New Zealand’s No. 1 Pregnancy Skincare Brand Pure Mama Launches In US At Erewhon, Nordstrom And More

New Zealand has a well-earned reputation as the birthplace of noteworthy botanical beauty brands that have broken through in the crowded American market. Now, Pure Mama, the Kiwi nation’s bestselling pregnancy skincare brand, has set its sights on the United States, where it’s launching this month at Erewhon’s 10 locations and will land online at Revolve, Macy’s and Nordstrom in the fall. 

Pure Mama’s vegan, cruelty-free and OBGYN-recommended range, which was been featured on Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s lifestyle website Poosh, features four products, including Belly Oil, Magnesium Body Rub, Nipple Butter and Bump Scrub, and three kits priced from $36 to $154. It’s entering the U.S. as beauty retailers stateside are taking the pregnancy skincare category more seriously. In June, Sephora introduced Luna Daily’s Motherhood Collection online. 

Pure Mama founder Lara Henderson began working on Pure Mama in 2018 when she was a busy corporate marketing manager at BMW Group and pregnant with her first child. The mother-to-be was frustrated by the dearth of high-quality natural body care products for use during pregnancy and decided to develop them herself. 

“We were really rigorous around that process,” recounts Henderson. “If something didn’t smell quite right, then it wasn’t good enough. If it didn’t have the ingredients that we wanted, then we would find a way to make it work. The bottle had to be unique. The brand had to make women feel amazing. It took a really long time to get all of those right.”

In 2021, Pure Mama launched in direct-to-consumer distribution and partnered with influencers to spread the word. It sold out in three months. “Obviously, New Zealand’s a small market, but it’s a great test market to see if the proof of concept was going to work,” says Henderson. “I went, you know what? This has got legs. I’m going to double down on this.”

Pure Mama expanded from DTC to taste-making boutiques and spas offering pregnancy services in New Zealand and Australia that could help cement Pure Mama’s credibility and cool factor. Another advantage of the boutiques and spas Pure Mama went into was their ability to support gifting and repurchase for consumers’ second or third pregnancies. They had to support Pure Mama’s avoidance of discounts. Henderson says, “We’re a strictly no discount brand in our current markets.” 

Erewhon, the celebrity-frequented Southern California grocer, adheres to Pure Mama’s tastemaker approach to retail. Henderson says, “Because Erewhon has such a rigorous process in terms of getting on shelf, once you are in those doors, it really sets the tone for our brand.” 

In May 2023, Pure Mama broke into Mecca online as the Australian beauty specialty retailer’s first-ever pregnancy brand. Henderson viewed it as a destination where the brand’s customers were already shopping and saw that it was lacking in the pregnancy skincare department. She says, “Every other category—fragrance, makeup, facial skincare, body care—all have these beautiful brands. You get to pregnancy and you’re like, ‘I’m being neglected.’”

Since its launch at Mecca, Pure Mama has sold out six times at the retailer and is the top-selling brand in its wellness category. Overall, the brand has averaged 300% year-over-year sales growth in its existence. It boasts a 98% customer recommendation rate. Henderson’s sister Yasmin Shepherd joined Pure Mama in 2023 as its co-owner, CFO and COO.

“Our overall ambition is to be the No. 1 premium pregnancy and postpartum skincare brand in the world.”

Thus far, the brand has been bootstrapped. Henderson says Pure Mama’s strong DTC sales in New Zealand and Australia are a solid source of cash flow that allow it to remain self-funded. The brand has fielded interest from investors, but maintaining control is paramount to Henderson and Shepherd at the moment.

Henderson says, “If we ever got to a stage where we were bringing in an investor or bringing in outside capital, we would really make sure that anybody who was part of that was 100% aligned to our vision and who we are as people.” 

As Pure Mama travels to the U.S., Henderson is committed to keeping its products made in New Zealand. She says, “In terms of checking product quality, making sure every batch that goes out is perfect and, of course, new product development, maintaining that really close relationship with our manufacturers for now especially is really important.” 

Pure Mama has a lot of products in the pipeline. Next up from the brand is a product designed to support C-section recovery. Products for hair loss and a myriad of other issues that pregnant people and new mothers face are future possibilities. 

 “We are very clear around who we are talking to and why we exist,” says Henderson. “Our overall ambition is to be the No. 1 premium pregnancy and postpartum skincare brand in the world.”