We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Sommers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
When I was 24 years old, my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was told by the many hospitals that we toured that he was essentially not going to make it, no matter what the treatment. Although I knew nothing about medicine, I started doing my own research, looking into alternative methods of treatment for cancer, thinking that perhaps there would be something in Eastern medicine that we weren’t thinking of that could potentially help treat him.
In my research, I stumbled upon a naturally occurring chemical compound known as Mellittin. This compound was the only naturally occurring chemical compound known to man that was able to break into disease wall barriers such as HIV & cancer. Although it did not cure cancer so to speak, I was intrigued by this chemical compound enough to write it down and note it. In addition to its ability to break into the disease wall barriers, it also contained antimicrobial properties, was used to treat patients with Multiple Sclerosis, and there was so much more – it even reproduced collagen and elastin in the skin and had a similar effect to Botox in the sense that it inhibited neuromuscular transmitters which essentially enable facial muscle movement, just on a smaller scale. To me, it was fascinating.
I noted this research but did not think too much of it as unfortunately, a few weeks later, my father passed away. During this same time, for obvious reasons, I was incredibly stressed out and my skin was starting to show it. I was living in NYC and working in advertising, which was a field that I had no real passion for. I remember walking into Sephora in Union Square and telling one of the associates there that I was looking for an effective anti-aging serum, stating that I didn’t care how much it cost, but that I just needed it to work and that I believed I was too young to get Botox. When the answer I got back was “Botox is the only answer”, I knew there had to be another way.
As I walked back to my apartment that afternoon, I had a lightbulb moment. I started walking more and more quickly back home, remembering my findings on bee venom. Being the product junkie that I have always been, I was intrigued. It got me thinking – if this is just bee venom, what other venoms are out there? Can they also be applicable to skin care?
From then on, I spent hours and days teaching myself about chemical compounds, peptides, & reading through lab analysis, seeing words that I hadn’t heard since chemistry class in high school. Lost in content but eager to learn, things finally started to click. Writing things down and connecting the dots, I started to be able to talk about chemical compounds, and why certain chemicals reacted with others.
Shortly thereafter, I quit my job in advertising, I moved back to Boston, and I took the time to go to school to become an esthetician to understand skin care even further. After graduating and getting licensed, I applied for a job at a medical spa in order to be able to “talk the talk and walk the walk”. Being there only 3 years I was promoted 3 times. After leaving work at my day job, I would go home and work at my company for hours on end.
With the help of mentors, I created a business plan, hundreds of pages of notes, partnered with a female-founded lab based in California, collaborated with a marketing company on my packaging, and created a timeline. Finally, in 2019 I launched my business, Intoxicated Cosmetics.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My brand story is obviously a personal one, as I discovered venom-inspired skincare on a quest to help my father who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. However, in addition to that, the route of why I founded Intoxicated Cosmetics is because I felt that there was a lack of options in the skincare space. I was tired of so many brands “piggy-backing” ideas off of each other, with no real effective solutions in topical anti-aging skincare.
Intoxicated Cosmetics is the first ever venom-based skincare line on the market and our goal is to more closely bridge the gap between topical and injectable anti-aging solutions. However, just because we are based on venom doesn’t mean that we use real venom- we never wanted to harm any animals in the creation of our products – and so we worked closely with the scientists are our biochemical company for nearly a decade to recreate the chemical compounds found in venoms without ever even touching the creatures that these peptides are based on.
Our neuroparalytic peptides relax the small myofibrils (muscle fibers) that are scattered throughout the dermis that contribute or equate to fine lines and wrinkles, which is essentially the same thing that Botox does – just on a smaller scale.
The thing that makes us most proud is empowering women to not only look and feel their best but to give them back control over their skincare routine without having to pay thousands of dollars for invasive injections.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
I worked on creating Intoxicated Cosmetics for nearly a decade and finally launched in November of 2019. I completely self-funded this project, eventually quit my day job, and was fully invested in making this thing work. There was no turning back! However, much to my surprise, what happened only a few short months later?! A freaking global pandemic.
I was SO panicked, SO broke, and SO nervous that I was going to fail after 9 years of work.
However – I pivoted and decided to look at things differently. With the whole world shut down, no one was able to get in to see their favorite injectors or esthetician’s and so they looked to the internet to find alternative solutions and that’s when Intoxicated Cosmetics, in its infancy stage, started to really take off.
With word of mouth and incredible before and afters of using the product for only a few weeks, customers were amazed and relieved to have found us!
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
Before I started Intoxicated Cosmetics, I wasn’t even in the skincare space. I actually started my career in marketing and advertising. Once I came up with the idea of starting my business, I knew that I had a long road ahead of me since I had no experience. So, I decided to go back to school to become a licensed esthetician to be able to understand more about skincare and to give myself some clout. When I graduated with my degree, honestly, I realized that I still wasn’t ready and had to be able to walk the walk in order to talk the talk, and so I went to work at a medical spa for years (while working on my business after work) in order to gain experience.
Additionally, I did a TON of research on chemical compounds, molecular structures, skincare formulas, and ingredients in general. I truly had no idea what I was walking into and in a way, ignorance was bliss. Again, it took me about 9 years from conception to having physical products in my hands!
I created a timeline, reached out to HUNDREDS of labs, and spent a ton of time researching packaging. As a small business that wanted to use super unique and innovative custom formulas, it was nearly impossible to find a biochemical company who wanted to take us on with super small minimum quantity orders. But through determination, resilience, and persistence, I eventually was able to find a small lab located in California that was willing to take on my wild idea.
Once I found my lab, I found bottles, a packaging company, a label company, and more. It was a very long road but it taught me so many lessons – I feel as though unless you make the mistakes, and go through the hard work yourself, you will never learn. Patience and determination are key in manufacturing. I will also say that you will never be “ready” to release a product. Some of the companies that are the largest in the world still change formulas, packaging, logos and more. Its better to dive in head first and learn the lessons than to hold back and try to wait until its “perfect”. Perfect doesn’t exist!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.intoxicatedcosmetics.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intoxicatedcosmetics/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intoxicatedcosmetics/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/33212787/admin/dashboard/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJAYYpa1dZm9kpIQgFsXhSA
- Other: TikTok: @intoxicatedcosmetics
