Alec Call and Bryan Johns have a new brand.
The cofounders of iS Clinical are debuting a new brand, Icon Skincare, on Wednesday on its website with a set of products ranging in price from $32 to $68.
The brand has been in development since 2018. Call and Johns, who are avid collectors of Hollywood memorabilia, came across ephemera from the practice of Madam Renna, a facialist during Hollywood’s golden age who serviced the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor and more. In addition to facial manipulation techniques and facial protocols, the duo found recipes for Renna’s skin care products, which served as inspiration for the Icon Skincare formulas.
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“It was pretty serendipitous,” said Johns, who was tasked with modernizing the offering. “A lot of the ingredients we wouldn’t use. It was very different in the ’50s and ’60s, even through the ’80s.”
The brand’s ethos centers around Old Hollywood star power and the idea of finding confidence through skin care. On the cleansing front, products are called Take One Cleansing Honey and MilkIt Cleansing Powder; serums with names like Satin Resurfacing and luminous Brightening, while Camera Ready serves as the range’s primer. The emollient Icon Cream comes in two iterations (with and without lanolin).
Among the hero ingredients are those Renna also used — propolis, royal jelly and honey — in addition to more modern exfoliating acids, moisturizers and the like. “We have all the credibility and many of the same raw materials,” Call said of the formulas. “In iS Clinical, we use the actives that are much more targeted and expensive. This is more about being affordable, accessible, but still very high quality, like we’re known for.”
Due to that, the aim is slightly lower in terms of demographics than iS Clinical. “This comes out more joyfully, and some of these are really fun. It’s about creating that feeling for yourself and finding the icon with yourself.”
The two acknowledged opportunities in retail channels, either service-oriented ones or the more storytelling-forward TikTok and QVC. However, the initial plan is to solidify its consumer base before making any large retail decisions. The brand is also inaugurating a partnership with Foster Love, a nonprofit for children in foster care. It’s one of a handful of organizations Call and Johns focus on, as the pair are longtime supporters of the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
“We are compelled to give back in any way that we can, which we’ve done in numerous ways through the success of iS Clinical,” Call said. “That’s what having success is able to offer us — an opportunity to give back more.”