Elemis has achieved what many beauty brands have only dreamed of – creating a skin care staple that has retained its cult status for 21 years.
Although Pro-Collagen Marine Cream has stood the test of time – with one unit selling every 14 seconds globally and more than 100 industry awards under its belt – Elemis never expected the skin care item to hit the heights it has.
Why? Because when it debuted in 2003, the day cream’s lightweight gel texture went against the grain of what the industry claimed at the time was best suited in a moisturiser for dehydrated skin.
Noella Gabriel, Global President and co-founder of Elemis, reveals to Cosmetics Business how Pro-Collagen Marine Cream defied the odds to become a category-defining skin care item and, more importantly, has retained its crown.
How Elemis’ Pro-Collagen Marine Cream came to be
Elemis was founded in London, UK, in 1989 by entrepreneur and investor Linda Steiner who was on a mission to create a skin care range “as close to nature” as possible.
She was joined by co-founding trio Noella Gabriel, Sean Harrington and Oriele Frank.
The British spa brand quickly became best known for its body care offering – and a simplified facial skin care range – but Elemis knew it wanted to compete in the anti-ageing space to truly stand out.
“2003 was a time when everyone believed that as the skin got older, creams got heavier, but we did not want to overload the skin,” says Gabriel.
“We wanted to be disruptive, and the only way we could be truly disruptive was to come out with a revolutionary texture.
[Pro-Collagen] is almost like a runaway train – it has its own momentum, it has got its own following
“So we pushed for an anti-ageing-focused light gel day cream concept which allowed the skin to breathe while moisturising, and of course, everyone thought we were crazy because there were no gel cream textures at the time.”
This focus was very important because the brand was developing a cream it hoped would one day translate globally.
“We wanted it to be the cult moisturiser in
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