K. I. S. S. | A Q4 Strategy

I’ve been thinking…

There is SO much excess in our lives - online, in our homes, on our calendars. There also is a lot of excess in the realm of skincare. I love love love working on this teeny micro brand — it provides me with so much happiness, but also a not insignificant amount of frustration. It’s been hard for me to carve out a FoxSea-sized space within the skincare industry, and especially so in the very noisy social media landscape. I have very little money to invest in this brand (freelance writer here), and I have no outside investors. I have no actual strategy beyond making and packaging the formulas I love and then posting about them on social media from time to time. I’m a terrible salesperson and I very rarely even speak about FoxSea to friends and family, because I don’t want to annoy them.

Yes, I’d love to sell more FoxSea to more people, but I also know there’s a ton of competition out there. And quite frankly, the field is full of slick brands with amazing packaging and cutting-edge formulas and technology, as well as giant marketing budgets, celebrity endorsements/partnerships and industry connections - I simply cannot compete at this stage. But what I can offer is simple yet effective, clean skincare, made as fresh as possible. Bottles of FoxSea do not sit on warehouse shelves for months before making it to a store and then on to someone’s skin. Because FoxSea is made in very small batches, the bottles on the store shelves haven’t been there long, and there’s something sweet about that for me.

The past couple years, I’ve been adding additional goods to my online store, offering a couple items to help my products work more effectively (konjac sponges, dry brushes, gua sha stones, etc) as well as some lightly-branded merch and accessories (hello pretty pearl earrings and warm beanies). But has any of this actually helped me sell more skincare or reach more eyeballs? No. So rather than add to the excess in our lives (and on my very full plate of things to do), I’m stripping FoxSea back to the best of the products I have formulated. I’m working on updated packaging with more efficient, eco-friendly labels, a cleaner website, shorter fulfillment times for my online store as well as physical stores, and maaaaaybe one or two fun pieces of merch mostly because I want them for myself.

While FoxSea is going to keep it simple, I’d also like to urge YOU to keep it simple. There are a lot of skincare products and accessories on the market that you simply do. not. need. I try as much as I can for research purposes, and because generally skincare is a fun passion for me and always has been. I’m rarely impressed and rarely repurchase the majority of what I try (Weleda Skin Food is one of my favorite formulas of all time and I constantly recommend it to anyone who ever talks skincare with me). Here’s what I know to be true: a simple cleanser, gentle but regular exfoliation, clean moisture and SPF are key. Additionally, drinking water, getting good rest and booking monthly or seasonal facials are just as important. Beyond that, the regular use of specialty products can help target specific issues, which are best suggested by your favorite esthetician or dermatologist. However, throwing a multitude of formulas and steps at your dermis will disrupt your microbiome, which can lead to a breakdown of your skin’s natural and protective barrier, resulting in further issues.

So Q4 is going to be interesting, and likely very slow over here at FoxSea HQ. This is the current path I’m choosing for me and my business and I look forward to a gentle season ahead.

TLDR: I’m going to keep it simple, and perhaps you should too…

#lessbutbetter