The Quality Makers: Tracy Dubb of Isla Beauty

What is it that sparked your interest to start this company in the first place? 

I grew up with really bad skin, so I went through a lot emotionally but also in terms of my product journey. I fell down that rabbit hole of trying everything, buying everything, spending all this money I didn’t have, and ending up disappointed. I also ended up really sensitizing my skin, so when I was in my mid 20s, I started to get rosacea, I would break out from anything, and I got folliculitis so bad that I had to take baths in bleach at the advice of the head of dermatology. My struggle opened my eyes to the darker side of beauty, where you feel this pressure to buy, buy, buy. 

Professionally, I was working in the consumer product space whilst these innovative, sort of disruptor brands and e-commerce were really on the rise. I started investing in beauty and looking very closely at different companies. That process helped me differentiate between what makes a product good, bad, overpriced or affordable. I never felt that there was enough transparency, authenticity or sharing of the product story, the scientist behind the products, or even why this product exists. You get a lot of really nicely wrapped-in-a-bow marketing stories, which are easy for an audience to latch onto, but that's typically not the whole story in terms of product development. 

My business partner Charlie Denton is the fourth generation in a family of skincare and cosmetic manufacturers, developers, and product makers. When I met him, he was working for his family business. They make products for any brand, and really that's how most beauty products get made. People don't realize that. They don’t think about those that put all the packages together, behind the scenes, but those parties actually have more ownership over the product than you’d think. 

The Isla idea came from a conversation we had about how crazy it was that these brands are popping up everywhere, but when you meet with the founders, they don't actually know a lot about their own products. Most of the founders we were encountering had never experienced product development or sat with the cosmetic scientists. Once that clicked for us, we decided to create the brand we both wanted. 

I read on your website that “in beauty, there's a big gap between the people who make the products and where they're positioned and sold.” How does Isla fill that gap or challenge that issue?

It’s not as simple as you think. A lot of people imagine that if you're a brand, you have a little factory with your name on the outside and that’s where all the products get made, but that's not how it works. Products are made by various other parties around the world. The scientist who's developing a product could be different from the person who's making it, different from the person who’s packaging it. Because it's relatively fractured, what happens a lot of the time is that prices become high and the customer essentially loses out. 

In our opinion, it’s important to listen to the scientists who are in the lab every day, testing – those that are digging through all of the research and spending their time in the science of it all. The vast majority of brands don't get the benefit of having that back and forth with those that are experienced and in your network. They’re the ones who will tell you where to invest your time, energy and resources. Having those conversations gives us a more unique take on product making because it condenses the layers of middlemen. It also gives us a leg up in terms of putting together the best products at the best price. 

I admire your minimalist approach. Tell me more about having a routine you can stick with.

A person like me, who's super interested in skincare, could not for the life of her afford or make the time to have a 12-step skincare routine. That is such a trend, mostly because it feeds content, but we just wanted to give you a streamlined skincare routine. We're not going to overwhelm you with options. 

The Storm Serum ($60) is a really good example of that – we wanted to put out one serum that could address as many of the typical skin issues our customer has: from a little bit of redness, some breakouts, a lot of dryness, to pollution exposure and oiliness. People really like that they can latch onto either the products they need or the routine as a whole, and every product has its own unique ingredient story. 

Tell me about the products that you offer.

We offer a Cleansing Balm called Day Melt ($52), which can be used morning or night. We tried to eliminate the need for two step cleansing, especially after wearing makeup or being out the whole day. So we added more cleansing properties than you'd usually find in a balm, and we added a little texture to the product. Many people expressed that when using oil-based cleansers, they don’t always feel clean, so that was the main challenge we took on. 

As far as skincare treatments, we have our Snow Scrub Exfoliator ($58), which has fruit enzymes but doesn’t have any exfoliating acids. We wanted the core of the routine to really rebuild the skin barrier, and our ingredients are 100% natural and super gentle. You’re meant to use it once a week. We also have our Storm Serum ($60) which is hyaluronic acid based, it has no silicones in it, and it leaves your skin super hydrated. This product is really special. 

The Elixir ($56), we call it toner meets essence, is meant to be used post-wash as an antioxidant step, so you can re-replenish your skin. And then we have our two moisturizing products: one is called the Face Base Priming Moisturizer ($54), it comes from Italy and it's meant to be a priming moisturizer, so it either sits under makeup or it gives your skin this very subtle blur effect. You have to have a product that can make it look like you're wearing a little bit of makeup even if you don't want to wear makeup, and that’s what this one does. And the other is called the Whipped Dream ($56) moisturizer, which has 5% niacinamide and 1% ceramide. We wanted to really have this be our nourishing, overnight cream. 

Our cleanser is our most recent product. We didn't put out a cleanser at the start, and everyone said: how can you launch without a cleanser!? But we wanted to wait until we found the thing that we can truly innovate on. There's so many cleansers out there, and at the end of the day, we are a brand so we put stuff out into the world. But we try to be thoughtful about putting something out there that either doesn't exist or can exist better. 

What do you hope people will take away from your brand when engaging with it? 

Our dream takeaway is for people to recognize that Isla is an open, honest, transparent and dependable brand. In beauty, you have so many products constantly being sold to you, and trust is hard to come by. Part of the reason we wanted to start this brand was we realized how much people don't know about the products they’re using, and we thought that if they knew, they’d make more informed decisions. You’ll notice that we have a slightly different tone of voice and aesthetic than your typical brand. We want it to feel more real, authentic and reliable. 

‍What are your dreams for the future of Isla?

My biggest dream is to push the boundaries of what skincare, personal care and makeup can be. 

Build a routine you can stick to with Isla Beauty.