On the eve of the brand’s three-year anniversary, Topicals is tackling its next skin concern: pimples scarring.

Launching direct-to-consumer and at Sephora for $34, the brand’s latest Sealed Energetic Scar Primer incorporates encapsulated retinol, onion bulb extract and a silicone base, aiming to not only fill pimples scars and pores before makeup application but in addition to enhance skin texture over time.

“We get quite a lot of questions for things which are within the makeup sphere, so this being a hybrid makeup and skincare product type of addresses a number of the desire inside the community,” said Olamide Oluwe, who cofounded Topicals in 2020 alongside Claudia Teng.

Since then the brand — which purports to be the fastest growing skincare brand at Sephora — has soared through the ranks of the skincare realm for its inclusive formulas and cult favorite Faded Serum, which addresses hyperpigmentation. Last fall the brand closed on a $10 million series A led by Cavu Consumer Partners.

“We prefer to innovate in categories where people feel prefer it’s off-limits or not possible to get a greater product,” Oluwe said. “Doctors, dermatologists, lasers and chemical peels — they’re the gold standard; we just wish to offer another for individuals who can’t access those.”

While Oluwe didn’t specify sales expectations for the launch, industry sources estimate Sealed could do upward of $5 million in retail sales during its first 12 months in the marketplace.

“We don’t wish to promise [consumers] the world: Medical prescription-type products still have more strength by way of ingredient percentages than we will have over-the-counter. But we would like to supply people something as an in-between,” Oluwe said.

In step with the brand’s ethos of mixing product and culture, Oluwe tapped Nigerian womenswear designer Tia Adeola to direct the campaign for Sealed.

“I didn’t wish to tell a beauty story, I desired to tell a story that was more adjoining to fashion,” Oluwe said. “Obviously quality plays an element, but really it’s the storytelling that makes people purchase or feel tied to a brand, and I wanted to make use of that in our community constructing for Topicals.”

Oluwe hinted international expansion is on the menu for Topicals, though she didn’t specify which markets the brand is eyeing. (Last 12 months, Topicals entered all Sephora Canada doors, and started shipping to the U.K.).

Funds from last 12 months’s series A, though, have helped decrease the incidence of product sell-outs. “We wish to remain in stock — that was one among the most important the reason why the capital was super necessary for us,” said Oluwe, noting that by way of upcoming product innovation, the brand is targeted solely on skin look after the foreseeable future.

“We’ve seen what Shea Moisture did for hair care, we’ve seen what Fenty Beauty did for makeup; to see a brand like Topicals come onto the market and never only deliver results for people, but in addition change and transform the best way people feel about their skin — I’m happy with that.”