For Wende Zomnir, founder of Urban Decay and now Caliray, wellness has always been a part of the equation — both in life and in business.
Zomnir founded Urban Decay in 1996, before selling the brand to L’Oréal in 2012. At Urban Decay, she said, before it was the norm, she held yoga classes for employees and had a biodynamic garden they could pick from. “Nobody knows this,” she said, “but we were one of the first brands to take parabens out of all our products. It wasn’t [something people] cared about when we did it.”
She re-entered the beauty space by founding Caliray in 2021 — it launched in Sephora as a “clean” makeup brand with mascara and eyeliner. Since then, the brand has launched more makeup products, including a viral, best-selling primer and a skin tint. And since its inception, Caliray has always focused on sustainability.
Now, it’s making its wellness focus more obvious with the launch of its Get Lit Skin and Mood Boosting Supplement, created in partnership with supplements brand Thorne. A 30-day supply is $48 and is currently available on Sephora.com. “A lot of skin care brands do supplements, but not a lot of makeup brands,” Zomnir said.
“We worked with trusted micro- and nano-influencers, who were able to test the product for 30 days and give us rich storytelling on how it impacted their day-to-day,” said Jenna Dover, co-founder of Caliray. “They authentically spoke to the changes they saw in their skin, hair, nails, mood and energy. Their content will be going live all month.”
Zomnir called a friend at Thorne to inquire about her interest in consulting on Caliray’s first supplements. The friend prompted the collaboration. “Not for a second did I think we’d work with Thorne — it’s a huge company,” Zomnir said. “But we started talking about the different kinds of supplements we could make, and they [shared] this interesting new technology they have that allows for a lot of potency.” Zomnir said. Thorne’s scientists told her that, to “get all the nutrition in its disc [-sized supplements], a gummy would have to be the size of a baseball.”
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“I wanted to create a supplement that would improve skin barrier, give you a little boost without caffeine and supercharge cells from the inside out,” Zomnir said. “[Our product] helps boost your hair, skin and nails in more than that minimum viable product kind of way.”
The key ingredients in Caliray’s supplement include biotin, nicotinamide riboside and betaine. Zomnir offered a crash course in the science: “It’s basically a cell turnover supercharger. Imagine you’re a closet that needs a cleanout. It helps you get all the junk out of your closet and helps [freshen] your cells. And betaine takes all that metabolic trash that you just cleaned out, out of your system.”
This will neither be Caliray’s only collaboration with Thorne nor its only foray into wellness. “I love the discs and how portable they are. And I love that they [come in] plastic-free sachets,” Zomnir said.
However, she said, makeup will continue to be the brand’s bread and butter. “The beauty of beauty is that it’s an it’s an affordable instant pick-me-up. You don’t have to buy $300 jeans; you can just get a $19 lipgloss, and look fresher and better. Beauty will always be a bigger part [of our business] because it provides that instant gratification.”
