After Pivoting From HR To High-End Skincare, Founder Lita Cunningham’s Luxury Brand Lalais Lands At Neiman Marcus

Moving from human resources to high-end skincare, Lita Cunningham has managed to win over Oprah Winfrey, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus—all within seven months of launching Lalais.

At the self-funded brand, which hit the market last October following four years in development, Cunningham, a former HR executive at Elizabeth Arden and New Line Cinema, draws upon her personal experience dealing with oily skin and professional skills valuing diversity and listening to people’s concerns.

Lalais has a quartet of skincare and wellness products: The Perfecting Serum, The Retinol Renewal, The Skin Perfecting Complex and The Blotting Compact. The brand features a proprietary blend dubbed oil control complex (OCC3) with bakuchiol, willow herb and sarcosine that’s designed to balance excess oil.

Priced at $115 for a 15-ml. size and $225 for a 30-ml. size, The Perfecting Serum incorporates exfoliating ingredients such as glycolic acid along with OCC3. The Retinol Renewal couples OCC3 with retinol, granactive retinoid and vitamin C. It’s priced at $125 for a 15-ml. size and $250 for a 30-mll size.

Priced at $50 to $60 for 60 capsules, The Skin Perfecting Complex’s daily supplements contain ingestible hyaluronic acid, alma berries, maritime pine bark and L-theanine. The Blotting Compact, priced at $48, has all-natural and refillable Japanese blotting sheets. Last November, The Blotting Compact landed on “Oprah’s Favorite Things” list.

Exuding sophistication in a white pantsuit, pink blouses and Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry during a video call at her New York office, Cunningham underscores Lalais’s target is the luxury market. She says, “We’re very clear about our positioning, the quality of the ingredients, the bespoke nature of the formulas and what people are getting in the efficacy.”

Still, to appease consumers who might have sticker shock, she points out The Perfecting Serum addresses multiple issues such as excess oil, breakouts, hyperpigmentation, wrinkles, exfoliation and large pores. She says, “These are all things that normally you would be using different sorts of products for. Well, you add all of those up, and our product is actually a bargain.”

Lalais’s distribution is clearly aimed at luxury shoppers, not bargain hunters. Following its retail debut at Bergdorf Goodman’s iconic New York store timed with its launch, the brand is expanding in May to three of Neiman Marcus’ high-profile locations: Beverly Hills, Fashion Island in Newport Beach, Calif., and NorthPark in Dallas.

Cunningham identifies Lalais’s core demographic as women ranging in age from their late 20s to mid-50s, including those going through perimenopause and menopause. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD), perimenopause and menopauses instigates hormone drops, causing teenage-like acne in some women. Moreover, the AAD recommends using blotting papers throughout the day to absorb oil.

That advice resonates with men, too, who make up less than 25% of Lalais’s initial customers, but are worried about oily skin. Cunningham’s friends have told her that their male partners turn to The Blotting Compact to prep for Zoom meetings. She says the men relayed, “My head was so shiny, and this thing helps me get that shine off.”

Lalais taps into two trends that market research firm Mintel has forecast for 2024 and beyond. Its supplements speak to a relationship between mental well-being and physical appearance that consumers and brands are increasingly interested in. In a study issued in October, Mintel wrote, “Targeted supplements and nutrient-rich ‘snacks’ can be integrated into daily routines to provide essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to support mental and physical health.”

Lalais’s elegant white packaging enhanced by gold details, along with its hypoallergenic blotter and patented skincare encapsulation that avoids lipids and silicone, is relevant to another observation from Mintel. “The beauty industry is experiencing a paradigm shift as consumers increasingly seek products that prioritize efficacy and functionality over extravagant packaging and flashy marketing campaigns,” the market research firm wrote.

“My focus is to build the awareness and velocity around this tight edit that we’ve launched and to make sure that new innovations are as special, differentiated and of the highest quality.”

Referencing a 2021 survey, Mintel said 66% of American beauty consumers say they prefer to use high-quality products regardless of price. It further predicts that consumers “will prioritize efficacy and seek products that truly address their specific needs. Quality, effectiveness and long-term results are valued over a large quantity of products.”

Cunningham believes her HR background is an asset to her first foray into entrepreneurship. The only full-time employee at Lalais, prior to its launch, she walked up and down aisles of various Sephora stores, chatting up strangers. One icebreaker was, “If you had your dream product, what would it be?” She befriended shoppers and recruited them to test formulations. “The best people to give feedback on products are the people who are going to be using those products every day,” says Cunningham.

Beside efficacy, she paid attention to the potential impact of Lalais’s ingredients on the body. While she was creating the brand, she supported her mother’s fight against breast cancer and underwent extensive genetic testing herself. Elizabeth Bonefas, the breast cancer surgeon who treated Cunningham’s mom, has signed on as the brand’s women’s health advisor.

Sensitive about estrogenic levels in the body, Cunningham cross-referenced every ingredient in Lalais’s projects with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s About Herbs database. That’s how she decided to remove estrogen-positive licorice root from one formula. Turmeric was also excluded because it’s connected to dermatitis, especially on pigmented skin, and Lalais avoids talc, silica, mica and clay.

“It was really, really important to me to make these products with ingredients that people can use for a long period of time with confidence and safety,” says Cunningham.

Oily and acne-prone skincare shows growth. Products catering to the needs of people with oily skin command the largest share of the skincare market—at 35%—by skin type, per Future Market Insights as of last December. FMI notes that the segment’s prevalence is strengthened by ongoing research on and development of novel solutions for oily skin.

Additionally, according to a report released last November by Custom Market Insights, global sales for acne treatment were projected to cross $14 billion in 2023, up from $13.7 billion in 2022. Sales of topical treatments, oral medications, chemical peels, microdermabrasion and other therapies are expected to advance at a compounded annual rate of 6.5% between 2023 and 2032 to reach almost $18.8 billion by 2032.

While Cunningham declines to disclose figures for investments and revenue, she shares Lalais’s sales so far have exceeded expectations. She’s intent on the brand becoming a profitable business, and rapid expansion isn’t in her plans. Lalais’s next skincare product, which will integrate OCC3, isn’t expected to be available until 2025.

Cunningham says, “My focus is to build the awareness and velocity around this tight edit that we’ve launched and to make sure that new innovations are as special, differentiated and of the highest quality.”

Cunningham is an avid traveler who’s logged visits to Capri, Bali, Paris and other distant destinations, and she strives to place Lalais in global hotels and spas. She’s begun holding conversations with them. To help consumers see how Lalais’s products work, she’s strategizing a sizable sampling program as well as collaborations with beauty and wellness micro-influencers.