packaging claims are becoming more erroneous as companies strive to meet the increasing consumer demands. We ensure all claims are substantiated and within the regulations of the region. We stand behind every product we review regardless if they are our own or not. Whether we are working with a start-up company or a well-established leader in the industry, our process and guidelines are the same. We strive to make these products clearly understandable to customers and never make false claims and promises.
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