I’ve always loved Kate Somerville products, ExfoliKate is one of the few skincare products that I have on permanent rotation and I’m more than a little obsessed with DermalQuench. However, when I heard Kate speak during the inaugural West Coast edition of Lucky Magazine’s Fashion and Beauty Blogger (FABB) Conference, I was so impressed with her story and her passion for skincare that I had to ask her to share some of her tips with Ageist Beauty’s readers and luckily she agreed!
Ageist Beauty: You were a successful aesthetician with a loyal celebrity following prior to starting your skincare line. What inspired you to enter such a competitive arena?
Kate Somerville: While I was in school, I had an idea. I knew I wanted to work side by side with doctors, to complement their services. So I put together a business plan, and shortly after my graduation, opened my own clinic inside a cosmetic surgeon’s office south of Cambria. I didn’t know anything about running a business and was scared to death! But I overcame my fear and just did it. I was like a sponge, absorbing all that I could in the process. I learned everything I could about skin care, observed surgeries, and was fascinated by what was possible. This was the very beginning of a burgeoning field.
For a time of period after moving to L.A., I worked for a skin-care company in product development and was the director of education. I educated doctors and surgeons on the efficacy of the line and its ingredients, along with how it could support their business and treatments. My passion for product development began here. I started to develop my own production collection after I opened my second clinic, but before I opened Kate Somerville Skin Health Experts on Melrose Place in Los Angeles. I set up an esthetics office with a cosmetic surgeon in Santa Monica, who gave me the tools and inspiration I needed to fully pursue my dreams and career goals. He saw how I was constantly mixing and matching product lines to get my clients results. So one day he took me aside and said, “The only way you’re going to make a difference is through innovation. You have six different skin-care lines here. Learn from them and make your own.” So I did. From that day on, I started to develop my own product collection. My first product was Quench Hydrating Serum, and to this day it’s one of my top-three sellers.
In the spring of 2004, I opened my own full-service medi-skin clinic: Kate Somerville Skin Health Experts on Melrose Place in Los Angeles. Not long after we opened, word spread throughout the entertainment industry that we could solve skin issues and be trusted. Within a year of opening, we had a list of celebrity clients, caught the attention of the media, and before I knew it, I was the “guru of glow.”
AB: DermalQuench is amazing. How do you manage to constantly bring innovative new skincare products to the market?
KS: Thank you! DermalQuench was a dream of mine and it was five years in the making. I wanted to bring my most popular Clinic facial, DermalQuench Oxygen Treatment, to everyone. We created an amazing patent-pending product that delivers unbelievable results. DermalQuench Liquid Lift contains wrinkle-relaxing PFC-Oxygen Carriers, an efficient oxygen-rich component designed to significantly smooth and soften while also helping to rid the skin of impurities. It delivers oxygen to skin’s cells to immediately brighten dull skin, while a new lipid blend enhances skin’s moisture-retaining abilities. DermalQuench Liquid Lift significantly smoothes skin, increases volume, and relaxes the appearance of expression lines, and increases the look of elasticity and firmness by providing intense hydration. What is great about this product is that there is no downtime and results are immediate. Use it twice daily to tighten and firm your skin, leaving you looking younger and more radiant than ever before.
The truth is, many companies that create beauty products are really just marketing firms. They get formulas from a faraway lab and slap their labels on them. I truly believe this is what separates my brand, my products, and what my team and I do from all the rest of the stuff out there. After opening the clinic, I got serious about my product collection. I immersed myself in the process, learned and in the fall of 2006, emerged with a product line that met my needs as a clinician and those of my clients. My products don’t get on the shelves unless they’re needed by my clients and tested by real people at my clinic. We only create products that work and help, that my clients can trust, and that I believe in.
AB: What is the biggest mistake that most people make when caring for their skin?
KS: I find that so many of my clients know to moisturize their skin and to drink water, both of which are important – but they aren’t hydrating their skin, which is something totally different. Hydration means getting water into the skin cells; moisturizing means locking it there by applying a cream or lotion on top of the hydrated skin. Both hydration and moisturization are truly necessary because more-hydrated cells are healthier cells; they look and function better.
AB: Is there one type of skincare product that you would recommend to women with aging skin?
KS: I couldn’t choose just one! I love KateCeuticals Multi-Active Repair Lifting and Lineless Cream, which works tirelessly to hydrate, smooth out the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. I created the entire KateCeuticals line, which is exclusive to Neiman Marcus specifically to care for dry and/or mature skin. I also really love the dramatic results created by DermalQuench Liquid Lift, which combats wrinkles, sagging skin, uneven tones and dryness. Because of its cutting-edge, unprecedented delivery system, it creates smoother, younger, and healthier-looking skin than I ever thought possible for an at-home product!
AB: If you were stranded on a desert island, what five beauty products would you want to have with you?
KS: I can’t be without ExfoliKate, DermalQuench Liquid Lift and Deep Tissue Repair. One of my favorite forms of sun protection is mineral makeup. I use the Jane Iredale brand; Jane pioneered the concept, but there are many other good ones out there, including Bare Escentuals. I also love Curel lotion and I always shave with a men’s Mach 3 razor.
AB: Lipstick or lip gloss?
KS: Chanel lip gloss
AB: What is one piece of beauty advice or an insider’s secret that you can share with Ageist Beauty readers?
KS: To get glowing skin, you need to exfoliate and hydrate. My favorite exfoliant is ExfoliKate, a product in my line that uses natural fruit enzymes, gentle acids, and microbeads to do the job. Then, hydrate: look for a serum with sodium hyaluronate to put hydration and moisture back in skin. My Quench serum has natural lipids that match your skin. If you exfoliate and hydrate, the new skin cells will instantly have the glow you want.
Kate, thanks for sharing your inspirational story and skincare tips with our readers. Your passion for what you do is clear. We’re looking forward to seeing what innovative, new products Kate Somerville Skincare launches in the future!
Hats off to your dedication ..