Rhode Island Native Launches Science-based Skincare Brand for Streamlined Results
GRAES founder Becky Martin drew on her own skincare struggles to create a “one-stop shop” for healthy, glowing skin without all the extra products.
Becky Martin recently launched GRAES, a new skincare company designed to streamline the beauty routine. (Photos courtesy of Jennifer Manville and Josh Robitaille at Jennifer Manville Photography)
For Cranston resident Becky Martin, figuring out her skincare routine was like a full-time job.
The Cumberland native studied biology at the University of Connecticut and spent the early part of her career working in biotech. Like many twenty-something women, she struggled with acne, eczema and the sensitive skin that ran in her family. After work, she’d grab her paycheck and head to Sephora to purchase yet another product to try on her inflamed skin — a “consumerist doom loop,” she says, that saw her spending big money every week with little results.
“I didn’t really set out to start a business. I was really just trying to fix my skin concerns,” she says.
It’s a familiar narrative for those of us prone to challenging skin. The global skincare industry is a nearly $120 billion market that sees beauty influencers hawking ten-, fifteen- or even twenty-two step routines to women (and, occasionally, other demographics) who want glowing, healthy skin. The journey can be exhausting and expensive and, Martin says, lead to “beauty burnout,” not to mention the hit it takes on your self-esteem.
Eventually, Martin was able to use her science background to dive into the research and come up with a list of fifteen ingredients that worked on her sensitive, acne-prone skin. Her complexion improved and she wasn’t breaking out as much, but she was still using far more products every day than she wanted. Often, she found herself mixing serums together to come up with an a la carte routine that avoided the irritating ingredients found in many brands.
“That’s where the idea for GRAES came from,” she says.
GRAES — which stands for Generally Recognized as Effective and Safe — is a new, Rhode Island-based skincare brand that aims to simplify the beauty routine by offering products addressing multiple concerns. Its first product, Night C.A.P., is an eight-in-one night cream that hydrates, soothes, addresses fine lines and redness, improves skin tone, reduces hyperpigmentation and enlarged pores, and has anti-aging properties.
“It saves you time, money and shelf space to use our product,” Martin says.
Eventually, she plans to expand the line to feature a cleanser, moisturizer and optional toner for morning and night. For now, Martin recommends applying Night C.A.P. after cleansing and, if desired, using a toner or essence. The product works best for normal to dry skin and is also designed to work well with prescription or over-the-counter retinols.
“This first product I would say is for most skin types. If you have very oily skin, it might not be for you,” she says.
Along with a full list of active ingredients — including niacinamide, colloidal oatmeal and allantoin — GRAES’s website features a list of ingredients not included in the company’s products, such as silicones, parabens, alcohol and essential oils. Martin tests every product herself and also receives feedback from around fifty beta testers. The product is manufactured in New Jersey and shipped and packaged from her Cranston home.
“I’d love to bring it local if I could, but I wasn’t able to find any [Rhode Island-based] labs that were contracting,” she says.
The ingredients might be simple, but the process from idea to manufacturing was not. Martin hails from an entrepreneurial family — her father is a co-founder of Providence-based biotech firm EpiVax, while her great-grandfather once owned the Rhode Island Auditorium — but GRAES is her first venture into business ownership. After obtaining her Master of Business Administration degree online during the pandemic, she launched into a three-year product development process, working with a cosmetic chemist to test and manufacture the ingredients. Her biotech background paid off, as did a brief stint working for a venture capital firm. Now, she says, she’s “all in” on GRAES and is reaching out to retailers and estheticians about carrying the product. She also plans to sell Night C.A.P. at local markets.
Ultimately, she says, she hopes customers use her product to simplify their skincare routines and have a more positive beauty experience.
“Everyday life these days is so chaotic and so stressful,” she says. “If there’s any way I can lighten the load of everyday living, it would definitely make it worth it.”
Night C.A.P. is currently available for purchase online. The product comes with a thirty-day, money-back guarantee. (Martin recommends testing it out for twenty-eight days to experience a full skin cycle.) www.graes.co
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