Soleil Organique Relaunches Premier Sunscreens After Trademark Conflict

After a trademark snag derailed Valerie McMurray’s first attempt at marketing a sun-care brand, she is back with a chic new line of prestigious, skin-healthy sunscreens targeted to sophisticated consumers.

Valerie McMurray relaunches her mineral sunscreen line with new formulations, a sharpened marketing plan targeting consumers looking for high-end products and a new brand prompted by a trademark challenge.

Soleil Organique Sun Care LLC’s product rollout reflects lessons McMurray learned from her late 2008 crack at creating a lifestyle brand. In that venture, the designer-turned-skin-care-entrepreneur introduced a line of prestigious sun care products along with $300 caftans and $200 swimsuits in Caribbean resort stores.

For sun care, McMurray wanted “something on par [with her clothing] in terms of being chic, a little more luxury and a little more prestige. There was nothing on the market as a natural that was really like that,” she said in an interview.

Soleil Organique

But her timing was off. “The whole world was falling apart” in the start of the economic downturn, she noted. “The market then was just really not there for a luxury resort wear line.”

Moreover, while she trademarked her label MerSoleil for apparel, she neglected to do the same for her sun-care range. The brand drew a cease-and-desist letter from lawyers for [Estee Lauder Companies Inc.] claiming that MerSoleil was too close to the cosmetic giant’s La Mer, which offers sun protection via its SPF 30 UV Protecting Fluid and SPF 18 Fluid Tint, each available online for $70.

“It was a bummer,” McMurray recalled.

With MerSoleil scripted on tags of her clothing and sun-care products on shelves at resorts, McMurray sold off what she could before starting over.

While thinking about the hit to her wallet makes her “stomach turn,” McMurray says the setback allowed her to reorganize, focusing on sun care. She also seized the opportunity to revamp her product formulations, which consumers complained were a bit “tacky” and “sticky,” she said.

McMurray brought a new formulator on board to her New York firm and spent two years overhauling her recipe, adding more moisturizing ingredients along with a new EcoSun Complex to “enhance and complement UV protection,” according to Soleil Organique literature.

The proprietary complex incorporates red algae to “boost SPF naturally,” vitamin C ester to scavenge free radicals, vitamin E to reduce the appearance of fine lines and bisabolol to soothe irritated skin, the company says.

Soleil Organique’s core actives are zinc oxide and not-quite-nano-sized titanium dioxide particles to act as “physical blockers,” sitting on top of skin to “reflect and scatter UV rays,” according to the firm.

Target: High-End Sunscreen Niche

In developing Soleil Organique, McMurray envisioned a natural brand with a glamorous aura to fit with the aesthetic of high-end hotels and spas. “Everything in sun care today is like Coppertone or Banana Boat,” she said, adding that “$9.99 sunscreens at CVS are not my target.”

McMurray aimed to create something closer to the Bain de Soleil her mother used. “That was an iconic item associated with a St. Tropez tan and a beautiful woman who’s very elegant and kind of sophisticated,” McMurray said.

Schering-Plough acquired Bain de Soleil from Pfizer in 1999, embracing the brand as “a name synonymous with elegance, style and sophistication” (Also see "Schering's Bain de Soleil Purchase Adds Premium Line To Coppertone Stable" - Pink Sheet, 11 Oct, 1999.). Today, the brand remains primarily a drugstore brand.

Soleil Organique counts Coola Organic Suncare and Hampton Sun among its foremost competitors.

Soleil Organique offers “a little more luxury and a little more prestige. … $9.99 sunscreens at CVS are not my target.”

–CEO Valerie McMurray

McMurray wants to bring Soleil Organique to 50 new boutique and spa doors in the next year. “A lot of spas don’t have sunscreen,” she said. She noted there is opportunity in such locations to leverage the knowledge and influence of expert aestheticians trusted by clients receiving facials and other treatments for general skin-care advice.

In conjunction with a limited initial rollout of product in May 2011, McMurray developed a training kit for aestheticians and boutique employees that details her entire range of products, brand philosophy, chemicals to avoid and the difference between mineral- and chemical-based sunscreens.

Body Sunscreen Backed By EWG

A sparkly, gold package dresses up Soleil Organique products, including the firm’s 100% Mineral Sunscreen for the Body SPF 45, with a suggested retail price of $45. The formula contains shea butter, sunflower, almond and jojoba oils, all of which are USDA-certified organic, along with “highly concentrated organic aloe vera juice to maintain skin’s suppleness and promote anti-inflammatory activity,” according to an online product description. The sunscreen is water-resistant, hypoallergenic, vegan and gluten-free, the brand claims.

The mineral sunscreen was on the Environmental Working Group’s 2011 list of “Best Beach & Sport Sunscreens” on the organization’s Skin Deep website. McMurray called EWG “a great resource.”

Along with the brand’s sunscreen mists in SPF 15 and SPF 45, both priced at $42, and its 100% Mineral Sunscreen for the Face SPF 45, priced at $55, the body sunscreen – which also comes in an SPF 15 version for the same price – serves to “shield skin’s DNA from the damaging effects of UV rays and other environmental aggressors with the most advanced, safest, effective and intensely hydrating formulation available today,” the company says.

Daily Environmental Defense for Hands ($32) combats hyper-pigmentation and brown spots, reducing the appearance of fine lines and stimulating collagen production. The product also can be used prior to UV exposure from UV lamps used in certain manicures, the firm suggests. Soleil Organique also offers Environmental Defense Eye Therapy SPF 15 ($70) and Environmental Defense Daily Moisturizer For Face SPF 20 ($55).

[Editor’s note: This story was contributed by “The Rose Sheet,” your source for cosmetics industry news. Click here or call 1-800-332-2181 for a free trial – no credit card required.]