Nail care company SpaRitual Inc., sister to industry leader ORLY International, has landed a deal with beauty retailer Sephora to introduce its products — previously only available in salons and spas — to the mass consumer audience this spring. Starting in March, the Van Nuys-based nail care company, known for its vegan and paraben-free spa treatment products, will feature 26 nail lacquer shades in more than 250 Sephora stores and on the retailer’s website. SpaRitual also will debut three new colors exclusively for Sephora. “Sephora is such an authority on beauty with a wide following,” said SpaRitual Founder and Chief Creative Officer Shel Pink. “This is a wonderful opportunity to get the SpaRitual method out there.” SpaRitual will be one of the brands included in Sephora’s Nail Studio store concept, an in-shop nail bar available at select locations where quick nail services are available to consumers. The Sephora Nail Studio, which launched last year in 20 stores nationwide, this year will be rolled out to every Sephora location with an updated look and new brand assortments including Sephora by OPI, Nails Inc. and SpaRitual. The Sephora deal is significant for SpaRitual, as it will bring the company out of its niche market of upscale salons and spas and expose it to the masses, Pink said. A Market Research report conducted in 2009, revealed that a majority of customer respondents said they loved the SpaRitual brand but felt as though they lacked access to it, she noted. Kristen Walcott, vice president of business development and merchandising for Sephora, said the company had been aware of SpaRitual for some time while studying nail product companies. The two companies formerly met at Cosmoprof, a business-to-business trade show in Las Vegas last year. “In a market where consumers are hungry for newness and customization, we believe that SpaRitual has a unique point of view that our clients will appreciate,” Walcott said, in an e-mailed statement for the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Pink said the retailer’s decision to mass launch SpaRitual is both a sign of its confidence in the brand and its reaction to a rapidly growing market. Typically, Sephora tests new products in about 50 stores, before committing to carry them in mass, she said. SpaRitual is the sister company of ORLY International, the nail care company founded by Pink’s father-in-law, Jeff Pink. For more than 30 years, ORLY has built its brand through innovation and patented products, including the Original French Manicure and the Gripper Cap for polish bottles. Shel Pink, who served as brand manager for ORLY, formed SpaRitual in 2005. She currently serves as chief creative officer for ORLY. The SpaRitual brand follows a strict commitment to producing eco-friendly products and packaging. Using vegan ingredients from around the world that are specially sourced, certified organic and fair trade, SpaRitual’s body products are also naturally colored and free of synthetic dyes. Daniela Ciocan, director of marketing for Cosmoprof North America, said while SpaRitual’s home in the niche spa market may not have garnered it massive recognition on a wider scale, a partnership with Sephora could be instrumental on making it the “next big thing.” “I think this is going to be great for the ORLY family business,” Ciocan said. SpaRitual’s position as an innovative brand, coupled with its ownership by ORLY, which has access to capital and the latest technology, made the company an attractive partner for a retailer such as Sephora, which she called the “incubator” of novelty beauty products. Many small companies do not have the operational capacity to produce for such a large national retailer. And the deal comes as the “whole nail category continues to sizzle,” she said. In December, Port Washington, NY-based market research firm, The NPD Group, reported that the luxury nail category was up 59 percent in the first 10 months of last year. Although Pink declined to disclose revenues, she said SpaRitual plans to achieve a 60 percent increase in global sales this year. About 10 percent of that growth will come from sales in Sephora, she said.
SpaRitual to Hit Shelves at Sephora
