Starface's Julie Schott is Changing the Way We Think About Acne One Star at a Time
Tired of seeing the negative language around acne both inside and outside the beauty industry, former beauty editor Julie Schott co-founded the skincare brand Starface in the fall of 2019 alongside entrepreneur Brian Bordainick. Launched with a single line of yellow star-shaped pimple patches and a smiley-faced pod to house them in, the duo has been on a mission to normalize the process of treating breakouts and acne-prone skin, and make it a fun one, too.
Unlike other pimple patches which aim to blend in with your skin and conceal any zits, Starface’s Hydro-Stars are colorful and bright, like the stickers you may have received as a reward on your homework in elementary school. The best-selling product doesn’t just look cute, but the hydrocolloid spot treatment is clinically proven to absorb acne fluid, reduce inflammation, prevent picking, and accelerate healing. “Before we started, certain retailers or investors didn't necessarily believe in the concept and they said 'Nobody's going to want to wear these loud patches and draw attention to their acne!' And we really believed the opposite to be true,” Schott tells L’OFFICIEL. “If you read the reviews or feedback from customers, they always say, 'I feel so much cuter, this made me feel happy!' or 'I'm looking forward to having a breakout!'”
Now, the stickers are like an accessory that teens, adults, and celebrities alike enjoy showing off on social media. Since they were first released, the Hydro-Stars have received a few upgrades, and the brand has kept things exciting with limited-edition drops from glow-in-the-dark stars to Hello Kitty patches. Starface has also improved its original yellow stars for its growing and diverse audience. “Almost two years in, we've iterated on the Hydro-Star patch a number of times in different ways,” Schott says. “Now it's a true opaque because we found that the jelly yellow was showing up different on different complexions. It was just important to have a uniform finish for every complexion so that nobody's having a contrasting experience.”
Since its initial launch, Starface has grown into a fully-fledged beauty brand, churning out a line of clean, vegan, and cruelty-free skincare products including a face wash, moisturizer, exfoliating toner, and pore strips. To find out more about the buzz-worthy brand, L’OFFICIEL speaks with Starface co-founder Schott about its evolution and the importance of the acne-positive movement.
L’OFFICIEL: How has Starface evolved since you first launched?
Julie Schott: I love that question because it's not just us that evolved, but the whole world around us. When we launched in 2019, we didn't necessarily expect to operate the way that we have over the past year. We learned a lot and during that time. We started direct-to-consumer with just one SKU and now we've got a full little collection. Spring of [2020] we stepped into traditional skincare. We put out an incredible face wash designed specifically for people with acne. Our next challenge was [that] we know acne-prone skin is super temperamental, sometimes it's dry, sometimes it's oily or really reactive. Customers might think "I can't use a moisturizer because it's going to break me out," so that was a fun challenge to create Moisture On Mars, a super lightweight whipped moisturizer in an airless pump. The reviews were really positive. It’s sold out at the moment, but we're excited for it to come back. Following that, we put out Exfoliating Night Water, which is this really powerful acid solution. It's been cool to educate our young customers on that type of exfoliant, there's really a learning curve.
L’O: How do you see Starface disrupting the current view of the beauty industry?
JS: It's always been about changing the perception around acne and that starts from the language we use. You see words like "blemish" and "imperfection" on the packaging and the marketing of a lot of products that treat acne, but truly the clinical name for this thing is "acne" or "pimple," and "blemish" and "imperfections" are not synonymous with that. Language and visibility are really important and they contribute to normalizing a thing that should totally be normal anyway, because 95 percent of people experience it. Making it fun, making it uplifting, making it optimistic is always the goal.
L’O: How can someone dealing with acne find confidence with their skin?
JS: I'm not going to lie, these things certainly impact our image of self. Instagram can be such a place of comparison that puts a mirror in front of you and you're thinking, I don't look like these people in these skin campaigns. But when you see yourself in any shape or form, you feel less alone, you feel like you exist. I think visibility is so important in normalizing acne. For me, it was a process of feeling like if I want to wear makeup, I'll wear makeup because it feels good, but not to hide my acne. Who said that you can't show your acne and that you should be ashamed of it? There's something as simple as rewarding yourself or doing something special for yourself like wearing a cute patch that instantly makes you feel good about an experience, when maybe you didn't when you were putting on a drying paste.
L’O: What's next for Starface?
JS: A lot of what we're working on is really surprising. We've got a ton of stuff planned for the rest of this year, and even next year. We are really excited to share it.
