What Amy Liu learned from eczema

Tower 28 Beauty started with eczema and a gap on the shelf between clinical care and colour that performs. Amy Liu talks about stabilizing hypochlorous acid, building shade range from the start, and why Sephora doors and an 11 second sell through rate changed what sensitive skin can ask for.

In April 2019 Amy Liu made a decision that looked small on paper and large in practice. She launched Tower 28 Beauty on her own site instead of waiting for a perfect retail partner.

Liu had spent more than 15 years in beauty marketing at Smashbox, Kate Somerville and Josie Maran. She lived with chronic eczema as an adult. She could not test products the way her teams could. She kept reaching for boring, clinical options that often did not work, while the fun part of beauty stayed out of reach.

What exists now is a Los Angeles brand named for a real lifeguard tower, a sign of safety and community on the Southern California coast. The line covers skincare and colour for reactive, breakout prone skin, with dermatologist testing, allergy testing and seals from eczema, rosacea and psoriasis groups. The hero is a hypochlorous acid spray now trusted by more than a million people with reactive skin.

What others miss is how commercial the thinking was from the start. Liu wanted access in the retail sense, as in doors, shade range, price and reorder. Gloss Report wanted to hear how that shows up in undertone choices, finish choices and wear time, and what still needs work.

Your site says the brand launched on tower28beauty.com in April 2019, then at Riley Rose and Credo in mid June 2019. Why start direct before you had those doors, and what did those first eight weeks teach you about who was actually buying.

I started direct because I needed to hear from people without a filter. I had spent 15 years working for other people and I was good at getting the gold star. I did not think I could run my own company at first. Launching on our own site let me learn fast. Who was reacting. What they could not use elsewhere. What they were willing to try.

Those first weeks confirmed the thesis. People with sensitive skin were not an edge case. They were the customer standing in the aisle reading every label and putting products back. They wrote to us about eczema flare ups and breakouts in the same email. They wanted makeup that did not start a new problem. That is why we went to Riley Rose and Credo so quickly after. I really believe we are better together, and part of access is retail, not just direct to consumer.

You say you spent your career unable to fully participate because of eczema, unable to test like everyone else. How did that specific frustration shape the product brief, not just the brand story.

I have had sensitive skin my entire adult life. I was frustrated that chronic eczema meant I was stuck using boring, clinical brands that often did not even work. In product testing meetings I could not swatch and wear like my team. I sat out. That stays with you.

So the brief was simple. Safe for even the most sensitive skin, still high performance, still fun to use. Sensitive skin is not an afterthought for us. It is the starting point for everything we do. Every formula is dermatologist tested and allergy approved. We leave out fragrance, essential oil, gluten, silicone and alcohol in key formulas. For me, safe had to include joy. I did not want another beige tube that made me feel like a patient.

Your SOS Rescue Spray page says it was created to calm your own eczema flare ups and is now trusted by over a million people with reactive, breakout prone skin. The ingredient list is short, water, sodium chloride, hypochlorous acid at pH 4.5. Why did you bet a launch on an ingredient most makeup buyers had never heard of.

If you really want to do well, do not sell a vitamin. Sell a painkiller. That line has guided me. Eczema, redness, blemishes after workouts, stinging after trying something new. That is pain. SOS was my own painkiller first.

Hypochlorous acid is naturally produced by the body immune system. It is anti inflammatory and antibacterial and helps defend skin from harmful bacteria. The catch is that it is fickle and historically unstable, much like many forms of vitamin C. Our chemists spent eight years stabilizing it for facial use. We use it fragrance free, alcohol free and essential oil free, vegan and cruelty free. You spray it on dry, freshly cleansed skin morning and night, and over makeup as needed. Simple steps matter when skin is angry.

Twenty years ago you tried switching to clean beauty for eczema and found clean was not the same as safe. You have said poison ivy is natural too. How does that distinction show up in how Tower 28 defines clean today.

That memory is central. Twenty years ago, when clean beauty was first introduced, I remember thinking maybe that was the answer for my eczema. I tried to make the switch and found that clean beauty was not necessarily safe beauty. Poison ivy is natural, too. Natural does not mean non irritating.

So we do not use clean as a vibe. We test for irritation, we work with dermatologists, and we submit to outside review. We are proudly the first and only brand to be 100 percent compliant with the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance guidelines and still high performance. On skincare we now carry all three seals, eczema, rosacea and psoriasis groups, and SOS is the only hypochlorous spray recognized by all three. That third party review looks at irritant potential, not marketing language.

You report 100 percent saw less redness after one hour and fewer blemishes after four weeks in a third party test of 34 people, with reduced redness in 60 minutes and clearer breakouts in three days as a use claim. For a buyer reading that on a product page, what should those numbers mean and what should they not promise.

They should mean this calms the appearance of redness quickly for many people and supports clearer looking skin with consistent use. They should not mean a cure or a guarantee. Skin is variable. Eczema and acne have flares. Hormones, sleep, weather and workouts all play a role.

The test group was 34 people, which is standard for this kind of cosmetic claim work. One hundred percent reported a decrease in blemishes after four weeks and a reduction in redness after one hour. In our own language we talk about redness in 60 minutes and clearer looking breakouts in three days. I hope people feel safe trying it. I know what it feels like to be nervous trying a new product because you worry your skin will react. That feeling is the reason for the testing discipline.

I know what it feels like to be nervous trying a new product because you worry your skin will react.

Amy Liu

In December 2019 you confirmed entry to 500 Sephora stores in the United States and Canada on January 17, 2020. You said part of access is retail and not just direct to consumer. What did Sephora distribution force you to fix in shade range, price and restock planning.

It forced clarity. If you are in 500 doors, payoff has to read the same under store light and daylight. Finish has to be describable in plain words. Wear time has to hold through a workday, which for us means testing to eight hours and beyond on different skin types. Transfer matters too, because no one wants foundation on a mask or a collar by noon.

Shade range is where access gets real. I grew up in California during the peak of beach culture and always felt like an outsider because I did not see anyone who looked like me in pop culture. I wanted to build a brand that felt inclusive in every sense, inclusive of skin tone, skin type, sensitivity, budget and beauty philosophy. You have to see it to be it. That means undertones done carefully, fair with pink and neutral options, medium with olive honesty, deep with depth that does not go grey. We are still learning. Extensions take time because every shade has to pass the same sensitivity testing.

Gloss Report tracks sell through, doors, waitlists and dupes. Your site cites one bottle of SOS sold every 11 seconds and more than 8,000 five star reviews. How do you read that velocity without overproducing or loosening standards.

Velocity tells me the pain point was real. A bottle every 11 seconds is not a marketing line to me. It is a restock plan and a quality plan. We stay with at least 50 percent post consumer recycled plastic in key packaging. We keep fragrance and essential oils out. We keep the Medical Advisory Board close, including Dr. Joyce Park and Dr. Kelly Killeen.

Scale also means saying no. We keep formulas dermatologist tested and allergy tested even when that slows a launch. We would rather delay a shade extension than ship a shade that oxidizes by hour six. Sell through is only useful if the second bottle sells for the same reason as the first. For SOS that reason is calm, comfortable looking skin that still takes makeup well.

Your current bestsellers include Swipe Serum Foundation at 36 dollars and the Toni Bravo GetSet Matte Powder Blush at 22 dollars, described as a setting blush with 12 hour fade proof colour. How do you brief a serum foundation and a powder blush differently for reactive skin.

The serum foundation brief starts with calm. Sensitive skin friendly, medium buildable coverage, featherweight feel, helps reduce the appearance of inflammation and supports a clearer looking surface so makeup does not start a breakout cycle. Undertone comes next. Names like Big Bear, Big Sur, Blythe and Carlsbad mean nothing if the undertone is off. We swatch on real skin across light, medium and deep, then check oxidation at hour two and hour six.

The powder blush brief starts with wear. The Toni Bravo GetSet Matte Powder Blush combines setting powder function with rich pigment for 12 hour fade proof colour and a blurred look. Downtown Daiquiri and Sunset Shirley are warm and bright, so transfer and fallout control matter. For reactive eyes and cheeks we avoid fragrance and keep the finish soft matte rather than flat. If a blush needs a heavy hand to show up, the shade work is not done.

In May 2022 you launched SOS FaceGuard SPF 30 at 32 dollars, a mineral sunscreen for sensitive and acne prone skin. Mineral SPF is notorious for cast and pilling under makeup. What tradeoff did you accept to keep it wearable.

We accepted that mineral SPF 30 with PA triple plus for sensitive, acne prone skin would never feel like nothing. It has to form a film to protect. Our job was to make that film thin, even and makeup compatible. That meant testing for pilling over SOS spray and under Swipe Serum Foundation, checking around the nose and hairline where mineral formulas gather, and watching for cast on deep tones in daylight, not just in studio light.

We kept it fragrance free and focused on a finish that reads as protected but not chalky. Sunscreen is the least forgiving category. If it pills, people skip it. If it leaves a grey cast, the shade range story falls apart. We would rather explain a slightly dewy finish than pretend minerals disappear. Daily wear is the whole point.

In December 2023 you raised a 28 million dollar Series A at about a 228 million dollar valuation led by Prelude Growth Partners. With 24 employees listed at the time, how did that money change launch pace and what did you choose not to accelerate.

It let us plan like a retailer and a lab at once. More doors means more forecasting, more shade extension work, more stability testing. We invested in supply, in testing depth and in telling the story clearly without making drug claims. We also kept the team lean on purpose. Twenty four people means everyone knows why a launch exists.

What we did not accelerate was anything that risked safety credibility. No fragrance to chase a trend. No essential oil story that would test well in a focus group and badly on eczema. No shade rushed to hit a calendar if the undertone was not right. Venture scale helps sensitive skin prestige only if standards scale with it. Growth that breaks trust is just expensive sampling.

Closing note from the desk

What stays after this conversation is how literal Liu is about safety. Not safe as a mood, but safe as testing, seals, pH, packaging and restock discipline. She talks like a buyer about doors and like an artist about undertone and hour eight wear, and she connects both to eczema without turning it into a slogan.

Tower 28 set out to make a safe space for skin that still has fun with makeup. That means colour with payoff that does not punish reactive skin, prices that do not require a leap, and a hero spray that earns its place before foundation. It is a practical promise, kept in small decisions across shade, finish and fill rate.

Product spotlight

Swipe Serum Foundation, 36 dollars. A medium buildable serum foundation for sensitive skin, featherweight with shades including Big Bear, Big Sur, Blythe and Carlsbad. It evens the appearance of tone while keeping skin comfortable. Apply after SOS spray and SPF, blend with fingers or a damp sponge, build only where needed.

Toni Bravo GetSet Matte Powder Blush, 22 dollars. A setting blush in shades including Downtown Daiquiri and Sunset Shirley, pairing setting powder function with rich pigment for up to 12 hour fade proof colour and a blurred finish. Sweep over foundation and build slowly, then check transfer and wear at hour eight before adding more.