Marla Beck on Her Plans for Hydrafacial

As Bluemercury founder and beauty industry veteran Marla Beck approaches the one-year anniversary of leading BeautyHealth, she’s underway her plan to improve profitability.

Beck had been on the board of Hydrafacial parent company BeautyHealth for a little over a year when she was asked to step in as interim chief executive officer in November 2023, taking over from Andrew Stanleick, who departed as the company grappled with restructuring charges related to device upgrades. In March, her tenure as CEO was made permanent.

Since then, she has been working to address the slower-than-expected recovery in device sales, including offering providers lower-priced device options and additional financing solutions.

BeautyHealth’s net revenue came in at $90.6 million in the second quarter, down 23 percent from a year ago, with growth in consumer sales offset by a slower-than-expected recovery in device sales, which at the time Beck put down to macroeconomic pressures, particularly outside the U.S.

Beck is looking to offset that and reignite growth by focusing on efficacy and potentially a move into products.

This starts with clinically-backed innovation in the form of a new Hydrafacial booster, Hydralock HA Booster, a proprietary blend of triple hyaluronic acid complex, vitamin B5 and fruit extracts to be used in conjunction with its Hydrafacial device, which sucks gunk out of pores.

According to a study commissioned by the company, the booster is clinically proven to increase hydration by three times, while the formula helps plump and firm the skin, and reduces the appearance of wrinkles by 63 percent after one treatment.

“It is our first clinically proven booster,” said Beck in an interview during a launch event at Dangene Medical Spa in New York City. “That’s one of our major strategies — to elevate and invest in the science. There’s a lot of confusion between clinical and consumer perception. There are a lot of brands saying they’re doing clinicals that are doing consumer [perception studies], which never used to happen in the past.”

Beck, who sold Bluemercury to Macy’s Inc. in 2015 for $210 million, believes the importance of clinical studies is twofold: Consumers are more savvy than ever, and the ecosystem is full of aestheticians, doctors, plastic surgeons and dermatologists who also want demonstrable results.

“The doctors are scientists,” she said. “They want real results for their patients, so that ecosystem is critical for us. Also, for our own edification we want to know that when we invest in something new for Hydrafacial that we’re getting real results.”

That’s not to say consumer perception is not important. In fact, BeautyHealth also carries out those studies, which Beck described as important because that’s how someone feels and what they see instantly after the treatment.

Altogether, Hydrafacial now has 15 boosters, some of which are partnerships with the likes of JLo Beauty and Dr Dennis Gross.

“You’ll see us continue to launch partnerships and clinically proven boosters,” she said. “Our strategy is med tech meets beauty. We have the device, which is important, but it’s the solutions that are going through the device that actually elevate the treatment and give us the results.”

Another key part of the strategy is building a network of advocates, like Paris Hilton, who boasts 27 million followers on Instagram. She’s had her own Hydrafacial device in her home spa for two years Beck said. The company is working with Hilton to build consumer awareness for Hydrafacial and the new booster via social content.

It’s also gearing up to take a group of influencers to the Nevada desert for a so-called “torture test” where they will be performing skin hydration tests before and after a Hydrafacial.

Another part of her strategy is thinking about retail product opportunities when it comes to white space as Hydrafacial does not have its own line of skin care products. “There is a ton of white space for this company, which is intriguing,” she said.

At the same time, Beck is studying the 120 patents the company has made in its 27-year history to look for further opportunities.

While her background is more in beauty retail, Beck noted how the lines between retail, products and treatments are becoming increasingly blurred.

“It’s interesting how L’Oréal has joined up with Galderma so we’re seeing the two industries — beauty and medical aesthetics — really merge,” she said. “Some day if you’re a major beauty company, you’re going to play in the whole range of treatments. You have to because your consumer is getting them. They’re not separate anymore. It’s not — you go to your derm for one thing and your aesthetician for another and the beauty shop for another thing.”

For its part, Hydrafacial has a partnership with Sephora. “It’s the first introduction that a lot of women in their 20s or even teens have to Hydrafacial and there’s a lot of companies watching medical aesthetics and thinking how they play in it.”