How Tower 28 Beauty Built Trust with Skin-Safe Products
Table of Contents
- The Power of Third-Party Verification
- Authenticity Through Personal Experience
- Leveraging Industry Expertise
- Documenting Real Results
- Establishing Authority in the Industry
- Commitment to Accessible Pricing
- Prioritizing Product Excellence
- Conclusion
The Power of Third-Party Verification
Amy Liu understands that claims about sensitive skin-friendly makeup require objective validation beyond personal assurances. “I’m not a dermatologist. I’m not a toxicologist. You shouldn’t believe me if I just say this is safe for sensitive skin,” Amy explains. “I believe in third-party verification.” To substantiate her claims, Amy pursued the demanding Seal of Acceptance from the National Eczema Association. This required Tower 28 to avoid all ingredients considered irritating, test on 100 people with eczema and sensitive skin, and submit to expert review by dermatologists and toxicologists.
This rigorous certification process goes beyond industry norms, differentiating Tower 28’s products in ways competitors can’t easily replicate. It transforms marketing taglines into proof, providing validity to the brand’s claims.
Authenticity Through Personal Experience
Amy’s brand credibility begins with her own authenticity. She created Tower 28 to solve a problem she experienced firsthand during her 20-year career in the beauty industry. “I’ve had eczema my entire adult life. I was always a person going to Sephora, bringing them the next innovation in foundation or skincare and saying, ‘This is going to make your skin look perfect,’ but yet I was like, ‘Don’t look at my skin’ because I would get eczema on my face,” Amy shares.
This personal element immediately connected Amy with her target audience. When she speaks about sensitive skin needs, it’s not a marketing angle—it’s her lived experience.
Leveraging Industry Expertise
Amy spent two decades working for beauty powerhouses like L’Oréal and Kate Somerville before starting Tower 28 at age 40. “I told myself I’m going to learn on someone else’s dime,” Amy says. “I’m going to learn from everything they’re doing.”
This extensive experience gave her credibility with retailers, as Tower 28 secured Sephora distribution remarkably quickly. “We launched in April of 2019 … [and] we were on sephora.com by September. By March of 2020, we went into all stores at Sephora with a half shelf.”
Her industry experience also helped her secure pre-launch funding with just her résumé and a slide deck, as potential investors were already familiar with her expertise.
Documenting Real Results
Tower 28 further built credibility by documenting and sharing results from real users. When mask-wearing caused widespread skin irritation during the pandemic, Tower 28’s SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray became an unexpected solution.
“We started sending it to essential workers and hospitals. I asked friends, ‘Who’s a doctor? Put me in touch with your ER or whoever it is,’ and I would send like 50 bottles to somebody and then they would distribute it,” Amy shares.
The critical next step was capturing and sharing those results at scale. Reviews and testimonials became powerful marketing assets, amplifying real user experiences and creating a credibility cycle that marketing dollars alone couldn’t buy.
Establishing Authority in the Industry
Amy continues to deepen Tower 28’s credibility by establishing herself as a genuine authority in the sensitive skin space. She recently joined the board of directors of the National Eczema Association. “The National Eczema Association does more than the seal of acceptance,” Amy explains. By formally connecting with the leading organization in her product’s niche, Amy elevates Tower 28 from simply a commercial brand to an authority in sensitive skin solutions.
Commitment to Accessible Pricing
While many “clean” beauty brands use high prices to signify quality ingredients, Tower 28 strengthened its reputation by offering effective, luxury products at an accessible price point. This commitment to accessibility is deliberate. “For me, that means I still want to shop at Sephora, I still want to go to Goop and these high-end retailers, but then I also want to be $16 for our lip gloss instead of $30,” Amy says. She stands by rejecting artificially high pricing, as the products’ verified quality speaks for itself.
Prioritizing Product Excellence
Amy has learned from her time working at major beauty brands that “great marketing is a short-term solution. Great product is a long-term thing.” Her approach, since day one, has been prioritizing product excellence verified through rigorous testing and genuine results rather than marketing alone.
Because of this focus on quality, Amy landed her products nationwide at Sephora in her first year, and she’s managed to grow a multimillion-dollar brand in just five years.
Conclusion
Building genuine credibility through evidence-based claims creates a powerful competitive advantage that a saturated market can’t easily take away. As Amy puts it: “There has to be something about what you’re doing that is really unique and that people resonate with. I really believe in the problem-solution concept.” Tower 28’s customers genuinely trust them, and it’s translated into remarkable business success. By focusing on verified testing, personal authenticity, and product excellence, Tower 28 Beauty has set a new standard in the beauty industry.
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