Ben Bennett, founding father of Los Angeles-based brand incubator The Center, has teamed with board-certified medical and cosmetic dermatologist Samantha Ellis for his latest enterprise: Prequel.

It’s a skincare brand launching July 25 with three products, available for purchase on prequelskin.com. There’s the $18 Gleanser, a cleanser with 50 percent glycerin, to remove makeup and excess oil while maintaining the skin’s moisture barrier and pH. It’s also formulated with inulin, an aquaporin-stimulating energetic arginine, oat extract and aloe. There’s an $18 multi-purpose ointment for dry, cracked and chapped skin. It’s non-greasy and created with 45 percent USP-grade petrolatum, bisabolol and a skin barrier complex. And there’s a $22 Moisturizing Milk for the face and body, with 10 percent pure urea, shea butter, glycerin and niacinamide. All are fragrance-free, hypoallergenic and secure for sensitive skin.

The brand is estimated to make $10 million in first-year sales, in line with industry sources.

The 2 met through Susan Yara, founding father of Naturium, one among the brands owned by The Center (which also owns Phlur, Saltair and Make Beauty). Ellis had been advising for Naturium.

“When Susan knew that I used to be involved in doing something with a skincare brand and that Ben is perhaps interested, she put us in contact,” explained Ellis, who has a personal practice within the Bay Area. She graduated from UCLA before earning her medical doctorate from the University of Michigan, and accomplished her dermatology residency training at UC Davis — where she’s now a clinical instructor of dermatology. She’s also a content creator, sharing her each day life and skincare advice together with her 100,000 Instagram followers.

“Obviously through our brands, we’ve worked with a variety of dermatologists, a variety of cosmetic chemists, and my team at The Center has at all times been a fan of doctor Ellis,” said Bennett. (Founded in 2020, The Center received a $15 million minority investment from Prelude Growth Partners in 2021, which backs Westman Atelier and DpHue.) “We love personalities in the sweetness space, and we just felt like — and I tell Sam this on a regular basis — there may be this effortlessness and this ease in the best way that she speaks about skin and skincare.”

Working as a dermatologist, together with her practice in Danville, California, Ellis saw a niche available in the market for her patients: “I see where the pain points are for patients by way of finding products that fit specific niches, that fit what they need and in addition for products that they’ll incorporate into their skincare regimen in the event that they are also caring for a chronic skin disease. So, for instance, in the event that they have psoriasis or they’ve eczema, they don’t just need medication. In addition they need skincare that’s going to enhance anything that they’re doing. And I just didn’t feel like there was a brand or product that might take the tried and true basics of things that a patient of mine might find in the pharmacy but then elevate them to a spot where they’re more enjoyable to make use of, inspiring to make use of. Quite a lot of patients also struggle with compliance…After which the last tenet of that was if I ever launched a skincare brand, I actually desired to make it reasonably priced and accessible for as many individuals as possible.”

“I like her desire to find a way to create formulas that utilize… those tried and true, data-backed and supported ingredients, but elevate them to make them more experiential, more sensorial, more elegant, with the intent to persuade her customers to make use of their products on a each day basis and get them to a spot of having fun with skincare,” added Bennett. “You consult with any dermatologist, and so they can inform you that 90 percent of their patients barely use a moisturizer, barely wash their face on a each day basis. So, it is a completely different audience. And it is admittedly a broader-reaching audience that Sam is talking to..it’s not the skincare fanatic on TikTok or Instagram.”

They aim to succeed in this audience through education via word of mouth, social media and their respective communities in dermatology and the sweetness industry globally.

“I’m not a believer in a d-to-c brand only,” Bennett continued. “We’ve at all times believed in brick-and-mortar retail along with having a powerful digital presence,” he said, adding they plan on working with or collaborating with a retail partner to construct brand awareness.