Brands on the Rise is a regular Ad Age feature spotlighting the marketing and business tactics of successful challenger brands. Read previous installments here.

Skincare brand Starface is gaining traction by making pimples fun. The nearly 3-year-old New York-based brand, which started online and now sells in stores, is part of a fragmented pimple patch market that is rising in popularity as more young consumers look for gentler solutions to acne. 

Like many of its competitors, Starface wants to destigmatize acne. But the main difference between Starface and its rivals is how its patches look—“cute,” in the words of co-founder Julie Schott. 

The company’s first product was a pimple patch called Hydro-Stars, which are small yellow stickers in the shape of a star. Each patch consists only of hydrocolloid, a moisture-retentive dressing used to absorb pus and reduce redness. The brand’s stickers, which come in a refillable yellow box that has been compared to an AirPod case, contrast with the beige and translucent patches produced by most competitors such as Hero Cosmetics’ Mighty Patch and Australian brand Zitsticka. 

The feedback that Starface gets most often from consumers is, “I look forward to my next pimple,” said Schott. “When you give yourself a cute decorative sticker, it changes your attitude to (acne) over time.” 

Below, more on Starface’s origin story, marketing strategy and what lies ahead.

How it started

When Schott first thought of starting Starface, she was the beauty editor at Elle in New York writing articles about entrepreneurs and trends in 2016.

“I had full-blown acne in my twenties,” said Schott, and this made her feel inadequate at her job. She thought that everyone around her must be wondering why she hadn’t found a product to keep her skin in check. “Shouldn’t I be the example?” she said. “I felt like I must not know what I’m doing.”

A friend introduced Schott to Brian Bordainick, who at the time was the guy Schott’s close friend had started dating (he ended up marrying her friend, and Schott officiated the wedding). Bordainick, who went on to co-found Starface with Schott, “loved early stage ideas”—and when Schott told him about her idea, “Brian got it,” she said. Bordainick's other entrepreneurial projects have ranged from a zero-waste body wash to a political funding organization, according to his LinkedIn.

Bordainick also told Schott that TikTok was “about to be major” and that the brand should use the platform to promote its products, she said.

Tipping point

Starface’s rise can be traced to its early use of TikTok as a marketing tool. The brand started creating content on TikTok in 2020, inviting creators such as Charli D’Amelio to make content on the teen-friendly platform. D’Amelio has emerged as a TikTok star with 143 million followers and she sits atop a recent ranking from Forbes as the highest TikTok earner at $17.5 million.

“We grew with (these influencers),” said Schott, adding that creators such as D’Amelio have stuck with the brand. 

This initial content also came without the hefty partnership pricetags attached to similar collaborations now. Before TikTok stars made money through brand deals and the platform’s creator fund started in summer 2020, content creators were more willing to partner with brands for free as a “symbiotic” relationship to build clout for both parties, according to Joon Park, a senior cultural strategist and Gen Z and beauty specialist with Omnicom-owned culture consultancy Sparks & Honey. This was also before conversations about how influencers should be compensated became commonplace, said Park.

Starface declined to share revenue figures, but stated that its sales grew 300% from 2019 to 2020 and has sold more than a million of its Hydro-Star patches globally. 

The brand has expanded its skincare line to include moisturizers, cleansers and face wash. It has also put out limited-edition versions such as Hello Kitty-themed and heart-shaped patches. 

In the brand’s first retail foray, it entered Target in October 2020 and later gained distribution in U.K’s Superdrug. It launched in Canada in July 2021 and added Walmart to its list of retail partners in March. “We want to be where toilet paper is sold,” said Schott. 

A case of 32 Starface patches costs $14.99, according to its website.

Competition

Starface fits into a broader, sprawling skincare industry that encompasses a wide range of products from toner to face scrub. In the acne patch sector, Starface’s direct competitors include ZitSticka, Rael Beauty and Peace Out’s acne healing dots. 

The acne patch industry is valued at approximately $510 million in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.1%, reaching more than $870 million by 2030, according to Grandview Research.

Demand fell during the early days of COVID, in part because of supply chain disruptions—but has since rebounded, helped by a surge in e-commerce demand for acne products, according to Grandview.

ZitSticka, launched in February 2019, has also positioned itself as “beautifying” acne treatment, moving away from medical black-and-white patches, according to a report from Beauty Independent. Peace Out, founded in 2017, has also emphasized presenting acne in a positive light, with its brand name suggesting “bye, don’t stress out about your skin,” said the brand’s founder in an interview with Beauty Independent.

Another skincare brand that has added decoration to its patches is Sweet Chef. It sells carrot-patterned blemish patches that allude to the patch’s ingredients, which include carrot and ginger. 

Pimple patches are rising in popularity because the “product itself works,” said Park. The patches use gentler ingredients than predecessors, whose abrasiveness was sometimes a source of complaints. For instance, St. Ives, a Unilever-owned brand, was the subject of a class-action suit at the end of 2016 in which consumers claimed that its apricot scrub caused micro-tears in skin. The lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in 2018.

Marketing strategies

Starface has created a sizable online presence, deploying Gen Z text speak, memes and influencers in an effort to be relatable and scoop up younger buyers. This comes as patches are seeing increased popularity with people ages 10 to 17, according to Grandview Research’s report, which attributes this rise to marketing on social media.

Starface has made use of meme culture, working with reality star Tiffany “New York” Pollard (the mastermind behind memes such as “Beyonce?” and “Somebody lied to her several times…”) to be a voiceover in the brand’s videos marketing its sunscreen launch in June. Pollard’s first reality show, “Flavor of Love,” aired in the 2000s, but she remains appealing today because of Gen Z's love of nostalgia and re-discovering hidden gems, Park said.

Starface has also married internet culture with traditional out-of-home advertising: The brand ran a competition in March 2022 where it turned user tweets about Starface into OOH billboards in LA and New York. One billboard informed people that “the starface pimple patch stays on during sex.” Schott posted a picture of the billboard to her Instagram and reposted a tweet from a user saying that they were “glad they sell starface at target so i can finally steal it. those stars are way too expensive.”

Park called this “the correct way to speak to Gen Z,” framing the brand as “part of the resistance.”

“That honesty is what sets us apart,” said Schott. “Everyone’s rooting for it—like oh my God when people are stealing something it means that they love it.”

The brand also ran a campaign in November that included video ads on TV screens at DMV locations in California and New York. “The aim is to be everywhere where pimples are,” said Schott. The DMV is “not the most comfortable environment” where you’re “probably breaking out,” she said, adding that she found herself wearing a patch in her driver’s license picture.

This fits into the trend of glamorizing everyday life, as can be seen on the popular HBO show “Euphoria,” said Park.

Starface has also created a yellow star animated character, Big Yellow, to be the face of the product. This avoids the pressure of comparing oneself to edited images of models, said Schott.

The brand has also partnered with female athletes ranging from gymnast Sierra Brooks to UCLA soccer player Kaila Novak. It partnered with its first male athlete, Kayvon Thibodeaux, in January.

What experts say

Beauty writers at Allure and Into the Gloss have honed in on Starface’s appearance as its distinguishing factor, while its competitors get praised as “The Cheapest” or “The Most Invisible.” 

“The Starface patches are a little expensive, especially given that the $5 ones I get on Amazon work just as well,” wrote Glamour’s beauty editor. “But I like knowing I’m supporting a small, woman-led business, and I’m a sucker for good branding, so I’m willing to pay a little more.”

Starface benefits from beauty trends emphasizing personal experiences, according to Park, the Gen Z expert. Park points to the brand’s “big lil quiz” on its website, which identifies what products might be best for someone. The questions include deducing someone’s age by asking what song was popular when they were in middle school. This implies that Starface is “starting to position themselves as a more personalized brand, but (is) also making it fun,” said Park.

What's next

Starface says it will continue to launch new products in the coming months, and enter new retail outlets, though it did not share specifics. Its marketing campaigns will continue to to "show up wherever pimples are," Schott said.